More bigotry…

Joseph Vento, the owner of Geno’s Steaks in Philadelphia, put up a sign on his businesses window: “This is America – when ordering, please speak English.” Below it: “Management Reserves the Right to Refuse Service.”
The city’s Commission on Human Relations is charging him with discrimination because the signs are obviously discouraging to non-English speakers.
Vento posted the signs six months ago because he was concerned over the immigration issue and the increasing number of people in his area that can’t speak English.
Vento, whose grandparents immigrated from Sicily in the 1920’s, says he hasn’t refused service to anyone yet. But he still refuses to take the signs down, stating it’s his right as a business owner to require his customers to order in English.
Much as I dispise this kind of narrow-mindedness, I think he’s right. It is a free country, and since he’s not simply refusing to serve non-English speakers (he’s just asking them to speak English when ordering), he should have the right to post the signs. The right to free speech includes, unfortunately, the right to be a complete asshole. Just as anyone who finds this type of jingoistic backlash insulting has the right to boycott the business.
Full story here.

“The Daily Show” is the best news show on TV today

Last night’s shw was yet another example of the deeply disturbing state of the media today – namely that a comedy show host is a much more insightful, probing journalist than any of the posers in the mainstream media could ever hope to be.
Last night’s guest was William Bennett, former Secretary of Education under Reagan and Drug Czar under Bush I. He’s also, along with any number of right-wing theocrats, a self-appointed guardian of American “virtues.” This is also the man that on his radio talk show, stated that if you aborted every black baby, crime rates would go down. He went on to {state} that it was “an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.” This from the Associated Press: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1173100. Qualifying that aborting all black babies would be evil still doesn’t negate the racist assumption that black folks are criminals.
Anyway, The Daily Show interview last night should be required watching for all
journalism students. Jon Stewart was tough; he asked the questions that needed to be asked, and when Bennett spouted some ridiculous piece of nonsense, Stewart called him on it. But not once was Stewart rude or strident. The tone, despite the contentiousness of the topic (the topic of the entire interview was whether gays should be allowed to marry), was kept friendly, and Bennett was actually allowed to respond to Stewart’s questions (the same cannot be said for guests on, say, the O’Reilly Factor). It was a masterful piece of journalistic integrity, right up there with Stephen Colbert’s interview with former head of FEMA, Michael Brown (which actually put Brown up a notch in my esteem – not only for having the guts to appear on the show in the first place, but for the good humor he showed on air).