The Morning Roar: DHS World Series Drill at PNC Park, Swedes Try a 6 Hour Work Day, County Uses Eminent Domain for "Open Space"

Welcome to your Thursday edition of The Morning Roar! Homeland Security Simulates World Series Attack in Drill at PNC ParkYesterday at Pittsburgh's PNC Park, home of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, the Department of Homeland Security was involved in a drill which simulated an attack on a World Series event there.

The city's office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, the U.S. Army National Guard, the Ohio State Civil Support Team and PNC Park security will conduct the exercise until 7 p.m."In this particular case, they are oriented towards weapons of mass destruction," says Ray DeMichiei, the city's deputy director of emergency management. "Generally, it will involve suspicious packages being located by PNC Park personnel, and the scenario is a World Series event."Citing the safety of those involved, specific details were not released.It's not the first time that the ballpark has hosted a drill of this magnitude."We do this every now and again," DeMichiei said. "And it's just like anything else -- like a golf swing, you have to stay in practice in order to do it right, so that's what we're doing."

How is a ballpark selected to hold training for the WMD simulation drills? Is there some sort of random selection process or are these drills held regularly across the country, but hidden from the public?If it is true that, keeping local law enforcement, Homeland Security, and the U.S. Army National Guard prepared to handle a WMD situation is tantamount to "practicing your golf swing," then shouldn't these groups be practicing their procedures year round in stadiums across the country? Yet, we rarely hear about drills of this nature with any regularity.The vast majority of professional sports teams confiscate funds from local taxpayers in order to limit their risk exposure when building a stadium. It is for this reason that fans should not be surprised to see the local and federal governments become more involved in the security theater offered by local sports teams. Owners have proven they are not opposed to bleeding the fan base in order to line their wallets. Of course the owners wouldn't turn down an opportunity to procure free security theater, while trying to convince tickets holders that they are directing resources to keeping fans safe. In reality owners are using a ballpark that was funded by taxpayers to performs exercises with law enforcement individuals, whose salaries are funded by taxpayers. The ownership is not risking any of their own assets to promote the appearance of safety.Swedish City to Experiment with a 6 Hour Work DayThe Swedish city of Guttenberg will soon begin an experiment where it will reduce the hours of its public sector employees to 6 hours per day. The Telegraph describes this adventure in central planning:

A section of employees of the municipality of Gothenburg will now work an hour less a day than the seven hours customary in the Scandinavian social democracy famed for its work-life balance.

The measure is being self-consciously conceived of as an experiment, with a group of municipal employees working fewer hours and a control group working regular hours - all on the same pay. The groups’ performances will then be compared.

It is hoped that the experiment will ultimately save money by making employees more productive in their working hours.

Mats Pilhem, the city’s Left-wing deputy mayor, told The Local Swedenthat he hoped “staff members would take fewer sick days and feel better mentally and physically after working shorter days".

The concept of a shorter work day on its own isn't necessarily a terrible one. It may be the case that for certain jobs workers would indeed be more productive on a  shorter work day. For example, a construction worker who works 12 hours a day in the hot sun may be exhausted by Day 3 or 4 of the week. Limit his hours to the morning for 6 hours before it gets hot and allow him more time to rest between shifts, and that worker may indeed be more productive when he is actually on the job.The problem is that centrally planned, coercive governments such as the city of Guttenberg are not companies and do not have market forces to tell them exactly what is more "productive" or not. In a free market, companies would be free to experiment with their workers hours all day long (or less…yuck yuck), and their profit-and-loss would indicate to them just what type of schedules produce the best results from their workers.The government of Guttenberg has no real way to judge this. It will not lose customers - short of citizens picking up and moving out of the city  - if the experiment is deemed a waste of time and money. Only a free market can determine the "proper" hours that should be in a given work day for a given worker; government central planners simply engage in guess work.

County Uses Power of Eminent Domain to Seize Property for "Open Space" A Colorado couple is currently in a battle with their County government, which is planning to seize their property using eminent domain for the express purpose of maintaing "open space" in the area. Andy and Ceil Barrie purchased the property two years ago, and the dispute comes over the couple using ATV's to drive up a 1.2 mile old mining road to get to the cabin. Fox News has the full story:http://youtu.be/SZ89L8skxcQEminent domain is nothing new, but it is typically used for building projects that government officials deem to be for "public use" such as highways, dams etc. But now,  Summit County is looking to use eminent domain specifically for "open space" - to literally do nothing with it!Joshua Cook of BenSwann.com ties this into the UN's "Agenda 21", a plan for "global sustainability" which amounts to the trampling of private property rights. Many local governments in the U.S. have taken cues directly from the Agenda 21 playbook, such as San Francisco's plan to use GPS trackers in all automobiles in order to track mileage, all in the name of "protecting the atmosphere."Here is Ben Swann himself discussing Agenda 21. Why does he love it so much?http://youtu.be/fDAjUHgpdWwBe sure to check out Ben Swann's recent appearance on the Lions of Liberty Podcast!

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