Debbie Schlussel: ICE Legacy: Pee Wee's PlayHouse is Ba-a-a-ck!
What do immigration and Pee Wee Herman have in common?
More than you know.
You can thank John Clark, Deputy Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for bringing "Pee Wee's Playhouse" back to TV.
After all, Clark, the second highest ranking immigration official in the nation, made it hip again to masturbate in public. As we reported here, Clark engineered a sweetheart deal between ICE and his buddy high-ranking ICE Agent Frank Figueroa a/k/a "Frankie the Fig" (who fondled himself in front of a teen girl at a mall while on the job) to allow Figueroa to retire in comfort with a huge $100,000-plus annual pension and full benefits.
Given that, it's no surprise that Cartoon Network announced, this week, that Paul Reubens a/k/a "Pee Wee Herman" and reruns of his former show, "Pee Wee's Playhouse" shall return to children's television.
"Pee Wee's Playhouse" was pulled from TV when Reubens was caught fondling himself at a Florida porn theater in 1991.
Proof that if one Florida man, a high-ranking federal agent, can be instantly rehabilitated, so can another--a former kid's show host.
But, at least, Pee Wee had the courtesy and good sense to do his "duty" in an adult-only facility where one would expect that kind of thing. 15 years ago, it was not acceptable to do this kind of thing in public, and his show was yanked. And it still shouldn't be.
But, hey, if a federal agent once in Charge of ICE's Operation Predator can do it and still get his pension, why can't Pee Wee have his kid's show?
What's good for the Fig is good for the Pee Wee. Fondling in public made hip . . . the ICE legacy.
Posted by Debbie on June 8, 2006 12:55 PM to Debbie Schlussel