Chess Move of the Day: the S&P Downgrade

Two of the remarkable characteristics of the Standard and Poor's downgrade of the USA are its completely evidence-free nature and how thoroughly the markets have ignored it. First, S&P makes a two trilion dollar error in its "justification" of the downgrade. When they're called on it, they simply remove any objective evidence from their analysis with a big middle finger aimed right at the US government. Then, as the stock markets open today, the big run into US Government debt begins, lowering the interest rates on new US debt issues.

Why would S&P do this? Well, if you remember the Abu Dhabi/Kings County fraud case, S&P and Moody's argued that they were not, in fact, committing fraud when they rated dog shit as investment grade, but were actually engaging in free speech.

What better way to demonstrate that the ratings you peddle are as worthless as, let's say, a random blogger's angry post than to call out the institution which helped bail out your entire industry with a laughably unjustified and ineffective downgrade? No one's going to listen to you--and they haven't--and you'll get to use it as evidence of the free speech nature of your business in any ongoing litigation.

Fucking 11-dimensional chess players, these guys.

DL cancelled tonight, 01/11/11

Due to the snow, we're cancellng Drinking Liberally tonight. See you next week at Fries!

Drinking Liberally District 2, 7:30PM Tuesday October 12 at Dutch's

Well, it's been a few months since we lost Hyde Park Tavern, and we've had a pretty good summer of Progressives in the Park and Eating Liberally.

But now it's time to start thinking about a new home for Drinking Liberally, District 2. So, on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 7:30PM, we'll be trying out a new location: Dutch's Bar and Bottle Shop in East Hyde Park.

Some of you may be familiar with the beer and wine store that Dutch's was and still is. In the past couple months, they purchased the building next store and added an intimate little bar with outdoor patio and bocce court.

In addition, they are dog-friendly (to friendly, well-behaved dogs, of course) and have a huge beer selection. For example, on the night I went there they had Unibroue Emphémère Apple on tap. Nice.

The one disadvantage of Dutch's it shares with Fries: they do not serve food. We'll be ordering out pizza from Hyde Park Pizzeria, which delivers right to Dutch's.

Dutch's is at 3378 Erie Avenue, right next to the Starbucks down from the corner of Marburg and Erie. The 69 bus stops right at Marburg and Erie, the 51 about three quarters of a mile away at Paxton and Erie and the 24 at Observatory and Shaw about one and a quarter miles away.

We hope to see you there!

German Pride Month - Oktoberfest Outrage!

So it's that time of year again.  All those people who choose to adopt the "German Lifestyle" come out of the woodwork and parade their "German-ness" around town.  Personally, I don't have a problem with a person who chooses to be German, but do they have to have a festival to rub it in our faces?  I mean, seriously, we don't get to have a non-german pride festival.  Last time I looked, we live in America and we only welcome Americans here!

Germans must be degenerate anyway.  First they can't spell "oKtober" properly; then they hold their October festival in September. German-ness is unsafe as well.  Adopting the German Lifestyle often leads to alcoholism, heart disease, dancing like chickens, and the desire to commit genocide.  Is this the type of people we want our children to see on the streets?   Keep your German behavior where it belongs, in your beer halls and in the privacy of your own homes.  We don't need to see it!


Honestly, no one really is born German anyway; it's a choice they make.  After all god created Adam and Eve, not Helmut and Helga.  They could just as easily choose to not be German and reject the love of sausages and wild drunken parties.

A Day with Kentucky's Senate Candidates

On Thursday September 3rd, both candidates for US Senator from Kentucky visited Northern Kentucky.  Rand Paul visited with members of the NKY Chamber of Commerce.  Jack Conway attended a rally at the opening of the Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign office in Erlanger.  I had an opportunity to attend both events and wanted to share my thoughts.

Disclaimer:  Drinking Liberally as an organization does not support or endorse any candidate.  The follow are my personal views on the two candidates.

Rand Paul Luncheon

My first visit with the candidates started with a luncheon for Rand Paul.  The luncheon was organized by Legacy, the young professional organization which is part of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.  The format for the forum was question and answer using pre-screened questions that were submitted by Legacy members.  The questions were asked of Dr. Paul by Northern Kentucky Enquirer politics reporter Amanda Van Benschoten.  Legacy had reserved seating for 80 persons but it appeared that a few tables had empty seats.  The event was free for legacy members and $25 for the general public.

If after reading my post on the event, if you would like to hear more, I've recorded audio from the event.  It's not the best quality recording but it's all there., all 38 mins of it.





When thinking about how best to write up a review of Rand Paul's discussion with Legacy, I thought the best way to present it would be using the old technique of the compliment sandwich.

Compliment 1:  During one discussion of cutting spending, Rand Paul became one of the very view Republican candidates I've heard that admitted that military spending needed to be examined and reduced when looking at total spending.

The Critism:  For the most part, Rand Paul did nothing to differentiate himself from other Republicans.  For someone who is portrayed by his supporters as a Washington outsider that is going to step in and make major changes in Washington, he continued to make the same promises that Republican's have been making for the last 30 years.  During the approximately 30 minutes of speaking he mentioned cutting taxes, smaller government, reducing spending, fighting for a balanced budget amendment, and term limits.  While his website admits that other Republicans have been unable to do things such as balancing the budget while in power, he does not provide any plan of his own to do this.

I took special notice of how, during one part of his speech, he cited the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation as credible sources.  I had my biggest "laff" when he cited the ideological thought experiment, the Laffer Curve as a source for his economic policy.

Again, in summary, same old Republican promises with the same old lack of a plan to deliver them.

Compliment 2:  Ummmm, Dr. Paul had a nice dark jacket / khaki pant combo going on that looked professional yet comfortable.

Jack Conway Event


The Jack Conway event had an different format and a different focus.   Attorney General Conway stopped by to rally supporters at the opening of the Kentucky Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign office in Erlanger.  The event featured several speakers.  First Julie Smith-Morrow, who is running for the State Senate seat in KY District 24, spoke about her campaign.  In addition, US House of Representative candidate in the 4th district, John Waltz, spoke to the crowd about his campaign to defeat Geoff Davis in November.

Jack Conway took spoke after a brief introduction.  His focus was on rallying the approximately 80 supporters and encouraging them to donate and sign up to volunteer for the campaign.  Jack Conway's speech focused on addressing some of the many areas where he and Rand Paul do not agrees.  Conway, as Attorney General, was especially animated when talking about Rand Paul's promise to cut funding for drug enforcement.  In addition, Jack Conway poked a little fun at a couple of incidents where Rand Paul couldn't remember why Harlan Kentucky was famous and seemed to think the town of Hazzard Kentucky was famous for the Duke's of Hazzard.

While there was not a lot of information on the issues involved in the campaign provided to those in attendance, the event was an excellent rally that served it's purpose of motivating his supporters.  While the conservative media in Cincinnati did not provide equal coverage of this event compared to the Rand Paul luncheon, it was clear that there were a large group of motivated individuals out who were ready to get to work on his campaign as well as the campaigns of John Waltz and Julie Smith-Morrow.

Fishy Business in Sustainable Seafood?

An opinion piece in this week's Nature (subscription required) and an interview on the Nature Podcast (begins at 13:19 in the player below) detail possible problems at the Marine Stewardship Council, a London-based independent organization which gives seafood a "blue seal" of approval for sustainability. The problems include a preference for certifying large fisheries, which are more scientifically difficult to prove sustainable; the continuing use by "sustainable" fishing operations of bottom-trawlers, which have been demonstrated to devastate ecosystems; and the continuing use of adjudicators--those who mediate disputes over sustainability--who are not trained in biology (one of them was an oil and gas lawyer, like the ones who negotiate with our friends at the Minerals Management Service). Another, separate issue is whether it is proper to mark as "sustainable" fish caught to feed farmed fish, like the krill caught to feed farmed salmon.

The problems may stem from the tremendous demands of Wal-Mart, which announced a plan in 2006 to work with the MSC to make all seafood sold in its stores sustainable.

The opinion piece proposes reforms to make the MSC use more biological science in making decisions, reduce non-scientific bureaucracy, decertify operations which use bottom trawlers, and focus on certifying less-scientifically-controversial, smaller fisheries.