It’s been over nine months since Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations accused the owner of Geno’s Steaks, Joey Vento, of violating the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance. I blogged about it here. His offense, posting two small signs that look something like this:
This is not a photograph of the actual sign. I couldn’t find a clear image on the web, so I did my best to make a duplicate. They are very close.

Yesterday the commission announced their findings.

In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno’s Steaks telling customers, “This is America: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,’” do not violate the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance.

[...]

Vento has said he never refused service to anyone because they couldn’t speak English. But critics argued that the signs discourage customers of certain backgrounds from eating at the shop.

Commissioners Roxanne E. Covington and Burt Siegel voted to dismiss the complaint, finding that the sign does not communicate that business will be “refused, withheld or denied.”

To commemorate this ruling I believe I’ll head over to a local sandwich shop and order “one wit”. Sadly, they won’t know what I mean and I’ll have to explain myself. Sadder still is that while they make a pretty good cheese steak, nothing south of the Commodore Barry bridge comes close to what you can get there at “home”.

Unbelievable. Mark Tapscott writes:

Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson drew national scorn earlier this year when he arrested Paul Jacob of the Sam Adams Alliance and two colleagues on trumped-up charges that they violated a discredited state law requiring all circulators of initiative petititons in Sooner Land to be residents.

Now the Okie Napoleon is banning Christmas!

I am not making this up (because I am from Oklahoma and this guy is an embarrassment).

Edmondson issued an advisory opinion to officials at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford advising them that the word “Christmas” should not be spoken by any employee of the state school, not written in any official holiday decorations.

The Edmonson opinion is just jaw droppingly sureal. Tapscott quotes from a statement by Matt Staver and Liberty Counsel.

“Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), has issued a disturbing policy which requires all employees to refrain from using the word ‘Christmas’ in oral or written form. This directive was given by the university upon legal advice of the Oklahoma Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmondson. Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to SWOSU following a complaint from a university affiliate.

“John Misak, the Director of Human Resources, recently visited various university departments and employee groups and informed everyone that any decorations featuring the word ‘Christmas’ in any work or public areas of the university must be immediately removed. He also instructed everyone to discontinue the use of the term ‘Christmas’ in their speech while on the job. This censorship specifically includes exchanging greetings of ‘Merry Christmas’ among employees or with non-employees, whether initiated by a non-university employee or not.

You need to read the whole thing. Contact information at the link. (h/t Captain’s Quarters)

UPDATE: Acording to Captain Ed the AG’s office is disputing the story.

So I called there myself, and spoke with Emily Lang, spokesperson for the AG. Ms Lang confirms that they are greeting callers with “Merry Christmas” as a means of refuting this story. AG Edmundson did not issue this order, she insists; they are checking with assistant AGs to see if the advisory ever existed at all. At any rate, the AG does not believe state workers should refrain from Christmas greetings.

Ms. Lang wants people to know that they have a Christmas tree in the office, and hopes everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Mark Tapscott has updated his original piece saying that,

I just got off the phone with Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel who took me through the background of his actions in this regard. He’s standing by his news release.

Hmmmm.

Update: Mark Tapscott updates his day.

Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Captain’s Quarters (Mayor scriptum Ed Morrissey) The Niqab Dismissal — “Multiculturalism sounds great in theory, but in practice it gets expensive and destructive. We need to stop setting the expectation that we will accommodate all differences. When people come to the US to live, they need to understand the rules and comprehend that we will not make hundreds of millions of people bear the burden of accommodation.”

Blue Crab Boulevard An Agenda At Odds — “Pete du Pont, writing in the Opinion Journal brings together all of the things that various Democratic politicians have been saying recently and lays out the agenda the House would follow under Democratic party control. Many of these items are not new to long-time readers here. I have discussed many of them, some many times. But du Pont’s collection of everything in one place is instructive.”

Iowa Voice (Brian) Here’s What Will Happen The Day After The Election — “First, we’ve all seen the rather numerous “Democrats are ahead”, “Independents will vote Dem”, and “GOPers staying home” kind of nonsense out of the media for the last few weeks. We’ve been down this road before, in 2002 and 2004. Each time it was “the Democrats have already won, Republicans need not bother to vote, it’s over” and each time the result was a Republican victory.”

The Jawa Report (Bluto) Hastert Chides Pelosi For Her ‘Irresponsible’ Iraq Withdrawal Scenario — “House Speaker Dennis Hastert calls Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi’s views, expressed Sunday in a CBS “Sixty Minutes” segment, “…foolish, naive and dangerous.” Speaker Hastert was being too kind. Pelosi’s inability to understand the nature of the Global War on Terror was revealed quite clearly in this statement (From CNSNews):”

If you want to get in on the ground floor of the next hot thing, why not consider making and selling protective bubbles. It seems to be a coming trend:

Tag, you’re out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they’ll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is “a time when accidents can happen,” said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While some will say that the primary purpose is protecting children from injury I have a sneaking suspicion that the liability issue is the larger concern.

Another part of the equation is the trend toward removing all competition from young lives.

Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Many recreational groups are now promoting no-score sports, although you can bet there are more than a few parents in the stands who know the real final score.

Anyone who has ever spent half an hour in the presence of two or more kids knows that they are naturally competitive. When children get together they are going to see who can run faster, who can jump higher, or who can get the dirtiest.

At least one parent gets it.

“I think that it’s unfortunate that kids’ lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they’ll never develop on their own,” said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. “Playing tag is just part of being a kid.”

But if the nanny state gets it’s way you can still make a fortune selling those protective bubbles.

That is if you can overcome the competition.