DarkSyde Illuminated

Uber-blogger DarkSyde (aka ~DS~) has gained front-page status at the DailyKos. Watch that space for good stuff, as ~DS~ has displayed quite a gift for getting people interested in often-times arcane science and technical topics.

I salute him with a cartoon representing the final objective of the corporatist fundie cabal. How else could it turn out but through a virtual stranglehold over puritanic capitalism.

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Support the NY Transit strike. Yesterday, I bicycle commuted three miles each way in -7F weather. Deal with it, folks. From the LaborBlog comments:

Great post. I will say that it was incredibly refreshing to hear NPR describe folks walking across the Brooklyn Bridge this morning as chipper. So often media plays unwitting advocate for antilabor forces when they report on how the public is against strikes.

Wanna bet that the strike will provoke a few new commuters to join the pedal-power ranks? Monbiot provides a timely bit of advice on what we can expect as a backlash:

After the London bombings in July, he (Clarkson) observed that “many commuters are now switching to bicycles … can I offer five handy hints to those setting out on a bike for the first time. 1. Do not cruise through red lights. Because if I’m coming the other way, I will run you down, for fun. 2. Do not pull up at junctions in front of a line of traffic. Because if I’m behind you, I will set off at normal speed and you will be crushed under my wheels. ...”(6) Clarkson wants society out of his way when he’s driving, and he isn’t too particular about how it’s done. One day, one of his fans will take him seriously.

I fully expect us bicyclists to become the family dog, getting arbitrarily kicked silly because patriarch WingDad McNutt had a bad day at the office.

She (Maggie Thatcher) spoke of “the great car-owning democracy”, and asserted that “a man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure”(13).

Treated like a dog and then a failure. Pretty good fighting words there.