Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

Come one, come all, and come thirsty to the Mermaid Inn (7673 Germantown Ave.) Thurs. at 7:00 and kick off the 4th of July a few hours early with your favorite liberal friends. Provide yourself with reinforcement of your liberal understanding that the Declaration of Independence is one of the best liberal statements of principle in human history. And get ammo to shove in the faces of conservatives who try to tell you that the US is a fundamentally conservative nation, rather than the inherently revolutionary one it was and needs to be again.

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

Join us at the Mermaid Inn (7673 Germantown Ave.) tonight at 7:00 PM as we drink a toast to Dennis Kucinich for bringing articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. Remember: be there, or be a rhombus.

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

Please join us Thurs., 6/5, at 7:00 PM at the Mermaid Inn, 7673 Germantown Ave., for the latest installment of Drinking Liberally, Mount Airy. I intend to distribute for discussion Chalmers Johnson's article "Our 'Managed Democracy,'" on the recommendation of DL member Christiaan Morssink. The implications of this article should, at the very least, deeply trouble any patriotic American, and its warnings should definitely be heeded. I figure we'll also kick around more ideas for a Democratic VP nominee.

So, come one, come all. And, as always...

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

Please join us at the Mermaid Inn (7673 Germantown Ave.) Thurs. at 7:00 PM as the national Living Liberally organization celebrates its 5th anniversary. Who knows, maybe one of us will wind up as Obama's VP nominee. OK, probably not, but you won't know unless you show up, will you?

Please join us and...

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

OK, I've sent out enough stuff this week, so I'll keep this short + sweet. Please join DL at the Mermaid Inn (7673 Germantown Ave.) at 7:00 PM as we discuss the never-ending Democratic primary season, local politics, + whatever else floats your collective boat.

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

In case you missed it, PA's senior Senator has, in this age of Constitution shredding, illegal wars, other such impeachable offenses, decided on the perfect target for an investigation: the NFL.

That's right, Sen. Specter wants to open a Congressional investigation, a la the Mitchell investigation into steroids in baseball (because, of course, we know that nobody in the NFL uses steroids), into the so-called 'spygate' controversy, in which the Patriots are accused of stealing other teams' defensive signals. Specter's ire is particularly provoked by the suggestion that the Patriots, in effect, cheated the Eagles out of a Super Bowl win.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3395829

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

I'm nothing short of thrilled to say that, with my work situation far more settled, I am able to announce the relaunch of Drinking Liberally: Mount Airy [insert sound effect of wild applause + cheering here].

I look forward to discussing some weighty issues, such as...

is HRC's remaining in the race when it's all but impossible for her to be the Democratic nominee a good thing, a bad thing, or a disastrously bad thing?

will the so-called 'liberal press' ever notice that John McCain has preacher buddies who make Jeremiah Wright look like a flag waving patriot?

who will Obama pick as his running mate? My money (metaphorically speaking, of course) is on Bill Richardson, but I'd like to see what others think.

So, please join us at the Mighty Mermaid Inn, 7673 Germantown Ave., at 7:00 PM this Thursday (5/15), as we once again...

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

It's all but axiomatic that the United States' standing in the world has been dealt a critical blow by the misrule of King George II. As an example, on 9/12/2001, France's newspaper Le Monde ran a headline reading "Nous Sommes Tous Americains" (We are all Americans); does anyone dream that such international sympathy would be elicited today after Bush's clear disdain for the world community?

In another post on YPP, I discussed how the current model of public education is stuck in the industrial era- how, as Rabbi Stone put it, the best thing which could happen to the Philadelphia public schools would be to go back 50 years. I then said that we need to create a new model of public schooling for the post-industrial, information era. I wondered whether or not Microsoft's High School of the Future in West Philadelphia was such a model, and made an aside about how I would prefer an open source model- an aside which I noted was more than merely a gratuitous jab at Microsoft.

What happened to the 'Poetry for Obama' contest to go to watch the debate tonight? The entire thread appears to have vanished.

Pity, too- I was liking the poems, mine included.

-Z

I finally get it! After 7 years under GWB, we have a new national motto. No longer "In G-d We Trust," or the old Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum" (out of many, one). Our new national motto is "Inter arma enim silent leges;" or, "In time of war, the law is silent." Appropriate, no?

I expect to see it on all US currency before long.

All hail the Presidente!
-Z

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

Please join Drinking Liberally: Mount Airy at the Mermaid Inn, 7673 Germantown Ave., at 7:00 PM this coming Thursday (4/3), as we discuss the ongoing saga of the Democratic Primary. Will the Dems once again manage to snatch defeat from the ravening jaws of victory? Are we ready for 100 years in Iraq if Senator McNuts wins? And, if he does win, does the Mermaid have enough strong drink to drown all our sorrows?

I've got one more "Liberal Mixology" drink recipe book, which will go to the first Liberal Drinker in attendance this week. No, Joanne, you don't count (she runs the Mermaid).

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

Fellow Liberal Drinkers-

Please join Drinking Liberally: Mount Airy at the Mermaid Inn (7673 Germantown Ave.) tonight @ 7:00 PM as we continue our discussion of the Democratic primary, whether or not the country can survive another 8 years of GOP misrule should Sen. McNuts steal the election, + what the proper way is to pronounce 'Smithwicks.'

Drink to Democracy!
-Z

As everyone here knows, I am a vocal supporter of Barack Obama's Presidential campaign, and have been for a while. My wife, meanwhile, is a supporter, albeit a somewhat less vocal one, of Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign. That's right- Zorro is in a mixed marriage.

This weekend, Ilana + I had a rather, shall we say, enthusiastic discussion of the campaign. This wasn't a campaign of whether Obama or Clinton is the better candidate- each of us respects the other candidate + agrees that the other would make a fine President- the conversation centered on my fears that what we do this spring is, in the end, irrelevant, since the GOP will steal their third consecutive Presidential election. Ilana challenged me that, if I really feel that way, why do I even bother working to register people to vote, or even to bother to vote myself.

OK, so I took advantage of not having a con-sulting job today to work doing voter registration for the Obama campaign. I picked up a stack of voter registration forms from the office on Germantown Ave. + Pelham St., + headed to the intersection of Germantown + Chelten Aves. I decided to make the trip more productive by stopping along the way and registering voters as I went. I got 5 people to register even before I got to my destination.

When I got to Chelten, I spoke w/the young man who had a registration table there. I asked how he'd been doing, + he said that he'd been so busy that he was running out of forms; I gave him a handful from my stack, + headed up Chelten to try my luck along that route.