Is there any price that the far left thinks is a fair one to pay for the freedom and democracy we have in this country? Put another way, do the left wingers (in this case I am speaking of the elected officials of Massachusetts; the leftest of the leftists ha ha). A recent ruling by the Massachusetts Judiciary, and pushed hard by the most liberal of state reps and state senators, decreed that all ballots in Boston, Massachusetts must now be printed in Cantonese, (this in addition to Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese and Creole and soon to include I fear Swahili, Klingon and whalesong…). Now as ludicrous as this sounds at first blush, it gets even more ridiculous. It seems that making all the instructions in the language du jour isn’t quite enough. It is far too onerous a burden to place on any voter, the apparently Herculean task of reading the candidates names in English, (you know the language of the country that these people are allegedly citizens of?) so now even the candidates names must be written in the language of choice.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, ( I mean it’s bound to happen sooner or later right? ;-) ) but isn’t voting supposed to be something that citizens of a given country do? Isn’t one of the “requirements” (HA! Yeah right!) of becoming a naturalized citizen learning a rudimentary grasp of the ENGLISH language? ( You remember English right? That cute little language that used to be spoken in South Texas , Arizona , New Mexico and Southern California? Before they became the northern frontier of the Mexican Revolution?) Seriously, is it really too much to ask, that anyone who is going to cast a vote that will help determine policy, whether it be local, state or federal, at a minimum be able to read the names of the candidates they support so strongly that they feel motivated to exercise their franchise and vote? Is that an unreasonable standard to set? By not requiring this minimum effort on the part of our new citizens, are we not diminishing at least and worst basically telling these new Americans that our AMERICAN culture means nothing? About 45 years ago, (and worlds away from the here and now it seems) John F. Kennedy, a liberal young senator from Massachusetts recently elected president by a the narrowest of margins (Can you say stolen election?? NO! our politics weren’t so petty then) pledged to “pay any price, bear any burden and meet any hardship to assure the survival and the success of liberty”. If he were alive today I dare say JFK would be called a conservative by most if not all of his beloved Democratic party and a NEOCON by some. These words demonstrate just how far afield the democrat party has strayed in it’s attempt to secure votes through entitlements and set asides. I would go so far as to say that JFK was the last true FDR Democrat. That was a party that while compassionate for it’s citizens and not eager to fight, when provoked unleashed the righteous fury and might of the greatest military force the world has ever seen and did so unapologetically. Now our military is constantly looking over it’s shoulder as the likes of Harry Reid call them Nazis and war criminals. In fear of winning too decisively lest some kangaroo court of Senators and or congress(wo)men start second guessing they way in which they did so. Now the words of JFK have been bastardized by his former party into something more like “No inconvenience, no effort, no democracy, no problem”. While our soldiers are fighting 8,000 miles away to attempt to prop up a fledgling democracy in a land that has no real understanding of it, our legislature (Massachusetts) shrugs it’s collective shoulders and says “who cares if they understand who their voting for, it’s not worth the effort to learn the language.” Apparently the burden of citizenship itself is too heavy a burden to bear to become a citizen. We are basically saying that US citizenship means nothing, except a social security number and access to the public trough. No responsibility, no civic pride, no sense of being part of something greater and better than the sum of it’s parts. In a few towns in Massachusetts (Amherst, Cambridge and Wayland come to mind right away) have passed proposals allowing non citizens to vote in local elections. Am I the only person who finds this utterly and completely unfathomable? These towns are allowing people who have no meaningful bonds to their towns vote on issues like taxes, schools, zoning, budgets……effectively negating votes of the people who live in these towns and pay taxes there, own property there etc….THIS IS INSANITY!! In the Iraqi parliament there is a man named Mithal al-Alusi. He is an elected official in the infant Iraqi government. He is a Sunni. Two of his sons have been murdered because he refuses to give up his efforts for a free Iraq. This man has buried two sons in his hope to see a free Iraq. In Boston, Ma. USA learning English is too much of a sacrifice for liberty.Think about it.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 46
As I said by todays standards JFK would be a far right of center republican.....He was the last real Democrat.......the party has been taken over by socialist and cultural experimentalists, that treat our culture like a giant laboratory to run the social theories they learned in college in the 60's. Only the experiment never ends. Failure is never admitted rather they cry we just need more of your money to give to others. It is wealth redistribution through government, Socialism in other words. Ironically every socialist country in the world with the exception of N. Korea and Cuba is now truning right and moving towards capitalism, while this country lurches toward the proven failures of Marxism and socialism.
Every country I have had the good fortune to visit, the one thing that was consistently apparent was the expectation that anyone expecting to stay very long, make the effort to learn their language and learn their customs.
It is an official language that is the "glue" which holds the people of a nation together. Without that "glue" a nation fragments into segments, each segment speaking a different language and seperating itself from the rest of the country which is exactly what is happening to this country right now.
Misguided? I think not.
" Whether regulations or restrictions on use of real property otherwise amount to a taking or damaging of private property under the constitution (and thus require payment of just compensation) depends on the particular effects on property. A restriction on real property may require just compensation depending on the economic impact of the restriction on the property, how the restriction affects legitimate property uses and the property owner's reasonable investment-backed expectations, and whether the restriction reflects a reasonable means for achieving an important public objective."
What is the problem with translating this gobbledy-gook into Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. if it makes it comprehensible to more voters? I mean really, it's not as if it's plain in English, is it?
As far as English only, I don't know. We have groups of American citizens that don't know English well enough to read a ballot. A fair number come from English speaking families.
Not long ago I had to renew my driver's license. At the Dept of Safety that morning the waiting room was full and there was a woman in line to get the application forms in front of me. When it was her turn at the counter, she could not make herself understood because she spoke no English. The state employee at the counter solved the problem by offering her a list of languages in which the required paperwork was printed.
When I was my turn, I asked how many languages were on the list. His response as he pointed to a four-drawer filing cabinet behind him, was 57. Whether or not that is the actual number I do not know. But who do you suppose it is that pays for this? Certainly not the immigrant!
IF they, the immigrants, want to become Americans then the first step is to "melt" into that pot and assimilate.
They can easily become informed about the issues by reading newspapers in their native languages while they're learning English.
Bob -- "But who do you suppose it is that pays for this? Certainly not the immigrant!"
Don't they pay the same licensing fees that you do? If they're employed legally, they're paying the same taxes you are. What makes you say they're not paying?
P.S. if they're employed illegally -- paid under the table -- their employer, probably an English speaking red-blooded "American," also is not paying his or her fair share of taxes, either.
Call me selfish. But, I do expect the people moving here to stay to be able to speak and understand the English language before they vote.
Having a ballot in 15 different languages is a bit too much. I'm wondering when will it ever end? This is not a melting pot any more. Wake up!!
As far as their keeping informed in their own language that is not an issue. The issue is being a part of the greater society.
Yes, they pay the same fees but the operation of the Dept. of Saftey is paid for by the taxes of all citizens the majority of whom question the extra expense which could be used for many other programs.
As to your PS, right you are! And it those people who should be heavily fined for violating the law.
It is all about assimilating! No one I know of insists any immigrant give up their cultural heritage....don't ask me to give up mine with all the political correctness.
Ballots in other languages do not do anything to our culture. You'd have to sell that line to someone else because I know better.
If they want not to be disenfranchised they could learn the language. If you can't read a ballot, how exactly are you getting informed on who you want to vote for?
And I have one more thing to add to my rant... When I do think about people like my neighbors I decribe above, my analytical way of thinking tends to go thru the steps of trying to understand the Why of these things. And I always end up at the same place....its a cultural diffence. What is acceptable in another culture, may not be acceptable in ours....t
When I was a heat treater, at one place I worked there were several native born caucasian high school graduates from English speaking families who would hand me a work order for something they hadn't seen before and ask me "What's this?" I'd read them the information from the work order word for word and they'd say "OK." Should these people be allowed to vote under the ability to read English test?
Rather than complaining about "them" we should be working to make "us" more inclusive.
Tell 'em again, Nippy, I don't think they heard 'ya!
In MA we have newspapers written in all languages let them know the issues that way. Have community classes on election issues.
Voting in local elections even if you are not a citizen - NO.
I am willing to teach ESL. I am willing to teach and explain the issues. I agree we should print ballots in the newspaper of the spoken language but I draw the line at printing it all languages. When we can vote on line I will agree. BUT until the cost is no longer the big factor I disagree.
I have taught reading and writing to American adults who for some reason can not read. Some have never voted, never read about the issues concerning them.
Lera, Cassie, Bob, Terry, are you voting in all of your local elections every year? Registered to vote? Because why do you care otherwise?
The language issue is simple. Go to any other country in the world and try to become a citizen. Guess what....you are required to learn their language. So why should we be any different?
There will always be that segment (seemingly ever larger now) of citizens that have theirs and want to lock all the gates so nobody else can share in the advantages they had once ... it is called fear and generates greed and selfishness, even hatred.
Are we not ALL human citizens of this one planet ... it is this 'nationalism' of isolationist attitudes that actually cause the differences in wealth around the world to the degree that people war over them.
Start thinking about the larger picture we are ALL a part of ... seek cooperation and peace, have a bit of compassion.
"Ballots in other languages do not do anything to our culture". The fact of the matter is the ballots themselves do nothing. The principles or lack thereof behind this idiocy does irreparable harm to our rapidly disappearing way of life. Rather than encouraging assimilation into American society, it reinforces the insulation and separation of the ethnic immigrant into small highly concentrated areas. In other words these people aren't coming here to be "Americans" they just relocating their country here. It would seem to me not being able to read a ballot and make an informed decision would be an outstanding motivator to learning basic English language skills. After all, these people have come to this country, supposedly, to become part of our culture and country. If learning enough English to be able to read a candidates name (let alone understand propositions or ballot questions) is just too much of a burden then it seems a fair trade off that they not be assisted in their resistance to assimilate, by the very same culture that they so willingly shun.
Ron, Let's see if I can clarify for you exactly why liberals (you in particular) would consider JFK a conservative by today's standards.; Vietnam, Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs, Personal Responsibilty.......Sounds conservative ot me.
Vietnam, he was set to pull the plug on, many consider that why he was killed. See presidential order. Johnson rescinded that order almost immediately.
Cuban Missile crisis he used restraint and diplomacy, and back alley diplomacy, and I would hate to think what would have happened if we had a guy that refuses to talk to anyone he has differences with. Bush would have pushed the damn button, or forced Kruschev to. Are you not aware that confrontation was resolved by diiplomacy, in the end?
Bay of pigs is something the Republican Administration planned, sold him as a pig in a poke, always telling him there would be no traceable US involvement. it went bad, they asked for US air cover and he refused to send it and force Kruschev to come to Cubas aid. He screwed up an ill advised Republican planned coup, because he wouldn't foment war with Russia. Republicans were livid at him at the time.
Personal Responsibility? You are talking personal responsibility when your hero president has just commuted the sentence of a political crony that was found guilty of lying about the Plame affair, and making it impossible for the prosecutor to do his job. I've got more personal responsibility in my finger nail clippings than this bunch. I'd say you are highly confused, but you are free to dream. Someday you might have a leader like that. When you all quit wigging out over nut cases like Bush and Cheney. Oh, and he boffed Marilyn. Now that's a liberal.
Fine. I posit that these folks DO have some understanding of the English language. I'm certain they can count from one to 10, can ask where the bathroom is, can order a beer, and are able to check into a hotel. I suppose they probably know how to find a police station.
However - I don't think that "some understanding of the english language" necessarily translates into "Able to translate complex English Legalese".
Freaking Neocon Morons.
Perhaps my memory is wrong but wasn't he responsible largely for our increasing involvement in that little southeast asian sewer? That of course before he changed his mind. (sort of like John Forbes Kerry, the JFK wannabe, who voted for the Iraq war before he voted against it. Maybe that having it both ways is a DEMOCRAT thing..)
Are you such an idealogue that you refuse to accept the facts of history and try to change them?? The Republican administration sold him? I thought he was the president......Doesn't that mean, as Truman was fond of saying, "the buck stops here"? Or is your contention that because he had received faulty information he was not responsible for the decision he made? Do you really want to stand on that argument? It's also a very intersting choice of phrasing you use to describe that humiliating fiasco. You say "when they asked for air cover" Cute turn of phrase Ron, what you conveniently leave out is the rest of the sentence. The facts of that balls up goes more like this, when the y called in the air support they were PROMISED, he got cold feet and left them to be slaughtered...........You know the more we debate the more I think you may just be right, he sounds VERY liberal. Although the Cuban Missile Crisis was by far the most important event of his presidency and he handled it with remarkable aplomb, to say that his methodology was anything you would approve of today is a flat out lie. You would be screaming about what a war mongerer he was. How stupid and dangerous a military blockade was. You and Joan D would be sniveling that we should ask the UN to intervene as the missiles were being offloaded in Havana. Now with the luxury of hindsight you call that path diplomacy? At the time it was considered nothing short of nuclear brinkmanship and is to this day considered by far the closest the world ever came to a nuclear exchange. Diplomacy my ass. The only reason Kruschev backed down was because he feared that we had a president with a spine who would not blink. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and any current democrat nominee you care to name would have wet themselves and and asked the "international community" to step in.....
Joan, the only thing that exceeds your ignorance and grasp of what matters is your lack of couth. There has been a remarkable lack of vitriol in this thread, until your screed. I didn't realize that a candidates name was "complicated legalese". Apparently your reading skills are not up to snuff if you think so. I would also suggest that learning to read and understand a ballot might be marginally more important than learning to order a beer. Perhaps your priorities are different. That would explain alot.
If you will recall (from the 2000 election fiasco if nothing else) every state has the right (in fact the obligation) to create their own election regulations. If the MA reps and judiciary think it important that voting rights be assured to nonEnglish reading citizens, it is a port state you know with a long history of immigrant assimilation experience.
As it stands in the current war (which I cannot fathom the sense in) those who are sacrificing way above and beyond are the military practically slave labor, many of whom are first generation Americans or immigrants. Meanwhile, the rich get richer in their little war of haves against have-nots with nary a sacrifice to ruffle them. You know, such stupid expensive wars might not be as likely if we all took the time to learn others' languages and more diplomatic communications skills.
Libra, and if you will briefly recall this decision was handed down last week. Romney has not been governeor for 8 months. The new governor is a clueless neophyte, who was elected on promises to lower property taxes and force the legislature to lower the income tax rate, as was mandated by a ballot question 4 years ago. Up until this point the legislature has just flat out defied the electorate and kept the tax rate at the "temporary" higher rate that was approved 18 years ago. The newly elceted executive nitwit of massachuisetts by using the state police helicopter (used by Romney a TOTAL 5 times in his entire term) 5 times in his first two weeks in office, to avoid waiting in traffic. At the same time spent 30K + on redoecorating his office using a contractor who just so happened to be a friend of his wife and traded in the Governors Crown Vic for a Cadillac Sedan de Ville. Oh yeah, those tax cuts? The state can't afford them, it would be fiscally irresponsible, surprise! I'll leave his party affiliation for you to guess.
Jerry I'm not sure where you live but it MUST be a great place. Apparently it affords you the luxury of living in a utupian "if only" land. Sadly, the rest of us are forced to live in the real world. In the real world it is nothing short of cultural suicide to empower people who have no vested interest in our culture, a say in the policies and direction that culture undetarkes. If you want to wrap your arms around the party of Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd (formerKKK grand dragon), Harry Reid et al at least don't be so hypocritical as to try to paint the opposing partie(s) as the party of evil and hate, while the party you support is led by a drunken, philandering murderer and a racist bigot. You shame yourself with such blatant cynical lies.
Libra, this decision was handed down via the judiciary. It is yet another case of an ultra left court legislating from the bench. The court in Massachusetts has enacted more radical olegislation in the past 14 months than either the governeor or the legislature; a blatant abuse of their power. The judiciary is supposed to resolve questions of constitutionality regarding legislation created by the governor or legislature. They are NOT supposed to create rights and legislate as these judges are political appointees with lifetime appointments and thusly are answerable to no one. In Massachusetts they have done the impossible; made this state more of a political joke than it previously was. The votes of the residents of Massachusetts are routinely ignored and their wishes generally sneered at by the a legislature that routinely has no less than 5 members at any given time under grand jury investigation and has seen no less than 10 of it's members over the last 20 years sentenced to prison time. A shining beacon of liberalism if there was one.
Be happy to. You are wrong.
I have written a book about my experiences along those lines, I make it available to people, even for free via my website. The message is all about recognizing the polarization that is going on in our world, our dichotomy of dualities, the conflict and destruction they are bringing to all of us ... and the potential of a more spiritually interconnected middle ground of commonality that might bring some peace to this world we co-inhabit.
I am only liberal 'compared' to the rightwing and their stated standards, where they place all that are different from themselves as their enemies on the far left fringe loony land, tinhat wearing goofs ...
But of course the goofs care about everyone and seek peace in the world, they are 'liberal' in that they ascribe to that and they do not have a lot of fear in their lives, preferring that we all have some compassion for each other and just get along.
Then comes along the more 'narrow minded' conservative (that is what it means) 'right' that places everyone into those categories of who is the enemy, who shall we hate, who requires changing, ... of course it is always the 'other' that will be your 'victims' for slander, denunciation and scorn ... the people that 'care' for peace and compassion ... liberal concepts that even Jesus was all about ... then 'your' Evangelicals even claim Him out of the ignorance to what He was REALLY all about.
Find some middle ground, defy your FOX pundits, think for yourselves and quit accusing the other side of not doing so. PLEASE !!!
I realize that my message is rejected by most as too far out, but so was that of Jesus in His day and location.
Never the less, I must spread it as my truth and it as my 'mission' ... just maybe a seed will take in some mind somewhere some time. Those of us that believe as we do, got here from a place of prior believing more as you do ... experience and/or faith assures us that death need not be feared ... we have a spiritual 'twin' that can ease such occasions, maybe even make them a joy. Roadkill is only what is left over after the spirit goes on ... life IS eternal from the spiritual sense. Those left behind seeing only the physical objectivity of it all will never understand until they tire of 'that' reality of fear and seek that of love. It does await each and every seeker of higher truth.
Peace, j. ( I recognise the words in your reply as an inner peace we have met around before ... I often forget the specifics and the names because I post comments all over and lose track ... part of growing old I suppose. ... do not take anything I say folks too personal, I speak in generalities and not to individuals all that much, even when I use their names, I am speaking to ALL readers imagining many).
It is the extreme voices of the completely polarized fringes that garner all of the attention because they yell so loud incessantly and always demand a reaction, each attempting to outdo the other. We all inadvertently seem to get caught up in it too much ... the numbers of the fringes are actually relatively few, it is a shame that they get as much attention as they do.
I think that if we ALL learned to trust our own INtuitions more, we would all be better off than listening to proclaimed 'authorities' for guidance all of the time.