This Just In - Fiat Hostages

More hostage taking, this time at Fiat. Three fiat managers were negotiating job cuts with union when workers stormed the room and detained the managers.

Are you fucking kidding me? Maybe the European unions are taking a page out of the African terrorist playbook. It's just one copycat after another. I can't believe that these managers aren't bringing in a couple armed security guards with them in the meetings. What a joke.

Is there no law and order anymore? Get the military in there. Put an end to this. It's just one hostage situation after another. Time to put these clowns in jail for a decade or so.

Folks, this is Johnny Newsmaker signing off. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming… "Law and Order: Italy" only on Ranting-TV…

From the Morning Desk - Pirates!

I don’t trust clowns and I really don’t trust pirates.

Pirates were something that we thought were gone forever. Like the black plague, polio and Vanilla Ice. We use to dress up as pirates for Halloween and the candy that we had was our treasure. It is fashionable to name products and companies after famous pirates. We name sports teams after them. We have movies about them. Even the term "piracy" nowadays, means that you made a copy of a video game or downloaded a song from some offshore website. Not exactly a hangable offence.

No doubt, modern-day pirates are nothing more than terrorists. They are criminals who found a way to game the system. They hold people (and in the case of oil tankers, the environment) hostage until they get paid.

The other day, I heard some talking head on TV trying to make the point that so far no hostages have been killed. Her point was that since the pirates haven't turned violent, that they won't in the future. Look, the $150 million paid out last year to pirates, was chicken feed. These things always go one way. More piracy and bigger ransoms. Finally, the ransoms get too big and too public, and pirates start killing hostages. It’s just a matter of time.

Others try to defend them, by portraying them as Robin Hoods. They justify the pirates actions because they are poor. Oh, really? Have you seen the equipment these guys use? One AK-47 would buy a lot of bread. No, they aren’t interested in helping anybody but themselves. They make Bernie Madoff look like a saint.

So, after the pirates kill the captain and dump his body overboard, we will see how the bleeding hearts feel about those lovable ol’ pirates. Har! I’m sure they will find some way to justify it, and blame it on the west somehow, just like they always do.

Scurvy dogs!

Folks, this is Johnny Newsmaker signing off. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming… "Har!" only on Ranting-TV…