Letters to the Editor
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War Room slights African language
Oh come on, you say you don't care if the national anthem is sung in Spanish, Swahili, Pig Latin, or pirate talk, and then you link to sites for Pig Latin and pirate talk, but not for Swahili? FYI, Swahili is the most widely spoken African language, and one of the larger world languages, spoken by between 1 and 2 percent of the world's population (roughly 100 million people). While you couldn't expect to walk into any store on planet earth and purchase so much as a stick of gum in Pig Latin or pirate talk, you could easily live a rich and complete life speaking only Swahili. The language has a deep history, a substantial literature, and, yes, even thousands of websites, the most prominent and thorough of which is this:
http://www.yale.edu/swahili
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Starting with Himself?
So, our President thinks U.S. citizens should have learn to speak English. The Decider-in-Chief does realize, doesn't he, that this means he'll have to take lessons?
And how many of U.S. citizens he likes to idealize -- the ones "born here," the ones growing up speaking English -- know the words to the national anthem in English? How many can name the first five U.S. presidents? How many can find Washington, DC -- let alone other countries in the world, in some of which U.S. citizens are dying every day -- on a map?
It's frightening that the President's misdirection is working: "Don't look at these problems, including my potentially impeachable offenses. Look at this thing over here, instead!"
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Definition of Irony
A bunch of foreign immigrants want to praise the FREEDOM and LIBERTY of the U.S.A. by singing the national anthem in their native language while a bunch of redneck American citizens tell them they cannot.
Perhaps these immigrants could make some money by teaching our native rednecks The Constitution and Bill of Rights.
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Take a hint from the Church.
Seems to me the smartest thing the Christians ever did was translate the bible into every language they could. Makes it much easier to spread your word. And isn't that what we want to do, spread democracy? So translate democracy's greatest hits into every language possible - our national anthem, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and yeah, how about the Pledge of Allegiance?
Show 'em what we're made of.
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Another time, another nation
Watching fellow Americans getting worked up over such trivia might have been funny before the Bush Administration was emboldened enough by the patriotism following 9/11 to freely spy on its own citizens and to declare "enemy combatants" in a fictious war. Now that we know any of us can be held without charges or trial for years on end, in a setting where torture is inflicted with impunity, is "who gives a shit" the best response of the remaining 31%?
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Anything to keep us from thinking about the real issues
Apparently this has replaced baseball steroids and missing white girls as our favorite national distraction.
"So, Mr. Press Secretary, when will the President withdraw troops from Iraq?"
"The President is the decider and he decides when to --- Look! Over there! That guy is singing the national anthem in Spanish. Get him!!!!"
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Irony of Ironies
It's hard being continually embarrased by the small-minded, petty, vindictive right wing A-holes who clutter so much of the political landscape. This just in on a "Spanish language" national anthem:
In 1919, when the country was considerably more progressive, the US government commissioned a Spanish anthem, see:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/02/spanish-anthem/
If only the whining idiots were capable of embarassment. You'd think once in a while they'd do a little research before running their big, fat mouths.
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Lamar is my Senator ....
.. so I had the sincere pleasure of calling his office today to tell him I'd prefer he'd focus on the couple hundred thousands Tennesseans without health care thanks to the insolvency of our state medicaid program. I also told them that continuing to follow this idiot president will only lead Lamar off a cliff, and that they might want to know about THIS:
From Kevin Phillips "American Dynasty," as reproduced on tbogg:
"When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, [Bush] would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish, sometimes partying with a "Viva Bush" mariachi band flown in from Texas."
http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2004/01/case-in-point-over-week-ago-i.html
Oh, the horror.
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Above it all, is there a new political wind blowing for the Bushies?
At the heart of this issue (or non-issue, as it were) is the fact the Bush doesn't seem to mind losing the support of the nation's largest ethnic group, the Latinos. In every election he has courted and pandered to the Cuban and Mexican communities in the South, now he tells them to buck up and learn English?
Somehow someone in his smoke-filled rooms has decided that he no longer needs to keep these groups in his camp-- or even more critically in his brother Jeb's camp.
Rove pushed hard last year to get Mel Martinez elected to the Senate and bolster Latino support in Florida. Have they turned their back on that strategy?
I hope so. Latinos are proud of their heritage and their language. They also are traditionally conservative voters who will swing in a second if a Republican gets them angry.
Time for Democrats to call Bush on his insensitivity and his hypocrisy (not having any problem chiming in with a Spanish version on the election trail) and win over a very important constituency who could be there to swing elections back into Democratic favor in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and many other states.
I hope someone in the Democratic National Party is smart enough to send footage of Bush singing along with his Mariachi band to Univision and Telemundo to fan the flames of dissent.
¡Viva Bush! He'll win the Democrats the next election in spite of themselves.
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Who, as we know, speaks English
I can see why faithful Americans are uncomfortable these liberties people take with the Star-Spangled Banner. It is, after all, the inspired and true word of God.
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Aramaic
So if I sing the national anthem in Aramaic, or Jesus comes back to hang out for a thousand years, we'll be thrown in jail?
Nice.
Pay no attention to the illegal war behind the curtain....
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por que no?
I've been waiting for someone to record a version in French... 8-)