DCDL

A good time was had by all at last night’s pub crawl. If you missed it, there’ll be another in a month or so. We’re thinking about having one in Virginia, possibly in the Courthouse/Clarendon area or in Old Town. Post your suggestions for pub crawl locations in the comments.

Today the House passed Henry Hyde’s bill withholding half of US dues payments to the United Nations unless the UN shapes up. Fortunately, the bill is not likely to get anywhere in the Senate and is opposed by the White House (perhaps Rumsfeld has been talking to Bush about his lack of diplomatic skill).

The bill includes this text (in §201):

(b) Human Rights Reforms at the United Nations — The President shall direct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to ensure that the following human rights reforms have been adopted by the United Nations:

(1) A Member State that fails to uphold the values embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights shall be ineligible for membership on any United Nations human rights body.

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We are looking for some cheap ways (blog ads, the city paper) to advertise DCDL events. If you have some suggestions please put them in the comments section below.

DCist reports on tensions between DC Vote and DC Watch. What it boils down to is that DC Vote has been offered a cool $1M to educate people outside of DC on the lack of voting representation here in the nation’s capitol. DC Watch learned about this and thought that was swell and everything, but how come this was offered as non-competitive grant? DC Watch’s other issue is that the director of DC Vote has moved out of DC into Montgomery County, MD.

Nice reporting job by DCist. Netroots journalism should be like this more often.

Here’s my take on the situation. While DC Watch is right in principle, I’m just having a hard getting worked up over this. Most people don’t understand how frustrating it is not to be able to vote for a member of Congress, or to have someone to turn to when action is needed. I just don’t have a problem throwing a few bucks to an organization dedicated to changing this.

In case you happen to be reading this, and live outside the area, here’s a few fun facts:

• Washington, D.C. has a population of 572,059.
• Wyoming has a population of 493,782.
• DC has no Senators, and a shadow Representative in the House. The shadow Representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton, votes in comittee, and does not return phone calls or emails.
• Wyoming has two Senators and one “normal” Representative.
• All of Wyomings Representatives are white, Protestant, and Republican.
• Funding for DC is controlled by the Senate Appropriations Committee for the District of Columbia.
• The chairman of this committee, Sam Brownback, is objectively christofascist.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night for DCDL at Mark and Orlando’s. We had a great crowd!

Please come out for the DCDL pub crawl tomorrow night in Adam’s Morgan.

6:30-8PM We gather at Kokopoolies 2305 18th St. NW
Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan (Red Line)

8PM until close the Reef-2446 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202-518-3800 Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan (Red Line)

Keep an eye out for DL members wearing “I Only Drink Liberally” buttons (available for $2-3 donation from D-Lib Keith)

Did you know that every four years since 1977, Virginia has elected a governor from the party that is not in the White House? That’s a good omen for candidate Tim Kaine and the Virginia Democrats this year. And NEXT is looking for people to help keep the streak going. NEXT was known in 2004 for organizing bus trips from DC to West Virginia for volunteers to register and mobilize voters for the Democrats (and helping to increase Democratic turnout by nearly 40 percent in the two counties they visited).

Now they’re setting their sights on Virginia, according to their latest e-mail announcement. They don’t seem to be updating their website as well as they should at the moment, so I’ve copied the message below.

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Donald Rumsfeld gave an interview to the BBC recently that’s made a few headlines, but (what a surprise!) not in the US media. In it he said, “I think the US is notably unskillful in our communications and our public diplomacy.” Now that won’t be news to anyone who’s been paying attention during the last four years, but it is unusual to hear a member of the Bush administration admitting a flaw.

The problem, of course, is that the flaw being admitted isn’t a failure of planning or policy, only a failure of communication. If only the administration were better at getting across what it was trying to do, Rumsfeld is saying, then surely people would understand and support it. So if anyone opposes what Bush is doing, it must be because they’re misunderstanding it.

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Each week Drinking Liberally produces some great poems:

The Senate takes the obvious step
and tries to condemn lynching –
there are oblivious GOPpers who still say No.

A Dem & GOPper point out the obvious:
our policy in North Korea isn’t working
– and oblivious W. refuses to listen.

Terri Schiavo’s autopsy finds there had been
severe, irreparable brain damage — “Dr.” Frist
still claims she had no right to die with dignity.

And Dean says DeLay should go to jail,
…& the Republicans keep him as their leader.

By now we’re used to the tenor of the news:
the battle between the Obvious vs. the Oblivious

Obviously, it’s time to escape the oblivious
and join like-minded left-leaners
at our weekly Democratic drinking club.

At the American Street, eRobin has some local news:

As of now it looks like Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) will be allowed by the Republicans to hold his hearings into pre-war planning and propaganda in the Capitol instead of in a room in the DNC building. Let freedom reign, huh? Of course who knows what tricks Tex Sensenbrenner has up his sleeve. He may interrupt the proceedings to bang his shoe on a table or cut the mics.

Starting at 2:30pm ET, C-Span will be covering the hearings, forum, whatever the Republicans are forcing them to be called. If you live in or near D.C., you can join in the post-hearing/forum march (it’s a march!!) from Lafayette Square Park to the White House to deliver Conyers’ letter to BushCo. The letter has over 540,000 signatures - a big, peaceful march to deliver it would be a beautiful thing.

Maybe a weenie roast afterward? Maybe a mock impeachment? Maybe a real one? (No, I’m not holding my breath.)

Don’t forget tomorrow night we are at a NEW location Mark and Orlando’s, 2020 P Street NW (Red Line-Dupont Circle). The heat wave is supposed to break and the weather will be beautiful. Please stop by and help us get a great turn out. See you Thursday night 6:30-8:30!

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