We Speak English!

[Pakman3000]

I lol'd and I could see where he's coming from. I also wouldn't want foreigners to avoid learning the proper way to drive from a safety point of view.


Amid a national debate over Arizona's tough new immigration law, Republican Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James (and son of previous Gov. Fob James) vows in a new campaign ad that if he's elected, he'll give the state driver's license exam only in English, as a cost-saving measure.

"This is Alabama; we speak English," he says in the ad. "If you want to live here, learn it."

[youtube:1w4xt3oi]B9ohsvJHkbY[/youtube:1w4xt3oi]

It's not clear how James thinks the change would save the state money. Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic says Alabama could actually lose billions of dollars in federal funding if it enacts the measure, and he points to an Alabama political blog that runs down the legal history for why the exams are in multiple languages.

James says he's been attacked by the left for the ad, singling out MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. A writer on her blog called the ad "just plain mean" and argued it was simply pandering to the candidate's conservative base.

"I have come under attack and under assault by a very interesting group of far-left reporters," he said Monday, according to the Birmingham News. He said English exams are a public safety issue, to ensure drivers can read signs. Exams are currently given in Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese, according to AOL News.

[A-25TH-ID-VET]

I wouldn't say it would save much money but, I TOTALLY agree if you want to live hear 1) Speak English and 2) Become a Legal citizen. This is a bad subject for me because I live in an area where there nothing but, acres upon acres of grape vineyards. We are swarmed by Illegal Mexicans. Matter a fact I was just talking shit to them the other day. They had no clue what I was saying to them. I was getting rather pissed off!!! :evil:

[MaximusR3]

nothing angers 25th more than talking smack to someone and coming up with clever and witty insults only to have it wasted because they don't know what he just said :lol:

[saviger]

nothing angers 25th more than talking smack to someone and coming up with clever and witty insults only to have it wasted because they don't know what he just said :lol:

HAHAHA :lol:

[Eahkavlar]

Finally someone who has some balls to stand up for what he believes regardless of this "policically correct" bull shit.

[DaCajun]

I wouldn't say it would save much money but, I TOTALLY agree if you want to live hear 1) Speak English and 2) Become a Legal citizen. This is a bad subject for me because I live in an area where there nothing but, acres upon acres of grape vineyards. We are swarmed by Illegal Mexicans. Matter a fact I was just talking shit to them the other day. They had no clue what I was saying to them. I was getting rather pissed off!!! :evil:

i worked with a lot of Mexican immigrants when I lived in Colorado and let me tell you they know exactly what you are saying to them they are just playing stupid on purpose. I used to have some Hispanic buddies I worked with born in our country tell me that after I tried to talk to the immigrants and thought I failed they would started talking and laughing about it in Spanish. The thing about Hispanics born in Colorado is for some reason they dislike Mexicans more than you would believe. I think they feel they are given a bad name because of the immigrants. I used to loved it when my buddies would go off on them for trying to get away with pulling this crap so they could get out of some of their work. Unfortunately I'm not good with Spanish to go off on them myself. I don't think it's like that everywhere that Hispanics born here dislike Mexicans but the 20 or so where I worked seem to dislike them quite a bit and try to avoid working along aside the immigrants. Even a couple Hispanic women I dated absolutely hated Mexicans not other Hispanics just Mexicans. I thought it was weird too. Coloradans hate anyone not born there to begin with anyway, they even had special bumper stickers all over the place to show it.

[A-25TH-ID-VET]

Your right Caj. I have no doubt that they knew what I was saying. The thing is all I asked them was "How are the Vineyards doing"?. They just looked at me with a blank stare like I was talking to myself. This is when I talked shit to them. I just basically told them if they're going to be here they need to know the Language and respect us. Again...Why do WE need to push 1 for English? Why do WE need to mark a box on papers stating that we want things written in English?? This is OUR country not theirs!!!! I am surprised that the papers in my area don't have boxes for Chinese, Japanese, etc. I live about a 1/2 hr from Cornell University and there is a shit ton of Nationalities going to school there. The thing is majority of them you can talk to because they know alot of English.
Oh, believe me I have met other people that have Mexican blood that HATE the Illegals. Yes, it is because of how the Illegals come in and make all Mexicans look bad. I guess you can say that with any race or Nationality. The saying is... "There is an Asshole in every crowd". I have NOTHING against Mexicans or any other race that are here Legally. So, I hope that people don't think I am a racial person because I am not. I still live by my Oath and in that Oath. I stated that "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." So, I feel that Illegals are my Domestic Enemy!!! IMO

[David_3033]

I definitely think they should learn the language of a country they want to live it. Trying to talk to some at the gas stations and you can understand a word they are saying and have to try interpret their hand language.

[Sadmobster]

Can anyone guess the official language of the United States?
If you don't know for sure, perhaps the CIA World Fact Book will help.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publication ... ode=na&#us (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2098.html?countryName=United%20States&countryCode=us&regionCode=na&#us)



Spoiler: There isn't one.
Note the difference between where a majority of the people speak a certain language, and a country having declared an official language.

I am not trying to start a pissing match, I just wanted to make a educational and factual contribution to this ongoing debate.

A little more info can be found at Wikipedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_ ... al_English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States#States_with_official_English)

[saviger]

English, while not official. Was chosen by the first seated Congress after the Constitution was written, as the operating language of the Federal Govt, and Military. They almost chose German to further sever ties with the Empire.

[Sadmobster]

English, while not official. Was chosen by the first seated Congress after the Constitution was written, as the operating language of the Federal Govt, and Military. They almost chose German to further sever ties with the Empire.

Interesting, I never knew that. Do you have a link where I could read more about it? I tried "googling" operating language of US military and didn't come up with anything. I also tried some other searches.

Thanks