On Watching, or Not Watching, Your Language
In the midst of all the brouhaha about illegal entry into this country, the ability of terrorists to penetrate this country, business needs for low-cost (slave?) labor, and the like, the entire immigration debate has been derailed by a true non-issue.
A Spanish language version of the [U.S.] national anthem was released Friday by a British music producer, Adam Kidron, who said he wanted to honor America's immigrants.
When the president was asked at a Rose Garden question-and-answer session whether the anthem should be sung in Spanish, he replied: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."
Ridiculous.
I don't think that the language in which one sings the National Anthem is the place at which you need to draw a line in the sand. Frankly, I don't care if it's sung in English or Spanish or Korean or Russian or whatever...or if it's not sung at all.
And I don't care if you're singing the Mexican or Chinese or Uzbek anthem in your spare time.
Now if you decide that skipping school is a wise thing - there I have a problem.
The California Senate, controlled by Democrats, approved a resolution on a party-line vote supporting the May 1 "Great American Boycott 2006," which supporters say will serve as a warning to Congress to avoid punitive immigration changes.
Organizers say the workplace boycott will show just how vital immigrants are to America's major cities and the nation's economy. Large numbers of students are also expected to participate.
"These immigrants are fighting to embrace this nation," said Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys. "What a good time this is..."
May 1. Hmm.
"...when people can express their anger, their frustration, desires, hopes and dreams, all for the purpose of becoming American. That's a good thing."
Republicans voted unanimously against the resolution, saying it encourages lawlessness.
"The Legislature should not be encouraging students to leave school," said Southern California Sen. Dave Cox. "And it's irresponsible to recommend to people they leave their jobs, especially when many can lose those jobs, whether they obtained them illegally or not."
This week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant from Austria, also implored people to avoid the boycott.
Not all Democrats backed the resolution to support the boycott. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, refused to take up the Senate resolution and allowed his chamber's own resolution, which would have called on Congress to support immigrants' rights, to die....
Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who wrote the resolution, said the boycott will be part of history that will one day be recounted in classrooms across the country.
"It's one day out of 365, out of their lives, for immigrants to peacefully tell the country that we matter, we want justice," she said.
One day out of 365. And that day has James Hudnall wondering:
May Day!
International ANSWER is behind a lot of these massive immigration protests. We all know what they’re about. While claiming to be anti-war, anti-racism, they are in fact a Marxist group which supports some of the worst regimes extant. Now they’re calling for what amounts to a strike to try to hurt our economy....
Why is May first significant? It’s the date celebrated by Communists and Labor Groups (which are usually run by leftists).
But May Day is not celebrated by all labor groups (emphasis mine):
Labor Day is a national legal holiday that is over 100 years old. Over the years, it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general "last fling of summer" festival.
It grew out of a celebration and parade in honor of the working class by the Knights of Labor in 1882 in New York. In 1884, the Knights held a large parade in New York City celebrating the working class. The parade was held on the first Monday in September. The Knights passed a resolution to hold all future parades on the same day, designated by them as Labor Day.
The Socialist Party held a similar celebration of the working class on May 1. This date eventually became known as May Day, and was celebrated by Socialists and Communists in commemoration of the working man. In the U.S., the first Monday in September was selected to reject any identification with Communism.
Back to the opposition to a Spanish-language national anthem. This identifies the key issue for some people:
Don't attack precious symbols of national unity and expect anything but a massive political backlash. I'm a good liberal but I love my country and consider this "Nuestro Himno" a secular blasphemy.
A "blasphemy" against a "symbol of national unity"? Even though one tries to deflect the intent by preceding the word "blasphemy" with the word "secular," it still sounds like a very religious opposition.
This blog has hit on civil religion again. The National Anthem is NOT an anthem to God. The other six billion people who sing some other national anthem are not excluded from the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is not the Kingdom of America.
Comments
I do completely agree with your last paragraph, though.