| August 4, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 Recently, our beloved Senator "Uncle" Ted Stevens made a giant ass of himself in a Senate Commitee meeting on 'Net Neutrality'. You've surely heard the refrain by now ... "It's a series of TUBES!" ... Jon Stewart is having a lot of fun with it. The whole episode, and the subsequent debate on whether Sen. Stevens' cheese has slipped off his cracker, reminds me of a similar Senate rant that got a bit out of control. It was last December, and the subject was ANWR ... check it out ... 
It’s been a pillorous week here at Insurgent Headquarters.I’m feeling an ounce of remorse at the moment. But just an ounce. Over the last couple of weeks, there has been no bigger topic on the radio show than the childish antics and bullying tactics of Senator “Uncle” Ted Stevens. Most of the discussion has little to do with the issue at hand (Uncle Ted’s attaching ANWR drilling to the Defense/Katrina Relief bill), and everything to do with the man himself. Uncle Ted, of late, has made himself even more of a lightning rod than usual. And I have not been able to resist joining the chorus from across the state and the country calling for a stop to his out-of-control behavior. "In the last month or two months, I've been pilloried by almost every newspaper in this country because of what's been said on this floor," said Ted in the Senate, immediately after his ANWR provision was stricken from the defense bill, "I've been called a liar. I've been told I violated the rules. I've been told I did things in the middle of the night when no one knew it. I ask the Senate, is that right? Should I lose the reputation I've gotten for 37 years in the Senate?" A fair question, to be sure. Is it fair to ‘pillory’ Uncle Ted, when it is undeniable that he has done an incredible amount of good for Alaska? Just when I’m about to answer, “Hell YES, it is!”, I read a story like this. And then I remember that Uncle Ted was a pilot with the Flying Tigers during WWII, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses. And then I recall that, in 1978, he survived a horrific plane crash at the airport that is now named after him, which killed five people, including his wife. That Uncle Ted is one tough son of a bitch. And then there’s the bounty ... airports, highways, hospitals, schools, radio and TV stations ... the list is as long as the Alcan, and everywhere Alaskans look, in all corners of the state, we can see what Ted has brought us. It matters little whether we call all of this stuff ‘pork’ or not ... the benefits of his work in the Senate will survive him and all of the rest of us, leaving a tremendous foundation on which our children can build. I’ve never met Ted Stevens. I’ve never had the opportunity to sit down and talk with him, like I have so many other politicians and Alaskan leaders. Perhaps if I did, I would be able to relate to the stories, like the one linked above, about how Ted Stevens did everything he could to help a community, or a family, or a friend when they needed it most. Instead, the only story I have about Ted Stevens is this one: A friend of mine, who had just returned from a humanitarian mission in Palestine, got into an argument with Ted Stevens at Humpy’s in downtown Anchorage. She accused him of being unsympathetic to the plight of Palestinians. He accused her of being "brainwashed". The exchange got progressively louder and more heated until Senator Stevens, red in the face with anger, reached out his hand and jabbed two fingers into her chest, forcing her backward. This was a couple of years ago ... right around the time when Uncle Ted’s behavior in Washington started to take a turn for the bizarre. First he was ‘clinically depressed’. Then he was threatening to retire if the “bridges to nowhere” didn’t get their earmarks (they didn’t and neither did he). Then he acted the part of ‘enabler’ to a sorry group of deceitful oil company execs, allowing them to boldly lie to Congress. And now, with his cheap and mean-spirited trick of attaching ANWR drilling to a hurricane relief bill at the last possible second, Ted Stevens has gone too far. He is an embarrassment to all Alaskans and he should make good on his promise to retire. Only then will we be able to truly honor his legacy, untarnished by his actions of late. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com |
-
Columnists -
- column archive -
July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 28, 2005 April 21, 2005 April 14, 2005 April 7, 2005 April 1, 2005 |
|||||||
| Copyright 2005
Insurgent Media.
All rights reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
||||||||
