Who Can Really Say?

Linda Ronstadt has been banned from the Alladin Hotel in Las Vegas. According to Michael Moore, it's because she dedicated a song to him:

I understand from the news reports I've read that, after Linda Ronstadt, one of America's greatest singers, dedicated a song to me from your stage on Saturday night, you instructed your security guards to remove her from the Aladdin, which they did.

What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called "The First Amendment." This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way.

Aside from the tiresome misunderstanding of the First Amendment, to read Moore it all happened simply because she dedicated a song.

But. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Had the Aladdin made it clear they didn't want Ronstadt going down a political path, as she has in recent concerts elsewhere?

"Not that I'm aware of," said Aladdin spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.

From here, it certainly looks that way. Ronstadt started taking shots early in the show (several readers of this column, KLAS-TV, Channel 8 anchor Paula Francis among them, suggested my use of the word "snide" was off base).

You decide. I asked the Aladdin for Ronstadt's verbatim quotes to the audience.

"In case you are wondering what I'm going to do," said Ronstadt, "Driving into town I saw this big billboard up there with my picture on it saying 'The Greatest Hits Tour.'

"That was news to us. We didn't know it was 'The Greatest Hits Tour.' That is something they cooked up here in Vegas. ... They are gooood at that."

The Aladdin insists all promotional material was pre-approved by Ronstadt's people.

She didn't get booted solely for her dedication to Moore, a political lightning rod. She came in spoiling for a fight (or publicity), and Aladdin president Bill Timmins, a Scot, made his own statement: People come to Las Vegas for entertainment, not for political lectures.

And from World Net Daily, more quotes from Timmins:

Timmins told Sun gossip columnist Timothy McDarrah: "We live in a city where people come from all over the world to be entertained. We hired Ms. Ronstadt as an entertainer, not as a political activist.

"Whether you are politically on the left or on the right is not the point. She went up in front of the stage and just let it out. This was not the correct forum for that."

Continued Timmins: "Our first and only priority is the enjoyment of our customers. I made the decision to ask Miss Ronstadt to leave the hotel. A situation like that can easily turn ugly and I didn't want anything more to come out of it. There were a lot of angry people there after she started talking.

Well, I've got no plans to burn my Linda Rondstadt LP's (actually it may be only 1 LP). But it would be nice if Michael Moore knew just a bit Moore about the First Amendment than he knows about truth, of which he appears to know precious little.