Justice Dept Files Suit Against Arizona.

[MMI]

I guess it's just semantics. I'll concede the point.

Thank-you

It's not because they speak Spanish, but because they haven't bothered to learn to speak English as well. Again, if I were moving to another country, I would make damned sure I learned the dominant language of that country. It only makes sense.

Good for you.

I don't know if we still have any monoglot Gaelic or Welsh speakers, but it's not so long ago that we did. Should they have been made to learn English, simply because most people spoke that language? I do believe there are native indians in USA who don't speak English. What are you going to do about that?

We do have second generation Asian families in this country who do not speak English: they do not need to. Their friends and acquaintances speak their language, so why should they have to learn an alien language. If they need to communicate with a monoglot English speaker, they'll find an interpreter (who will also be an imigrant). Wouldn't it be a courtesy if some of us learned their language instead?

The trouble with Americans is that they have inherited from us that dreadful Anglo-Saxon arrogance which leads them to believe that everyone else must learn English, while all an English speaker has to do when in a foreign country is shout louder. All we've succeeded in doing is erase countless cultures.

Which language would you have everyone in India speak? What about China? Should everyone be made to learn Cantonese?

See? By your own admission, it's insane to provide benefits for every person who enters the country, whether legally or not. That's all we've been saying: DON'T provide those benefits, DON'T make things easy for them, DON'T allow them to stay illegally. IT'S INSANE!!

Evidently, my sarcasm went straight over your head.

Naturally. You're a tourist, and they want tourist money. I don't have any problem with that. I don't have a problem with companies who provide signs and ads in both English and Spanish. It only makes economic sense. What I object to is the government providing aid to criminals (aka illegal aliens) who have not, and will not, payed into the system they are destroying.

They are NOT fucking destroying your system, and if only you'd let them, they'd contribute just as much as your forefathers did after they entered America. It's the blinkered, isolationist, self-righteous bigots who want to keep America pure who will destroy the system.

Exactly! So why do you assume that the US should be any different. Why castigate the American people because they want the same policies as any other country. Despite the fact that our government doesn't care to enforce those policies. There are enough poor and uneducated people in this country without importing more.

Why? Because it's wrong!

Wouldn't it be a much better idea simply to improve your education system? Then, the invitation Steelish has quoted to me with such pride would once more have meaning, rather than sounding as hollow as the Statue they appear on. Just try getting a Green Card and you'll see why so many give up and cross the border illegally.