Riehl World View

Bookstore Near Yale Goes English Only, Community Protests

Good grief. Look at some of the settlements cited below. It can be pretty costly to demand that your employees speak English in America today. Full article here via the WaPo.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A popular bookstore and cafe near Yale University wants its many Hispanic employees to speak only English around customers, sparking controversy in immigrant-friendly New Haven, where students fight for immigrant rights.

Atticus Bookstore and Cafe recently issued a policy stating that English should be the only language spoken on the floor and behind the counter. "Spanish is allowed in the prep area, the dishwasher area and the lower level. Let's make our customers feel welcome and comfortable," the policy states, according to New Haven Workers Association, a group of activists who said employees gave them a copy.

A group of nursing homes in California and Texas agreed last year to pay up to $450,000 to employees who said they faced discrimination for speaking Spanish at work. In 2003, the Colorado Central Station casino agreed to pay more than $1.5 million to 36 former housekeepers who say they were ordered not to speak Spanish on the job.

Halperin Hints At Anti-Palin Bias In Reporting On "Game Change"

Tonight, Mark Halperin, co-author of Game Change, was asked by Mark Simone what might be some of the most under-reported stories in the book said to provide the inside scoop on the 2008 Presidential elections.

Halperin claimed that, despite all the focus on Sarah Palin, especially as regards her debate preparation, across the country, Obama's campaign staff was every bit as concerned as regards VP Joe Biden's ability to perform in the debate at an acceptable level. Evidently, until the last minute, they were all but about to give up any hope for his holding his own.

Funny that, as Biden now sits the proverbial heart beat away, the media has no real interest in highlighting that issue, as they did with Palin's alleged problems.

Not having read the book, I can't offer up anything more than co-author Halperin's own assessment. But as that topic might also speak to Obama's willingness to craft the political image for his candidacy he felt he needed, as opposed to selecting someone suitable, he may not have had America's best interests in mind at all.

If Palin's alleged struggles in debate preparation are viewed as reason for unsuitability for high office, than we can only assume that one individual in the current administration shares the very same problem. Perhaps the media isn't interested in pursuing it as the knowledge may prove too frightening for America to entertain.

So far, only other aspects of Biden's purported short-comings seem to have made it into the media surrounding publication of the book.

In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, we are now told, Barack Obama and his team grew so furious at Joe Biden's repeated gaffes that "not only was Biden kept off Obama's nightly campaign conference call, he wasn't even told it existed."

The running mate was so frustrated with how he was being handled -- especially when "his access to the press was severely limited" -- that he questioned new staffers on whether they were loyal to him or the Chicago gang. And after one particularly damaging blunder, "Obama phoned Biden and laid into him."

Stephen King Pays For Troops Ride Home For Christmas

This is a nice gesture. They're away for training and leaving for Afghanistan in January. King and his wife coughed up $12,999 so 150 of them could take a bus home for Christmas. Wish we read more of these stories where people with cash step up. King didn't want to donate 13k. He thought it unlucky. heh Someone came up with the additional buck.

Who would'a thunk the horror King would write a nice Christmas story?

BANGOR, Maine (AP) -- Author Stephen King and his wife are donating money so 150 soldiers from the Maine Army National Guard can come home for the holidays.

King and his wife, Tabitha, who live in Bangor, are paying $13,000 toward the cost of two bus trips so that members of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Unit can travel from Camp Atterbury in Indiana to Maine for Christmas. The soldiers left Maine last week for training at Camp Atterbury. They are scheduled to depart for Afghanistan in January.

Sarah Palin Breaking Hearts On The Left

Over at The Plum Line, Greg Sargent - among others on the Left - feels dispirited.

Tune in tomorrow when they all go back to telling us how Sarah Palin is irrelevant. Or, how they'd like nothing better than to see her emerge as she's only a silly joke. It looks as though the Left isn't in on the joke, even though some are determined to play it on themselves. I suspect still others know precisely what's going on, hence the effort to silence or marginalize her as best they can.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working very well!

Here’s a dispiriting postscript to the massive flap over The Washington Post’s decision to publish an Op ed by Sarah Palin on climate change, a piece that has been widely criticized as riddled with falsehoods.

I’m told by the paper’s insiders that her piece was one of the most-read WaPo opinion pieces of the year, coming in 21st in page views out of literally hundreds of opinion articles. An earlier Palin Op ed in the paper on the same topic was the third most read of the year.

A lot of this is probably driven by heavy outside linkage. But still, the fact that Sarah Palin, of all people, is able to command such attention for her views on the science of climate change, of all things, is kind of amazing.

Palin Signs Bachman's Copy: "Michele, we love you"

Now here's a tag team made in heaven if you're goal is to drive the loony Left even crazier than they already are! ha ha

What do you think? Palin/Bachman in 2012?? We could do a hell of a lot worse. What am I saying, we did do worse as far as the top of the ticket in 2008. Heck, these two babes might even win. And even if they didn't, it'd be well worth it just to watch the Left go so totally berserk! Heck, it's worth speculating for that, alone.

As we made plain on the cover of City Pages a few weeks ago, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin do seem to have a lot in common.

Now there's something more: Bachmann has her very own signed copy of Palin's best-selling memoir, "Going Rogue," evidently obtained when the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate stopped by for a book promotion and signing event on Monday at the Mall of America.

Bachmann spokesman Dave Dziok told the Strib the book was signed, "Michele, we love you."

Sarah Palin: "We Love Her"

You don't get to hear that said about a politician every day, especially right now. heh! Another book signing and another huge crowd came out to meet Sarah Palin.

Michelle Malkin was there and has a report. This below is from the first link above.

“We love her, and she’s one of us,” said Fela Hopkinson of Colorado Springs whose quest for Palin’s signature started before dawn.

Palin was popular in the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs during the 2008 campaign. The Republican ticket of Arizona Sen. John McCain and Palin drew 160,000 votes in El Paso County, easily topping the 109,000 for Obama.

Sarah Palin Receives "Great American" Award For Patriotism

The school has actually hosted some pretty lofty company before. Press were not allowed. It's being said she blasted the press pretty good during her speech. I do hope she doesn't over play that hand. It doesn't convey strength. The crowd seemed to love it, though.

Video news report below, more at link.

All in all, I'm sure it was a positive event for those in attendance.

"My parents and I just had a wonderful time at “Hard Work U” – the school motto of College of the Ozarks," Palin said on her Facebook page. "It earned that proud nickname because students there work their way through college and graduate with little or no debt. (In other words, a place after my own heart, and the hearts of others who worked their way through college and, like me, maybe took five years to finish because of work schedules!)"

The appearance was booked by the Washington Speakers Bureau and school officials haven't disclosed how much they paid, but the college has also hosted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

After greeting 1,000 people who endured the December bitter cold at her book signing in Springfield, Missouri on Wednesday, Sarah Palin addressed the College of the Ozarks, a private school near Branson.

The College of the Ozarks presented Palin with the inaugural "Great American" award, citing her contributions to promoting patriotism.

A school spokeswoman said the 4,000 free tickets allotted for Palin's speech had gone quickly, along with another 1,000 spots in an adjacent overflow room where Palin's speech was shown on video.

Sarah Palin's Governing Philosophy Emerges In "Going Rogue"

Based upon an Op-Ed in the Appeal-Democrat, it's suggested that, far from a political neophyte, Sarah Palin possesses a critical instinct for a governing style consistent with limited, cost-effective governing - and that she's resistant to being drawn in to the type of conventional wisdom that often moves politicians to the Left post-election.

You can't help but notice that just about everyone who is part of the political establishment detests Sarah Palin. And you can't help but notice that Palin couldn't care less.

Early in the second chapter of "Going Rogue," a chapter titled "Kitchen-Table Politics," you learn everything you need to know to understand why. This is the way Palin has been wired for a very long time. During her two terms on the Wasilla City Council, followed by two terms as the city's mayor, she consistently demonstrated a refreshing immunity to the insider mentality that tends to afflict people who serve in government at any level.

Palin is said to have resisted the type of influence peddling to which many politicians succumb, even when it meant going against her early political mentors. While the governing mentality first demonstrated itself in Wasilla, it's claimed it stayed with her right to the Governor's office in Juneau.

In one of the first tests of her independence, Palin opposed a proposal touted by Carney, her political patron, to force residents to pay for neighborhood trash pickup rather than hauling their garbage to the dump themselves, as most did, and as Palin says she still does. Why was this so important to Carney? Because he owned the local garbage truck company.

The portrait of Palin that emerges is not someone who is anti-government, but someone who is focused on making government provide critical services and programs, while trimming out the fat.

During her terms on the council, she consistently opposed heavy-handed community planning initiatives and burdensome taxes. But she was not anti-government, as she explains: As a council member, I focused on what I believed to be the key functions of government: infrastructure development, fiscal responsibility and simply being on the side of the people.

 Several of the controversies that ensnared her early on are said to be the result of that mentality, as opposed to Palin being someone who didn't know what she was about, or enjoyed making enemies just for spite. Fans of Sarah Palin are likely to find the op-ed a refreshing read for its take on the former Governor.

The chief of police flat-out refused to even look for budget savings, beginning a chilly relationship that ultimately resulted in Palin firing him and — get this — being sued by him for sex discrimination. (It took three years, but Palin was vindicated — another harbinger of things to come.)

Among Palin-haters, one of the most popular canards is that she is an airhead, and clearly not capable of dealing with the intricacies of government. As this chapter demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth.

Palin not only has a keen grasp of the details of governing and budgeting, she also understands the political difficulties inherent in making government responsive. Many of her antagonists at the national level scoffed at the notion that her experience in Wasilla was of any value. Quite the contrary, local government is where a public official's decisions have the most direct impact on the electorate. It's where you really have to understand the ins and outs of what you're doing.

No voting for bills without reading them first.

WA State: Palin Fans Camp In Freezing Weather For Book Signing

It appears to be another Palin book signing dominated by female fans. Most striking of all may be how similar this quote is to one we heard at an event across the country days ago.

“I’m outside of my normal comfort zone. This is something I’ve never done before,” said Harrell, who called Palin a “normal American person.”

No matter how much the Left continues to attack her, there's no disputing her ability to engage people without a history of becoming so involved with a political figure. A year ago no one could have predicted that Obama's star would be in such decline and Sarah Palin would re-emergeas the single most popular political figure of the day. If the trend continues through 2010, there's no telling how much power and influence she'll wield in the mid-term elections. And this type of energy in a mid-term could easily prove to be a determinant figure in many a race.

“There is just something about Sarah Palin. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but the politicians are afraid of her,” she added.

They plan to wait through what’s expected to be another freezing night for a guaranteed chance at meeting a woman they describe as refreshing, honest, no-nonsense and a true American.

Sarah Palin Runs 5k On Thanksgiving

I wonder if Newsweak dispatched a photographer to snap a picture of Palin in running clothes. At least there'd be something worth looking at inside that rag of a magazine.

The Tri-City Herald reports Palin arrived late Wednesday from Orlando, Fla. Palin plans to have dinner at the Richland home of her aunt Katie Johnson, a sister of Palin's mother.

She says it's good to be back in the Tri-Cities to reconnect with "the roots." Palin is planning to run a 5k Thursday to benefit the Red Cross.

She resumes her book tour Sunday, signing copies of "Going Rogue" at a book store in Richland.