Gahan eats a Danish, installs campaign finance-themed pedestrian crossing signals.

The Green Mouse received a link from a friend: Danish city installs Viking-themed pedestrian crossing signals (text below). What happened next was very predictable.

It's 2:00 a.m., and a phone rings near Main Street, muffled by the ornamental grasses in a nearby median.

"See here, Rosenbarger. This Viking crosswalk light thingy has potential. Didn't the Vikings raid and pillage everywhere they went? That's some really good shit, but $150 to convert the lights? Say what? How do those Danish mayors get their families to Disney World twice a year on $150? Look, some of our Special Friends can do these for at least $500 each, although you need to make sure we're getting the volume warehouse discount for $100 actual cost, then we can convert every light in the city and put those cute anchors on them -- wait, that's no fun, how about my FACE on each one?

"HAH! That Chowchewsku guy never managed THAT, did he?"

Now for the straight dope.

Danish city installs Viking-themed pedestrian crossing signals

Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A city in Denmark is celebrating its Viking heritage by replacing the crosswalk signal lights with the images of the historic Scandinavian warriors.

The city of Aarhus, which was founded by Vikings in the 8th century, unveiled the first of the Viking-themed crossing signals Monday. The city is planning to install the lights at 17 crossings in the city.

Buenyamin Simsek, a councilor in the Aarhus city planning department, pitched the scheme early in the year and the Moesgaard Museum, located just outside of the city, teamed up with officials to bring the idea to fruition.

Officials said each walking signal costs about $150 to convert.

"The Nordic countries aren't socialist. But they're still a living, breathing falsification of the US right's anti-socialist talking points."

Apparently written by real Danes.

The Real Denmark, by Andreas Møller Mulvad and Rune Møller Stahl (Jacobin)

The Nordic countries aren't socialist. But they're still a living, breathing falsification of the US right's anti-socialist talking points.

 ... What Denmark Is and Isn’t

Denmark is not a socialist country. While it has a strong welfare state and strong unions that make life better for the average citizen (and in the 1970s there was an abortive push to partially socialize industry through wage-earner funds), ownership of the economy remains predominately in private hands. Denmark even suffers from its share of corporate governance scandals. Currently, the country’s leading bank, Danske Bank, is embroiled in what might be the largest case of financial whitewashing in world history.

What Denmark does show is that there are no economic barriers to high taxation, high social spending, and high unionization. Social democracy, contrary to Regan and other right-wing ideologues, does not yield mass unemployment or economic ruin. It’s yielded some of the highest standards of living and freest countries the world has ever seen. Poverty and inequality are relatively low, gender equality (not least because of the welfare state) is comparatively high, and workers have more rights and say on the job than in the US.

Denmark is not unique. Each of the Scandinavian countries have attained similar levels of social equality despite having quite different economies. While Sweden has always been dominated by mining and heavy industry (with industrial giants like Volvo and Bofors figuring prominently), Denmark has relied on agriculture and smaller industrial firms, Norway has been fishing- and timber-heavy, and so on.

Despite these different economic profiles, over the course of the twentieth century all of the Nordics managed to drastically reduce wage inequality and decommodify substantial parts of the economy. The key was unions, popular movements, and left parties. It was these mass forces — not benevolent elites, carefully weighing the alternatives before deciding on an enlightened mix of capitalism and socialism — who were the architects and impetus behind the Nordic model. They are the ones responsible for making the Nordic countries among the happiest and most democratic in the world ...

Scandinavia: Social democracy and the dignity of work ... "driving the policies that facilitate it."

Dignity? At work? It seems as though Americans have determined to make entry-level jobs as unrewarding as possible, perhaps as an impetus for pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, and whatever.

Social democracy and the dignity of work: The U.S. must learn from Scandinavian “utopias” for Bernie’s revolution to move forward, by David Dayen (Salon)

Sweden and Denmark provide the roadmap for the U.S. and progressives in how to treat workers

... You understand more about Sweden by seeing men with strollers in Stockholm neighborhoods at 2:00 in the afternoon than by reading any white papers on social spending. Those men have an expectation of work/family balance that allows them to bond with their offspring and be an equal partner in child-rearing. The policy comes after that expectation takes hold in the public consciousness ...

... Every single receipt in Denmark and Sweden breaks down the percentage of payment that goes to taxes. And the public also sees what they get in return. Central Copenhagen is engaged in a 3-year construction effort to build more subway lines. In Kongens Nytorv, one of the city’s main squares, people are invited to step onto a riser and watch the construction in progress. Connected to the riser are reams of information about the cost of the operation, and how it will impact individual commutes. All cities try to tout their local improvement projects, but perhaps only in Denmark are you invited to watch workers working, and receive a direct cost-benefit breakdown of their labor.

Denmark, America and democratic socialism.

I didn't watch the Democratic presidential debate ...

Guess Who Else Is a Socialist?, Timothy Egan (New York Times)

One of the side benefits of a well-watched national political debate is the exposure it brings to something obscure and forgotten — like Denmark. Who doesn’t love a country that gave us a dish of frikadeller and rugbrod to go with paid parental leave and universal health care?

 ... but I love Denmark, and have spent more time there than anywhere else in Europe, with the exception of Slovakia and possibly Germany. Here is a reflection from our most recent visit in 2009.

Today's Tribune column: "One fine weekend in Copenhagen."

The crux of Egan's essay is this:

Once you label something socialist, it brings to mind dour Soviet types trotting out dreary worker clothing for the spring fashion line. Or, here at home, those insufferable parlor room Marxists who think it would be utopia if only we nationalized every Starbucks. In that sense, the worst thing about socialism is the socialists.

Free of the label, a hybrid economy where health care, education and pensions for the elderly are provided, side-by-side-by-side with creative capitalism, works pretty well in the Nordic countries, Britain and Canada. And most of the tenets of what is considered democratic socialism have majority support in the United States.

Finally, a "godless" beer. There are tears in my eyes.

I'm no longer in the habit of "reviewing" beers; for a deeper explanation, read "Time off for reinvention" at the Potable Curmudgeon blog.

My friend brought a bottle of Gudeløs to last Monday's tasting. It is brewed by the Bryggeriet Djævlebryg in Dennmark, and the beer itself is mighty tasty, but the story's even tastier.

Bryggeriet Djævlebryg and the Danish Atheist Society have entered into an unholy alliance and the result is "Godless": This first batch is a somehow accessible imperial stout with its 8.9% abv. It offers burnt notes from the malt mingled with sweet nuances and a warming depth from the alcohol. This brew is primarly aimed at members of the Atheist Society, but it will also be available in selected shops and bars. In these times, when companies are expected to show social responsibility, we in the brewery have decided to follow suit: For each bottle or draft sold we donate 1 Danish Krone to the Danish Atheist Society.

Talk about frustration -- why didn't I think of doing it? It's also ironic, given that later in the week, Pope Francis decided to publicly ponder atheism and conscience.

In comments likely to enhance his progressive reputation, Pope Francis has written a long, open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, stating that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences.

Progressive? Now now. Being an atheist with a conscience means never needing to be given advice by any of various popes.