'Querría un filete de queso . . . CON!'

They call Philadelphia the "City of Brotherly Love," but that happy face moniker hides a grim reality:

Philadelphia is one of the most racially segregated and openly racist cities in America, and we're not talking about the Deep South here.

Take Joe Vento, the proudly racist owner of Geno's Steaks, a South Philadelphia landmark, who requires customers to speak English before he'll serve them. A sign in Geno's window says:

This is America . . . Speak English

My pal Will Bunch at Attytood has some ideas about how to deal with this un-American scumbag.

WID OR WIDOUT

Cheesesteaks, along with soft pretzels and hoagies (submarine sandwiches) are a Philadelphia staple.

Genuine Philly cheesesteaks consist of thinly sliced rib eye or eye roll steak on an oblong Italian roll with Cheese Whiz. Yes, Cheese Whiz. (John Kerry made a fool of himself during the 2004 president campaign when he wondered aloud why they didn't put Swiss cheese on cheesesteaks. No wonder he wasn't elected!)

When true Philadelphians step up to the order window at one of the city's many cheesesteak joints, they say they want "a cheesesteak wid," which means with fried onions, or "a cheesesteak widout," which means no fried onions.

Hence the title of this post: "Querría un filete de queso . . . CON!"

CITIZEN BLOGGERS

Speaking of Philadelphia, Dan Rubin, who blogs at Blinq for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has done a nice piece about five everyday Janes and Joes who have something to say -- or show -- and do so regularly on their blogs.

You can link to Dan's story here.