Worst Idea of the Week: Texas or Somalia?

Last Wednesday, I blogged about the Worst Idea of the Week--a new FOX reality TV show that will allow small businesses to vote on which employee they want to lay off each week. The following day, Thursday, National Public Radio even covered the atrocity (now, I'm not saying that Business Facilities beat NPR to the scoop but...well, okay, I am saying that.)

Following FOX's small-minded idea, the race for this week's Worst Idea comes down to two drastically different recent news figures: the governor of Texas and the Somalian pirates.

First up: the esteemed Texas Gov. Rick Perry, often heralded in the pages of Business Facilities for his economic successes. However, his recent, bizarre comments about Texas seceding from the United States are just unfathomable. Perry's original quote in Austin on Wednesday: "There's a lot of different scenarios. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that." Since, Perry has said his comments have been misinterpreted and, to some extent, they have been. I chalk this up to an off-the-cuff remark gone terribly, terribly wrong. Even while Texas' economy is massive and more robust than most other countries' economies around the world, even a hint of ejecting itself from the United States is a bad idea. Period. Particularly at a time when the U.S. needs solidarity--a view I truly believe Perry holds--the governor needs to choose his words more carefully. I'm sure he will do so at future "tea parties."

But I have to give the award for Worst Idea of the Week to the Somalian pirates that unsuccessfully hijacked a vessel, packed with U.S. sailors, delivering food to Kenya. They did, however, manage to take the ship's captain hostage for a few days before U.S. sharpshooters skillfully plugged three bullets into the pirate's heads and rescued the captain. Now, I feel bad for Somalia; in fact, I blogged about the escalating piracy issue way back in December (see second post, Piracy: The Illegal Incentive). An impoverished, lawless nation that has been victimized and neglected for decades, many Somalians actually support and idolize their homegrown pirates for bringing money into the country and feeding their citizens. Yes folks, in this struggling country, piracy is a distorted, albeit inexcusable, form of economic development. As a result, the modern pirates ransacking the waters of the Gulf of Aden get my vote for Worst Idea of the Week. Trying to overtake and hold ransom a U.S. vessel, let alone one delivering aid to Africa, is idiotic, at best. Somalia is in dire circumstances and my heart hurts for my fellow humans there, but the pirates who put a gun to the back of an innocent U.S. citizen got what they deserved: shot dead.

TGIF.