Is "Lover" an Unmentionable Word now?

The Spice Girls are a British pop group who have an almost brain-dead song called "Wannabe" that uses a lot of words to say virtually nothing but it does contain the phrase "If you wanna be my lover". You can read the whole of the "lyrics" here. So singing that song is offensive? In Georgia it appears to be. Five eighth graders at a school talent quest sang it to much applause but the school principal was offended by the word "lover":

"The parents of five Gwinnett County teens are still shaking their heads in disbelief after the girls found themselves abruptly suspended from school for singing a Spice Girls song. Not only that, they were also barred from going to their graduation celebration. The five are being punished for singing a song that every "tween" in the world knows by heart -- "Wannabe" by The Spice Girls.

The girls got a standing ovation from the crowd, but an in-school suspension from the principal. "When school came the following Monday morning, the principal pulled the five girls in and was very angry at them, and told them that they ruined the talent show "

Source

Opening your mouth in Georgia sure sounds like a risky business.




Is English-Sign Rule Racist or Cautious?

Metro Detroit:

"A plan to require English translations on foreign-language signs on stores, bakeries and other businesses has caused an outcry in Sterling Heights that could put the city in the midst of a national debate.

Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko recently asked the city's legal staff to prepare an ordinance requiring the translations on exterior signs. "This is for the safety of our residents as well as our police and fire (personnel)," Ziarko said. "If emergency crews can properly identify a location, they can know if there are chemicals or dangerous substances (on the premises)."

But in one of Metro Detroit's most diverse communities, critics say the idea is ill-timed at best and racist at worst."

Source

It would once have been seen as a proper requirement for U.S. residents to use English in public where they could -- part of the requirements for being American. In the name of social cohesion, perhaps it should still be. The Senate has, after all, just passed a bill making English the national language of the United States.




G*ogle are Getting Bolder

It seems that it is not only G*ogle news that is failing to cover conservative sites now. The basic G*ogle web search is apparently doing it as well. Riehl World View has been wiped from the G*ogle database entirely. You cannot find anything on it via a G*ogle search. And G*ogle refuses to say why.

They won't tell Outside the Beltway why he has been removed from their news crawl either.

None of my sites are affected so far but I am pretty outspoken about Islam so I would have to be at some risk of vanishing from search results.