I'm the Canary

From the Shreveport Times:

WASHINGTON — An ongoing fight between the White House and the Democratic Congress over funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could lead to furloughs at many military bases, including Fort Polk.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told base commanders to come up with cost-cutting plans that include furloughing up to 100,000 civilian and contract workers. He called the plans "the least undesirable" of several options if the Pentagon runs out of money.

Thing is, and this is the way it should be, the military can't wait until the money is gone, they have already started cutting costs. And today I got a call canceling a job on an Army base that had been in the works for some time. Now, this is just one job, for a few thousand dollars, and it's not going to hurt me much, but some government contractors are just getting by as it is. That's government contractors, like the guy who started his own lawn maintenance company, or the self employed carpenter, not like Halliburton.

I expect there are some in government who think, "well, they're government contractors, screw um." That's because they have no clue who government contractors really are. They're voters.