[dc-critmass-list] CBS Coverage of Feb. NYC Critical Mass

[Michael Ross]

At 11:32 PM 3/8/2006, you wrote:
> > Critical Mass in NYC (and Ive been on many of their rides;
> > theyre great! as well as the after-parties, etc.) has WON
> > every battle to date...but is clearly losing the war for
> > transportation sanity.
>
>=v= That "war" has been ongoing since before CM's existence
>and has been and continues to be fought by numerous parties.
>Your construction echoes the sentiments of this one guy, a
>former activist who couldn't work with others and is now in
>marketing, who's been all over the NYC press as The Community
>Activist With Concerns About CM.

I dont know this guy, the Community Activist with CM Concerns.  I do 
know that I see Cm as one of the most important social movements in 
America.  of course, there really aren't many social movements left 
(no pun intended), but that's another story...



>=v= Of course, they said exactly the same stuff about CM in
>San Francisco when we were dealing with police oppression
>there.  Now they're holding up San Francisco as "how it was
>done right" -- d'oh!

NYC is not San Fran.  Neither is Wash DC.  Context and locality 
matter mightily.


> > CM in NYC is about TORT reform in the USA...did you know
> > that???
>
>=v= Say what?  The City of NYC trying to stop CM with a lawsuit
>is only part of what CM is "about," not the whole of it.  The
>various court actions may have the effect of "reforming torts"
>in the pedantic sense of righting civil wrongs, but none of this
>has anything to do with the (generally corporate-backed) agenda
>that's usually meant by the words "tort reform."  Indeed, the
>whole point of "tort reform" is to restrict people like us from
>suing for what's right.
>     <_Jym_>

If the USa had tort reform along the lines of civil law in the EU, 
things would change big time, not just for CM but for a whole host of 
social issues. I agree with you about the reform on the agenda being 
driven by the right wing, and by corp. USA.  The kind of Tort reform 
I have mind is modeled on that in, say, England, or more 
impressive  Sweden or Holland (what backgrounds this choice:  Im a 
radical participatory democrat (used to be called socialist or left 
wing anarchist) who hates income stratification and wage differentials...)

best, mike

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