Big Story attack on Pelosi: "THE WAR ON ENGLISH!"
SUMMARY: On The Big Story, a full-screen graphic appeared showing a picture of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the phrases "THE WAR ON ENGLISH!" "Just 'Say No' to America's Language" and "Why?" Throughout most of the segment, a graphic appeared in the lower right corner of the screen showing an image of Pelosi's face alternating with the phrase "SPEAK SPANISH."
On the November 19 edition of The Big Story, co-host John Gibson stated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is "trying to force The Salvation Army to hire people who don't speak English." Gibson was referring to Pelosi's reported pledge not to enact a provision that would prevent the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from pursuing a national-origin discrimination lawsuit against The Salvation Army for allegedly firing two Spanish-speaking workers after the organization began enforcing an English-language policy. During the ensuing segment, which featured an interview with Republican presidential candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo (CO) by co-host Heather Nauert, a full-screen graphic appeared, showing a picture of Nancy Pelosi and the phrases "THE WAR ON ENGLISH!" "Just 'Say No' to America's Language" and "Why?"
Additionally, throughout most of the segment, a graphic appeared in the lower right corner of the screen showing an image of Pelosi's face alternating with the phrase "SPEAK SPANISH."
Nauert and Tancredo discussed an amendment by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) included in the version of the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill passed by the Senate. The amendment states: "None of the funds made available in this Act shall be used to initiate or participate in a civil action by or on the behalf of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against an entity on the grounds that the entity requires an employee to speak English while engaged in work." According to an Associated Press article, "The EEOC has come under assault from lawmakers such as Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) after the agency filed suit earlier this year against a Salvation Army thrift store in Massachusetts that had fired two employees for speaking Spanish while sorting clothes." From the article:
Alexander successfully attached the English-in-the-workplace provision to the EEOC budget bill on an Appropriations Committee vote in June with the support of three Democrats -- including powerful panel Chairman Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
In the House, [Rep. Charlie] Gonzalez [D-TX] and other Latino members narrowly won a vote in July to reject a move to prevent the EEOC from pursuing English-only discrimination cases. But the result was reversed last week on a nonbinding 218-186 vote urging negotiators on the underlying budget bill to accept Alexander's language.
Outraged Latinos said Democratic leaders didn't adequately prepare members for the vote and they got a promise from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) that Alexander's English-only provision would be killed.
As Media Matters for America has noted, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended in 1991, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of national origin -- the provision of law on which the EEOC suit is based -- specifically includes an exception for "those certain instances where ... national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise." And indeed, the lawsuit specifically alleged that the ability to speak English "was unrelated to the job they had been performing since 1999."
From the November 19 edition of The Big Story with John Gibson & Heather Nauert:
GIBSON: New tonight, another big outrage, this one ignited by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. What did the San Francisco Democrat do now? She's trying to force The Salvation Army to hire people who don't speak English. Huh? Yo no comprende.
NAUERT: Pelosi has moved to kill an amendment that would protect employers from getting sued for requiring that their workers speak English. The Salvation Army is one of those employers targeted in such a lawsuit. Why doesn't the speaker of the United States think that workers in this country should all speak English?
Here now to talk about this is Republican Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo. He's a former chair of the Immigration Reform Caucus. OK, so, seems here that we have a war on English. "Just say no to America's language." Why?
TANCREDO: Well, because, first of all, we are becoming a bilingual country. It's unfortunate, but it is true. It's happening everywhere. I was -- as you know, I spend a lot of time in Iowa, and believe it or not, the -- in Ottumwa, Iowa -- this is the heartland -- the newspaper, the regular newspaper for Ottumwa, Iowa, is a bilingual newspaper. You could go on and on, of course, with cities along the south-- the border in Texas, which I happen -- where I happen to be right now, that have changed to Spanish as the official language.
NAUERT: OK, but --
TANCREDO: Bilingualism for individuals is one thing --
NAUERT: -- one sec.
TANCREDO: -- for countries, it's lousy.
NAUERT: OK, so if an employer has a company where employees are required to interface with customers and it's primarily an English-language-speaking area, should an employer not have the right to require that its employees speak English?
TANCREDO: Of course they should, and of course that's exactly what -- I mean, it's almost bizarre that we have to have something like this at the congressional level and that has to be an amendment, and it's not bizarre or it's not strange that Nancy Pelosi would kill it. But you know what? The Democrats are in this horrendous bind right now. It's fascinating to watch. It's great to see from my side, because they see the immigration issue kind of welling up to the top and becoming a very hot topic for them, and yet they've got to satisfy a significant portion of their base. And they're trying to walk this tightrope. In this case, she's trying to satisfy that part of the base which is, of course, pro-illegal immigration and pro-bilingualization of the country.
NAUERT: OK.
GIBSON: But Tom --
TANCREDO: She's trying to do it, and it's unfortunate.
GIBSON: But Tom, bilingualism means you can speak two. What this deal is, is saying you can get away with a job speaking only one language, and that language is not English. I mean, I think The Salvation Army wanted them to be bilingual, gave them a year to learn English.
TANCREDO: I remember.
GIBSON: And still, it's -- this is a Spanish-only question.
TANCREDO: That's true. You're absolutely right. And there is no defense for it. I mean, certainly, I can come up with absolutely none, except to say that this is an attempt to satisfy that particular wing of their party. And, you know, they're -- look, they've got a Democrat freshman that's going to introduce a bill soon. It's a tough, enforcement-only piece of legislation, and they're trying to do that to balance it off the other way because they're in, as I say, a quandary. But this whole thing, this idea of a country that's -- where two languages are spoken. Well, what I mean to say is some part of the country speaks one language --
GIBSON: Yeah.
TANCREDO: -- some part of the country speaks the other. That's what I mean by a bilingual country. Not a country where everybody speaks two languages. And that is what has happened to us.
GIBSON: You mean bifurcated-language country?
TANCREDO: Bifurcated, that's a better way to put it.
GIBSON: Tom Tancredo.
TANCREDO: That's a better way to put it. But it's really a very, very serious problem for a nation. We better start to deal with this, or we won't have a nation to talk about it.
GIBSON: Tom Tancredo, Colorado congressman. Tom, thanks very much. Good to see you.
NAUERT: Thanks.
TANCREDO: Thanks.
As I said, the fear of languages is truly astounding. There is a long history of multilingualism in this country. We should support linguistic diversity, instead of fear mongering languages and their speakers. We do ourselves harm when we promote English as enough. English is not enough. There are far more than two languages spoken in this country and unlike English and Spanish, some of them have been here for a very long time. We know that Oklahoma and the American Southwest are hotspots for language endangerment. Instead of fear-mongering against languages, we should be trying to understand and document the diversity of human languages.
In case it is not absolutely clear: There is no war on English. There are languages that are in serious danger, languages that have very few speakers left, languages that have not been adequately documented, and those languages are not English. They are small languages spoken by people who have been historically marginalized, their languages devalued by the larger society. Sometimes they were physically punished for speaking their own languages. Those languages are really in danger.
English is fine. But English is not enough.
The other problem with committing to an American English-only policy, that kills off all of the indigenous languages of the first nations' people, is that such wanton destruction also removes the knowledge and wisdom of surviving on this continent for thousands of years. When petroleum becomes too expensive to ship food hundreds and thousands of miles, one might ponder local native plant species as alternative sources.
Without indigenous knowledge, those acorn mushes, black tree lichen soups, roasted herbed-camus and other tubers, etc., either won't taste palatable, or be poisonous, or both. Next time you go out into your yards with herbicides and pesticides, to free your own precious environment of unwanted (unrecognized but critically important) plants and bugs, you might want to consider how the first nation's people in your region lived off of these species for hundreds of years. Why? Because there may very well come a time when you might have to as well, but you won't know how.
Por Favor, escoga su idioma.
As an american Irish man who married a hispanic mexican, all I can say is screw tancredo and his white skinned assault on diversity. That program for the legal route is so full of red tape it makes tancredo happy, but that pocket filching b'turd has a lot of gall suggesting that non whites should follow a different process than his grandma did.
Tom Tancredo wants everybody to forget the little news story that broke in Colorado a few years ago - that he had undocumented Mexican workers renovating the basement of his home outside Denver......
If we really wanted to talk about "THE WAR ON ENGLISH!" then George W. Bush would be an enemy of the state for his mangling of the English language. ;>)
Bush should start speaking in Spanish, only. After he's mangled it enough, even the latinos will beg for english only laws.
It is disgusting what Pelosi is doing. It is also amazing that MMFA thinks more than 10% of the American people side with her on this issue.
ANY business has a right to require people to speak English on the job, end of story. The Civil Rights Act does nothing to prevent this, and simply shouldn't.
I don't know if some details are missing, but it looks to me like the issue is not about being forced to hire people who can't speak English( which is reasonable in some situations),but preventing people from being fired for speaking another language among themselves, when it doesn't affect the performance of their job.
Amazing, the things that terrify some people.
Indeed, you are correct sir. Seems like our friend Copious whatever he is, is afraid of Spanish. The things that republicans, and or right wingers seem to be afraid of sometimes astounds me. We can just add language to the list of their "boogeymen".
We just had a Ranch99 open up around the corner. I was looking for some bunns and the first two people I ran into did not speak english. I was about to give up when a young kid walked by and told me they had none in stock yet. Frustrated, yes I was.....
Entiendo espanol, pero, no me gusta cuando Nancy Pelosi esta loco.
Es muy importante que los personas compredan ingles quando juegan.
*quando trabajan.
Lo siento, me olvidi muchas palabras.
That shut 'em up for a few minutes.
HBL, I think you're right. It's unclear from the story whether the fired employees could not speak English, or just chose to speak Spanish to each other. To me, those are two different situations.
I can see where an employee should be able to speak English if they are dealing with the public. Of course, the flip side is that a time may come where people will be required to speak English AND Spanish if they deal with the public. Maybe that's what scares the Xenofascists so much.
"Of course, the flip side is that a time may come where people will be required to speak English AND Spanish if they deal with the public. Maybe that's what scares the Xenofascists so much."
That's part of it...certainly, but I think the biggest part is that they're afraid someone will say something (anything) and they won't be able to understand when they eavesdrop on the conversation.
Yeah, if only them muslim islamofascists spoke english it wouldn't have been that big of a deal when the military dumped almost all their arabic foreign language specialists because they found out they were gay. English only solves everything!
"ANY business has a right to require people to speak English on the job, end of story" CompliantConsent
Good, now I can fire all of my damn deaf-mute sweatshop employees.
Well copious, I've finally found a site that translates liberal speech into conservative for you. Here you go, enjoy! I'm sure it will explain everything to your satisfaction.
That's scary, Snoopy.It was like having Sean Hannity's brain transplanted into my head for a minute.
OK, now that's actually pretty funny - but dammit, she ain't gettin' my PIN number! ;)
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Despite our passionate differences we air here so often, at least we do have one thing in common - our motivation to become involved in our country's issues and problems, and even though we may have widely opposing paths to getting there, we are not ambivalent and apathetic about what we all care about.
Our differences aside, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak my mind and the thoughtful discussions on this website.
I wish everyone reading and posting, including the MMFA staff, a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.
Same back at ya.
Tommy, Althoug I enjoy reading the banter on this site, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Same goes for all here past, present and future.
But Tommy, I ask you WITH. :)
---"The Civil Rights Act does nothing to prevent this, and simply shouldn't."---
That holds true for bad grammar as well.
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
The Xenophobic Party, the Cheap Labor Party, The Republican Party was the party that promoted the mass migration from the south with trade policies meant to cheapen American labor with exploitable cheap immigrant labor and now would turn America a enclosed society with a fense!
A Soviet Styled Union of American States with a wall around our borders, and a National ID card to keep us in line.
Cesar Chavez made the obvious solutions the center peice of his farm workers organization with the simple proposal to reform the Brasseros Program.
Unionize any worker whom would be allowed to come to America for work! This way if an employer or employee were to be found working, or hired in America without a work permit certified by a union affiliation would be equally punished with criminal charges for both, along with deportation for the immigrant, and fines for the employer.
Same solution that is 40 years old and we are stil trying to find ways for employers to exploit cheap immigrant labor and cheapen American labor at the same time.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
I have to respectfully disagree with the majority of the posters on this thread. Americans may not speak proper English, but we speak our variation of it. To allow another group to migrate to this country in such a large quantity and little time, causes problems in the greater culture. My family migrated from the West Indies. I am in no way against immigrants being allowed to speak their native language, but a nation has to have certain consistencies to exist. Laws, security and language are extremely important and I think some people are under the belief in a sort of utopian society where all things can be accepted. There aren't too many powerful nations that would allow this and for good reason. Communication is the most important aspect of a marriage. How can we truly accept our neighbors if we don't have a basis to start. Furthermore, I'm no historian, but I do believe language played a role in the fall of the Roman Empire. I know greed and warmongering was also prevalent, but the different cultures and inablity to communicate also played a part.
And I have to ask;
How often through the course of your day at work, or at play, are you encountered with someone who doesn't speak English? How often are you "forced" to speak Spanish? If your day is anything like mine, it's about 0 times.
Every day.
Speak and understand English or I won't hire you.
If you are the employer and I can't speak or understand Spanish, perhaps you won't hire me.
Perfectly understandable.
1. Then dont marry someone who's language you can't understand.
2. Then learn the language of your neighbors. Make an effort instead of expecting everyone to accommodate you.
3. If unity is the greatest good, I suppose you think we should all convert to the same religion, too.
4. If you are having such a hard time functioning in this country, maybe you are just using language as an excuse. Maybe you are just a fool and fewer people are interested in being your friends than you think.
5. "Live and Let Live" might be a philosophy you should consider.
Uhm, Spanish was the first official language of the south west, there have been large numbers of spanish speaking people here for hundreds of years. I don't think your arguments hold water.
Once again, Copius Ignorance proves the has no idea what he's talking about. This isn't a civil rights issue - it's a matter of equal employment opportunity. And I found this little nugget of information on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission web site:
A rule requiring that employees speak only English on the job may violate Title VII unless an employer shows that the requirement is necessary for conducting business. If the employer believes such a rule is necessary, employees must be informed when English is required and the consequences for violating the rule.
http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeo/overview_practices.html
I fail to see how the Salvation Army's business could be hampered in any way if two women in a back room sorting clothes are speaking Spanish.
Geez learn to read for goodness sake
Nancy Pelosi is incompetent as the Speaker of the House and as an American.
If only Tom Tancredo could become President. He demonstrates wisdom beyond compare!!!!
This must be a prelude to the War on Christmas, oh wait, that's already started. FoxNews, they tend to cheapen the term "war" I think, by using it on everything that they're against.
I think that the truth of the matter is that, for most folks who have come to this country in the past, and now, sure, they might speak their own native language for that first generation, but of course, as their children go to school here, learn English, by the time the first generation's kids graduate high school, and then have kids of their own, more than likely, they'll all be English speakers, and probably won't know a lick of their native language.
I can't believe people are so afraid of a language, it's really, super duper silly.
Of course, if you read some history, this has been the mantra for as long as America has been a country, and probably even before that. Look at some of the historical records about the rhetoric that was spoken, or written about immigrants that came here before. The Chinese, the Germans, the Irish, and just about anyone else. This was a common complaint, if they couldn't speak English, maybe they should leave the country, and this that, and the other thing.
Don't we ever learn anything from history? As in, don't worry about, everything is going to be fine, the country isn't going to change that much at all? Don't we have better things to worry about other than what language 2 women are speaking to each other when they are folding, and or separating clothes donations?
Oh my. FUX Noise is going to be busy now. They have to fight the "War on English", "The Culture War", and the "War on Christmas". And all their leaders are without military experience. What to do, what to do?
They pray for unending war as do their masters so they can continue to deceive the people for "their own good".
WHY ARE WE AT WAR WITH THE ENGLISH? I know that they don't speak American but what the hell, let's forgive them. I think if we want to go to WAR WITH THE ENGLISH it should be over thier food.
WHY ARE WE AT WAR WITH THE ENGLISH?
I think it may have someting to do with kidney pie. Next, we attact those pesky Scottish folks for their haggis.
:-)
"ANY business has a right to require people to speak English on the job, end of story."
not if they're doing it to weed out Mexicans and foreigners, which is almost always the reason.
At last! Someone comes to the aid of the language we gave the world, and resists the American war on proper English. At last, you rebellious colonials will be forced to spell 'labour', 'colour', and 'civilisation' correctly, and to explain to the world just what happened on the 9th of November. You will also finally be compelled to admit that Tom Wolfe is, at best, a mediocre hack, and that Bret Easton Ellis is overrated. You will then quietly submit to our taxes on stamps and tea.
Oh wait. That's not what this article is about at all.
How do you feel about the patatoe/pataotos controvery and is this the ferry to Maggot Pier?
Please promise to never utter the phrase "Not at all" in "proper" English and I will say whatever you want.... It's the sound equivalent to driving an ice pick in your ear.
No way, M.O.E.. I'm not referring to any parts of my car as a bonnet or boot.
oops, nor boot.
I occasionally have to repair something under the bonnet, which is why I keep a spanner in the boot at all times.
Bloody awful British cars. Lucas refrigerators and warm beer, eh wot?
You may have introduced the world to "english", but it did not originate without flaws. Thanks to America, that language has been perfected over the past centuries to become mankinds greatest language ever invented.
I was sitting at a bistro the other day having a tete-a-tete about this over a cafe latte and hors d'ouvres with a comrade, and me and him agreed how unfortunate it would be for the savoir-faire of our culture to become debauched by knowledge of another language. He related a memoir of one time when he was taking a sabbatical in Los Angeles, and wandered into one of the barrios there. He goes "I knew I made a faux-pas, and I was so not in America no more when these morons didn't speak no English, you know what I'm saying?" and I'm like "yeah, right on. I hear you, dude." For me, it was like deja-vu all over again.
Anyway, if you don't hate America, you'll learn to talk good english, you morans.
Dog's knob, Neon.
I think the point was mspelosi wants to force the SA to hire people who do not speak English. The point was not to prevent them from firing people who speak another language.
I am burned because I am American Indian. My grandfather was forced into a government school and punished so severly for speaking his native tongue he did not even teach it to his children, so I never learned much of it.
Today I have a grandson in middle school who is required to take a foreign language class.
How ironic is all of that.
Well said Englande!
Regarding the actual topic: Canada is officially a bi-lingual country, and has a 15.8% French population. The US has a 14.8% hispanic or latino population (according to wikipedia). So, given current demographic trends, it can't be long till the US is officially bi-lingual!
I have to admit, the Republican Flying Monkey Liars have done a good job of creating the new Boogie Man ...illegal immigration. It is a problem, I agree. Both parties have failed in dealing with it. However, it is something which can be dealt with if we have the political will to do so...all this hysteria is unnecessary. On the other hand, the Flying Monkeys NEED the hysteria so that they'll have something to bloviate about other than the money-sucking obscenity their President has created in Iraq. That's really what this is all about.
If this immigration thing is soooo bad, I ask what has been done about securing our border...with CANADA. Isn't it a longer open border? I'm sorry, apparently any illegal immigrant doesn't like cold weather.
This so-called proplem is another wedge issue for this election cycle.
Once again, I call for a moratorium on this election campaign until after the holidays........including JULY 4th, 2008
Co-host Heather: "A war on English"
That's right, Heather. Secular Progressive Dirty Hippies can fight a War on Christmas AND on English at the same time. With General Pelosi AND without a draft. Forward, March!
Nancy Pelosi is a failure as the Speaker of the House and as an American.
We must have a universal language!. As the US is a melting pot--if every entity demanded their special language be recognized, soon we would be functioning as the tribes in Iraq. United we Stand, Divided we Fall.!!!! Basically this is part of Tom Tancredo's message and it makes sense!!!.
I'm certain Fox and Tancredo are equally peeved and outraged that the Salvation Army's hiring practices discriminate based on one's religion. Oh, wait. I misunderstood. These Republicans are fine with discrimination; they're upset that liberals are pushing for equality of opportunity.
War on Christmas
War on English
War on Terror
All war, all the time for these bozos.
Maybe fox should change their slogan to "once you've gone white, you know you've done right".
War on Poverty is nearing a half century old. It may be more expensive than all other wars put together and has not changed poverty rates much, but it sure sounds good.
Si no supiera mejor juraría que este vídeo es un skit de SNL.
You think your display of French makes you apear enteligent, but it only shows your ignorence. Lern to talk English, elitist frog boy.
¡¡¡ Tráeme mas te helado, Chingamadre !!!
Do you want fries with that?
Sane ego te vocavi. Forsitan capeddictum tutum desit. (I did call. Maybe your answering machine is broken.)
Finally, a proper language! Someone who speaks the king's Latin.
They way these morons think, it frightens me to imagine what their version of the Pilgrims' first encounters with indigenous people must be. I can't imagine the Pilgrims telling them to speak English or else they will force them into trailer homes on reservations and introduce them to alcohol.
Pete, the first encounters with the Indians were probably a lot likr the exchanges I used to see on my Tijuana weekends;
How much for this blanket?
(puzzled look)
HOW MUCH FOR THIS BLANKET !!!
(puzzled look,a little more frightened)
Come over here my freind, I have been saving this very special blanket all day just for you. It was made by Pancho Villa's grandmother over 1000 years ago. For you, only $15 !
Of course Fox mangles the whole argument, claiming that "Nancy Pelosi wants to make it a crime to not hire someone who speaks Spanish" and asking "Why is Pelosi against the American Language?"
Don't even try to enlighten the viewers. Don't even try to discuss a real issue in a sensible, well-educated manner. Just boil everything down to a bumper sticker to make the viewers as dumb and ill-informed as you are.
Oh, and then have Tom Tancredo on to have apoplexy over seeing a newspaper in Iowa which has a - GASP- Spanish language section!
God, we are such bed wetters in this country.
The Founders of our Republic could have made English our official language...They could have...
But somehow they knew better than Tom Tancredo. They new that unlike some nations, the American sense of national identity is not based on a common language but on the common ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Americans hold these Truths to be self evident: "That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Notice that it doesn't say all English men or all English speaking men but all men. The Constitution outlines requirements and responsibilities of the Congress, the requirements and responsibilities of the President, the requirements and responsibilities of the Judicial system, and requirements for amending and ratifying the Constitution. The Amendments detail the unalienable rights and liberties such of Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom of Speech. Nowhere does the Constitution mention English as an official language or limit those rights to English speakers. Being an American is not based on what language you speak but what ideals you hold.
And Note to Tom Tancredo: Spanish is the second most common language spoken in the US. It has been spoken in North America since the 16th Century. Some of the first Europeans to see what is now the Western United States were Spanish explorers. The first successful European settlers in what is now the US were from Spain. (Yes I know the Vikings settled in Canada around the year 1000 but left after about a generation.) People from Spain settled in St. Augustine, Florida the longest continuously inhabited European city in what is now the US more than 40 years before the English settled Jamestown, Virginia.
And another thing is Tom Tancredo is so keen on English why not propose the following bill:
A Bill to Translate All Place Names in other Languages to English:
Arizona = Arid Zone
Colorado = The Place with Red Colored Soil
New Mexico = New Place Named for the Valley Once Dominated by the Mexica (Aztec) Indians
Montana = The Mountainous Place
California = A place named for a paradise ruled by the mythological Queen Califia.
Los Angeles = The City of Our Lady the Queen Angels on the River Porciuncula
Louisiana = The Place Named After King Louis the 14th of France
Missouri = The Place of The River of Those with Dugout Canoes
Mississippi = The Great River
Virginia = The Place Named For Queen Elizabeth the 1st, So-Called Virgin Queen of England
And So Forth...
A few weeks ago, the Washington Post printed a letter to the editor from a woman who complained because when she went to vote, she saw several signs in Spanish in the voting place, and there was a Spanish option on the touchscreen ballot she used. "I was under the impression" she wrote, "that to become a citizen of the United States, one had to show proficiency in English." I wrote a letter explaining that she was completely wrong, but it wasn't published; I may have missed it, but I don't believe that ANY letters refuting hers were published, but I can't imagine that thousands were not sent.
I've also read and heard countless complaints about stores that post advertisements in Spanish, and just you never mind that stores are private enterprises who reach the decision to do that on their own with no coaxing from the government. People are just totally clueless about language and unwilling to learn- all they know is, they feel inconvenienced and isolated when they hear people speaking Spanish, they experience a level of insecurity and inferiority and want it stopped, rights be damned.
We must refuse to shop in any store that has a sign that says, "Happy Holidays" or "Felices Fiestas".
We've waging the War on Christmas on two fronts now, the English and the Spanish. Let's hope that we can do what the Germans could not do in WWII.
This has been another report from the front lines of the War on Christmas.
What happens in the war on Christmas if someone says "Merry Christmas" in Spanish?
They would support Jose Feliciano but be against him at the same time?
They would praise him for scoring a victory against the Secular Humanists, but then fire and deport him.
My opinion:
If the job itself within the business demands English because those you are working with can't understand you (which is essential to job, if the job requires words), then all the power to the business. However, no laws should prohibit anyone with the same native tongue from speaking amongst themselves within the premises. And if words are not important job, they should be allowed to work.
Gibson & Tancredo in the same room?
If they put both of their brains together, they'd still be the dimmest bulb in the room.
Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll..
It's OK for me to say words like ya'll, being from Texas.
Dallas Cowboy have been Americas Team. Today, I'm not sure. Maybe the New England Patriots? Right now these 2 teams seem destined for the Super Bowl.
Only way to beat the Patriots...
The first time Tom Brady gets the ball, break one of his legs, take the penalty, pay the fine but win the game... Unless the Pats find some way to cheat! I'm kidding.
Best in the NFC will be determined when Green Bay and Dallas play at Texas Stadium November 29th 8:15 pm ET. Bret Farve has never won vs. Cowboys.
- Go Cowboys -
Michael Wilbon basically said the same thing in the Washington Post after the Patriots battered the Skins 52-7-- that the Skins should have taken a few cheap hits on Brady and penalties be damned. He was quite correctly bashed in subsequent letters to the editor.
As a Patriots fan, I would love to see my team go 19-0 and shut up all the whiny other fans and especially the pathetic '72 Dolphins squad, who like to pretend that the NFL wasn't totally biased toward Shula and let them get away with murder on the field every week.
"Push one for English, push two for Spanish and Three for Arabic" a benign voice offers you over the phone when you call businesses.
Before long, you’ll hear, "Press one for Russian, two for Vietnamese, three for Korean, four for Hmong, five for Swahili, six for Moroccan and seven for Eskimo."
Before you push the button for your language, you probably wonder whose idea was it to change English the language of America into different languages? How long can we maintain a cohesive, united and viable country without the ability to talk among ourselves?
In his brilliant piece in the Rocky Mountain News, former Colorado Governor Lamm said, "A nation is much more…It is a state of mind, a shared vision, a recognition that we are all in this together. A nation needs a common language as it needs a common language as it needs a common l currency."
With competing languages, no nation on earth enjoys peace within itself. The scholar Seymour Lipset said, "The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension and tragedy. Canada, Belgium Malaysia, Lebanon—all face crises of national existence which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. France faces severe difficulties with hits Islamic immigrants now numbering five million who are not assimilating.
In his article, "The Long Count", FrontPageMagazine.com of February 24, 2003, Allan Wall writes, "In the past, Hispanic immigrants sought to assimilate … But that is more and more difficult for immigrants who arrive today, recipients of affirmative action and government services (entitlements) in Spanish. Allan Wall asks, "What’s to be done?"
"Designate English as the official language of the country. Scrap bilingual education, bilingual ballots. The president should revoke Executive Order 131665, which guarantees foreign language service to anyone who demands it. All government business should be conducted in English."
Today the threat is from the Spanish language. Tomorrow it could be Arabic or Chinese. If immigrants who speak Spanish do not want to learn English, they should immigrate to Spain."
The trend in language is against English proficiency. Why do immigrants no longer need to learn English? In a nutshell: diversity and multiculturalism. The government promotes the equality of foreign languages with English in its support of bi-lingual education, government publications for use inside the US printed in foreign languages, voting ballots in languages other than English.
Our enemies are not distracted. They are focused on their goals of open borders, unlimited immigration, a multi-lingual society and culture; in short their goal is the demise of the English-speaking culture of the United States of America.
What keeps us united? Short answer: our common English language! The Spanish lobby fights for bi-lingual everything. That is their issue. Focus on expanding Spanish usage. Attack promoters of English as racist. On the other side, we who seek to preserve English as the language of the nation are distracted by the immigration news of the day. Our distraction is playing into the hands of the enemy. And be clear about this; La Raza, Mecha, Maldef and LuLac, all anti-American Mexican groups--stand as enemies against America as a sovereign nation.
As Immanuel Kant once said, "Language and religion are the dividers." If we allow multiple languages into the United States of America, we shall create the Divided States of America. No one wins and we all lose.
No compromise! No discussion! No sympathy! This is America. We speak English. If you want a fractured nation, continue to support these outrageous demands in the workplace, but don't whine when that same language usurps English.
Frosty Wooldrige and other contributors.
Tancredo is right.
I was a student in San Antonio, Texas some 50 years ago. My recollection is that every prospective teacher, both public school and university, had to be expert at both English and Spanish. There was never any debate or otherwise discussion about it. The large Spanish speaking population made it necessary for teachers to able to communicate with and instruct students. I remember that many, if not all large cities and towns, in the southern part of the state had this requirement. It wasn't news. What I do NOT know is weather all Spanish speaking students had to learn English.
Years later, as a teacher on Long Island, the English as a Second Language (ESL) program was HUGE. This included Asians and more than a few Russians, as well as Hispanic students. Unfortunately, a large number of Spanish speaking students actually refused to learn English. My experience showed that virtually all of my Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Indian, German, and Pakistani students managed to learn enough English within a few months to a year to be "mainstreamed" into all of their classes. Most of the ESL instructors were personal friends of mine and could not fathom this trend. I guessed that it may have been a cultural pride in holding onto their language in addition to the isolation forced upon them, causing such students to seek out and bond with ONLY Spanish speaking students. We never seemed to arrive at a solution and it appears that we have not found a solution even today.
Look what multiculturalism etc. did for Yugoslavia. I'm sure most of you would like to see that happen here. I hope you fail.