Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The Bull Moose Doesn't Get It on Immigration. Real Clear Politics Does.
The Bull Moose suggests a hidden dynamic to the immigration debate:
[T]here is far more than meets the eye concerning the [Republican] base's opposition to "amnesty." This is a case of transference where the right has displaced all of its anger and frustration over spending and the war on this issue. The right is truly in revolt.
Unfortunately for this analysis, the anti-amnesty crowd is not limited to conservative Republicans venting mindless dissatisfaction with the Bush White House.
Anti-amnesty forces span the ideological spectrum. They share a sense that the hard-working, taxpaying "silent majority" has been written off as old news by the powers that be.
Even as more U.S. jobs are exported, we are told that more foreign labor must be imported, and not just to pick lettuce. To add fuel to this economic fire, Americans are told they need to get with the program: learn Spanish and don't get upset when America's guests exalt the Mexican flag over Old Glory.
John McIntyre at Real Clear Politics gets it:
Republicans should understand that if there is a signing ceremony with President Bush, John McCain and Ted Kennedy on a compromise immigration bill that the Washington Post and New York Times praise, the GOP can kiss control of Congress good-bye.
And not just in 2006.
|posted by Jim on 7:26 PM|
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Friday, May 19, 2006
More Opposing Views
We report. You decide.
Via Samawel:
The US, I think, should be multilingual when it comes to official languages. As national languages are concerned, all the Amerindian languages should be official in their parts of the nation, meanwhile as a unifying language, both English and Spanish should be official.
Language Log's Bill Poser was also not pleased:
The third argument, believe it or not, is that making English official will have a unifying effect! That's rich. Depriving Spanish-speakers in the Southwest and Puerto Rico and American Indians and Eskimos of services in their own languages is obviously a great way to make them feel wanted.
|posted by Jim on 8:11 PM|
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Senate English Vote Press Clippings
CNS News (quotes English First).
Calcutta India Telegraph front page story: "Two hundred and thirty years after America won its independence from the British, English is finally the national language of the US. Well, almost."
Chicago Tribune blogger Sam Denov
Finally, the U.S. Senate has passed a measure to make English the national language of the United States. Shame on our two Illinois Senators for having voted against the measure. Our founding fathers never dreamed of including such a measure in our Constitution simply because they were all English speaking and erroneously concluded that our nation would never use any language other than English as a common language.
Andy Martin, former Florida English activist, credits the illegal alien marches with reviving the English issue.
Dale McFeatters of Scripps-Howard editorialized:
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid denounced the measure as "racist." Although expecting people to learn the language of their adopted nation is hardly racist and not at all unusual, this shows how emotional the debate over immigration reform has become, and also how Hispanic-entric.
|posted by Jim on 7:26 PM|
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Another Reaction to the Senate's English Vote
"It is cultural chauvinism at its best and reactionary nativism at its worst," said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican-American Political Association.
|posted by Jim on 7:23 PM|
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"Bush Opposes Official English":Gonzalez
"The president has never supported making English the national language," Gonzales said(Hat tip: Patrick Cleburne, VDARE.com.
|posted by Jim on 7:20 PM|
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Thursday, May 18, 2006
Did Your Senator Win a Weathervane Award on English?
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) offered an official English amendment to the immigration bill today which passed by a vote of 63-34. The Inhofe amendment specifies that, "no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English."
Senate Republicans voted for the Inhofe amendment 52-1, while Senate Democrats opposed the amendment 11-32.
Ken Salazar (D-CO) offered an alternative official English amendment, which specified, "Nothing herein shall diminish or expand any existing rights under the law of the United States relative to services or materials provided by the government of the United States in any language other than English." Salazar's amendment defined "law" to specifically include "controlling Presidential Executive Orders."
Clinton Executive Order 13166 declared any person's language choice to be a protected civil right which entitles them to unlimited translations at no charge. The Salazar amendment could have the effect of codifying E.O. 13166. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) brought up E.O. 13166 time and time again during today's lengthy floor debate.
The Salazar proposal was also passed by a vote of 58-39. Senate Democrats backed Salazar 43-0, while Senate Republicans opposed it by a vote of 14-39.
Senators Bunning (R-KY), Martinez (R-FL) and Rockefeller (D-WVA) did not vote on either amendment.
Anti-English Weathervane Awards Winners
Republicans who switched their position by voting for Salazar's pro-E.O. 13166 English bill votes and thus undercut the Inhofe amendment they had just ostensibly voted for a few minutes beforehand were: Brownback (KS), Chafee (RI), Coleman (MN), DeWine (OH), Graham (SC), Hagel (NE), McCain (AZ), Murkowski (R-AK), Snowe (ME), Specter (PA), Voinovich (OH) and Warner (VA).
Democrats who switched their position by voting for Salazar's pro-E.O. 13166 English bill votes and thus undercut the Inhofe amendment they had just ostensibly voted for a few minutes beforehand were: Baucus (MT), Byrd (WV) [a official cosponsor of the Inhofe amendment!], Carper (DE), Conrad (ND), Dorgan (ND), T. Johnson (SD), Landrieu (LA), Lincoln (AR), Nelson (NE), Nelson (FL), and Pryor (AR).
If any of your Senators are among these "weathervanes," please let them know that you are extremely disappointed in their anti-English vote for the Salazar amendment. Their actions undercut the excellent Inhofe amendment and may have breathed new life into Clinton Executive Order 13166.
Now What?
According to Congressional Quarterly, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a leading advocate of the immigration bill (S 2611), said the apparent contradiction between the Inhofe and Salazar official English amendments would be resolved in a House-Senate conference later on this year.
Should the Senate conferees succeed in insisting upon the bad Salazar official English amendment, it would be just one more reason to oppose the entire immigration bill.
Should the House conferees on the immigration bill prevail and keep out all guestworker/amnesty provisions AND adopt the Inhofe official English amendment, they will have produced a pretty good bill.
|posted by Jim on 8:13 PM|
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The Vote on the Inhofe Official English Amendment
Two roll call votes on English amendments today:
Inhofe 63 aye 34 nay
The Inhofe amendment was supported by English First.
Salazar: 58 aye 39 nay
(Salazar explicitly preserves E.O. 13166)
The Salazar amendment was opposed by English First.
|posted by Jim on 5:11 PM|
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Raising the Tone in Washington, D.C.
Senator Harry Reid called Senator Inhofe's official English bill "racist" but then claimed he meant no offense to Senator Inhofe personally.
|posted by Jim on 5:09 PM|
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Live Blogging the Inhofe Amendment Debate
Dick Durbin (D-IL) loves E.O. 13166. He has brought it this morning and is bringing it up again now.
|posted by Jim on 2:35 PM|
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Dog Bites Man
Hispanic leader exploits his followers.
|posted by Jim on 2:33 PM|
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Tuesday, May 16, 2006
English Vote Pending Wednesday, May 17th
At roughly 6:30 PM today, Senator Inhofe took the floor to announce that Senate Democrats had allowed his official English amendment into the queue for tomorrow (Wednesday, May 17th).
The Inhofe amendment (3996) should be about the 5th one offered Wednesday, if I remember the floor discussion correctly.
You still have time to e-mail your Senators in favor of the Inhofe amendment.
|posted by Jim on 8:49 PM|
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Bush's Pro-English Words Not Matched by His Deeds
Kate O' Beirne last night: "[Bush has] waited five years to address the [border security] issue."
Ditto on the language issue. President Bush says "[W]e must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot" but omits any details, as though the issue was entirely out of his control for the last five years.
Yet on the multilingual side of the ledger, the Bush Administration has failed to rescind Clinton Executive Order 13166, which created a federal right to translation services at taxpayer expense, and aggressively enforced the bilingual ballot requirements of the Voting Rights Act.
The English First side gets lofty rhetoric. The mandatory multiculturalists get policy victories.
|posted by Jim on 8:46 PM|
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Monday, May 15, 2006
Cast your vote on the Senate's amnesty/guestworker bill
Tell your Senators about your views on the Senate amnesty/guestworker bill
here.
Learn what amnesty/guestworker may cost your family via English First and the the Heritage Foundation.
You can also sign up for our free e-mail alerts here.
|posted by Jim on 10:36 PM|
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Thursday, May 11, 2006
"Living Here in Allentown"
where the town's English-only ordinance survives. Not everyone is pleased.
Rest in peace, Councilwoman Emma Tropiano and Councilman Tony Frey.
|posted by Jim on 1:43 PM|
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Thursday, May 04, 2006
Worth Reading
English speakers resent having to do business in two languages for the same reason that Latinos want to translate the Star Spangled Banner into Spanish. ...
Democrats would do more for immigrants if they respected the human desire behind the conservative response. In fact, I think, strategically, the Democrats should support English as the official language of the US, although the thought will outrage half of Democrats which is why it would never happen ...
In response to
this article (scroll down to PTate in Comments).
Tate thinks an official English law would be symbolic. So long as Clinton Executive Order 13166 remains on the books, Tate has a point.
|posted by Jim on 12:22 PM|
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