Red Meat Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
I swear, every time I read a news story like this one I am sorely tempted to take to my bed and never get up ever again. It seems that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty thinks declaring English as the official language of his state is a pretty good idea. It's an idea, alright, but it's neither pretty nor good.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty waded into the national debate over immigration Tuesday, saying that Minnesota should consider making English its official state language.
Such a measure could spare governments translation costs, but impose a new level of difficulty on the state's immigrant population.
At a news conference outside the governor's residence, Pawlenty said that as the country becomes more diverse, some people might question which language to use in official documents. He said it might be helpful to clarify that the official language is English. [Emphasis added]
Oh, baloney!
Such a proposal is designed neither to clarify nor to save money in translation costs. What it is designed to do is to raise his standing among the ultra conservative xenophobes who hate immigrants. T. Paw, you see, is considering a run for President in 2012.
And the fact is that such a proposal, if enacted by the state legislature, would cause substantial problems in public safety. If non-English speaking immigrants can't read a warning or can't communicate with a police officer or emergency health worker, the results could be deadly. Mr. Pawlenty, who will soon be leaving office, apparently doesn't care about the mess which would result. He's too busy visiting Iowa.
But there's money to be raised and support to be garnered for his campaign. He knows what buttons to push to solidify his standing as a viable candidate: the ones labeled bigotry and racism.
A pox on his house and on his candidacy!
Gov. Tim Pawlenty waded into the national debate over immigration Tuesday, saying that Minnesota should consider making English its official state language.
Such a measure could spare governments translation costs, but impose a new level of difficulty on the state's immigrant population.
At a news conference outside the governor's residence, Pawlenty said that as the country becomes more diverse, some people might question which language to use in official documents. He said it might be helpful to clarify that the official language is English. [Emphasis added]
Oh, baloney!
Such a proposal is designed neither to clarify nor to save money in translation costs. What it is designed to do is to raise his standing among the ultra conservative xenophobes who hate immigrants. T. Paw, you see, is considering a run for President in 2012.
And the fact is that such a proposal, if enacted by the state legislature, would cause substantial problems in public safety. If non-English speaking immigrants can't read a warning or can't communicate with a police officer or emergency health worker, the results could be deadly. Mr. Pawlenty, who will soon be leaving office, apparently doesn't care about the mess which would result. He's too busy visiting Iowa.
But there's money to be raised and support to be garnered for his campaign. He knows what buttons to push to solidify his standing as a viable candidate: the ones labeled bigotry and racism.
A pox on his house and on his candidacy!
Labels: Election 2012, Immigration, Racism
posted by Diane at 4:01 AM
2 Comments:
While I think it is crucial for immigrants to learn English for a whole bunch of reasons, withdrawing government support for multi-language publications is a disaster - public safety being only one.
We are sure living in a stupid political climate.
I was gonna say. That's not gonna cut it with Minnesotans. Minnesotans are so polite they could be mistaken for Canadians.
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