Baltimore, Maryland, 1998 – I am about as non-racist as an American can be, but when it comes to restaurants I am as bigoted as any member of the Nation of Islam or the Ku Klux Klan.

Remember the Spike Lee movie, Do the Right Thing?

The plot hinged on a protest by blacks against a pizza restaurant owner whose primary decor consisted of pictures of Italian athletes. He refused to add pictures of black athletes even though almost everyone else in the neighborhood — and most of his customers — were black.

If I walked into a pizza place and saw pictures of Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan on the walls, I’d probably turn around and walk out… Especially if the girl behind the counter was Hispanic and the guy making the pizzas looked Asian.

Well. The Bush people are now complaining to the FEC (Federal Election Commission) that Kerry’s campaign is engaged in criminal behavior because many independent groups and individuals would like to see Kerry replace Bush as President — and are saying so on TV and in other media. The crime (in the Bush people’s eyes) is that some of these groups and individuals may be in communication with Kerry campaign staffers. Not me! I would like to state for the record that I am not in contact with anyone on Kerry’s campaign staff in any way, but that as an individual American I would rather see Kerry become President than let Bush stay in office for another four years.