Desert Rat was part of the Direct Action Network (DAN) blockades in Seattle that helped shut down the WTO ministerial. He subsequently met ILWU and Teamster workers when the unions split with other labor leaders and marched miles to downtown to aid radical activists who were getting beaten by the police. The ILWU also struck during the WTO meetings to demand the release of prisoners and in opposition to the WTO. "When the Tear Gas Fills the Sky" is Desert Rat's beautiful rallying cry from the Seattle protests. He was inspired by the drum-like sound of a washing machine while he washed the tear gas out of his clothes after the protests. "I will stand beside your shoulder when the tear gas fills the sky, and if a National Guardsman shoots me down I'll be looking him in the eye". He follows this with  "I Want to be an NGO", a humorous-yet-serious critique of what some have called the "Non-profit Industrial Complex". In this song he points many of the problems with NGO groups in radical movements, including a recent DAN non-violence code that included "no direct action". His critiques come with much experience and hard-to-argue evidence. As a ground-level activist and organizer, Desert Rat can pack a song like a book and leave even the most experienced radical questioning their past failures and successes. "Bloody Fascist Cargo Cans" also comes from the post-Seattle period, starting with the deadly 2001 Group of Eight (G8) protests in Genoa, Italy, which saw the police murder of 24 year-old Carlo Giuliani on July 21. The song describes how the ILWU workers refused to unload cargo from Italy in protest of the G8 and the murder of Carlo.

Desert Rat also gives us a few modern stories and news from the frontlines of various struggles. A cry for support comes in "Song for Jeff Hogg", who was recently released from prison after refusing to testify before a Grand Jury during the "Green Scare", a federal roundup up environmental and animal rights activists centering in the Cascadian Northwest. "Shanti Sellz & Daniel Strauss" is also a cry for support. Shanti and Daniel were arrested for saving the lives of migrants coming through the Mexican-American border, in defiance of unjust border laws. "And the day is fast approaching when we all will understand, that his thing called La Frontera is a curse on both our lands. It's construction by invasion, at the hands of Zachary, kept the slaves from running West into a land where they'd be free. And the slaves of Ancient Egypt had to cross a desert too. When we reach that land together, I will sing this song to you." The ILWU gave their support to the struggle and helped it succeed. "The Charleston Longshoremen" tells the story of the dockworkers in South Carolina's recent struggle and victory in defense of their union. As with Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, the ILWU gave it's national support to the Charleston workers and the workers fought hard to win. Desert Rat also weighs in on the destruction in New Orleans with "A Day of Judgment". "Oh let there be a day of judgment, oh there be a worldwide call. We charge the men who run this country, they left us here to die now may they fall." Desert Rat helped organize ILWU material aid to New Orleans survivors in Seattle, loading shipping crates with supplies and sending them down on boats from the Seattle docks. "The Six Stages of Homelessness" follows with a modern tale of the over-worked and under-paid member of society.

To add some humor and health into the album, Desert Rat gives us a glimpse of the life and humor of the Longshore Worker, with songs like "The Longshore Casuals' Song" and "The MOL Green Crocodile". The former being a walk through the daily work of a Longshore Worker, the latter a funny folk song straight from the docks of Seattle. "Second Shift" is an acapella tune about a Longshore Worker who desires the second shift, in the middle of the afternoon. Like many of Desert Rat's songs, it sounds like it could be a folk song from the labor movement in the 1890s.

The titled-track of the album is a glimpse at the romantic life of a full-time radical activist. "We'll be saying goodbye as we part in the morning, for work and for battle and risking our necks. But after we win this goddamn revolution, we're all going to have a lot more time for sex." To close the album, Desert Rat challenges anarchist and socialist alike to "Join the Labor Party", a political movement coming out of the Charleston Docks. As an outspoken supporter of anarchist movements, the song could easily find tension among some circles, but also presents a serious challenge. If we can create changes through a party of rank-and-file workers, why not?