My Small Thoughts on the English-Only Movement

Given the anti-immigrant hysteria sweeping the right wing, its no surprise the English-only canard is being played again - big time. Now at a certain level, I can understand why folks might want to declare English our national language. Fine, I have no real problem with that. My problem is the racists and bozos who want to declare war on Mexican Americans.

Its time for these dolts to get real and live with fact that lots of people haven't mastered English - particularly adults moving to the US for whom English isn't their primary language. Its really not a big deal to have ballots in Spanish, or health warnings in Vietnamese.

On the other hand, I do have a pet peeve in our schools. I want to say first that I think its fine to have public schools where the instruction is in another language (often Spanish) so long as that foreign language isn't also your primary language.

However, I strongly believe that children who have limited English skills should not be bundled off to classes taught in their native languages. Why? Because more often than not, these classes are taught by someone proficient in a particularly language, but not in the subject(s) being taught. Second, for someone to have real success in this country, you need to learn to speak English well.

The solution: English immersion. For the first six months to a year in American schools, these kids must be put in English immersion classes to master English first. Then they need to be mainstreamed into regular classes - as quickly as possible.

That's my small solution to a rather large problem. I'd be interested to hear other points of view.

Tom Tancredo for President?

So, Tom Tancredo is running for president. Apparently, the winds of anti-immigrant hysteria aren't blowing quite hard enough in the Republican Party.

Here is Tom's own top presser:

U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) today sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to clarify whether the U.S. has a legal obligation to extradite bounty hunters like Duane “Dog” Chapman to Mexico based on an agreement that could just amount to “a wink and a nod” between governments.

That probably sums up Tom's base: Dog Chapman. Tancredo is looking to become 2008's Alan Keyes (though Keyes is probably smarter).

Do we want to start on the Tom and the immigration issue first thing this morning? No. I didn't think so. Its there; dude is a nutjob. I'll bet Michael Savage is about to endorse him.

Company execs building border fence were convicted of hiring illegal immigrants

Sometimes, the news just writes itself. From the Golden State Fence Company's press release:

Golden State Fence Company, one of the nation's leading fence design and installation companies, announced today that a San Diego Court sentenced Mel Kay, the Company's President, and Mike McLaughlin, another senior executive, to serve only three years probation and no time in prison. In addition to probation, both men were sentenced to a period of home detention, 1,040 hours of community service and to pay fines of $200,000 and $100,000 respectively for the hiring of undocumented workers.

Doesn't even need a comment. A snicker suffices.