the blog of DC Drinking Liberally
David Swim stopped by DC Drinking Liberally Thursday last week to let people know he’s starting an Alexandria chapter. It debuts Thursday, June 29, at 7pm at Nick’s Nightclub, 642 S. Pickett Street (Van Dorn is the closest Metro station, but I don’t think it’s particularly walkable). Every DL chapter attracts its own crowd and evolves in its own way, and I’m sure this one will be quite different from our Thursday group at Timberlake’s, so if you live somewhere where either is an option, try both and see which fits you better (and don’t forget the Wednesday chapter at Mark and Orlando’s). The location is still within the Beltway, though (by several hundred yards), so it will share in the weird political radiations we experience here.
To follow this new chapter as it develops, read its blog, participate in its forum (which Dave plans to keep more active than the average DL forum), and subscribe to its e-mail list.
Good luck to Dave and the new chapter as they bring the gift of Drinking Liberally to those in Virginia who’ve been thirsting for it!
We are pleased and proud to present a post book-signing happy hour with Air America host and author of FUBAR, Sam Seder, this Tuesday, June 20, starting at 8:45 PM.
The happy hour will be held at Dr. Dremo’s Taphouse, 2001 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington VA (Court House Metro).
More on FUBAR at Harper Collins.
Tonight at a special event hosted jointly by the Wednesday and Thursday chapters of DC Drinking Liberally, blogger and author Glenn Greenwald(who’s in town for the Take Back America conference) will be reading from and signing his book How Would a Patriot Act?: Defending American Values from a President Run Amok.
Happy hour starts at 6:30 tonight (Wednesday, June 14) at Mark & Orlando’s, 2020 P Street NW (Dupont Circle Metro). Glenn will speak at 7:30, but get there early, since space is limited. The book will be available for $12.
Update (June 17): There are photos of the event here and here, and others may appear under the DCDL tag at Flickr.
Thanks to all who came out last night to make our dinner-and-a-movie outing to see Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” a success. There were about 25 of us, and everyone seems to have been impressed by Gore’s delivery of his message. AltHippo has posted his thoughts.
Anyone who hasn’t seen “An Inconvenient Truth” should go see it. As it said at the end of the film, there’s more about steps you can take on the film’s website.
The industry-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute (recently mocked webwide for its “CO2: They call it pollution, we call it life!” ads) has come out with ads attacking Al Gore that feature numbers that are wildly off and seem to be completely made up.
Salon has an article talking to actual scientists about whether Gore got the science right. One of the scientists, Eric Steig of the University of Washington, has posted a review on the RealClimate website (and while looking at the site I saw an interesting article about carbon offsets).
So, here’s the plan for An Inconvenient Truth followed by dinner at Au Pied Bistro.
1.) Buy tickets in advance for the 7:40 showing at the AMC Loews Theatres Georgetown
3111 K St. NW.
2.) Meet up at 7:00 on Saturday, June 14. We’ll be the ones wearing the Drinking Liberally buttons.
3.) After the show we’ll meet up at 9:45 at Au Pied Bistro, 2815 M St., NW.
Here’s a menu from Au Pied Bistro:
Based on input from last Thursday’s DCDL meetup, I scouted out a few places for Saturday’s Dinner & A Movie, focusing on Georgetown.
“Why Georgetown?” you might ask. “Isn’t that pretty far away from Metro?” Fair enough. This DL’er is a big fan of the Landmark E St. theater, loves its proximity to the Red Line Metro, but wishes the environs were more conducive to after-movie dining. I’ll add that Georgetown is a pretty cool place, and for folks like me who will probably bike there, anyway, the Metro shouldn’t be the only factor.
I’ll also note that when we were discussing this last Thursday, Bethesda Row wasn’t listed. Now it is. Is this a more favorable location?
Here’s the showtimes. The AMC Loews (3111 K St NW) is showing “An Inconvenient Truth” on Saturday at 6:10, 7:40, and 8:40. The playing time is 100 minutes which would put the 7:40 show ending time at roughly 9:30.
The Au Pied Bistro (2815 M St.) would be my #1 pick for after movie dining. Several entrees under $10, with a variety of attractive picks in the $10-$20 range. While it’s a few blocks from the theater, it’s also very convenient to the Foggy Bottom stop.
As a backup, Paulo’s (1303 Wisconsin Ave) has pizza’s in the $10 range, and plenty of pasta dishes in the $10-$20 range.
Both places can accomodate a party of 15 (roughly my guess), and can take reservations.
We are pleased and proud to host Ken Silverstein this Thursday, May 25, 6:30-9 (while the evening will go 6:30-9, Mr. Silverstein will be speaking from 7:30-8:15, and will need to leave promptly).
Mr. Silverstein is the Washington editor for Harper’s magazine. His bio, from the Harper’s website:
Ken Silverstein is the Washington Editor for Harper’s Magazine, and a regular contributor to both the print and web version of Harper’s. A former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Silverstein has covered such topics as intelligence collaboration between the CIA and controversial foreign governments in Sudan and Libya, political corruption in Washington, and links between American oil companies and repressive foreign governments. His 2004 series “The Politics of Petroleum,” co-written with T. Christian Miller, won an Overseas Press Club Award. His stories on ties between the government of Equatorial Guinea and major U.S. companies—including Riggs Bank, ExxonMobil and Marathon Oil—led to the convening of a federal grand jury, and to investigations by the Senate and the Securities and Exchange Commission. His report, co-written with Chuck Neubauer, on a lobbying business opened by Karen Weldon, daughter of Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, led to the opening of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
Silverstein has been an outspoken gadfly in the newspaper business. In December of 2005, a memo he wrote to his editors at the Los Angeles Times expressing his dismay over their insistence on false “balance” was discussed in an article by Michael Massing in The New York Review of Books. While reporting on potential voter fraud in St. Louis in 2004, Silverstein was angered to learn that his findings were to be woven into a larger “balanced” piece on accusations being made nationwide, when it was clear that Republican charges of irregularities in St. Louis were insubstantial. “I am completely exasperated by this approach to the news,” Silverstein wrote. “The idea seems to be that we go out to report but when it comes time to write we turn off our brains and repeat the spin from both sides.”
Mr. Silverstein is also noted for starting the newsletter Counterpunch.
Three interesting book events this week, and I’m going to try to make it to all of them:
Tonight, Tuesday, May 9, our friends at The American Prospect magazine and the AFL-CIO are hosting a book launch party and panel discussion entitled, “Fighting the Hostile Takeover in America’s Red States” Speakers include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), author Thomas Frank, columnist Harold Meyerson, David Sirota and, ah…well me. I’ll be joining the panel to talk about how MoveOn members make a difference across the country.
You are invited. Here are the details.
What: “Fighting the Hostile Takeover in America’s Red States” panel discussion and book party.
Who: Special guests include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), author Thomas Frank, columnist Harold Meyerson, David Sirota and MoveOn’s Tom Matzzie.
When: Tonight: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 7:00 PM.
Where: AFL-CIO Building, 815 16th Street N.W., Washington, D.C
(Metro: Red Line Farragut North or Blue/Orange Line McPherson Square)Books will be made available for purchase at the event by Politics & Prose bookstore.
The book explores how corruption is supported in Congress and takes a critical look at the dealings of politicians in both parties. It is a useful reference book. For example, when you hear an issue discussed — like energy — you can look up all of the big ideas progressives have for dealing with energy issues. At the same time it provides the facts for de-bunking the right-wing spin. […]
—Tom Matzzie
6:30 - 8:00 PM (Langston Room) Two Authors/One Event! — Sasha Abramsky and Marc Mauer — In his revised edition of his seminal book on race, class, and the criminal justice system, Race to Incarcerate, Marc Mauer, executive director of one of the United States’ leading criminal justice reform organizations, offers the most up-to-date look available at three decades of prison expansion in America. The book tells the tragic story of runaway growth in the number of prisons and jails and the over reliance on imprisonment to stem problems of economic and social development. Race to Incarcerate documents the enormous financial and human toll of the “get tough” movement, and argues for more humane and productive alternatives.
In his new book Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House, Abramsky takes us on a journey through disenfranchised America, detailing the revival of antidemocratic laws that came of age in the post-Civil War segregationist South, and profiling Americans who are fighting to regain the right to vote. Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, New York magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. This event is free and open to the public.
Saturday, May 13, 1 p.m.
ERIC BOEHLERT
LAPDOGS (Free Press, $25)
Boehlert, a former Salon.com journalist, has written an extended indictment of the mainstream media in their coverage of the Bush administration. Rather than performing the role of watchdogs, such media giants as the New York Times, CNN, and CBS, he contends, have committed journalistic malpractice with their soft coverage and failure to challenge President Bush.
We are pleased and proud to host Phyllis Bennis at Timberlake’s this Thursday, April 13, 6:30-9.
She will be discussing her book “Challenging Empire” and answer questions about the current situation in the Middle East.
“Challenging Empire” tackles the question of why we went to war in Iraq, examining whether the cause may be rooted in empirical ambition. It’s a particularly timely book given how the Iraq situation has developed since our president declared “Mission Accomplished” 3 years ago, as well as the potential crisis with Iran.
As per tradition on speaker night, free appetizers, and drink specials until 9pm.
A short bio on Dr. Bennis after the jump:
(more…)
In an effort to show that Washington, DC, can outliberal New York City (which has eight DL chapters), we’re proud to announce eight new chapters to supplement the two we already have in DC and increase our geographic reach:
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