Sorry for the late reminder. It's been a rough month since we last met in April. The Boston Marathon was bombed, West, Texas blew up, Congress failed to pass expanded background checks for guns despite support of 90% of Americans, Syria has possibly crossed a "red line", a building collapsed in Bangladesh killing hundreds of workers...

And there is much to discuss at the state and local level. 41st District Representative Marcie Maxwell is expected to be on hand tonight to give us an update on what's happening in Olympia.

Hope to see you tonight at the Mustard Seed in Newport Hills, 7:00 PM. You deserve a cold beer.

Cheers,

Rob Sargent
(425) 941-3134

Just a last minute reminder about DL tonight at the Mustard Seed Newport Hills, 7:00 PM. Some of us are gathering next door at Perry Ko's South China restaurant at 6:00 to eat dinner and support the Kin On Center. http://www.kinon.org/

First pitch for the Mariners/Oakland game is 7:05.

Should be a fun night. Hope to see you there.

Rob Sargent
(425) 941-3134

Wow, another month flew by already. Much has happened. Let’s talk. 7:00 PM Monday, Mustard Seed Grill & Pub in Newport hills. It’s opening night for the Mariners, so we’ll be mixing politics and baseball.

Also on Monday, next door to the Mustard Seed, Perry Ko’s South China restaurant will be hosting its annual buffet dinner fundraiser for the Kin On Community Health Care Center for Asian seniors, 4:30 – 7:30 PM. Tickets are $16, and you can pay at the door, or purchase in advance at https://kinon.ejoinme.org/?tabid=455068
I’ll be dining there ahead of Drinking Liberally. It’s an impressive meal, and proceeds go to a great organization.

Coming up on Friday the 5th is the annual Northwest Progressive Institute Gala fundraiser featuring US Representative Suzan DelBene and Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl. 6:30 PM at the Mercer Island Community Center. More info and tickets here: http://www.nwprogressive.org/

That’s all for now. Hope to see you Monday, and/or at South China or the NPI Gala.

Cheers!

Rob Sargent

Sequestration. What a lovely word, very elegant and sophisticated. But what does it mean? There are several definitions in the on-online dictionary, none of which adequately explain the impending economic calamity orchestrated by Congress a year and a half ago.

Politically, sequestration refers to the $1.2 trillion in Federal spending cuts re-scheduled to go into effect March 1st. The cuts, which will start immediately, are across the board, indiscriminate, excepting Medicare, Social Security, and military pay.

How did we get here? According to Speaker Boehner, President Obama designed and insisted on sequestration. So it is Obama’s creation, solely his fault, and there is NOTHING at all Republicans in Congress can do about it, because, you know, if it is the will of the President, far be it from Congressional Republicans to ever stand in the way.

What actually happened is that in the summer of 2011, House Republicans held the debt ceiling hostage, effectively put a gun to the head of the US economy, and demanded massive spending cuts, especially to entitlements, as ransom. (Note to the President, never negotiate with terrorists!) The negotiated settlement to the Republican debt ceiling hostage crisis was a trillion in budget cuts over ten years, plus the “sequester”-- automatic additional spending cuts in the future that were designed to be so onerous, so damaging to the poor, the middle class, the military, and the economy, and so unacceptable to both sides that it would force a negotiated compromise on the budget deficit (remember the “Super-committee”?). Sequester was a poison pill intended to end the debt ceiling hostage crisis and never be swallowed; but swallow it we will, or so it appears.

The result of the sequester cuts will be hundreds of thousands of job losses and potentially another recession. This can easily be avoided by an act of Congress to repeal. So why would John Boehner and House Republicans allow the sequester cuts that they (most of them, anyway) pretend to hate?

We’ll get to the bottom of this at Drinking Liberally South Bellevue on Monday, March 4th, 7:00 PM at the Mustard Seed Grill & Pub in Newport Hills. Hope to see you there.

Cheers!

Rob Sargent
(425) 941-3134

P.S. Regulars at Drinking Liberally know that there are no dues or requirements. Rarely do I ask for any money. This is one of those rare exceptions. At our next gathering, a representative of the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) will be selling tickets to their annual Gala, which is the principle source of funding for the organization.

NPI is a think tank which exists to promote progressive public policy and fight Tim Eyman initiatives. You may have seen this recent statement in a SeattlePI.com article in response to Tim Eyman’s crude characterization of Governor Inslee as a “lying whore”. “He (Eyman) has already shown he has nothing to contribute to a sane discussion about the value of public services in our state,” said Andrew Villeneuve, director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a group of youthful web activists who have critiqued Eyman initiatives for years.

Or perhaps you saw Andrew Garber’s Seattle Times piece that was almost entirely an exegesis on NPI’s reply to Eyman’s rant wherein Villeneuve encouraged media “not to take the bait. This isn’t news. Let the only response to this despicable commentary be from his opposition. Eyman deserves to be called out for his inappropriate and disparaging remarks, but he does not deserve more headlines and on-air mentions by the traditional press.”

Locally and nationally, despite the efforts of Fox News and ubiquitous conservative radio, polls consistently show that progressives are winning the battle over public opinion, in part due to the work of NPI and related organizations. We are winning on healthcare, gay marriage, reproductive rights, gun safety, global warming, economic policy, tax fairness, minimum wage, immigration reform, foreign affairs, veterans’ services, and other issues.

I encourage you to support NPI’s ongoing efforts to shape political discourse and inform the public on important matters. For more information, to register for the gala, or to make an online donation, please visit www.nwprogressive.org.

Happy Superbowl Sunday, everyone!

The Superbowl makes people happy, but why is the stock market so giddy? The Dow just topped 14,000. I don't get it. Weak economic fundamentals aside, Congressional Republicans are poised to tank the recovery and send the economy back into recession.

The Commerce Department just reported that the economy shrank by .1% last quarter, primarily due to cuts in federal, state, and local government spending. Our economy is clearly too weak to absorb austerity and still keep growing.

Republican Congressional leaders have indicated they are willing to allow the massive budget cuts known as sequester to go into effect next month, at least temporarily, in order to have the leverage to extract cuts in entitlements as part as some replacement budget deal that will still amount to austerity.

So long as Republicans have this power, I don't see how we avoid another recession. There are roughly two types of Congressional Republicans: Ass-holes who don't care if the economy tanks on Obama's watch because they think they can use that for electoral gain, and the austerity freaks that actually believe massive cuts in government spending will be good for the economy. So we have a coalition of the stupid and the malicious, and they are in complete control of our economic recovery. I don't like our chances of a happy outcome.

Sorry to be a buzz-kill on Superbowl Sunday. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood because Russell Wilson didn't get rookie of the year.

Anyway, lets talk about this Monday, at DL at the Mustard Seed in Newport Hills. 7:00 PM. See you there!

Meanwhile, enjoy the game, or enjoy ignoring the game.

Rob Sargent
(425) 941-3134