All I know is; I will still be speaking the same way I am now, with or without that being a law. Doesn't make much difference to me.

I guess we press "1" because it is before "2". Which if you look at it right. Seems someone tried to make it seem more important by making it the number "1". Another thing that doesn't bother me.
It was an attemt to get all a way to communicate, please press one, two or three (who's number three)?
It's not that big of an inconvience.
Kat

This is an URBAN LEGEND!!!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/englishvote.asp

Better to do a little research
before fired people up about this.

WELL AS TO THE ILLEGALS IF THEY WANT QUICK CITIZENSHIP THEY CAN JOIN THE MILITARY AND FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO BE HERE OVER 20 MILLION YOU THINK MORE THAN JUST A HAND FUL WOULD LIKE TO STAY AND THEN WE CAN BRING OUR SOLDIER HOME .AS FOR A NATIONAL LANGUAGE IF NOT FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE OUR COUNTRY WOULDNT BE WHAT IT IS TODAY WITH TECHNOLOGY,I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY IS THE JAPANESE ARE AHEAD IN TECHNOLOGY ONLY BECAUSE WE HAVE GIVEN THEM THE TOOLS AND THE FINANCING TO START WITH WITHOUT IT THEY WOULD ALL BE RICE FARMERS.

My concerns are this:
The very government that scams us, lies to us, steals from us, loses, lost or kept and spent trillions of our U.S. dollars, that is unaccounted for.
The government that makes wars, spies on us. Tracks our GPS'S and spies on our net usage to see where we have been, and takes our DNA, as well as finger prints us to keep up with us.....taxes us and if we owe them, they charge astronomical amounts of interest...but if they owe us, not one red cent in interest.
The very same one that halts studies for very important research and gives great amounts of money to research dumb crap? Is this who I am going to believe? The same ones who use our tax dollars to pay Military contractors the highest ever heard of in wages and, I mean come on people....50 dollars for a pair of pliars? 1,500 dollars for a toilet? I am supposed to trust their numbers? Their statistics? They lie. Why would I believe anything they say?

Kat

Unbelievable! Some people are in dire need of an education!

Hi Kat

The last post wasn't directed to you.

Hi kid. I sure hope not.

Agents of the State could no more forego lying than a bear could forego hibernation. Seems the Worst Get on Top, those who seek power and dominion over others, i.e., those who wish to use legal plunder to reward their friends and punish their enemies, are most likely to seek positions that make that power possible:

"Just as the democratic statesman who sets out to plan economic life will soon be confronted with the alternative of either assuming dictatorial powers or abandoning his plans, so the totalitarian leader would soon have to choose between disregard of ordinary morals and failure. It is for this reason that the unscrupulous are likely to be more successful in a society tending toward totalitarianism." Ahemmm...government...

Furthermore, "(The leader) must gain the support of the docile and gullible, who have no strong convictions of their own but are ready to accept a ready-made system of values if it is only drummed into their ears sufficiently loudly and frequently. It will be those whose vague and imperfectly formed ideas are easily swayed and whose passions and emotions are readily aroused who will thus swell the ranks of the totalitarian party."

The lies will continue as long as we have a system that perversely encourages the worst among us to rise to positions of power. As long as the government monopoly on education continues, the lies of the State will continue to be drilled into the soft, (sponges) heads of our nation’s youth. No tactic will be considered verboten as long as it seeks legitimacy among the "docile and gullible."

The wisest course of action for the independent thinker is to constantly question authority, to assume that anything he hears from the mouth of a politician or bureaucrat is unadulterated bullcrap, and to recognize that the worst will always make it to the top. And because the worst among us always believe the ends justify the means, lying will always be a hallmark of their modus operandi.

Kat

nice speeches kat what bout english as our national language...

Dean; I really could care less at this time. I have seen no reason to do a single thing about it. Whats the point? Whats gonna change? If anything. People are going to have this; "AH HA...it passed", now what? All for what? To be able to say we made a difference? Whats gonna be different? I am still going to be doing exactly the same thing I was the day before and the day after. Nothing will have changed or be any different than before. As I see it; It will be a big to do about nothing.
I really do think that the world sees "English" as our official language. As do I, and many others. I've never doubted what we speak as a collective whole, still do not, and most likely will not tomorrow. Any voting being done, to me is a waste of time and effort and money. Use that time and money and resources for a bigger and more needy cause. Something tangible, noticeable.
Kat

Amen, scttrbrn, it is a waste of our taxpayer dollars to even have time in the legislature spent on it.

Surprise those who voted to make English not the official language. Majority Democrats.. Clinton to boot. She must be on the Spitzer bandwagon to give illegals liscense here in NY state. Its all political to get the votes for the upcoming election.

Why not move like someone said to protecting our boarders. I feel there is a greater need for our national security.

I will admit I had 3 yrs of spanish in h.s. and thought Ill never use it. Thought it was useless. Now today with my career it has come in handy. A second language is practically a requirement for any job you may be thinking about applying. I dont have a problem recognizing that the people in the U.S. is a growing number of Spanish. Just come here legally and a requirement to get live here must take at least one (free if need be) basic english class.

Where does it begin? Where does it end?
What about our menus? Italian food menus would have to change the names of all the items not of English nature. As will the Mexican food names.
Chile Con Carne...chili with meat. Gotta change that beer "Two X beer, which was once named Dos Equis."
During WW2 the hatred of the Germans was so that they chnged the name of sauerkraut” became “victory cabbage,” hamburgers became “liberty sandwiches” and hamburger steak became forever etched into Americans’ vocabularies as “Salisbury steak.” In March 2003, when France didn’t agree with the United States about why the world should invade Iraq, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chair of the Committee on House Administration, ordered all restaurants in the buildings of the House of Representatives to rename french toast “freedom toast” and french fries “freedom fries.” The White House also thought that was a reasonable thing to do while planning a “shock-awe-and-quagmire” invasion. Hundreds of restaurant owners throughout the country followed the congressional will. In response to reporters salivating to report upon an international food fight, Nathalie Loisau, a spokeswoman for the French embassy in Washington, D.C., said, “We are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues and we are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes,” (Apparently, Americans didn’t have any problems with french horns or french poodles.)

As absurd as the linguistic larceny that renamed food are the babblings of most of the nation’s radio talk-show hosts and their ranting gaggle of jingoistic followers who demand the United States be solely an English-speaking country. Hundreds of towns and half of the states, spending millions of taxpayer funds, have created legislation that makes English the official language. It’s very simple, they wail,(((( foreigners “gotta learn good English like us Americans.” )))))Of course, these good patriotic Americans -- wearing T-shirts made in Taiwan, sneakers made in Thailand, and flying Chinese-made American flags from their imported Toyotas, Hondas, and VWs -- don’t seem to be concerned that Grandma Anusia speaks literate Polish but only halting English, or that Uncle Antonio’s primary language is Italian. They’re also tolerant of the Chinese restaurant workers who speak minimal English (and may be illegal immigrants working in sweat shop conditions) because -- well -- everyone loves those inexpensive buffets!

President Bush’s “No Child left Behind Act,” enacted a year after his first inaugural, wiped out Title VII, the Bilingual Education Act that was begun in 1968 under Lyndon Johnson, and renewed under the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton -- four Republicans, three Democrats. That act encouraged “developing the English language skills” of children but also “to the extent possible, the native language skills.” The new law disregards any instruction in any language other than English.

If we accept what is sprouted by the radio talk shows, we’ll have to “Americanize” vodka and caviar; blintzes, knishes, and latkes; gnocchi, lasagna, fettuccini, and eggplant parmigiano. Most food will have to be renamed, as will the names of most animals, and musical instruments. Among 75,000 words of international origin, we’ll have to rename candy, coleslaw, dollar, and iceberg (from the Dutch); tomato, hammock, and pow-wow (from American Indians); adobe, coffee, gauze, magazines, soda, and sofa (from Arabic); pistols, polkas, and robots (from the Czech); and banjo, cola, jazz, and zebra (from West African languages). We may even have to rename Santa Claus, which originated as the Dutch Sintaklaas. We will no longer sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” at Christmas since “hallelujah” comes from the Hebrew, and “chorus” from the Greek.
The truth is simple; there are in some things, no words that translate in American English. So what does that mean? It means that words we use daily will have to be changed to comply to law.

Reflecting the reality that Hispanics are now the fastest growing minority in America, there are dozens of Spanish language radio and TV stations, as well as six major networks. Univision, available on most cable systems, is the fifth largest TV network in the United States; its evening newscast, co-anchored by Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, often has higher ratings than any English-language network evening newscast. Telemundo, owned by NBC/Universal, is the second largest Spanish language network.

Almost since the beginning of the nation, there have been ethnic and cultural organizations and foreign language newspapers to inform and unite the nation of immigrants. The first foreign language newspaper was the Philadelphische Zeitung, a German language newspaper published in Germantown, now a part of Philadelphia; its publisher was Benjamin Franklin who didn’t speak German, but knew the settlers needed information.

During the 1790s, with Germans the largest ethnic population in the state, the Pennsylvania legislature narrowly defeated a bill that would have made German the state’s official language. More than two centuries later, Americans are debating laws to make English the official language. Perhaps more American communities could follow Pennsylvania’s original belief that there were better things to do than to decide on an official language.

Every language, every culture, has helped contribute to what makes the United States unique. As the nation begins to accept immigrants, they do learn the American language, often becoming more fluent in it than native-born speakers. By “rephrasing” our linguistic and cultural base to demand an ethnocentric America, we destroy a nation founded upon liberty and developed by immigrants.

The real consequences could be something we may not want to confront. nOr want to relearn.
What if we choose to call those very things we like and know as we always have, that are of another language? Do we pay a legal price? Can we be held in contempt if we sell tacos, or Chateau Briand by that name?

Just saying.
Kat

The Bulgarian government has not functioned in any capacity for over 150 days!

One of the major contributors to this is dual languages. The inability of one group to understand the other!

Not having an official language in America is costing us millions. Qualified Teachers are turned away because they cant speak Spanish. Courts and other government facilities, (health depts, and welfare offices) must hire translators just to do everyday business! Labels must be printed, telephone messages must be recorded, (what an aggravation), etc. etc.!

We used to not worry about it because most immigrants would take it on their own to learn English. Now, however the numbers coming, due largely to illegal immigration, are overwhelming every aspect of our society with non-English speaking people! People, while not all, tend to not even try to learn it!

Earlier this year when the new immigration bill was in congress. A teacher commented on it, required that an illegal learn English as a requirement to eventual citizenship. The continuing Ed. department was overwhelmed with illegals registering for English language courses. Too many for them to handle, so they hired more!

When the bill failed, the illegals dropped the courses! No longer required they had no interest!

Now they are laying the newly hired Teachers off. I wonder how much that cost!

Fanta is a propagandist, desiring to get people who do not know the truth fired up about something very insignificant to mute. English is our language here and we do not need political debated to prove it or make it "legal". There is a racist base underlying these posts, one can tell just from the jest of the posts.

racist base?...give me a break.... speaking english should be priority one to be a citizen here...
nothing to do with racism...stop trying to inflame the discussion for chrissakes...

I call what I see, it is my opinion and I am free to post it. Furthermore if the information is a lie as it is, one must assume an ulterior motive behind pushing untruths. There are a whole lot of websites, right wing, or whatever they call themselves, posting these untruths, people need to be aware of the racist motivation behind these propaganda websites. Believe it or not, racism is alive and doing very well in our government today. They utilize these skewed untruths to further their cause. I have been exposed to these people and I know them well. I can spot it in a heart beat even when they mask it with other related issues.

English is our language here and there is no fear of that changing and it is a waste of taxpayer dollars to push it again and again.

Delussional!!

You wish, then you could get your mob mentality going with no speed bumps in the way.

ALL OF YOU HAVE MISSED THE REASON THAT I POSTED THIS THING, AND ABOUT WHAT THIS IS SAYING. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IMAGRENTS COMING TO AMERICA LEGALLY OR ILLEGALLY. IT HAS TO DO WITH THEM NOT WANTING ENGLISH AS OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE. IT HAS TO DO WITH THOSE SENATORS, WHO DON'T KNOW THEIR BUTT FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND. THESE SENATORS ARE SELF SERVING, AND REALLY DON'T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT AMERICA, OR ITS PEOPLE. AND FOUR OF THESE SENATORS WHO VOTED AGAINST THIS THING ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. DO WE REALLY WANT THESE PEOPLE THAT THINK THIS WAY IN THE WHITE HOUSE?????? AFTER ALL, WHY DO I HAVE TO PRESS 1 TO HEAR THIS CALL IN ENGLISH??? IT SHOULD BE IN ENGLISH ANYWAY.

I will repeat myself yet again: English is our language here and there is no fear of that changing and it is a waste of taxpayer dollars to push it again and again.