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Drinking Liberally MKE: coming 02/20/12!

Zach W — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:43:52 +0000

Here’s some news on this month’s Drinking Liberally meeting here in MKE:

Hi Folks:

Just a friendly reminder that at this month’s meeting we’ll be joined by a very special guest, as Mike McCabe, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, will join us to talk about the vital role his organization plays in serving as a clean government watchdog. We’re excited to have Mike join us, and we hope you’ll mark your calendars to join us for what promises to be a lively discussion.

Here are the details for our February meeting:

When: Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 7:00 p.m.
Where: Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe, 101 W. Mitchell Street

We hope to see you next month!

Zach, Ed, and the MKE Drinking Liberally crew

I hope to see you there, because it should be a great time!

Mahlon Mitchell to speak at Drinking Liberally Waukesha on March 5th

Lisa Mux — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:35:27 +0000

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mahlon Mitchell, and not just because he’s a firefighter, the head of Wisconsin’s firefighters association, and a leader who has fought like hell against Walker’s decimation of collective bargaining rights. I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Mitchell a few times over the past several months, and I have found his candor, sense of humor, and humble nature to be refreshing. Whether or not he runs against Walker for governor remains to be seen; either way, we’re extremely excited to have him speak at Drinking Liberally Waukesha on March 5^th, 2012!

Mitchell lends a helping hand at Fighting Bob Fest

Dick Pas to talk “extreme opinion radio” at January’s Drinking Liberally Waukesha (UPDATED 12/31/11)

Lisa Mux — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:04:30 +0000

(UPDATED 12/31/11: Due to this year’s Rose Bowl schedule, we will still gather on 1/2, same time, same place, but we won’t have a speaker. Dick Pas will speak on 2/6 instead. Thanks, and Happy New Year!)

When I mention that Dick Pas is our guest speaker at the next Drinking Liberally Waukesha, the most common response is “Who?” While Dick Pas may not have the name recognition of Sly or Mike McCabe, he has played a vital role in the advancement of the Progressive Movement here in Waukesha County over the past several years. Pas even ran against Joel Kleefisch (R) in Assembly District 38-twice. And as the newly elected chair of the Waukesha County Democratic Party, Pas will prove instrumental in helping turn Waukesha blue in 2012. Okay, purple. Ish.

Don’t let Dick Pas’ corduroy blazers and affable personality fool you; he’s one tough dude. As a former Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, Dick Pas holds degrees in Economics and Law, owned a Wisconsin firm, and worked as an attorney for the U.S. Small Business Administration. He lives in Oconomowoc and is an avid hunter and fisherman. (If not for his political leanings, Dick Pas would be the Wisconsin GOP’s poster boy.)

One topic that gets Pas really fired up is the role of the right-wing media in local and national politics, specifically, “extreme opinion radio.” Pas recently told me, “The harassment of petition signature gatherers continues in Waukesha County, an appreciable portion of it fueled by extreme opinion radio. You can tell it’s extreme opinion radio when it incites harassment and doesn’t mention that the right to petition government is one of our nation’s founding principles. Definitely time to close that most unfortunate chapter in American history.”

I’ll drink to that!

To meet Dick Pas and hear him speak more extensively about extreme opinion radio and what we can do about it, join us for Drinking Liberally Waukesha on January 2, 2012, at Sprizzo Caffe’. Plan to arrive early, because if 2012 DLW is anything like 2011 DLW, the room will fill up quickly.

Dick Pas (Photo from Wisconsinvote.org)

Drinking Liberally Waukesha Tonight!

Phil Scarr — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:09:53 +0000

Just a reminder that Drinking Liberally Waukesha is tonight at 6:30pm at Sprizzo Caffe in downtown Waukesha. Our special guest will be Mike McCabe from The Democracy Campaign. Please join my co-host, Lisa Mux. and myself for an engaging evening of politics in the heart of GOPland.

Monday, December 5th, 2011: 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Location(s)

Sprizzo Caffe

363 W Main Street

Waukesha, WI, 53186

United States

We have a very special guest for the December edition of Drinking Liberally Waukesha. Mike McCabe from The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign will join us to talk about the work that he and the center do to promote clean and open government in Wisconsin. Needless to say, it’s been an uphill battle recently!

Please join us for this month’s meeting and bring a friend! We will have recall petitions to sign for those who haven’t had a chance yet.

Lisa and I look forward to seeing you at this important meeting.

When: December 5th, 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Where: Sprizzo Caffe, Downtown Waukesha

Drinking Liberally MKE: coming next week Monday with a very special guest

Zach W — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:46:12 +0000

Greetings one and all!

It’s hard to believe, but in just one short week we’ll get together for our November meeting. I’d like to invite you all to join the Milwaukee Drinking Liberally crew at Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe for our November get-together, and as usual, we’ll be meeting at the Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe in Milwaukee.

I’m pleased to announce that next week we’ll be joined by a very special guest, as Sly from WTDY’s “Sly in the Morning” will be joining us!

As always, there’s no telling what other special guests might show up unannounced, but no matter who shows up I hope you’ll join us, because it’s sure to be a great time with great people!

When: Monday, November 21, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe, 101 W. Mitchell Street

Regards,

Zach, Ed, and the rest of the Milwaukee Drinking Liberally Crew

Drinking Liberally Waukesha Kickoff a Huge Success!

Phil Scarr — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:20:24 +0000

It’s hard to believe that in the heart of Waukesha, a group of liberals and progressives can gather to talk politics.

Who knew there were so many politically active liberals there? We’ve been told over and over and over again that Waukesha is completely Red (not in a good way, though) and that there simply aren’t any liberals there. Well, if last night’s turnout was any indication, it’s much more purple than Don Taylor might care to admit.

The First Ever Drinking Liberally Waukesha

The speaker for this first meeting was John “Sly” Sylvester from WTDY in Madison. He talked for about half-an-hour about the mess in Madison, the crippling of our democracy and the need to recall Walker. He reminded people that in the not too distant past, there were Republicans who were reasonable people. They had ideas, some good and some bad, but they had them. Now we have mouthpieces for corporate legislation machines (ALEC) and special interests (Koch Industries). He’s a great speaker (being a radio guy) and the Waukesha crowd loved him.

Sly talks with Drinking Liberally Waukesha

We started in the upstairs room at Sprizzo Caffe but as the crowd grew, we quickly overflowed it and had to move to the restaurant below.

This is what’s known as a “good problem to have.” We “Occupied” the whole restaurant and the group spread out and talked politics: local, state and national. There were folks from all over Waukesha county including Brookfield, New Berlin, Oconomowoc, and Delafield. Lisa, my co-host, and I could not believe how well the event worked out.

#OccupySprizzoCaffe

We got the group together at the end for a photo to commemorate this historic meeting of liberals, progressives and others in the heart of Waukesha.

The First Drinking Liberally Waukesha!

It was a remarkable evening, both for the people in attendence as well as the place where we met; in the heart of Waukesha. What we’ve started is the process of turning Waukesha Blue.

Drinking Liberally Waukesha meets on the first Monday of every month at 6:30pm at Sprizzo Caffe.

We’re having a special meeting on Saturday, November 12th at 6:30pm at Sprizzo Caffe for a talk / discussion with Scott Wittkopf of the Badger Democracy blog and author of Blame Waukesha.

And on December 5th, our 2nd “official” meeting at 6:30pm at Sprizzo, we’ll welcome Mike McCabe from The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign who will talk about the destruction of Wisconsin’s progressive heritage and what we can do to stop it.

Hey Don Taylor! Watch out!

We’re coming up fast on your left!

Mike McCabe Speaks to Drinking Liberally Fort Atkinson

Phil Scarr — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:40:36 +0000

Last Thursday night, Mike McCabe, Executive Director of The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign managed to find his way to Fort Atkinson for the monthly Drinking Liberally Fort Atkinson and spent more than two hours talking about the destruction of Wisconsin’s long tradition of open and honest government at the hands of the modern Republican Party.

Mike spent a lot of time outlining the history of Wisconsin party politics and I found his stories both disturbing and inspiring. The most significant take away? Politics is a long game that spans decades and generations.

He told us that bribery of public officials in Wisconsin was legal until 1897. He related this in terms of the story of Byron Kilbourn, a Milwaukee railroad baron who wanted to build a rail line between Milwaukee and La Crosse. In 1851 he received a charter to build the railroad between Milwaukee and La Crosse, the route would take the train through what is now the Wisconsin Dells. So rather than go to each property owner along the right-of-way he took a different path. He bribed his way to success.

Using what was then astronomical sums of cash, Kilbourn literally bought the Assembly, Senate and Governor and had them use the state’s power of eminent domain to appropriate the land for his railroad. Remember, this was perfectly legal at the time.

This triggered a huge backlash by the populace as you might imagine and they threw all the bums out in the next election. But it triggered a movement to change the laws. But that change took many years to get into place. It wasn’t until Robert M. “Fighting Bob” La Follette, Sr. came to office that final action was taken on the bribery law. That was 1897.

This parable is an important one because it teaches us that change takes time. Decades, even. ALEC and the other rightwing “think” tanks were established back in the 1970s and they’re just now coming into their own. It’s going to take an equally long time to wind down the damage they’ve done. So we must continue to work to drive change, continue to push against the reactionary right and keep the struggle alive.

Fernand Braudel, the French Annales School historian, used what he called le longue durée, the long term, to study history. He and the other Annales School historians believed that the comings and goings of historical actors aren’t nearly as important as changes in the underlying structures which underpin society. They rejected the “great man” school of history in favor of a broader and deeper historiography. And it is changes in the social and economic structures of society which merit historical study. We, as political players, must plan for that long term view.

The ultimate demise of Walker’s governorship (at the hands of the recall voters or the U.S. Attorney) is not the end game. There is no end-game to history or politics. There are only the values that we on the left all share and that we fight for while the opposition pushes back. We have to muster the energy and the drive to push harder than them. We must build the infrastructure necessary to sustain our side for the long term. And we must use it to sustain our push for the long, long game we’re playing.

Coming 10/17/11 – October’s Drinking Liberally!

Zach W — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:17:19 +0000

Here’s the details on this month’s Drinking Liberally:

Greetings one and all!

I’d like to invite you all to join the Milwaukee Drinking Liberally crew at Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe for our October get-together. As usual, we’ll be meeting the third Monday of the month, which happens to be next Monday, October 17th.

We’re pleased to announce we’ll be joined at October’s get-together by Milwaukee aldermanic candidate Jan Pierce, who’s challenging incumbent Ald. Tony Zielinski.

As always, there’s no telling what other special guests might show up unannounced, as we were joined at September’s meeting by a number of local elected and party officials.

I hope you’ll join us, because it’s sure to be a great time with great people!

When: Monday, October 17, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe, 101 W. Mitchell Street

The Most Shocking Badger State News EVAH!

Phil Scarr — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:14:03 +0000

Are you sitting down? Are you prepared? Can you take the pressure????

Drinking Liberally Waukesha is officially GAME ON!

Yes, that’s right. That was not a misprint. You read that correctly. In the Heart of Darkness there is now a tiny beacon of hope.

Waukesha Wonk (Lisa) and I have officially chartered a Drinking Liberally Waukesha chapter and our first meeting will be at:

Sprizzo Caffe
363 W Main Street
Waukesha, WI
Monday, November 7th at 6:30pm and the first Monday of the month from then on.

Please come and join us for beer and politics!

There is a Facebook group to track the comings and goings. The official Drinking Liberally site should be up tonight.

Waukesha happily joins these other fine Wisconsin Drinking Liberally chapters: Fort Atkinson, Kenosha, Madison, Middleton, Milwaukee, Newville & Racine.

Drinking Liberally – now in Fort Atkinson!

Zach W — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:40:17 +0000

From my email inbox comes some great news….Drinking Liberally has expanded to Fort Atkinson!

Madisonites and Milwaukeeans can meet in the middle (but way left of center!) at Drinking Liberally at the Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson. We gather the first Thursday of every month at 7pm. Next DL is Oct. 6 and on Nov. 3 we’re welcoming special guest Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Please join us!