Drinking Liberally

Won't you be our liberal Valentine? We sent this love letter to our members across the country and around the world today. Enjoy!
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On this Valentine's Day, Living Liberally wants to make sure your bleeding-hearts feel a little left-leaning love.

You usually hear from your local hosts, but we at Liberally Headquarters wanted to share five stories we love about liberals from the Drinking Liberally happy hours and across Living Liberally universe:

1) We love the liberals in Idaho Falls who hosted a screening of the award-winning "Inside Job" with the local Occupy organizers, leading a Republican State Representative who attended to vote AGAINST an anti-Occupy
resolution.

2) We love that nearly 50 members of our Liberally network are running for office in 2012 as part of the Candidate Project! We?re excited to see who among you will soon be Leading Liberally in elected office.

3) We love that our Des Moines Drinking Liberally chapter recorded a congratulatory video to the state of Washington over Marriage Equality -- applauding Washington "for becoming as progressive as Iowa."

4) We love that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a Vice Chair of the DNC, has made return visits to his local chapter, even donning a Drinking Liberally shirt.

5) And we love that Holly and Ravi, who met at a Los Angeles meeting, have tied the knot. With marriages in Cincinnati, Nashville, Des Moines and elsewhere, our members are truly Wedding Liberally -- as well as Parenting Liberally as we raise a new generation of liberals.

How's that for a Valentine's Day update that will lift your liberal spirits?

What do you love about Living Liberally? Tell us now!

And know that you can find local lefties at nearby Liberally chapters...or you can always start a group. We'd love to have you.

Liberally,
Justin, Katrina, Matt, Amie, Mark, Linda, Chris, Robyn, Dan, Kathleen, Bill, Steve, John & Jeremiah

Though our Drinking Liberally members don't always know each other personally, they do know they are part of the same larger Liberal community.

We were reminded of that when we saw this video that the Des Moines Drinking Liberally group recorded and shared with Liberally groups throughout Washington State -- congratulating them on passing marriage equality.

As one of the Iowans notes, Washington is "finally as gay as Iowa."

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

The theory of change behind Living Liberally is that you can sometimes connect to people through culture in ways you can't simply through argument.

Look to Idaho Falls -- a chapter in one of the nation's reddest states -- for proof of that.

Idaho Falls sponsored a Screening Liberally event in December with the local Occupy group: “Inside Job” was shown with a panel discussion afterwards. Two GOP State Representatives attended, and one of them -- Rep. Janice McGeachin -- voted this week against an anti-Occupy bill in committee. In her statement, she mentioned the movie as her reason for doing so.

Our gatherings can speak to new people, can change hearts and minds and can make a difference. Thanks, Rep McGeachin and thank you to the liberals of Idaho Falls.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

In December, we announced our partnership with the Candidate Project, an effort to urge progressives to run for office and to help them run better campaigns. Their "2,012 for 2012" campaign is working with MoveOn, Rebuild The Dream, Color of Change, Democracy for America, CREDO and other partners to field a movement of liberals to run for local office all over the country.

We're proud of Chris Blazejewski, our Providence host and Rhode Island State Rep; Greg Leding, our Fayeteville leader who has been elected to the Arkansas State Assembly; Jason Haas, a Milwaukee county commissioner who left the helm of his local DL group for that new role; and Mid-Cities, Texas, host Kathleen Thompson who ran for city council.

So we urged all of our members to run. While we don't endorse candidates, we all want more, better progressives...and we're excited to see more of our Liberally family Leading Liberally.

Well, 49 candidates have signed on through Living Liberally -- and more are coming all the time. In fact, the 2,012th candidate in this project was one of our own: Nathan from Michigan.

We'll keep you posted on this next generation of proud liberal leaders and how Running Liberally looks in the months ahead.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

Who says liberals are lonely?

Recently two members of the Los Angeles chapter of Drinking Liberally tied the knot. Holly and Ravi met at DL -- proving that we do build lasting relationships when we share politics and share an evening together.

You might not think to call LA the "City of Love," but hey must be putting something in the beer at the chapter in Santa Monica. This is the second marriage to come from the group. Chapter hosts Mary and David became co-hosts in Living Liberally and in living together after meeting at the group.

Nashville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Des Moines, New York and other chapters all can boast of their own tales of Drinking Liberally nuptials. And there are even a few little Liberals being born of these unions. For some, it's time to start Parenting Liberally.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

Clint Eastwood spoke of half-time in America
driving some conservatives half-mad at this icon
since they half-hoped Obama would let Detroit fail.

Republican voters' half-hearted support for Romney
means this primary isn't even half-over
as half-crazed right-wingers deliver half the delegates
to anyone else they can halfway tolerate.

And more Americans find half-time & full-time work
but we're still only seeing half-measures from DC
as the Tea Party's half-baked ideas fully stall Congress.

While Clint tells us it's half-time in America.
on the Right, it's half-hearted, half-crazed & half-baked.

If you have a half a mind to mix politics & fun,
spend some of your night with all good company
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

On January 26th, Steve Timmer, one of the hosts of Drinking Liberally Minneapolis (and St. Paul) presented Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak with a DL T-shirt to recognize R.T.'s friendship with our chapter over the years. He has spoken to the group several times, and he helped us welcome visitors to Netroots Nation last summer with a special NN edition of Drinking Liberally that also featured Lizz Winstead and Thom Hartmann as guests.

R.T. is currently the Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and in that capacity made an appearance at the Sioux City Drinking Liberally chapter for a Republican debate watch before the Iowa caucuses.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

Another brutal primary with more shadowy money,
more vicious attacks from more unaccountable allies,
and a rich guy outspending another rich guy wins again.

We hear the same plans to help corporations & the 1%,
the same coded class war against the least among us,
the same fear-mongering around a war against religion
to distract & divide us & drum up the conservative base.

Another plea from Rick Santorum to be anyone's VP.
Another vow from Ron Paul that he'll win the next one.
Another smirk by Romney & grimace by Gingrich.

The GOP makes every day feel like Groundhog Day,
They're trapped in repetition & we're trapped with them
…which makes sense: they are a party that prefers
to relive the past rather than make any progress forward.

Until Newt sees his shadow and runs back to his hole,
find escape and entertainment in an enjoyable evening
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

The President calls for a fairer tax system
while a GOP multi-millionaire candidate
pays a low tax rate, says $350k "isn't very much"
& can't guess his own wealth within $50 million.

The Prez talks investment in jobs & education
while the GOP front-runner calls his vision
divisive, radical Kenyan anti-colonialism.

Obama articulates a diverse & inclusive America
while a would-be rival revives culture wars against
gay rights, women's rights & even contraception.

One night we gather to hear the State of the Union,
then back to the non-stop State of Delusion:
the GOP primary, where delusions daily get deeper.

Discuss the delusions, the debates & down a drink
as you share an evening of ideas and imbibing
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

Tonight, as the President takes to the podium in the Capitol, members of Drinking Liberally take to bars across America. This is the 9th year running that Drinking Liberally is hosting State of the Union Watch Parties, and you're invited to join.

Find your local chapter on our DL map and see if they've promoted a special watch party for tonight.

And whether you're a host or a guest, bring some games to your local event.

Here's a link to SOTU Bingo Cards created by Kathleen Thompson, our host in Mid-Cities Texas. These cards are pre-designed for you to print-and-play.

Check them out and print them out here.

And our Baltimore host, Robyn Henry, took it a different route: she supplied the words and you can fill in your own Bingo cards.

Her instructions: "Before the speech, fill in each space on a 5x5 grid from the choices below. During the speech, mark off each thing as it is heard or seen. The first person to BINGO and the person closest to blackout will win a prize."

Reward responsibility, Hard work, Bush Tax Cuts, Middle class, Fair share, Fair shake, Fair play, Progress, Blueprint, Buffett Rule, Manufacturing, Alternative Energy, Energy Independence, China, Iran, Insourcing, Equal Opportunity, "The state of our union is strong!", Unemployment, "special guest," Bipartisan Standing Ovation, Partisan Standing Ovation, Vice President Biden Yawns, Mic Check, Speaker Boehner is orange, Speaker Boehner cries, Michelle Obama's "guns," Nancy Pelosi looking unhappy, Arab Spring, Security, Budget, Diplomacy, Deficit, Energy, Pakistan, Private Sector, Elections, Food Security, Keystone XL, Partnership, Transparency, Environment, Results, HIV / AIDS, Hecklers, Someone wears a red suit