DL special event: Book-signing with SEIU head Andy Stern 10/17

Drinking Liberally/Portland will host a book-signing party for Andy Stern, head of the SEIU, on Tuesday, October 17th, at 7pm, at the Lucky Lab Beer Hall, 1945 NW Quimby. (DL regulars take note: that's the new LL site in Northwest Portland not our regular meeting site or day!)

Stern's on tour promoting his new book, A Country That Works: Getting America Back on Track. He'll be mingling, giving a short talk, and signing copies of his book (there will be some copies for sale at the event, courtesy of Powell's Books.)

If you make your living at a wage-paying job--as opposed to, say, insider trading or currency speculation--you're going to be interested in what Stern has to say. He's a maverick (the real kind, not the McCain kind) who's made the Service Employees International Union the fastest growing union in North America by re-thinking the role of unions in America.

One of Stern's goals is to use union pressure--along with a surprising attempt at coalition-building with Fortune 500 companies--to force a serious re-examination of our pork-laden and inefficient health care system, with the aim of making quality, affordable health care available to every American, including the 43 million Americans who have no health insurance today.

The omnipresent Stern kicked off his book tour with a Tuesday night appearance on The Colbert Report. Watch the clip and get a good idea of what we're looking forward to. The book tour starts in Philadelphia tonight, and he'll be in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Seattle--all as prelude to his triumphant appearance here in Portland on the 17th.

Powell's Books (where A Country That Works is currently #1 on its updated-hourly best-seller list) will be hosting an event for Stern at noon on the 17th, at their Burnside store.

Stern will also be doing 15 minutes on the Thom Hartmann Program on the 16th (the day before his Portland gig). That's currently scheduled for 8am Pacific time, on KPOJ 620AM.

And if that's not enough--and how could it be, honestly?--he'll be discussing A Country That Works on the FireDogLake Book Salon the following Sunday the 22nd. If you still have questions or comments for Stern by the weekend, cruise on over to FDL and join in.

And if that's still not enough for you, you can check his blog over at the Huffington Post (although I'm not sure how much blogging he'll get done during the tour, but you never know).

Join DL in welcoming Andy Stern to Portland on Tuesday the 17th! Sample Lucky Lab's microbrews, rethink the role of labor in America, and help promote democracy, one pint at a time.