Again Please, In English

Andrew Leonard of Salon gives us Obama's thoughts (presented at a town hall meeting) about bilingual education:

You know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, "We need to have English- only." They want to pass a law, "We want English-only."

Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.

You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], "Merci beaucoup." Right?

You know, no, I'm serious about this. We should understand that our young people, if you have a foreign language, that is a powerful tool to get ajob. You are so much more employable. You can be part of international business. So we should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age, because children will actually learn a foreign language easier when they're 5, or 6, or 7 than when they're 46, like me.

Whoa.  Reporting live from the United Kingdom, I have been assured that the typical Brit does not speak many (i.e., any) languages other than English and a smattering of American.  Apparently Obama is aware that culturally, Britain is not part of Europe, and he assumes we know it as well.

But the real comedy gold is this:

Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.

Really?  Will that help me or my children communicate with the immigrants from Vietnam, or China, or Poland?  Who knew?  Table 4 can help Obama's staffers figure out that if slightly more than half of recent immigrants to the Unite States are from Latin America, than sightly less than half are from other parts of the world.

Obama talked about this during the Univision debate last February.  Frankly, I think teaching foreign languages at an earlier age in school makes lots of sense, but I wonder whether are public schools are doing so great a job on the Three Rs that we need to expand their mission.

LEFT UNREPORTED:  How many languages does Barack speak?  And how are his kids (ages 10 and 7) doing with their Spanish, or do they also embarrass him as the rest of us rubes do?  I'd hate to think this is one more "do as I say" scenario similar to Barack's no-smoking aspiration.

BONUS QUERY:  Should that be "us rubes" or "we rubes"?

Comments

[clarice]

When did the Constitution make the Chief Executive the head of the national school board?
Have fun in the UK,TM.

[GMax]

Si se puede! We dont need no stinkin' merci beaucoups!

[bgates]

Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English
No wonder we need immigrants. While the rest of us are being mandated into "voluntary" service, smaller cars, warmer houses, and health insurance, Latin Americans are apparently the only people left in the country capable of making a decision based on market forces and a calculation of self-interest.

[PeterUK]

Mr Maguire,

Don't bother,the weather is so carp,they are swimming in it.

[McClatchy Watch]

Obama found something else about America to be embarassed about.

I linked:
http://cancelthebee.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-finds-something-else-about.html

Kevin Gregory

[Pofarmer]

Somebody ought to ask BHO if there's anything about the U.S. that he likes.

[centralcal]

Heh!

Rush is organizing Operation Chaos-Phase II to infiltrate the 50-state platform plan, I think.

I think he should try to infiltrate the stadium on Obama speech night!

[Jane]

Harumph. How many languages does Obama know? And since when are kids supposed to aspire to "international business". I thought he frowned on that sort of endeavor.

[sbw]

I tell my high school English teacher wife that, instead of English, they should call the course "Tools for Thought."

She doesn't disagree.

In 787, when Charlemagne mandated clergy teach reading and writing, Alquin determined the core subjects to be taught. In the 12 century they coalesced into Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. In the 21st century we have forgotten how to teach as wisely... and the resulting gullibility puts civilization at risk.

[MayBee]

English is the best language to know for international business. We are very lucky in that. My rusty Spanish did nothing for me in Asia, although it is helping in California.

Obama spends a lot of time worrying about how much Europeans hate us and how embarassed we should be in front of them.

[interested]

Para español, marque dos!

[Barney Frank]

When did the Constitution make the Chief Executive the head of the national school board?

'bout the same time he became head of the nations pension system, and medical care for geezers and poor people and aid for fatherless children and how many gallons of water our toilets can flush and.........

[Porchlight]

Somebody ought to ask BHO if there's anything about the U.S. that he likes.

Dude, didn't you see his big patriotism speech? He already listed, like, eight things.

[Sue]

You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], "Merci beaucoup." Right?

What's embarrassing is when they raise their arms and you realize they don't shave their pits. ::grin::

I keed. I joke.

Personally, I am not embarrassed by anything American, with the exception of those who are embarrassed for being American. They embarrass me. What's Obama gonna do to help me with my embarrassment?

[Pofarmer]

The reeducation camps will take care of that Sue.

I'm only kidding a little.

[glasater]

Every airline pilot in the world has to speak english.

[MarkO]

Hablo Espaňol. Yo no creo en esa porquería.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Well, you know, over at my modest proposal about education, I was actually suggesting something similar: kids, at least in places like Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizone, who speak English at home should learn to speak spanish, and kids who speak Spanish at home should learn to speak English. Get across the Channel, TM, and you can visit Hollard, where it's hard to get a Dutchman to talk Dutch to you because, what the hell, he learned English in school so why bother?

With the schools part, well, why not add not teaching Spanish to not teaching English, not teaching arithmetic, and all the other things we're not-teaching?

[MayBee]

The Dutch learn English because Dutch is a language not spoken in many countries.
I think teaching Spanish to children is a great idea. The idea that it is the language of international business is a bit of a non-starter, however, especially if Obama is against trade agreements with South American countries.

Sue- I share your embarrassment.

bgates- ha!

[Sue]

Pofarmer,

Scary and I dont' mean Larry.

[clarice]

I did that with my son who know speaks about 5 or 6 languages well, Charlie, but I repeat this is not a matter for the President.
From the time he was three he began Spanish immersion ; then he progressed to half of his classes being in English and half in Spanish. (Big winner-math with bokks from Spain and Argentina where they taught each concept about 4 or 5 ways). From 10th to 12th grade, Spanish was taught as modern literature.
Kids in the class had a variety of native languages. Others in the school were learning Dutch or French. In 10th grade they also can take Latin or another modern language.
We are also teaching Chinese in his old school know I don't know what year it begins, but I think it may begin at nursery school

[Sue]

I would love to speak Spanish. I had dos anos in escuela and remember little. My sister has a degree in Spanish and teaches ESL. It isn't speaking another language that bothers me, it is those coming here should learn English and there shouldn't be any question about it.

[Jane]

I have a language story which is a tad more modest than Clarice's story.

I started French in the 5th grade. I took it every year but for some reason had to keep repeating French 3. French 3. French 3. French 3.

In high school when I took the SAT's (or whatever they were called for languages, I got a perfect score in French. Apparently the test is geared solely to French 3.

[Sara]

Isn't a foreign language required any more to graduate from high school? It was when I was in school, but who knows today. I had 4 years of French and 3 years of German. We were warned off of Spanish as being a language no one would ever use. Short-sighted of those 60's school administrators, I guess.

[clarice]

Jane, I love that story.

TM has an excellent point, too. First let's improve the teaching of the basics..And O should know how behind we are at that..he and Ayres blew through all that money doing nothing for Chicago's public school and then sent his kids to private school--Let most of Congress.

[clarice]

**LIKE most of Congress***

[Sara]

Latin was the other biggie, but in my high school, unless you had stated a desire to go into medicine, you were discouraged from taking it.

When my kids were still in school, more than half the students were Asian. They weren't having any trouble assimilating and learning English (and winning all the science fairs and scholastic honors). Their parents pushed them to become Americanized so they could take advantage of this great country, not undermine it with their diversity. Of course, that was during the same time when the San Franidiots were pushing Ebonics as a legitimate language that should be taught in school.

[Paul Zrimsek]

Sabes, esta conversación no les ayuda a mis hijos.

[Helen]

What Mr Obama failed to mention is that Europeans require people who work in their countries to speak the language of that country. Further, any documents (driver's license, resume) from out of country must be presented with a full official translation in the language of the host country. Your children will not be taught in your home country's language in a state school. You can, however, do as the international business elite do: spend big euros and send your child to a private international school where they will be taught in english.

[Sara]

Helen, you have reminded me of a time when I was doing genealogy and wrote to an agency in France for some information on my maternal ancestors. I got a long letter back, in French, informing me that they do not honor requests that are written in any language except French, so they were sorry, they wouldn't help me in my search. But...I was welcome to resend a "proper" request.

[jm hanes]

"Somebody ought to ask BHO if there's anything about the U.S. that he likes."

I'd put it slightly differently: Is there any stereotype about Americans that Obama doesn't subscribe to?

[Sara]

Oh and as I recall, they kept my international money order and informed me that a second request, in French, would require another fee.

[sbw]

The Dutch learn English because...

The Dutch also learn English because television programs are subtitled rather than dubbed. Americans suffer like the Germans and Italians for not being exposed to other languages on television.

[MayBee]

I'd put it slightly differently: Is there any stereotype about Americans that Obama doesn't subscribe to?

xoxox

[clarice]

Well, Sara, if you wrote a request to the US for records and did it in French, I'd hardly expect a response. You insulted them and on the question of the sovereignty of their language in their own land they are very particular.

[MayBee]

The Dutch also learn English because television programs are subtitled rather than dubbed.

Yes, that would definitely reinforce what has been learned.

I've tried Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese. I am best at the universal language of Point-enese. I could seriously teach a class.

[clarice]

Dutch students are encouraged to learn lots of languages and their schools have developed very effective ways to teach languages.

[centralcal]

What I find so insulting about Obama's foreign language remarks is that there are many immigrants in this country - in the here and the now - even in California who speak many languages other than just Mexicanized Spanish.

I lived in a community for 35 years where my best friends spoke Italian (mulitple dialects), Portugese, Basque (including French and Spanish), Chinese, Japanese, and of course Mexican. Many of them were ESL - and extremely fluent in English. Me - not so much (being of British Isles ancestry). I had total immersion Spanish in the third grade (even my name was replaced by a Spanish one) and took Castillon Spanish for 2 years in High School - but nothing fluent stuck.

Some of us are not speaking a foreign language because we don't NEED to or because we don't have to with a frequency that increases our fluency. That would be me (along with lazy).

Americans come from every country in the world. Americans speak every language known in the world. Not all of us. Pray tell, can Obama converse fluently in Kenya with whatever native language is spoken there (excluding English)? I bet not.

What a pompous blowhard. (and, oh yeah, we know he is not German or French or Italian).

Okay - I am off my high horse, now. Carry on.

[DrJ]

I don't post often here (read all the time) but this topic always irritates me. Since when did "bilingual" in this country mean that you speak Spanish in addition to English?

In my line of work, you benefit from speaking German (which I do), Japanese and Chinese. That's really about it. Spanish would benefit me only to talk to the yard crew, which is not that important to me. They have a supervisor.

So why do we as a country not impose a requirement to learn Chinese (for example)?

*grumble*

[sbw]

When I worked in the Netherlands, I made an agreement with my Dutch friends that if they spoke English, I would correct them and when I tried to speak Dutch, they would correct me... to their great enjoyment sometimes.

I remember talking in Dutch about the sound of a minister on the radio and repeated what the minister said as "in the name of the Father, the son, and the sexually-starved ghost." Ah, well. What a delightful country.

[Porchlight]

The Dutch are also obsessed with American musical idioms. We have Dutch friends who have a band in Amsterdam and all their lyrics are written in English. Sort of like ABBA, a couple of the guys in the band have no idea what is being sung.

[clarice]

In some communities in the US children did have a bilingual education. My mother did. German. In Milwaukee before the war.
Spanish is usually indicated because it is the language of a vast majority of our immigrants and because such programs (not truly bilungual in that Hispanic kids are never really taught English) are a jobs program for Spanish speaking teachers. (Not everywhere, of course, but in many places.)
My old high school in Milwaukee has courses taught these days in English/Spanish/Laotian and Hmong...It once was a first rate academic prep school..it now is a vocational dump with a large nursery school to provide day care for the students.

[Sara]

Well, Sara, if you wrote a request to the US for records and did it in French, I'd hardly expect a response. You insulted them and on the question of the sovereignty of their language in their own land they are very particular.

Oh I got that message loud and clear, Clarice. And I'm sure I would have thought of that a few years later, but at the time, I was 16 or 17 and I guess I was too stupid to see the insult.

My French teacher, who helped me translate their response, made some crack about "that's why they call us 'ugly Americans'.

[centralcal]

Hey, DrJ - welcome into the pool. The water is great. We are a friendly crowd! You drop in and splash around as often as you like.

[Porchlight]

Sara, if it makes you feel any better, this was linked at HotAir:
Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French

[André Kenji]

My native language is Portuguese and YES learning a different language makes a lot of difference. Yes, it requires a great deal of dedication and your mind works in a different way.

I think that learning a Latin Language is good because if you learn one language is easier to learn another Latin Language. But it´s interesting: if your native language is English you feel less compelled to learn a second language.

But yes, I also think that Americans learning Spanish/French/Italian/German is almost as important as immigrants learning English.

[DrJ]

> Hey, DrJ - welcome into the pool. The water is great.
> We are a friendly crowd! You drop in and splash around as often
> as you like.

I do know that. I've read here since early Libby. Other than energy and high-tech things I find I don't have much to say.

Well, language and such excepted.

[sbw]

Dutch has uniformity -- all the letters are sounded and words that are spelled similarly sound similarly. They don't have peculiarities like "oven" and "open". I'd hate to have to learn English as a non-native.

[Sue]

But yes, I also think that Americans learning Spanish/French/Italian/German is almost as important as immigrants learning English.

Can I ask why? If I'm not going to use the language, why is it as important as someone who comes here to live learning English?

[Ann]

OT,

Mitt Romney was on Fox tonight and I am still depressed he is not our candidate. It doesn't sound like he will be VP either. Hannity asked him if he received vetting papers from McCain and he said NO.

On the important topic of speaking English, I, like, get really mad when I am getting my nails done at a Vietnamese American nail salon (the only ones to go to these days :)) and they only speak Vietnamese, like, when they don't want you to know what, like, they are talking about... and it like, really, like, makes me crazy. (That and they are always watching OPRAH) LOL

[Sue]

Ann,

They are making fun of your feet. ::grin::

[John S.]

There is a reason why Europeans learn English, obvious to everyone but Obama and other self-hating Americans. The European Union has 23 official languages. Nobody is going to learn 22 additional languages, so to communicate with one another, they need a lingua franca. With apologies to Dr. Zamenhof, that common language has turned out to be English.

[Pofarmer]

Well, Sara, if you wrote a request to the US for records and did it in French, I'd hardly expect a response.

Now C'mon. They would probably hire a translator just in case it happened again. But seriously, I imagine the request would be granted in whatever language it was sent in if a suitable translator could be found. Why be a douchebag about it?

[Porchlight]

they need a lingua franca. With apologies to Dr. Zamenhof, that common language has turned out to be English.

Good point. Remember when French was "the universal language"? Bummer for them I guess.

I don't think anyone disputes that it's good to learn another language. But nobody likes to be told what to do and scolded for being a rube. I swear he is worse than Kerry in the elitist intellectual department, and I didn't think that was possible.

[Ann]

I have perfect toes just like the Hit and Run family! Sue!!
::big grin with teeth::

I always wonder if they are making fun of OPRAH. LOL

[Sara]

Ann, I go to a shop like that, but I learned by accident that the time to go in is when school lets out after 3 pm. Their children show up and speak perfect English and do all the translating. However, over a period of 3 or 4 years, Papa's English improved dramatically, and I got the impression that Mama was understanding what was said to her, but was not really able to respond back very well.

They must be doing something right, however, since I got a flyer recently saying they were opening their 5th location.

I'm sure someone will say this is racist, but when I see young Vietnamese like the nail couple or my computer tech guy, who came here with no money and not knowing the language and doing so well now, it makes me have even less patience or empathy for blacks who whine all the time about access or being discriminated against as excuses for living off state entitlements.

One of my doctors is the same. His family were rescued from one of the Viet refugee camps. No English, no money. He got his medical degree, has two children at Harvard now.

I think I told this before about how my Vietnamese computer tech guy told me that he set up his first shop in Indiana because, "Indiana Republican state, Republicans make money, I want to make lots of money."

I had asked him how in the world he, as a refugee, had ended up in Indiana.

[Porchlight]

Sara, the security guard in our building is Sri Lankan. He was a major in the army there, relatively wealthy and well-connected, and is now a security guard in the US in his "retirement." His wife runs a Montessori preschool out of their home. A kinder, more courteous, more intelligent or optimistic man you will never meet. His kids are both doctors now. Pretty neat.

[Sara]

From Times Online

General Petraeus drew bigger crowds than almost any other celebrity visitor, including Angelina Jolie, Dick Cheney, the vice-president, and Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State. Only the right-wing talk show host Bill O'Reilly, known for shouting down liberal guests on his Fox Channel programme, drew similar crowds.

A story on the hundreds that line up for photo ops with the General.

[Don Meaker]

I am an American engineer. I was working on a project with some engineers from Switzerland. We conversed in English, as well as German and French. I took French in high school (northern NY touches French speaking Quebec province of Canada) and lived for 4 years in Germany.

So what? They complained that my German was French accented. They were right!

[centralcal]

Well, there ya go. In just a few comments we have all kinds of languages being spoken every day, by Americans.

Obama is caca-lapish!

[DrJ]

I'm sure someone will say this is racist, but when I see young Vietnamese like the nail couple or my computer tech guy, who came here with no money and not knowing the language and doing so well now, it makes me have even less patience or empathy for blacks who whine all the time about access or being discriminated against as excuses for living off state entitlements.

Bingo. I have hired a number of Vietnamese who escaped their former country by various incredible means. They were all motivated and really good.

They also blew out the curve when I was a TA at Berkeley back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. No one wanted a class of a third Vietnamese. Too hard.

[scottl720]

I took french all through high school,

i can remember enough to at least introduce my girls to it, from the Nancy Drew games

vendu,

a tout alors,

funny story, on one of my final exams i was to transcribe a short story from french to english,

i wrote down the entire lyric of Problem Child , (ACDC) instead, big fat F on that one

I quit high school shortly after that'
I got a BSEE now though so its cool

i learned 'spanish'from the mexican workers i spent many years beside, i was the supervisor Dr J spoke of.

i like that language up in Barcelona,

sl

sl

[André Kenji]

"So why do we as a country not impose a requirement to learn Chinese"

Because there are less interesting things to do with a knowledge on Chinese. There are more interesting authors on French, Spanish, German and Italian. And there is also less magazines and news to read.

[Pofarmer]

I swear he is worse than Kerry in the elitist intellectual department

I think that should read "faux intellectual/elitist department." I haven't seen much evidence of his great intellect. The elitism on the other hand.....

[DrJ]

Because there are less interesting things to do with a knowledge on Chinese. There are more interesting authors on French, Spanish, German and Italian.
Clearly you do not want to make things that depend on cutting-edge technology. Chinese to have them made, Japanese and German (in addition to English) to keep up with the literature and the patents.

[Porchlight]

I think that should read "faux intellectual/elitist department."

You are right, and Kerry wasn't a real intellectual either. But the type is the same - nose in the air.

[bgates]

Andre - I took a look at your blog:

No vocabulário político americano um termo com conotação terrível é flip-flopper, usado para denegrir políticos sem posição política definida e sem personalidade que mudam frequentemente de posição(De forma conveniente, para ganhar votos), geralmente para atingir posições políticas. Como lembra Jonathan Chait, na New Republic, foi um dos fatores que ajudou a afundar John Kerry(Aquele que votou a favor da guerra ao Iraque e fez campanha presidencial contra).

Aquele que votou a favor da guerra ao Iraque e fez campanha presidencial contra? I think I speak Portugese!

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I did that with my son who know speaks about 5 or 6 languages well, Charlie, but I repeat this is not a matter for the President.

Sorry, I agree with that point; just don't think teaching more languages is necessarily bad. I wish I spoke more than I do.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

What Mr Obama failed to mention is that Europeans require people who work in their countries to speak the language of that country.

Uh, Helen, that doesn't correspond to my experience when I lived in Europe.

[Pofarmer]

I wish I spoke more than I do.

I'd kinda like to speak more languages, but I don't seem to have an ear for it. If people want to learn languages, have their kids learn languages, send them to schools that specialize in learning languages, that's great. I really don't think it's the place of govt to MANDATE that I learn languages that I don't need to live in this particular great country.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Because there are less interesting things to do with a knowledge on Chinese.

Oh, man, now them's fighting words. Literary Chinese is a beautiful language with 5000 years of literature, and at least the last 2500 years or so are perfectly readable to a literate chinese now.

This is not to say I don't love the Romance languages: I read latin badly, and struggle through Don Miguel de Cervantes and Jorge Luis Borges, and even read Dante in Italian just cause it sounds so great. (My italian pronunciation is way better than my actual knowledge of it, but it just *sounds* so great.)

But Chinese and Sanskrit were languages of literature when Latin was still what Etruscan scullery maids spoke in the kitchen.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Oh, and I love Fado singing, just to give the Portuguese their due.

[Ann]

I have to tell a funny story before I go to bed. My husband and I use to vacation in Naples, Florida. Naples has alot of tourists from Europe, well they use too, anyway. We were walking on the beach one day and a young girl about 10 or 12 pulled down her pants and went to the bathroom in the sand. My husband, (funny, thats why I married him) said " That's why they call them Euro-peeing" :)

[Dr Rev. E Buzz]

So, is it racist to ask how many languages Barry and his Loud Mouth Wife know?

Must be racist, though.

Has Barry ever seen a Formula One race where all the racers and engineers speak English to each other?

He's an imbecile.

[hit and run]

TM:
Reporting live from the United Kingdom

Clarice:
Have fun in the UK,TM.

PUK:
Mr Maguire,

Don't bother,the weather is so carp,they are swimming in it.

Oh, I have NEVER seen such a photoshop opportunity unfold such as this.

We need a pic of TM and PUK meeting.

Is there ANYTHING ELSE that matters?

Anything else that would change history as much?

What, Obama at the Brandenburg Gate? Don't make me laugh.

[Elliott]

The Times of London (via Instapundit) reports Barack Obama's Berlin visit sparks German diplomatic row:

Now Barack Obama, the presidential candidate, wants to grandstand [in Berlin] too. But a simmering row between the German Government and the local Berlin authorities could rob the Democratic politician of a photogenic moment at the Brandenburg Gate and derail his flagship tour of Europe this month.

The plan, Obama advisers have told Der Spiegel magazine, is to use the visit on July 24 to signal an imminent improvement in the transatlantic relationship. (emphasis added)

Fomenting or fermenting this internal division does not seem like a good first step. The Times claims that both bickering factions want Obama to win:

The embarrassment in Berlin masks the fact that almost every corner of the German political establishment now, with varying degrees of openness, wants Obama to win. The press call it “Obamania”. The only reservations about Mr Obama are that he may be "too idealistic" — the Germans found it very difficult to deal with another Democratic idealist, Jimmy Carter — and that he may pay no more than lip service to the principles of free trade. But in most other respects he ticks every box in the checklist of Chancellor Merkel, who has already scheduled a meeting with the senator.

He has his own supporters at loggerheads!*

Now, the big question: will Obama's campaign representatives be speaking German as they attempt to sort everything out? That might lessen slightly the embarrassment** I'm going to feel when one of our major presidential candidates goes to another country and can only manage a few carefully memorized words in the host country's tongue.
_________________
*Not that there isn't messianic precedent for that.

[Neo]

What a Stierscheißekünstler

[hit and run]

Would Obama begin his Bradenbug Gate speech with....

Gunter gleiben glauchen globen
All right
I got somethin' to say
Yeah, it's better to burn out
Yeah, than fade away

[bgates]

The only reservations about Mr Obama are that he may be "too idealistic"...and that he may pay no more than lip service to...principles
I need to go lie down.

[Elliott]

This has some potential, I aver. Obama Slams Hoop Dreams for High School Diplomas (via the Page):

The presumptive Democratic nominee was speaking about high school drop out rates and the need for people to be committed to working hard in school so they can get a job after school.

Obama said he knows some young men think they can't find a job unless they are a really good basketball player.

"Which most of you brothas are not," Obama, who played basketball in high school, a sport he continues to play to this day, said jokingly. "I know you think you are, but you're not. You are over-rated in your own mind. You will not play in the NBA."

Get me rewrite:

Elliott said he knows some Democratic politicians think they can't win the White House unless they are really good flip-floppers at refining their positions to appeal to moderate voters.

"Which most of you liberals are not," Elliott, who mocked liberals in high school, a sport he continues to play to this day, said seriously. "I know you think you are, but you're not. You are over-rated in your own mind. You will not play in the G8."

[Jim C.]

Spanish has practical value. However, Arabic and Chinese have strategic value, and their importance will only increase in the next 50 years (if for no other reason than to understand what they're saying when they think no one who understands their language is around).

But where can you learn Arabic without being indoctrinated in a whitewash of Islam? From Christian immigrants from the Middle East?

[bgates]

So, is it racist to ask how many languages Barry and his Loud Mouth Wife know?
I'd have to think he has some command of Arabic.

On account of him being a Muslim.*

*Barack Obama is not known to be a Muslim, and millions of Muslims don't know Arabic anyway. This running gag does not represent the official position of JustOneMinute or any of its commenters and cannot be reproduced or recommented on without the express written consent of Major League Baseball.

And a fatwa.

Which Barack Obama can probably get for you.

Because he's a Muslim.

[Sara]

40 to 50 years ago, French, the language of love, and German, the language of war, were must languages. Then we were told, forget them, you have to learn Russian if you are going to get along in the world. That lasted a couple of decades, but with the economic growth, suddenly Japanese was a must. That went bust, and Spanish was the new must know language. But even that is becoming yesterday's news, because now the word is out that we sure could use some Farsi speakers and readers or is it Arabic?

There is a reason the world learns English in order to do business. It doesn't go out of style. And thanks to the imperial British, English is the language of countries and continents all over the world.

[Topsecretk9]

HAH, Sara right on! your 02:32 AM is spot on!

My father in-law worked for NSA and as far as we know spoke English, Spanish, German, Russian and Japanese. He was stationed in Turkey for a long time in the 50's so I'd imagine he knew a little Arabic too.

[Neo]

Major television networks are considering curtailing coverage of the Democratic National Convention after Monday’s announcement that Barack Obama will accept his party's nomination in a Denver stadium. According to several broadcast executives, the networks will still cover all the major speeches. But beyond that, all options are open as they look for savings to balance out the anticipated costs surrounding the stadium event. The acceptance event is an unexpected departure from the traditional convention hall format for which they have spent months planning.

When is a convention "event" not a "convention event" ?

[Topsecretk9]

sucks to be a leftist outside the US apparently. Silvio Berlusconi called the left barely retarded and he won back power along with Britain, Germany and Canada

and since lefties LOVE polls....Third Uribe Term OK for 77% in Colombia

The vast majority of people in Colombia would grant a third term to Álvaro Uribe, according to a poll by CNC published in Semana. 77 per cent of respondents would support a new presidential re-election bid, up 11 points since April.

[BhurkaLady]

Possible reason for Obama camp withholding the COLB: perhaps the "L" had to be photoshopped.

Remember the old Cold War technique for planting agents in America - find a gravestone with a name around the appropriate birth year and get a birth cert. No one thinks to check for death certs.

With Obama's Islamic connections, perhaps this Certificate of Live Birth needs further exploration. Are there photos of the alleged mother and father to compare with Obama's face?

[kim]

This is not the Barack Obama I knew.
=======================

[Topsecretk9]

Remember the old Cold War technique for planting agents in America - find a gravestone with a name around the appropriate birth year and get a birth cert.

Why would they pick "Hussein Obama's" gravestone if they were being sneaky?

Just a curious. Or maybe I missed something

[kim]

Pod Peepul, Pooch.
===========

[Tom Maguire]

There is a reason why Europeans learn English, obvious to everyone but Obama and other self-hating Americans. The European Union has 23 official languages. Nobody is going to learn 22 additional languages, so to communicate with one another, they need a lingua franca. With apologies to Dr. Zamenhof, that common language has turned out to be English.

From her student days in Europe my wife is still friendly with two professors in Italy (who were fellow students then).

One of them told me that when academics in Europe get together at a conference everyone jockeys to have the meeting conducted in their home language, no one is willing to concede home court (tough to argue with a guy in his native tongue), so English becomes the default, generally; sometimes it is German if a lot of Eastern Europeans are involved.

[larwyn]

Finally went to sleep on Monday night and slept straight thru for almost 16 hrs. Spent most of my very short Tuesday trying to catch up and sending collections out, not wanting to "get lost" in the JOM threads until I completed those.

Finally checked into all the comments on the Sunday thread and grabbed many including those re the COLA. Did send them along with JMH comment at Bob's to Geraghty along with the AT articles.

But most of my last few hours have been spent getting the AT articles by Clarice and Lee Cary out to everyone I could think of including REDEYE at FNC. I noted on that one that the rest of FNC seems to shying away from what is going on in the VRWC blogoshpere like the COLB and the similarity of O!'s event plans to the propaganda machine of the Nazis. Suggested that he have Ollie North on for discussion of that.

Also included PUK's "uniforms are ready" photo and again, the link to video from Caberet "Tomorrow belongs to me". That was along with all the comments on several subjects.

Let Rocco know I also emailed his latest on Comeco to Kurt and will then get Kurt's work to Rosett.

Do have two emails for Malkin
"MALKIN2" , "MALKIN" ,

As everyone follows the "A" list blogs like Powerline, Insty, Hot Air & Malkin, I go with the "A minusers"::::laughing::::

Well, going to try to get a few hours sleep. We'll see how effective my emails tonight will be tomorrow if AT crashes from traffic.

Oh and JOM might get same with not only all the comments I included but Gateway did nice post on TM Language post.

See you when Sun is high in the sky for those who get to see such wonders, storms continue to pass thru here. At least for tonights daughter was home, so the blonde dog is probably now in bed with her...sigh

[larwyn]

See Malkin's emails didn't reproduce, this should work

writemalkin at gmai dot com
malkinblog at gmail dot com

[larwyn]

Quick trip back. I always check on Wretchard late at night as he's down under.

Has another MUST READ...
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2008/07/08/when-in-doubt-dont/

When in doubt, don’t

In 1995, during the middle of President Clinton’s first term, the US Strategic Command declassified a document titled the Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence which laid out the principles for dealing with threats from strategic inferiors — both Russia and other nations — after the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. Although the paper was written from the American point of view, it was informed throughout by the implicit assumptions of what hostile nations might attempt to achieve from a position of strategic inferiority.

In other words, the Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence provides a framework within which to understand why the Russian leadership has vowed to consider a military response, or even a renewal of the Cold War in response to the US-Czech accord marking the start of the deployment of missile defenses in Eastern Europe. The NYT reports:

President Dmitri A. Medvedev and his predecessor, Vladimir V. Putin, who is now the Russian prime minister, have told the United States that the Kremlin sees a missile shield in this part of Europe as a threat to Russian security. Mr. Putin has said it could even lead to a new cold war.

But American and Czech officials said the system’s radar component, to be stationed south of Prague, would defend the NATO members in Europe and the United States against long-range weapons from the Middle East, particularly Iran.

“Ballistic missile proliferation is not an imaginary threat,” Ms. Rice said Tuesday after meeting with the Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek. She said Iran continued to work toward a nuclear bomb, along with long-range missiles that could carry a warhead.

The key concept embodied in the Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence is the idea that it rests on an American commitment to inflict an unspecified but devastating response upon any nation or group that attacks it. In order to prevent any adversary from legalistically parsing a pre-announced set of conditions under which the United States would retaliate, all the terms were left intentionally vague so that only American national command authority could say with certainty what would happen next. In the words of the document:

While it is crucial to explicitly define and communicate the acts or damages that we would find unacceptable and, hence, what it is that we are specifically seeking to deter, we should not be very specific about our response. It is however, crucial that the level of our commitment to the things we value be unfaltering, and that the adversary have little doubt of this. Without saying exactly what the consequences will be if the US has to respond, whether the reaction would either be responsive or preemptive, we must communicate in the strongest ways possible the unreakable link between our vital interests and the potential harm that will be directly attributable to anyone who damages (or even credibly threatens to damage) that which we hold of value..

This has the effect of threatening a vastly disproportionate response towards any attempts at aggression by strategic inferiors. While a proportionate response is not ruled out, neither — and this is the essential point — is a wholly disproportionate one. Under such a doctrine a missile defense capability would play a very important role: it would greatly increase the potential lopsidedness of the exchange. Time and again the Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence emphasizes the idea that one of key goals of modern defense is to instill uncertainty in the minds of an adversary — whether that opponent is rational or not.

GO READ IT ALL - HE TIES O!'s statements in.

[larwyn]

Oh Lord.
BREAKING IRAN FIRES 9 LONG RANGE MISSILES TO 'TEST"

on MSNBC now, BUCHANNON is blaming it on Israel's running that 900 mile flight with refuling.

Yeap! Let's blame the JOOOOOS.

Andrea Mitchell is now telling us that IRAN IS NOT AS FAR ALONG IN THEIR NUKES AS ISRAEL CLAIMS!!

Buchannon is now saying that CHENEY IS IN CAHOOTS WITH THE ISRAELIS trying to get Bush to OK attacking IRAN!!

They are also saying we are breeding a proxy war with Special Ops inside Iran. Andrea is concerned with EUROPE'S CONCERN "THEY THINK WE ARE NUTS"

At least Mika is off and Joe is back, for what that's worth!!

oN fnc THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT O! "Bonjour Barack embarrassing we can't speak French.

[kim]

larwyn, that strategic document provides a rationale for our actions in Iraq, also.
=======================

[Dr Rev. E Buzz]

"Cold War"

I get the feeling Barry thinks this has something to do with refrigeration.

GRAVITAS BABY!!!

[clarice]

TM, A French businessman of some note told me that when dealing with Europeans businessmen from other countries, they usually communicated thusly: Each would speak his own language. They understood eachother but felt at a disadvantage speaking the others' language.So the Dutch guy would make his statement in Dutch, the French guy would respond in French, etc.

[BhurkaLady]

Iran's ayatollahs will make Iran the laughing stock of the world when they find out the South Africans put guano into the "enriched uranium" which they sold to China, who gave it to North Korea, who sold it to Iran.

Operation Plumtart was just cover for OpGuano :)

[clarice]

**Europeans( businessmen from other countries)*****