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| February 7, 2007 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth, insurgent49 Federal Contractors, Pass the Turkey!
“Can
you imagine fifty people a day walking in singin’ a bar of
Alice’s Restaurant and walking out? And friends, they may think
it’s a movement.”
— Arlo Guthrie
I parked the car, stepped into a dimming evening light, and looked for place to hide the key. Below me, a cliff dropped off into a forest glade, a gray beach and a still ocean. In the leafless brush of the gulch I noticed a heap of trash … rusted bicycle, black plastic bags, tires. I turned and began a slow run down the gravel road that wound between forest and ocean. As I jogged, I thought about Arlo Guthrie’s song about Alice’s Restaurant, where you can get anything you want (exceptin’ Alice). After a Thanksgiving dinner “that couldn’t be beat,” Guthrie throws trash from his VW microbus off a cliff and is arrested by a Barney Fife-style cop, taken before a judge, and presented evidence … 27 eight-by-ten color glossy photos of the scene of the crime. Guthrie’s muse is, ultimately, an anti-war song. “I’m sittin’ here on the Group W bench ‘cause you want to know if I’m moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein’ a litterbug,” Guthrie tells a sergeant. As I’m thinking about the morality of dumping trash, a truck speeds by, a shiny, bruised-eye black extended cab with tinted windows. It kicks up gravel and accelerates. On the radio, before I pulled over and saw the trash pile, I heard about Bush’s budget for his wars, $245 billion. It sounded like the Democrats will hardly glance at the war money because they don’t want to be accused, as they were during the Vietnam War, of not supporting our troops. “But most of the money isn’t going to the troops, it’s going to Halliburton!” I yelled at the radio. “Remember them?” Where is Congress with its eight-by-ten color glossies? Will the Democrats sing, “you can get anything you want from George Bush’s budget bill (exceptin’ Dickie)” in four-part harmony? Though instinctively annoyed by it, I told myself I would use litter to remind me of wasteful war spending. Federal contracts, according to the New York Times, “soared during the Bush administration to about $400 billion last year from $207 billion in 2000, fueled by the war in Iraq, domestic security and Hurricane Katrina, but also by a philosophy that encourages outsourcing almost everything government does.” Even the federal agency charged with investigating the fraudulent activity of contractors paid a contractor (at the rate to taxpayers of $104 an hour) to inspect the department’s claims, the Times reported. Outsourcing has led to a Halliburtonian “fourth branch of government.” After forty minutes, winded, I shuffled back to my car. It was darker and the trash pile below the ledge was invisible. I turned the key, flipped on the lights, turned down the radio and drove home, singing along the way, “You can get anything you want from Bush’s budget bill (exceptin’ Dickie)”. Now to find fifty more. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. 'Red Alert' appears on insurgent49.com every Wednesday. |
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January 31, 2007 January 24, 2007 January 17, 2007 January 10, 2007 January 3, 2007 December 27, 2006 December 20, 2006 December 13, 2006 December 6, 2006 November 29, 2006 November 21, 2006 November 10, 2006 November 3, 2006 October 27, 2006 October 20, 2006 October 13, 2006 October 6, 2006 September 29, 2006 September 22, 2006 September 15, 2006 September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 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 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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