In “satire that writes itself”, Ruben Navarrette talks about Pahrump’s latest brilliant move:
You have the constitutional right to burn an American flag, but you can get into trouble for simply flying a foreign one.
At least you can in the 30,000-person town of Pahrump, Nevada, which is close to Las Vegas and even closer to stepping over the line with an idiotic, intolerant and insulting ban on foreign (read: Mexican) flags. The town council voted last week, 3-2, to approve an ordinance that makes it illegal to display a foreign flag — unless an American flag is flown above it. Scofflaws face a $50 fine and 30 hours of community service.
Pahrump resident Michael Miraglia proposed the ban because, he said, he got upset when he saw immigrant activists marching through U.S. cities last spring, waving Mexican flags. Mr. Miraglia told USA Today that he was especially miffed that “we had Mexican restaurants closed that day.”
So that’s what started all this — the fact that some guy couldn’t get his burrito fix.
How’s that go again? “I can’t have my burrito, you can’t have your flag”?
(Pahrump is quite often the butt of jokes for people who live in Nevada, but going national like this is something special.)