Normally MediaNomics awards kudos to balanced news reporters. But
this month kudos goes to the April 26 episode of Fox's animated
comedy series King of the Hill, for a satire of liberal public
policy not often seen in prime time. Hank Hill, the show's title
character, is a manager for a propane sales company. He hires a
closet drug addict as a sales associate, and there his nightmare
begins. The new associate shows up for work hours late, buys drugs
over the phone at the office, and at one point refuses to do any
work, instead curling up in the fetal position in a corner. When the
associate begins frothing at the mouth in front of a customer, Hank
finally fires him.
The associate returns the next day with a social service worker,
who tells Hank that the associate is covered by the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and, therefore, cannot be fired. The propane
company's other employees learn of this and begin making up
disabilities which keep them from doing any work. Hank finally
decides to quit, which brings the company below 15 employees, the
threshold at which ADA kicks in. The company's owner then fires the
drug addict and work returns to normal.
