[Vision2020] Words Bring Pause

[J Ford]

Sorry - gotta disagree with the good Senator.  In NO other country in this 
world is this type of discussion ever even taken place or considered.  You 
move to a country - YOU LEARN THE LANGUAGE!  Period.

What does the Senator suggest - we all learn his father's language?  What 
about the Japanese or the Latin or the Haitian or......it goes on and on and 
on.

Having one language that everyone speaks, to me, guarantees that we will at 
least be able to talk to one another and THAT is where democracy starts.  We 
can't talk, we can't agree, we can't get anywhere.

Remember the Tower of Babel......


J  :]





>From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Words Bring Pause
>Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:42:03 -0700
>
> >From today's (March 11, 2007) Spokesman Review with a very special thanks 
>to
>State Senator Edgar Malepeai -
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Words Bring Pause
>
>The Idaho Senate voted 20-15 in favor of Senate Bill 1172, declaring 
>English
>to be the official language of Idaho, in a debate that took a personal 
>turn.
>
>"It's not for shutting people out, but bringing people in," Sen. Mel
>Richardson, R-Idaho Falls, lead sponsor of the bill, told the Senate.
>
>Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, said quietly, "Looking around the 
>chamber,
>I think I'm probably the only one that has English as a second language."
>Malepeai recalled that his late father and uncles served proudly in the 
>U.S.
>military. "They spoke very, very broken English, but they were proud
>American Samoans," Malepeai said. Democracy and freedom "is what unifies
>people in this country," he said, "not the English language." A hush fell 
>in
>the Senate after Malepeai's comments, and no one else debated the bill.
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
>Tom Hansen
>Moscow, Idaho
>
>"I love my country but fear my government."
>
>- Author Unknown
>
>
>
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