Senate Votes to Call English 'Common Language' of U.S.

Fox News ^ | May 19, 2006 | AP

[stm]

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to make English the national language of the United States. Sort of.

[one more state]

I pretending that the Republican party controls both houses and the Presidency. If their platform is not based on the rule of law any more, it's no longer the party for me.

[alicewonders]

This reminds me of the old "flag burning issue" that crops up every time our politicians want to divert attention from some new crap they're doing to us.

[hershey]

Spanish is still numero 2 on the automated menu in MetroWestern MA -- at least for Charter cable. That could change overnight, of course.

[Turbo Pig]

But please don't make a law that says I can't name a business "Taco Tio", or "Copa Cabana"; or that I can't say "Hola!" if I spot a bunch of friends (Hispanic or otherwise)--or even a law

That sounds like something a liberal would say. No one has even intimated that the above would be the case. Only a complete moron would actually believe something like that is how this is intended.

[one more state]

Boot me out or give me amnesty.

[Fury]

Boot me out or give me amnesty.

You should address such a request to the AM...

[pawdoggie]

A sham intended to con the "red-necked hicks" in "flyover country".

[dawn53]

even a law that is simply going to be a gold mine for attorneys who want to file a zillion cases to determine exactly what this law means

Hadn't thought about that. As Glenn Beck said on his TV show last night..."Lawyers are the scurvy on the ship that is America."

[Cobra64]

The Republican party are playing us for fools. They are counting on the base reelecting those who vote against amnesty while those not up for reelection sell us out.

Yes they are. And after supporting them for 44 years, they will no longer get my money nor my vote.

[chatham]

There is no one in the Senate with a set of Pelotas.

What a particular scummy bunch of Traitorous Morons.

[hflynn]

I pretending that the Republican party controls both houses and the Presidency.

You certainly are pretending the Republican Party controls the Senate. The Senate rules have allowed 40 Senators to obstruct legislation in the Senate for almost a decade.

[mnehring]

Now if only they can force businesses to only offer telephone instructions in English...

You shouldn't 'force businesses' to do this. They have a customer base they must deal with and it is not their fault that many of their customers speak Spanish.
In regards to 'Dial 1 to Select Spanish' Para El Español, Prensa Uno, there is actually a good business reason for this. Many large businesses have multi-lingual call centers and having this option first routes these calls quickly. If they had this as option 5 or 6, many of these people will hang up. It is a small change, but when your business uses 'hang ups' in their IVR as a measurement, then they will look at every small thing they can to keep people on the line to get service.

[jeremiah]

Dennis Prager is famous for saying "some ideas are so stupid, only those that are college educated could believe them". To that I would add, "a common sense idea, can only be controversial in the US Senate".

[TommyDale]

While your argument that this might be "good business" in reaching the Hispanic customers, it it really bad business for English speaking customers who are quite fed up with the catering to the Hispanics at the expense of OUR time wasted.

[TommyDale]

Are "pelotas" the same as "cajones"?

[Grendel9]

That's not the only negative
shenanigans the Senate was up
to yesterday. Take a look at
some of these items!

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_109_2.htm

The Democrats are running the
show out on the floor in the Senate.
Meanwhile in the back rooms, THIS
kind of "really important stuff" is
being posted on the docket:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bssQuery?&Db=109&stepID=S*&stepD=o&stepD1=20060518

And if you don't know which party a
particular Senator stands with, go to:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

The CLASS designation on the right also
indicates what year they are up for
reelection. You'll also notice that
Class I Senators going to the mic!
I wathed C-SPAN all day yesterday and
Kennedy made several grand stand speeches.
So did Cornyn, Akaka, Vitter, Ensign, Kyl,
Clinton, and Bingaman; even old Byrd and
Lieberman stepped up!
have to get themselves on
the

[mnehring]

I've seen measurements and far more Spanish speakers are likely to hang up having their option after one than English speakers having 1 as a Spanish option.

If you want to change business, choose to do business with those with the IVR option you like and make sure that the other business knows why you left.

I don't however, want government sticking their nose into every detail of businesses. Let the market deal with it and for gods sake, keep the government out of this one..

[Grendel9]

Have to get themselves
noticed by the voters
back home.

[Roccus]

No matter what is good for the country, the ruling class will have its way.

[one more state]

When will the government help their own citizens. I ready to take government funded classes for those with limited Spanish.