Angie's List and Rush Limbaugh

On April 22, 2012, I sent the following email to Angie's List:

Subject:     advertising on Rush Limbaugh
Why does a company started by a woman support a man who has proven his misogyny again and again? If Angies List does not cease advertising on the EIB network, I will have to end my business relationship with you.

On April 24, 2012, I received the following reply:

Hello John,


Thanks very much for contacting us to share your thoughts about Rush Limbaugh. I'm sorry for the delay in our response.


Our advertising strategy is to use as many venues as possible to share information about the service we provide at Angie’s List. We use this wide array of venues not to express support for any specific person, outlet or philosophy but to reach as many consumers from as many points of view as possible.


We place ads on all the major networks and cable outlets, as well as radio and newspapers, reaching outlets that cover the gamut of conservative to moderate to progressive to liberal. On any given day, we’ll hear negative reaction to our choices from each part of that spectrum, most of them protesting that we do not support their particular issue or that we do support another.


Just as we trust members to read reports and make their own decisions about which service companies to hire, we trust them to make their own choices about which outlets to watch, listen to and read. We don’t believe it’s our job to tell them which of those venues to support or monitor. That said, we have ongoing conversations about where to place our ad dollars, and we’ll certainly add your comments to that discussion.


Thanks again for reaching out, John. I hope you can appreciate our strategy of inclusiveness.


Ashley Arthur
Written Correspondence
Angie's List

 To which I replied:

"Inclusiveness"?


What a strange word to apply to a narrow-minded, racist, misogynist person like Rush Limbaugh.


Please cancel my membership.

Here's how you can cancel your membership:

Online: Via the Contact Us page
Phone: (866) 623-6088
Mail: Attn: Member Services, 1030 E Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46202
Fax: (866) 670-5478
Please include your name, address and phone number in any written cancellation requests so that we can identify your account. Your cancellation request must be received no later than 5 pm on the day prior to any scheduled renewal payment date, which can be found on the My Account page. Annual memberships are backed by our 110% satisfaction guarantee. Sorry, no refunds for monthly memberships.

This American Life Live events May 10

Drinking Liberally Cincinnati and Drinking Liberally Northern Kentucky are holding a series of joint events on Thursday, May 10, to coincide with Bike Month and This American Life Live.

 First event is a leisurely bike ride starting from two locations: Hyde Park Square and in front of the Rec Center at UC at 5PM on May 10. The rides will meet and join forces at 5:30 at DeSales Corner in East Walnut Hills at 5:30, and then proceed on to Newport on the Levee. Please RSVP to cincinnati@drinkingliberally.org if you're taking part in the ride.  Here's the Bike Month calendar event for the ride.

The next event will be dinner at Dewey's Pizza in Newport on the Levee at 6PM. Please RSVP to cincinnati@drinkingliberally.org if you're going to be dining with us. You don't need to bike with us to dine with us!

At 7:30, we'll head to the theater to watch the live simulcast of a special This American Life.. You can buy your tickets ahead of time on Fandango or at the theater, and it's recommended because these events are so cool they always sell out.

I hope you can join us for what will be a fun set of events!

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.