Morning, folks!

Well, the political world of the past week was overshadowed by the death of a popular icon, one who has touched the lives of so many of us. His striking voice and distinctive look were instantly recognizable. All we have left to remember him are ... his informercials. If you'd like to mourn the passing of someone only America could produce, then join me tonight at the Green Bean, at 7:30 pm, where we'll cry in our half-off imported beer, and dry our tears with Oxy-cleaned handkerchiefs.

Oh, and if you want to talk about Michael Jackson---(is he the one who played for the Chicago Bulls, or the one who broke the color barrier in baseball?)---we can do that too.

-William Moates
Greensboro DL chapter co-host

Parting Thought: Does bottled water count as organic food?

Morning, folks!

We've had a moderately newsy week here in the USA, with topics ranging from heath care reform to the Letterman/Palin tiff, but Iran has had a stupendously newsy week, thanks to its presidential election. The lead-up to election had seeds of hope scattered through it, thanks to the popularity of the challenger Mousavi, who has been more interested in the outside world than the Holocaust-denying, gay-denying Ahmadinejad. Then, hours after the polls closed, Ahmadinejad declared victory, having won 65% of the votes! I was disappointed with the results, but did not expect the mass marches in defiance of the results. Apparently, many Iranians realized that their manually intensive vote-counting procedures could not possibly have tallied the millions of votes in a matter of hours. I was not surprised at the initial police crackdown, but when I heard that some prominent clerics--the real power center of Iran--started backing Mousavi, I again became hopeful.

Instead of getting buried in the details, I've been comparing this to other political protests, like Tiananmen Square in 1989, Lebanon's 2005 rallies after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, and the 2004 Ukrainian rallies after the loss of opposition candidate Yushchenko in the presidential election. Will Iran's election go the way of Tiananmen Square, with a military crackdown followed by journalistic censorship? Or will it follow Ukraine's Orange Revolution, where the election was declared rigged, the challenger was sworn into office, but was later found to be corrupt, and voted out a few years later?

I think an important factor in the result are the demographics of Iran. Newsweek points to the ending of Sri Lanka's civil war partly due to a change in demographics--a lack of unemployed young men. Since most Iranians are under 30, the "youth bulge" is one of the factors fueling the election protests. The question I have is, which way will this push things? Will there be peaceful protests, or will this foment a civil war? Your guess is a good as mine, but the world will definitely be watching.

Hey, if you have anything you'd like to say about this--or about other stuff-- then come down to the Green Bean tonight at 7:30 pm, drink a beverage, and hold forth! Recording devices will be eschewed, so salacious comments will be welcome!

-William Moates
Greensboro DL chapter co-host

Parting Thought: Did Buddha have B.O.?

Morning, folks!

Did you laugh out loud when Senator Shelby said the US has "the best health care system the world has ever known"? I sure did. I thought the consensus was that our health care system was falling apart, but apparently the GOP is full of people who disagree. I would rephrase it, by saying that we *have* the best health care in the world, but not every American gets it. In fact it would be better to say we have the *potential* for the best health care system in the world, but we haven't figured out how to provide it. At least, not in a way that will satisfy both the Left and the Right. Me, I'm hoping that Obama will find a path to Shelby's shining hospital tower, and can persuade both sides to navigate that path.

Well, I expect you have other opinions, and I'd like to hear them, so join us at the Green Bean tonight at 7:30 pm. Since it's rainy season, follow me to the high ground, and we can dry out with half-off imported beers! We'll be literally dry, but figuratively wet! I'm sure Walt Whitman had some pithy, enigmatic way of describing it, or maybe Oscar Wilde addressed it better. (My quotation skills are horrendous, so I have allude. If you think it's rude to allude, let me know.)

William Moates
-DL chapter co-host

Parting Thought: Are sociopaths mutants?

Morning, folks!

There are certainly a lot of things to talk about this week, whether you want to speculate about the Air France crash (was it sucked into the Land of the Lost?), Sotomayor's nomination (will fashionistas debate her dress choices?), Newsweek's take on Oprah (will criticizing the Holy O affect their sales?), the bankruptcy of GM (watershed moment, or woodshed moment?), Cheney's support of gay marriage (how many politicos got whiplash from that comment?), North Korea's announcement of a successor (will Little Un be able to live up to father Il's level of diplomatic lunacy?), or the launch of Microsoft's new search engine (will the Bing Crosby estate sue for trademark infringement?), or other sundries that pop into your head. My head is currently full, so there's no more room for popping sundries--or sundry poppers, for that matter.

Here's an example of how out of the nerd-loop I am: I just learned that Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's. He announced this in December of 2007, and I just found out about it this week. I'm definitely renewing my subscription to Locus magazine. (For the curious, see www.locusmag.com.)

On another subject, I'm bemused by the newest linguistic fad--using "impact" to replace "affect", such as "this plant closing has impacted my family greatly." I think it's a fad among sportscasters, who try to improve their vocabularies in interesting ways. A year or two ago, they were overusing "storied". (They were using it properly, so it wasn't too bad then.)

Well, I'm sure you have stuff you'd like to chat about, so why don't you join me tonight at 7:30 pm at the Green Bean? I doubt the rain will be as bad as it was yesterday!

-William Moates
DL chapter co-host

Parting Thought: Why do dictators always choose family members as successors? Do they fancy themselves kings?

Morning folks!

I was perusing (a la George Carlin) Newsweek yesterday, and noticed an article titled "Drinking Liberally in Iraq". Wow--free advertising for DL? Well, not really. The article is about drinking, not about this fair organization, Drinking Liberally. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Justin Krebs is signing copies of the mag for any DL fans.

I apologize for not sending out an announcement last week--I was feeling under the weather. Today, I feel up to a chat, and hope you do, too! If so, then meet me at the Green Bean tonight at 7:30 pm, where we can discuss high-minded stuff, like the Supreme Court nominee, or low-minded stuff, like the accusations of vote tampering in the Idol finale! That way, our conversations can be enlightening or enlivening. Join me?

-William Moates
DL chapter co-host

Parting thought: If Walt Disney gets revived, will he have to pay back taxes?