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| April 11, 2007 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth, insurgent49 C’mon, Chamber, Light My Fire
"I
hope [that] we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied
corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial
by strength and [to] bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Fairbanks tried to uncoil the tight knot of Ketchikan this week, yet it only managed to loosen a few strings. Willis Fireball played mightily. He sat in the Salmon Landing with his guitar, shaggy beard of a blond Cuban revolutionary, a lime doo-rag, olive green cut offs, strumming frantically, stamping a Birkenstocked foot, belting songs. Scott Spring, a local, tried to keep pace. Despite the wailing, Ketchikan remained clenched. Not much music comes through here. Maybe that’s part of the reason the Chamber of Commerce president claimed the club represents “70% of the (town’s) population.” He was angry, like so many others in the elite chamber, that a newly elected school board tossed out the superintendent, apparently a good friend of the established order down here. Chamber members bristled at the comments of the school board president when he addressed a recent luncheon. Meanwhile, a bloc of angry townspeople is trying recall the “hippy” school board members who voted to fire the superintendent. The conservative borough assembly has threatened to withhold funding to the district to punish its elected leaders. Personal vendettas: what would Fireball do? He played a song about I-25 in Albuquerque, one on “Carmen the Kebab Girl,” and bellowed to his fans, “I’ll be your New Year’s Adam, if you’ll be my New Year’s Eve.” I leaned back in my chair and, for a minute, I was at the bar in the Marlin, sweating off the Fairbanks cold ... Ketchikan politics gone as the blue smoke from the stage. The Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce represents 70% of population? Like other chambers, it more accurately represents the interests of the upper class. Most regular, working class folks, given the chance to attend one of the cultish meetings, would consider chamber views lunatic. Take minimum wage, for example. While most Americans support an increase in minimum wage (as evidenced by polls, electoral votes, and surveys), business circles are unequivocal in their opposition to raising the wage standard. To further say that chamber members represent the views of their employees is to recognize America as not a democracy, but an oligarchy or plutocracy. When this group tries (and sometimes succeeds) to craft legislation and laws in its interests, we slip dangerously closer to losing the diversity of views that are fundamental to a free, open and participatory society. Should employees have a right to differ from the views of employers, or family members have a right to differ from the person who pretends he or she “wears the pants?” Ketchikan needed that spark of Fireball this week. It’s too bad the other 70% weren’t there to listen. 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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April 4, 2007 March 28, 2007 March 21, 2007 March 14, 2007 March 7, 2007 February 28, 2007 February 21, 2007 February 14, 2007 February 7, 2007 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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