Striking Image At House Homeland Security Hearing

The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on the radicalization of Islam in America.  House Homeland Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-NY 3rd) has come under considerable scrutiny for holding these hearings which explore the linkage between the long war on terror and radicalized jihadist Muslims.

In the back of the Homeland Security Committee room now hangs a photograph of the Twin Towers on fire.  While the Democrats were in charge of the House, there were pictures of debris from the Twin Towers and the firefighters at the Pentagon.  Consistent with Bush Derangement Syndrome, then Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS 2nd) also displayed pictures from Hurricane Katrina. The change of power in the lower chamber sparked a change in artwork.

The framed burning Twin Towers image was clearly visible as many of the witnesses spoke.

Elected Democrats like Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX 18th) dismissed the hearings by Chairman King as being a waste of time, of which Rep. Jackson Lee would would be an expert. Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin mouthed the même that the hearings were racist, which seemed somewhat confused since Islam is a religion not a race and focused on real world behavior not metaphysical beliefs.  But Homeland Security Member Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI 7th) thanked Chairman King for bringing the Committee back to its original purposes.  Regarding the burning Twin Towers photo, Walberg said “I thank you as well for hanging the pictures in the back of the room again, to remind us of the purpose of this committee, that we would understand that liberty and its price is eternal vigilance”

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were very personal to Rep. King, as scores of his constituents were amongst the 2,752 innocent office workers, fireman and policeman who were savagely killed at the World Trade Center. By conveniently forgetting the past for the sake of political correctness or using stilted labels like “man caused disasters”, we  put ourselves in peril as well as minimize the magnitude of their deaths.  The burning Twin Tower photo puts the Homeland Security Committee’s mission in proper perspective and honors those who gave their lives in an egregious asymetrical terroristic attack by radicalized jihadists.

H/T: Roll Call

Movie Review: Bag It--Plastic Philippic

As a warm up for the DC Environmental Film Festival, there was a showing on Capitol Hill of “Bag It” a self described documentary featuring Jed Berrier, an ordinary guy who decides to give up using disposable plastic bags but this simple decision completely changes his life.

Originally, the film was going to concentrate on plastic bags but director Suzan Beraza capitalizes on the serendipity of the pregnancy of Berrier’s girlfriend to humanize the effects of plastic on “the children”.

Naturally, any film associated with an environmental film festival is going to have a green point of view. But to add to entertainment value and demonize the opposition, Bag It followed a technique popularlized by Michael Moore in Roger and Me to intersperse guerilla film making with uncooperative enemies with cultural snippets and pontificating talking heads.

Unfortunately, the evolved mission of how plastics effects will scare first time parents does not fuse comfortably with the snarky guerilla film maker persona. Both of the subplots struck me as being a plastic veneer for the underlying screed against the American Chemistry Council. The ACC’s non-participation in a film philippic about plastic casts them as evil corporate types who care only about profits and not people.

Bag It showed some compelling images which could sway people to their cause. The demonstration of pouring the amount of oil used to produce and distribute a typical water bottle was a cause for pause. The scenes of the Albatross feeding their hatchlings plastic on the Midway Atoll Wildlife Refuge could tug at the heartstrings of nature lovers. The segment showing a demonstration dredging of the North Pacific Gyre (sunken island of garbage) is evocative. And the testing for the amount of absorbed plastics in the body was disturbing.

Unfortunately, the thesis was simple. Consume less. Their mantra: “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Our grandparents did not use plastics and lived a similar life and they were happy so why can’t we mold ourselves (sic) to do the same. That left me thinking that this was a political watermelon, green on the outside, red on the inside.

While the Jed Berrier embraces the ordinary guy who is not a tree-hugger label, the truth is that he is an actor from the wealthy ski resort community of Telluride, Colorado. Fair enough. Perhaps he is an ordinary guy amongst the Birkenstock crowd or compared to the Goode Family, but it is misleading to present him as an ordinary American. Alas,  Berrier’s hair-do made him an incarnation of the mercurial yet mindless manager in Dilbert.

The film did include segments from some truly convicted environmental advocates which was supposed to drive home a point, but which also showed their eco-fixation. It was reminiscent of people acting out Andie McDowell’s fears from the film “Sex, Lies and Videotape”. The marine activist who crafted his junk vessel to set sail across the Pacific Ocean out of 13,000 plastic bottles and other discarded refuse was memorable. But the guy who saved all of his disposable plastic for a year in his basement was a special education. And the scenes when Berrier ambushes drive thrus with his request not to have plastic derived products surely was intended to be cute, but shared the supercilious snarl of Michael Moore mocking the little people when driving home his sharp policy points.

Although it is difficult to do in a polemic film but some balance would have augmented their arguments. The film makers proudly showed statistics of ten score of government sponsored studies alleging health concerns from plastics while there was a score of independent studies (sponsored by plastic friendly entities) hat dissented. Of course, the evil corporate types paid to get their results. But the same analysis can discount the government studies too. Big Science gets more money when they find problems, not when their research is inconclusive or that all is copacetic. So there is an incentive to sound the alarms. And as was mentioned during a colloquy with the film maker, the hockey stick data in global warming shows that Garbage In Garbage Out and you can make data say anything that you want.

Bag It was obsessed on getting a gotcha quote from surreptitiously filming communications with the ACC to cast them as evil corporate types that they ignored the benefits of plastics. The drive through hit pieces condemned all types of containers as they can have a plastic lining. So we are supposed to forgo fast food. Oh, that’s right, we should bring our own containers. Funny stuff. And these businesses will welcome lawsuits stemming from cross contamination from their customers and their overseeing bureaucracies? The film condemned the evils of disposable diapers. So a household can save $1,200 a year buy using cloth diapers. Perhaps, but who is going to wash them in most dual income households? A cloth diaper service dissipates the supposed savings. Bag It encourages bagging water bottles for reusable ones. Unfortunately, the Capitol Grounds does not allow external food or drink, so there was five abandoned metal water bottles at the entrance to the Capitol Visitor Center.

The showing on Capitol Hill was meant to rally more governmental involvement for recycling programs, sin taxes and strict testing of plastics. Being a passionate recycler, it is dismaying to witness what actually happens to our separated recyclables. DC law for years mandates separating disposed paper from trash. Not that the “undocumented” cleaning crews pay any mind protecting the blue containers from the rest of the “basura”. But the unionized refuse engineers do the same thing with their collected recyclables at the dump. This gives me the impression that while I am acting locally, it is just a self congratulatory exercise.

The 5 cent a bag tax that DC imposed on one time disposable plastic bags reduced usage from 22 million to 3 million a month. That’s great. But the dirty little secret is that DC officials are upset that they were so successful as they only raised $1.7 million from the sin tax instead of the $3.1 million that was projected. Despite this revenue shortfall, former DC Mayor Adrien Fenty proposed an intergovernmental transfer of bag tax revenue to non-environmental spending. There are competing governmental interests. The environmental goal of reducing plastic pollution, the revenue enhancing motive to bring in more governmental revenue and stanching the estimated $23 million in sales tax losses attributable to the bag tax. Tough to tell which side will win.

It sounds noble to have better testing of the effects of plastics to human health, changing the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty stands our legal process on its head. Additionally, I think of the consequences of the do something disease that infected Congress after the Chinese Lead scare from 2008. The Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act required testing of everything for lead involved in childrens’ products. Observers have alleged that it has devastated the toy industry. But the CPSI also raises costs on everything. The testing might make sense for some products, but it includes testing for lead ingestion of spark plugs on childrens’ All Terrain Vehicles. I doubt that kids who are capable of riding an ATV will be stupid enough to regularly lick spark plugs. The testing requirement also threatened the childrens’ second hand clothes market. So much for the reuse mantra of environmental obsessionists.

Bag it alludes to the multiple use soft drink bottles used in Germany. It is impressive that a tough plastic bottle can be used up to 25 times. What the film did not mention is that this was driven by private corporations, not governmental involvement. True, the German Einwegpfand imposes an expensive €0.25 deposit on one time use containers. But corporations set their own rates for beer and water, so there is an incentive to develop durable vessels. The film does not explore the trials and tribulations of th 35 year old bottle tax in Michigan, where the 10 cent a bottle deposit inspires a 96% redemption rate. But it is estimated that the costs associated with redemption and cleaning costs the businesses 3 cents a bottle. Social justice types might want to consider the disparate impact that deposits have on the poor and vulnerable.

Bag It does raise some interesting environmental challenges. Pointing to an ever expanded and imposing role for government rather than developing private sector incentives is unfortunate but not unexpected. The insistence that we need to embrace an environment where we willingly have less is not really the American Dream and is fraught with unintended consequences, which are blithe-fully ignored.

If you want to watch Bag It for yourself, it will air on P.B.S. on April 22nd. It is exactly the sort of show which makes one question why the American Taxpayer needs to pay for a socialist screed.

Strangelove Environmental Reversal

It was flummoxing to learn the EPA is issuing a directive to lower the maximum level of flouride in drinking water for the children.

Starting in the late 1940s, the government encouraged municipal water authorities to add fluoride to community drinking water after an industry lead publicity campaign. Approximately 70% of American drinking water has fluoridation. There was concern in medical journals as late as 2005 which speculated that there would be an increase in tooth decay because of the popularity of people drinking bottled water that did not have fluoridation.

However the EPA is frowning on fluoridation based in part from a 2006 National Academy of Sciences report that dental fluoridation risked the breakdown of dental enamel and discoloration. The EPA’s revised risk study indicated that two out of five adolescents had spottiness, tooth streaking or pitting that is attributable to excessive fluoridation.

While a fluoride fixation was quite a laugh line from Stanley Kubrick’s dark comedy Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, it seems that General Ripper may not have been far off base about protecting his vital bodily fluids. But it was a difficult argument to win with Englishman during the Cold War.



It is sickening to think that a government that seems to be swayed by Big Science took sixty years to figure out that their well intended alchemy with community drinking water is actually hurting our children. It should make us all chary to totally cede our health care to the auspices of the Federal Government that is seduced by popular science.   The EPA reversal also makes a reverse osmosis water filtration system an attractive home improvement project as it is more risk than one ought to swallow.

Video: TSA Sexy

The guys from Politizoid fabricated a filk that was a pleasant laugh at the efforts to totally strip flier of their civil liberties without giving airtight privacy OR security assurances.

As Jay Leno jested "Have you heard the TSA's new slogan? 'We handle more junk than eBay.'"






H/T: Right Network
H/T: Politizoid

Is the Jasmine Revolution the Year of Revolutions Redux?

Since the start of 2011, there has been a string of revolutionary activity throughout the Arab world.  The so-called Jasmine Revolution started in early January during the Sidi Bouzid revolt in Tunisia.  February brought change to Egypt as myriad of people persistently protesting in Cairo’s Tahir (Liberation) Square chased Hosni Mubarak from his 28 years of strongman rule from office.  There have been messy demonstrations in the island Kingdom of Bahrain. Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi (a.k.a. known by other spellings such as  Qaddafi, Kadhafi, Gadaffi, or Gadhafi) is intent on being martyred from his dictatorship since 1969. There is rabble rousing for mid-March in Saudi Arabia.  Since it has spread from the Levant to the Mahgreb seems as if it is a pan-Arab epidemic.

The wave of uprisings may spread beyond the Arab world.  Tony Femino’s Voice to America radio program indicates Jasmine Revolution may have spread to the Sub-Saharan North African nation of Mauritania, where hundreds have taken to the streets in the capital of Nouakchott. The wave of unrest may also spread further east as crackdowns in Iran on dissidents may spark a massive Persian protest on March 1st in Tehran.

Instead of assuming that these revolutionary winds are unprecedented, thoughtful observers choose to think in time and analogize the revolutionary wave in 2011 with the Year of Revolutions of 1848 in Europe.  Historians attribute various triggers for the uprisings in the various European states in 1848.  But all of them share the legacy of an economic downturn coupled with a failed crop in 1846 fulminating famine. New technology revolutionized the lives of the working class.  The popular press expanded political awareness.  And there were efforts by reformers and radicals to reshape governance towards nationalism.

Some of these revolutions failed outright, as in Ireland and Poland. Other revolutions were eventually overturned, as the France’s February Revolution  overthrew the Orleans monarchy and instituted the Second French Republic with the help of peasants. But within three years, President Louis Napoleon declared the Second French Empire.   The March Revolution in the German Confederation did instill some liberal reforms and started the first German Navy (Reichsflotte) but failed to unite all German speaking states and eventually succumbed to Austrian power in 1849.

While some of the revolutionary reforms were rolled back, the Revolutions of 1848 are thought of as the Spring of Nations, as it solidified nationalism in the minds of the people.  It also further strengthened organized labor which was later doctrinally expressed by Karl Marx in Das Kapital in 1867.

How does the legacy of the Revolutions of 1848 compare with what is happening today? With events on the ground, things can change minute by minute.  But an overview indicates many striking similarities.  The world certainly has been roiled by a severe economic downturn since 2008.  The United States compounded the pain for the world by its Quantitative Easing (QE2), which will cause commodity inflation to compensate for the effective American monetary devaluation.  That tends to first hit with food prices.  While there have not been as devastating of droughts as the anthropogenic Global Warming activists would expect, the drought in southwestern China in 2010 was the worst in a century, which was followed by floods that wiped out crops.  The QE2 along with failed crops in the world’s most populace nation certainly will push up worldwide food prices, which has disproportionate impact on populations who already earn meager wages. Outside observers have labeled the unrest as the Jasmine Revolution but perhaps it would be better known as the Intifada of the Starved.

Between the spread of cellular phones and social media worldwide, there are revolutionary strides in lateral communications. The proliferation in media, particularly independent Arab language news outlets like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, which can quickly spread reports of political dissent as well as disseminate notions of salafist jihadism.

Another parallel element between both Years of Revolution are reformers and radicals working in the background to reshape the globe.  As for the wave of unrest that is happening today, alarmists have pointed out that labor leaders seem to have been preparing for the current protests for years and are acting in international coordination.  Many of the protests in Egypt, including the Day of Rage, are curiously coordinated to occur after Friday prayers at the mosque.  During the height of the unrest in Egypt when opposition figures were vying for power, the cleric chosen to lead Friday prayers was Youssef al-Qaradawi, the TV-imam who is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who had been banned from speaking in the center of the Ummah for 30 years.  Coincidence? Hardly.

The theory is that a perfect storm which temporarily has the winds of revolutionary socialism and the Islamic jihad will temporarily join forces to fulminate unrest and overthrow the status quo.  Once the hyper-power is vanquished or neutralized, the revolutionaries can duke it out themselves to be top dog, so to speak.

But the forces of Islamic unrest are not just one source.  Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Muslims, comprising about 80% of the 1.5 Billion faithful.  Salafism is a school of Sunni Islam that seeks to re-establish a Caliphate that practices the pure Islam and force others who do not subscribe to their understanding (both Muslim and non-Muslim) into submission, subservience or the sword.  The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni organization which was banned from Egypt since the 1920s due to their violent past.  Supposedly, they have renounced violence and they just do community organizing in Egypt, despite being linked to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat in 1981.  Certainly, the Egyptian and Tunisian unrests were influenced by this Sunni school.

The other major Islamic sect is Shi’a Islam, which is centered in Iran. One sect of Shia is one which seeks the Madhi, or the Twelfth Imam, who mysteriously went into occultation and will return during a period of great upheaval to establish the Caliphate.  According to the film Iranium, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a “12er” and that Iranian foreign policy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has been premised on creating the chaos to facilitate the Mahdi’s return.  Hence, the “blessing” of the American Embassy in Tehran, the Beruit Bombing in 1983, the ferocious fighting during the mid ‘80s Iran/Iraq war, the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the U.S.S. Cole attack in 2000, as well as the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

This Iranian foreign policy intent on encouraging chaos in the world meshes well with an expansion of Iranian sphere’s of influence.  By funding Hezbollah’s (the Party of God) militant activity in Lebanon, Iran chased the United States from its base, giving Shi’a forces a base to attack the little Satan (a.k.a. Israel) and eventually overtake the Cedar Revolution.  Syria has benefitted from Iran’s revolutionary foreign policy in nuclear proliferation, as has Libya.

Aside from the state sponsored terrorism emanating from Iran, this Shia inspired revolution may have a hand in defending Gaddafi.  While it is unclear if there was coordination, Bahrain’s unrest stems from a Sunni Sultan ruling over a Shi’a population. Not all Shi’a are on board with the Mahdi movement and that may explain, along with brutal repression and a youthful, educated population that yearns not to live in a strict and brutal Islamic Republic, may explain any unrest in Tehran.

It is hard to know where these revolutionary winds of change will blow.  Egypt seemed like it had a popular uprising that threw out a dictator/President.  But his replacement was Mubarak's friend who was the head of the Secret Police who's first act was to suspend the Egyptian constitution. There are supposed to be elections in September but the only organized group in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood and the military has a bone to pick with them (after the Sadat assassination).  The Muslim Brotherhood has indicated that it will not honor the 1978 Camp David Accords between Egypt, Israel and the United States, which would cut off $4 Billion in military aid from the US, which threatens the Egpytian military's well-being.  It is dubious if the Muslim Brotherhood was poised for victory that the military would cut off their nose to spite their face.

While the Green revolution of 2009 in Iran was stillborn, in part due to the lack of international support against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is possible that a popular uprising during this season of change might bring down the government.  It is unlikely a freed populace that has suffered in an Islamic theocracy would embrace a furtherance of the Caliphate, especially one that is not Shi'a in nature.

It is right to wonder if this revolutionary wave may extend outside the Ummah.  It already has spread beyond Arab areas.  There has been increased agitation in the United States by labor forces, as particularly seen in Wisconsin.  A severe oil shock combined by stagflation in an economic downturn might be kick up the winds of change.  Perhaps the two hundred year old democratic republican institutions and a conservative American psyche stifles any irrational exuberance of unrest. But those same circumstances could effect more unstable players earlier, like the Peoples Republic of China.

As America is having an agonizing self appraisal, it looks at its largest Asian economic competitor with rose colored glasses. But the Chinese have built their economy based on imports with an expectation of 10% per annum growth. For the current Chinese leadership, growth is so key that planners keep building ghost cities in far flung places in Western China to reap the rewards of continued growth.  Yet at least 55% of the Chinese population is agrarian and is not allowed to reap the rewards of the big city.  Chinese factory workers are paid subsistence if not slave wages.

There is a Chinese proverb (and perhaps a curse) “May you live in interesting times”. Combine famine with stagflation along with improved communications and no wonder why PRC party leaders are worried and ready to stifle any unrest lest the Jasmine Revolution be paired with Jasmine rice in a political pupu platter.

You Don't Know Squat About Squatting In England

There have been a couple of high profile squatting stories emanating from London which makes one wonder if the inmates are running the asylum in the UK and whether anarchistic multiculturalism is compatible with bourgeois free market systems.

Guy Ritchie, the English filmmaker and Madonna’s ex-husband, was conducting renovations on a £6 Million mansion in the central London Fitzrovia district.  Ritchie bought the former language school, which had been empty for three years, last May and was in the process of having the five-story building converted into two homes.

But as the Richie edifice was being renovated, a dozen squatters managed to occupy the estate with the intent of opening the Really Free School.  The freeloaders prior squat in Bloomsbury offered lessons in anarchy, tarot-reading and social media.  Who’s “Talking’ ‘bout My Generation”?    At the “formerly” Richie flat, occupier advertised online ‘We need occupiers for tonight! Will be film showings in the new cinema. Come sleepover in the most rah property in London”.  Quite.

Richie’s building contractors contend that they were working on the place and that the erected scaffolding makes it unsafe for the squatters. Outside observers might think that the kids are alright unless someone gets hurt, such as the rightful property owner.

The Daily Mail of London showed a property owner begging the squatters of his £1 Million home in the Archway section of North London. While John Henry Brown was not as famous as Guy Richie, his story is similar.  Brown had saved up for 10 years to purchase his rowhouse and was in the process of having it renovated for his wife and two children, but a band of twelve squatters from France, Spain and Poland took possession of the property.

Neighbours have told the homeowner that squatters forced a window open to Hamilton-Brown’s property just after the sale of the house, but that forced entry is almost impossible for the owner to prove in court. Hamilton-Brown has been to court five times since his property was absconded on January 21st to obtain a possession order, but he will have to wait for six weeks to get a warrant for bailiffs to remove the squatters. During the meanwhile, Hamiliton-Brown has been forced to rent a small flat for his family until this legal matter is resolved. It is probably little solace to Mr. Brown but one of the squatters is a dead ringer for Spike, Hugh Grant's silly berk flatmate in Notting Hill.

English law treats squatting as a civil matter unless there is evidence of forced entry, which permits the police to forcibly evict the freeloaders.  Otherwise, the owner must prove in court that he has a legal right to live there (and the squatters do not). A squatter can try to justify his occupation by showing that he has exclusive access to the property and can secure the abode with no broken locks or windows. But do not try this defense in thrifty Scotland, as squatting is treated as a criminal offense.

Twenty five years ago, the London School of Economics housing assistance offered squatting as an unsavory option for the poor student, but they recommended dicey hovels South of the Thames.  Now, the internet has well developed Squatters Networks. It seems that the squatters are organized to move like locusts from one pie-de-terre to the next after eviction. The economic downturn leaves lots of seemingly vacant properties and there are no criminal consequences to squatting in London-town.

Several factors attached to the Hamilton-Brown homestead highjacking stick in the craw of the great silent majority. Many of these squatters were not British but took advantage of England’s soft squatting laws.   In fact, a Frenchman calling himself Jean-Claude boasted that: "I came to England because this is where the love is. We will speak to other people from all over the world to come here and live because it is so easy. Why can't we live where we want?".  To add fuel to the fire, these foreign freeloaders were given legal aid for their squatting by the local authorities as they are applicants European Union citizens who are unemployed.

The truly galling thing is that these cheeky prats had the audacity to post a legal notice on the abode warning against trespassing threatening a £5,000 fine and six months imprisonment.  In the meantime, police are often called to the address over the loud parties and it is said that there has been significant damage to the interior of the abode.

It used to be assumed that a man’s home is his castle.  Accordingly, the squatting laws favor property owners who protect their domiciles.  Recently, residents in villages in Surrey and Kent were ordered by police to remove the mesh wire from around their windows.  The homeowners were trying to thwart a string of burglaries, but community police officers were warned that the wire was dangerous and they it could lead to compensation in case the criminals (breaking in) hurt themselves.

I am reminded of the lyrics on an album titled “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols”

I am the anti-Christ I am Anarchy. Don’t know what I want But I know how to get it.  I wanna destroy the passer-by ‘Cos I wanna be anarchy... How many times do you get what you want? I used the best I use the rest. I use the NME. I use anarchy. ‘Cos I wanna be anarchy. It’s the only way to be.

        “Anarchy in the UK” Sex Pistols (1975)

Those cacophonic lyrics epitomizes the philosophy that such narcissistic, nihilistic notions that these anarchistic vagabonds  assume.  This libertines may enjoy causing the common law system to collapse, but the hoi polloi in a civilized society will not countenance such capricious lawlessness for long. I doubt that they will enjoy sharia law that is gaining acceptance in Britain as theft receives some harsh justice under the tenants of “The Religion of Peace”.

In Oliver Twist, a nineteenth century novel the sordid lives of criminals in London, Charles Dickens wrote: “the law is a ass—a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience.”  At the time, Dickens was satirizing how the underclass was mistreated by society.  It seems now that the bourgeois are now the underdogs who pay for the wanton ways of anarchistic internationalist socialists.  If this skewed social justice myopia is not corrected by clear eyed experience, taxpayers and the pillars of society will wonder “Who’s Next?”

H/T  Daily Mail
H/T Evening Star

Be-Laboring the Point

During the Democrat National Committee winter meeting, Obama Labor Secretary Hilda Solis gave an impassioned partisan presentation of the public sector labor disputes in Wisconsin and Indiana.  Solis accused Republicans of trying to turn back the clock on worker’s rights.

Solis segue to started to address union issues by stating: "People now have to be reminded, the American public needs to know, and we need to be out there reminding them, elections do matter.  They really do." Either Solis' speechwriter is fluent in Orwellian Newspeak or lives in Wonderland, as her premises seem counterintuitive to the election results in November 2010.   Solis insists that public employees “want to be at the table but that is not what the other party [Republicans] want.”  Solis mouthed the lines of shared sacrifice, but implied that it had to be negotiating with unions and not within the ordinary governing process.

As Solis was voicing solidarity with unions in Wisconsin, she was supporting labors cronies in the state house lose power and the state is needs to balance the budget by $3.4 Billion through reductions in the platinum pension deals which Democrats had given away with taxpayer money.  So Wisconsin teachers honor their positions by having an illegal sick out strike, occupying the State Capitol and getting bogus doctor’s notes.  And they laud the cowardly lawmakers who fled the state to impede the legislative process on the matter because they don’t have the votes.  Honestly, that does not sound like Solis accepts the will of the people at the ballot box.

Of course a Democrat Labor Secretary will have a more progressive perspective towards organized labor than the prior Administration.  Both of her parents were industrial union members. And prior to serving in the Obama Administration, Solis was Congresswoman in California’s 31st and 32nd districts, which represented East Los Angeles.

Solis ratcheted up the rhetoric by declaring "The fight is on... We help the embattled states right now where public employees are under assault. And we work together and get going."  Out on the campaign trail, candidate Obama insisted that he would put on a comfortable pair of shoes to walk with protestors who were being denied their “rights” to collective bargaining.  Maybe just Solis’ words are change that union activists can believe in.

An article chronicling the costs associated with the Detroit People Mover shows why the Obama Administration is emphasizing trains and supporting union labor. The Mackinaw Center shows that the DPM employees receive double the pension contributions than their private counterparts. The monorail that makes a 2.9 mile loop around the Detroit’s downtown core.  To attract it’s 2 million riders, the DPM only charges $0.50 a ride but it costs $4.31 a mile to move a passenger, which requires a $6.2 Million operation subsidy from a destitute Detroit and another $4.3 Million from the State of Michigan.

It is another example of how organized labor has helped kill a once Great Lake State and the unions continue their death grip on the corpse to suck all the marrow from the bones.

The Sheen Is Gone Albeit Temporarily

After being a Loose Cannon (sic) on Alex Jones’ conspiracy radio show, Charlie Sheen finds himself temporarily out of a lucrative gig on Two and a Half Men.  The problem is that the raving and ribald rogue managed to put the cast and crew of his comedy out of work for the rest of the season.

Sheen bristled at being coerced into rehab after the unpleasantries of Sheen's naked rampage with a prostitute and a suitcase of cocaine that caused $7,000 damage at the Plaza Hotel in October 2010.  Along with his “hernia” episode last month.  Sheen lashed out at the show’s producer Chuck Lorre in several anti-semitic slurs.  Assuredly, this was not a slip of Sheen’s “gifted” tongue, as he continued the war with Lorre on TMZ.

Sheen’s hospitalization had already caused the Two and a Half Men crew to miss several episodes.  But after hearing repeated insults and Sheen’s addictive delusions of grandeur and contempt, the producer cancelled the rest of the season.

While it is gratifying to watch some celebrity schadenfreude, it is a pity that it comes at the expense of the rest of the cast.  Sheen is under the impression that he is sine-qua-non for Two and a Half Men.  But the long running bawdy comedy has been a sinful delight for many television viewers, with a talented ensemble cast.  In some ways, Sheen’s character has been somewhat superfluous this season, probably as writers needed to anticipate a prolonged Sheen absence.  The production needed to accommodate for Sheen’s institutional haircut on account of that man behaving badly.

If "Ubermensch" Sheen things that the world can not revolve without him, his lawyers had better read the fine print of his contract.  It would be surprising if CBS and Lorre Productions did not have some form of morality clause or pay or play termination.

While Lorre closed the comedy for this season, it is unclear if it will resume production.  The show is long in the tooth but it has fine ancillary players and several unresolved subplots.  Abandoning all might hurt further syndication sales.

Some entertainment observers have suggested cast substitutions.   An idea floating around for this season (until it was cancelled), was to have guest appearances, like Charlie’s father Martin Sheen.  There is the outside chance that Sheen’s role could be substituted to hobble to the comedic finish.  In Betwitched, Dick York was replaced by Dick Sargant as Darren for the last three seasons and viewers were not severely scandalized. When Michael Fox needed to get off Spin City for personal health reasons, ironically Charlie Sheen was brought in to City Hall to continue the series for two years, but as a different character.  This probably was done to ensure enough episodes for good syndication strippage.  There is little need for that after eight seasons of Two and a Half Men.

While Sheen’s character in Two and a Half Men is funny, it is not an acting stretch for him as it is premised on Sheen’s bad boy reputation. Personally, it would be poetic justice if Rob Lowe assumed the Charlie Harper character, especially mindful of Lowe’s undercovers “performance” at the 1988 Democrat convention.  Alas, Lowe is busy doing Parks and Recreation on NBC.

Although Chuck Lorre currently has a string of other hit comedies on CBS to keep him occupied, like The Big Bang Theory and Mike and Molly, it might behoove him to continue Two and Half Men for another season.  The show has hinted at the perils of being a bastard bachelor throughout, even having a mock funeral for Charlie and not just depicting a happy whoring drunk.  A couple of seasons ago, Two and Half Men intimated that Charlie was essentially lonely and was trying to grow into a real relationship, but that sensibility seemed stillborn.

Perhaps the writers of Two and Half Men can riff off of Sheen’s destructive lifestyle.  He can be put into rehab.  If Sheen insists on continuing his comedic cash cow, Sheen could have close encounters with a string of self-destructive celebutards inhabiting the TMZ.  Sheen could share the screen with Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus, Mel Gibson, John Edwards, even Al Gore.  Not bad money for a walk on appearance.

Even if Charlie was not shown while in rehab, the show can go on without him.  Why not?-- as they mostly leech off of the largess of Charlie’s character, there is little reason for him to be present.  Maybe Herb (Ryan Stiles) can finally escape the clutches of Judith (his wife and Charlie’s brothers ex-wife).  If the Two and Half Men producers wanted a true denouement that would appeal to the show’s hedonistic sensibilities as well as an outreach to middle America, what if Alan (Jon Cryer) actually inherits Charlie’s Malibu place–would his ex wife Judith (Marin Hinkle) see him in a different light, especially after “her” child support runs out, and try to reconcile?

Sorry Charlie, but Two and a Half Men doesn’t really need you.  Don’t worry, no crocodile tears will be shed for Sheen.  He still collects part of the $2 Billion in syndication royalties.  And rumor has it, he will parlay his rants into an HBO series.  But if he is still looking to pick up work, he would be the perfect co-host for the revamped CNN primetime show “In The Arena” with Eliot Spitzer.

Parker Leaves Spitzer "In The Arena"

Kathleen Parker, the supposed conservative co-host of “Parker-Spitzer” on CNN has decided to leave the show to concentrate on her syndicated column.   This press release sounds as convincing as a politician announcing that he is not standing for re-election to “spend more time with my family”.  While it was presented to the public as a resignation, Hot Air reports that CNN producers had complained about Parker’s weakness from the start.  In addition, her co-anchor Eliot Spitzer recently predicted that Parker would be gone within a week.

Many television critics did not think that the prime time “Parker-Spitzer” show would be on the air for a week.  Former Manhattan Madam Kirsten Davis cattily said “Spitzer is as boring on TV as he is in bed..”  The show tended to have tight shots showing the former New York Democrat Governor disgraced by a sex scandal uncomfortably close to the comely Parker.  Yet the show has remained been the 8 pm EST lead in for CNN for almost six months.

While initially it seemed as if CNN was attempting to attract more conservative viewers by hiring an attractive and articulate right leaning columnist like Parker, who is a both a Washington Post writer and Weekly Standard contributor.  But in the intial promotion of her new CNN show, Parker told Larry King "I'm a big fan of Barack Obama as he came into office, and was not one of those Republicans who wanted him to do badly. I didn't want him to fail."  Other self-labeled Republicans, like Christopher Buckley, Peggy Noonan and Gen. Colin Powell hav said similar things.  But early in the “Parker-Spitzer” initial promotion, Parker opined that President Bill J. Clinton should not been impeached.  OK.  But it is quite revealing when Parker referred to Tea Party types as “Teabaggers”.  And Parker revealed her true character when she postulated that the best explanation for the Restoring Honor rally was that Glenn Beck was a former alcoholic and the organizing the event was part of the “grandiosity of an addict”.   With friends like that, why would conservatives need enemies?

While “Parker-Spitzer” has been virtually tied with MSNBC since Olbermann has flown the coop to Al Gore’s Current TV, it is about 3 ½ times behind ratings leader “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News. That’s not much of a race.

It will be curious in a celebrity schadenfreude sort of way to see if Eliot Spitzer’s solo effort “In the Arena” will amount to much.  Has six months in front of the cameras helped alleviate his on air stiffness?  Will the left leaning news junkie both forgiven him for the sex scandals that drove him from office as well as warmed to his on-air persona?

Well, Katie Couric’s contract with CBS expires in May.  There were rumors last year that CNN was hoping to land perky Katie in Atlanta. During the meanwhile, if Spitzer still needs a co-host, why not pair him with Charlie Sheen.  Aside from Sheen’s anti-Semitic rant on Alex Jones, it would seem like a match made in heaven.  Men.