Tag: International Workers Day

Red menace

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 6 Comments
The intersection of Trails 341 and 342. I like to hang a left here
(because of course I do) and do a clockwise loop that tops out at the wilderness boundary.

There’s Revolution and there’s revolution.

With the masses otherwise occupied for May Day 2018, and all my rousing calls to action going to voicemail, I settled for a bit of the lower-case variety, pulling on the red-and-black Mad Dog Media kit, stuffing red water bottles into their cages, and rolling out for a short spin on the people’s trails.

Comrade Red Cap keeps the people’s air where it belongs.

There’s more than one way to lose a chain, and I know most of them. I lost one on Sunday after a rear puncture and got good and greasy (the Voodoo Nakisi has horizontal dropouts that open to the rear, and it’s easy to get filthy removing and replacing the rear wheel).

On Monday I punctured again, this time the front. It was a slow leak, like the proletariat losing political power, and I was able to make it home without overthrowing the bourgeois wheel.

But today, International Workers Day, went off without a hitch. Maybe it was the red valve caps.

 

Power to the pee-pole!

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments

RFD-BugI was casting around this morning for some appropriate socialist content to post on International Workers Day, but May Day 2016 seems light on revolutionary news.

So instead, here’s the latest edition of Radio Free Dogpatch, in which the proletariat (portrayed by Mister Boo) is oppressed by his bladder.

And remember, kids: When you’re smashing the State, don’t forget to keep a smile on your lips, a song in your heart, and a mop within reach.

Useful links

• Manzano Animal Clinic, which did the surgery.

• The New Orleans Jazz Festival, which did not.

• Elvis Costello. This Elvis has mos def not left the building.

• Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Good God, are they still at it?

• Recipes: None worth mentioning this week. Whenever Herself hits the road, I generally give myself a break from semi-elaborate cookery.

 

Comrades, come rally

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments

 Happy International Workers Day!

• Shiny objects, si; child care, health care, no.

• Guns, si; butter, no.

• Flipping burgers is the new black.

• Your papers!

• No, really, your papers!

• Losing the spirit of May Day.

• Turks defy ban on May Day rallies.

• An uncomradely copyright on Marx and Engels.

• Tim Carpenter’s politics of radical inclusion.

• May Day, then and now.

More rabble-rousing as I find it.

Arise, ye workers from your slumber

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 21 Comments

It’s International Workers Day, comrades! If you can’t make your local Smash the State rally (there doesn’t appear to be one in Bibleburg, surprise, surprise), then sing along with Alistair Hulett and Jimmy Gregory. And a-one, and a-two, aaaaaand. …

While we’re awaiting the inevitable proletarian triumph over the slavemasters of Wall Street, let’s have a list of your favorite working-class anthems in comments. Here are a few of mine:

• “Joe Hill,” by Paul Robeson.

• “Which Side Are You On?,” by Billy Bragg.

• “All You Fascists Are Bound To Lose,” by Woody Guthie.

• “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?,” by Tom Waits.

• “The Red Flag,” by Jim Connell.

• “The Sergeant and Arthur McBride,” by Paul Brady.

• “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” by Utah Phillips.

• “Christmas In Washington,” by Steve Earle.

• “I’m Changing My Name To Fannie Mae,” by Arlo Guthrie.