38 Senators voted against making English the official language. 
36 of them were Democrats, including Dayton(D) Mn., Obama(D) Il., Durbin(D) Il., Feingold(D) Wi., and Kohl(D) Wi. Remember them when you vote! 
This is the USA. We speak English here. Not…
38 Senadores votaron contra hacer inglés el idioma oficial. 36 de ellos eran demócratas, inclusive Dayton (D) Mn., Obama (D) Il., Durbin (D) Il., Feingold (D) Wi., y Kohl (D) Wi. ¡Recuérdelos cuando usted vota!
Sounds more to me like your trying to shove your way of life down others throats.
WarrenMN
Wow James 
I didn’t know you were fluent in Espanol 
Either that or you have the English/Spanish dictionary like mine 
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Sounds more to me like your trying to shove your way of life down others throats
English is our way of life in AMERICA Warren..
What’s your point??
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38 Senators voted against making English the official language.
I certainly will remember them. Feingold gets my vote when he runs again and I hope to vote for Obama someday when he runs on the Big Ticket. 
I got news for you, it isn’t our way of life and I’m tired of acquiescing to a group of bullies that just a few years ago were crying foul about the government sticking its nose in their business but now its them doing it and it’s ok.
This law would have made a majority of our immigrant ancestors illegal aleins. I can remember living a few years down in New Ulm in my early teens. Got news for you, they spoke German. That must really make you mad. Maybe not, the color of their skin wasn’t so different and I think this is what it’s all really about.
Do I believe we have a problem with the borders, yes. Do I believe we need to do some thing about it, yes. But I’m not just going to go along with this covert bigotry.
WarrenMN
What was the point of this bill? IMO, it is just another way to polarize the public and distract us from issues that really make a difference in our way of life.
Should our elected officials be spending all of their time on issues like this when we have serious problems in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East? Is this more important than gas that costs over $3 a gallon when US oil companies are making record profits? Tens of millions of Americans don’t have access to quality healthcare and I’m supposed to get worked up over hola vs. hello. Give me a break!
I was going to stay out of this, but I do have one thing to get off my chest. We Caucasion Americans have now been reduced to the minority status right under the Hispanics. So, does that mean that caucasion Americans can now have all the welfare, special consideration in the workforce, and everything else they have been given because they were minorities?
I don’t care that they live in our country, in fact I appreciate all the dirty jobs they do. But, they sure as hell don’t deserve all the benefits I have to pay with my tax dollars. They want to live here, then work just like I do and earn everything you get
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But I’m not just going to go along with this covert bigotry.
WarrenMN
Voting for what you believe in is not covert bigotry, nor is posting your opinion on this site! He didn’t say vote the democrats our or I’ll shoot you, he merely stated his opinion by saying “remember them next time you vote”…..it’s up to you to vote for who you want to!
I want to know how come everytime somebody shows a little pride in our country someone is always there to bust his chops….it’s O.K. to believe English should be spoken in America, just as it is O.K. to believe Chinese should be spoken in China. It’s not racist, nor is one a bigot, to believe such!
Doesn’t it seem odd that anytime anyone agrees that English be the official language of the United States they are basically branded a bigot. There is nothing wrong with the fact that people that immigrate to a designated country should learn the language spoken there. I have seen a few e-mails stating “Would Mexico make sure that, if you moved there, you were afforded an english-speaking teacher, an affordable place to live and medical treatment that even a large number of there own people could not afford?” Don’t bet your Ranger on that one!!! As far as those German-speaking people you were referring to, they learned the language without demonstrating on the streets against the very country that they emmigrated to. And they got jobs and started businesses. They did not drain the welfare system dry. I know because my ancestors were those German-speaking people “down the road”. There is nothing wrong with LEGAL IMMIGRATION !!! If they want to come here do it legally, not crossing the border at night in some desolate area of Texas, Arizona or California.
The difference between then and now is the immigrants do not try to learn the language, are they still speaking German in New Ulm??? When my Great Grandparents came here they told the kids new country, new language, Welsh could only be spoken in the barn so you had better figure this new one out, I really dont care if they would like to speak there native language at home but why do we need interpreters in schools, police departments, hospitals etc. oh yeah 3 bucks a gallon and were still buying must not be too expensive yet, supply and demand, capitalism that is what this country is all about, if there is so much money to be made in refining oil why dont you go build a refinery, oh that’s right the enviromentalists havent allowed that to happen in 25 years.
Thanks, being from Wisconsin I have no time for Feingold and Kohl. However, unfortunately it is highly unlike those two will not be re-elected. I could say more about Herb Kohl, because my daughter worked for him, but that is just more trouble on my end.
Sorry for the typo. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold will unfortunatly be re-elected.
Whats scary here is all of your defenses have been your precieved right to take away some one else’s. And when that person stands up for their rights, some how thats taking rights away from you?
Why has it taken 200 years and exactly this group of people coming up with the idea.
WarrenMN
You guys all missed the point here. The root reason to make English the one and only “Official” language is a simple tax saving proposal. Right now the US government prints so many forms, letters, notices in what? 3, 4, 5 languages? One is enough for this taxpayer!
This is not a racist issue. Go to ANY OTHER COUNTRY and you will see no difference.
-J.
What right are we trying to take away?? I dont think this Bill would outlaw speaking any language other than English. We just wouldnt be obligated to print all Federal forms in 10 (just a guess) different languages, I am quite sure if it wasnt an option all imigrints would be in a bigger hurry to learn English. But they could speak whatever language they want when they want, just dont get pissed when I cant understand you. Also be carefull using rhetoric like Bigot and Racist because it only cheapens those words for when they really are the appropriate terms.
It would be interesting to hear the reasons why the Senators voted against this.
I have read the response on here to this and am frankly shocked at a number of them. No where do I see racism or bigotry as suggested. Growing up, my grandparents and my father spoke german many times at home, but they did not ask for special favors to accomodate them for doing so. My father learned to speak english in school as did other children and decendants of immigrants did. There were no duel languages used on menus, signage, tax instructions etc. Yet now in these modern days we are expected to accept and to even be forced to learn a different language? It seems to me that suddenly, everyone is dancing through the tulips so as not to upset a certain group of people. If not the english language as the official language of the United States, then what would you suggest? As for the views on illegal immigrants – I wonder how the tables would turn if tax time came and you were notified you owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes due to your social security number having been used to employ an illegal immigrant.
This is really rather simple. They are I-L-L-E-G-A-L imigrants. Round them all up and deport them or jail them. All that is needed is enforcment of the law.
I think I read somewhere we are the only country without an official language. IMO it SHOULD be english. Learn it or go be a tick somewhere else.
This is it come on get a grip IT’S only right when in rome do as the roman’s do !! It’s only a laugague but it’s are’s so let’s speak it all the way around . I have grandpa’s and a dad that fought for your opinions PLEASE don’t forget that !! Let’s not forget about the kids in Mid-east fighting for OUR opinions. Fish I’m 150% behind you!!!!!
What’s scary here is the fact that you consider illegal aliens to have the same rights under U.S law that its citizens have. I ask you again—-do you think you would have the same rights in Mexico??
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This law would have made a majority of our immigrant ancestors illegal aleins.
What? This bill would make english the official language of the USA and wouldn’t affect a single immigrant’s immigration status. Please see the post made by Jon Jordan. 
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What’s scary here is the fact that you consider illegal aliens to have the same rights under U.S law that its citizens have. I ask you again—-do you think you would have the same rights in Mexico??
Ever wondered how the Mexican government treats THEIR illegal alien problem? Being an illegal in Mexico is, get this, actually a crime! 
Punishable by up to 2 years in prison. Mr. Vincent Fox railed against Bush for using 6,000 troops to defend OUR border… yet 5 years earlier he called up 5,000 troops to defend Mexico’s southern border.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13006798/site/newsweek/
“Foot-dragging on amnesty? Fox has spent the past five years urging the United States to upgrade the status of millions of illegals from Mexico. Meanwhile, his own government has given legal status to only 15,000 foreigners without papers.”
This idea has been around for a long time.
This is from Teddy Roosevelt in 1907,his speech on immigrants and being an AMERICAN.
“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us,he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else,for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed,or birthplace,or origin.But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American,and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here.Any man who says he is an American,but something else also,isn’t an American at all.We have room for but one flag,the American flag,and this excludes the red flag,which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization,just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have no room for but one language here,and that is the English language…and we have room for but one soic loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.
Just a little history on the subject.
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Also be carefull using rhetoric like Bigot and Racist because it only cheapens those words for when they really are the appropriate terms.
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We Caucasion Americans have now been reduced to the minority status right under the Hispanics.
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I appreciate all the dirty jobs they do. But, they sure as hell don’t deserve all the benefits I have to pay with my tax dollars.
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that they didn’t really work, or pay taxes or social security.
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, buying it a dog license doesn’t make it a dog. I wonder how many of the first generation ever learned english when I see third and forth generations that can still speak it. New Ulm was still so German by WWII they were branded Hitler town. In fact every thing about New Ulm was reflective of their native country and thats what makes it New Ulm. I’d bet they didn’t have two menu’s because they used their native tongue.
A main language is learned through generational assimilation.
For all you “This is really rather simple. They are I-L-L-E-G-A-L imigrants. Round them all up and deport them or jail them. All that is needed is enforcment of the law.” Have you ever been to New Mexico, Texas or Arizona. There must have been an awful lot of generations of illegal families born in this country.
And as for the logic that French is spoken in France, German is spoken in Germany. Each country has their language, and this country is made up of all countries. Some where this country was refered to as the “melting pot”.
WarrenMN
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Obviously there are lots of opinions about illegal immigrants and what languauge to use in the USA. Let’s not make the illogical assumptions that all Hispanics speak Spanish, all Spanish speakers are illegal immigrants, and that all Spanish speakers are on welfare and do our “dirty” jobs.
I have lived in New Mexico and can tell you that many people down there who have been in our country for generations do not speak English, but Spanish, Navajo, Hopi, etc.
I received the following in an email. Even though I’m a left-wing bleeding heart liberal, I laughed my arse off. Lord I apologize…
My mailbox is being flooded with mail concerning gas prices and illegal immigrants. To boycott oil companies or not; to provide amnesty to illegal immigrants or not, etc.
Since I have become jaded to the various solutions proposed by the Republicans, Democrats, Sierra Club, ACLU, etc. I have elected to solve the problems as they affect me. It solves both my gas and illegal immigrant
problems.
I have hired illegal immigrants to push my car. They’re plentiful and cheaper than buying gas. Then I pay them in pesos so they have to go home to spend it.
I love it when a plan comes together.
I like it
Thats pretty good.
WarrenMN
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