Posted on 04/29/2010 3:28:22 AM PDT by Biggirl
Amid a national debate over Arizona's tough new immigration law, Republican Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James (and son of previous Gov. Fob James) vows in a new campaign ad that if he's elected, he'll give the state driver's license exam only in English, as a cost-saving measure. "This is Alabama; we speak English," he says in the ad. "If you want to live here, learn it."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Must be an election year.
This is a bit dumb. There are people here legally who can’t read/speak English well enough to take this exam but might need to drive. Not everyone who doesn’t speak fluent English is an illegal.
The ad is kind of a joke. He selects one and only one example...driver’s licenses. Here’s the funny part to what he picked. The state has two significant universities that have well over a hundred visiting professors (all speak English to a fair degree)...and the state has well over 2,000 foreign students in these colleges as well. They’ve gone out and tried to make all of these folks feel “at home” (a top Bama priority in life). So we took a simple 100 question test and made it into twelve languages. It’s not just in Spanish in you are pro or anti-Latino....it’s in French, German, and even Chinese.
The candidate for governor ONLY says that he wants to get rid of this as soon as he’s in office. He has to convince the Bama house and senate of this...and frankly, there’s not much of a chance this will ever pass (they know who takes the test and they don’t think its a big deal).
Now, if you were running for Bama governor and really wanted to fix a problem....make all Alabamians over the age of 65 take the test every five years and have a doctor sign that the guy over 65 is capable of driving. Get five thousand folks in Bama who are capable of killing people on the highway....off the road. But no....he won’t do that...because he lacks the guts.
So this is a nice ad and looks really sharp. Thats about all it gives you.
I like this:
Amid a national debate over Arizona’s tough new immigration law, Republican Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James (and son of previous Gov. Fob James) vows in a new campaign ad that if he’s elected, he’ll give the state driver’s license exam only in English, as a cost-saving measure. “This is Alabama; we speak English,” he says in the ad. “If you want to live here, learn it.”
HAHAHAHHAHA!! That is great! I will bet that the loonies on the left are having massive coronaries over the repudiation of their life’s work!
It’s time to take our country back, one state at a time. Then we will go after the Feds.
Too bad. Get over it and learn English faster.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
So, do you advocate tests in Urdu? or Tagalog? or Mandarin?
If you need to drive, you need to learn at least enough English to take a damn test (what does: "NO TURN ON RED" mean?).
"Not everyone who doesn’t speak fluent English is an illegal."
Again, you do not have to speak fluent English - technical English would suffice.
Go to another country and try to do the same!
If I move to/work in ,,Germany, China, Russia, etc, you can damn well bet that I am going to have to learn the language if I expect to get by. I doubt I can make a call there often and hear “Press 1 for English”,, could be wrong..
To be technical, you can take the drivers exam in Germany in English. You do not get a German DL though, you get an ‘International DL’ that allows you to drive ie GE.
duly noted, and thanks for clearing that up for me, but one still has to be able to read signs etc....
I just could not see myself in another country trying to live without a good working knowledge of the language. And to be honest, it must be tough to do, but again, learn the language, hell lessons can be found free.
Don’t mean to be argumentative, but I live in a Mandarin speaking country and I took the DL test here....in english.
Go figure, eh?
Yes, but English is one of the official languages of the European Union. What is our excuse?
That’s interesting
Think of all the money that is wasted printing things in seveal languages. Think of the paper, time, ink and think of the waste.
Then they can have a translator just like there used to be translators. What if you are a legal immigrant from Iraq, do you have things printed in Arabic? Why not, if you are so compassionate about one person, why not all?
Again, this is something the PRESIDENT should say on behalf of the entire nation. States are having to step up and take positions that the Federal government should be taking. Typical of Liberals, the Feds want all the power, and none of the responsibility.
In less than a year she spoke and read well enough that she could pass a driver's test in English, read all the road signs, converse well with neighbors, etc. All it took was DESIRE! She did not want special consideration, she wanted to be proud of herself and her accomplishment.
That is what most of these people who expect us and the government to make exceptions for them are lacking. They are lazy, and want to be pampered because we allow it.
It’s not dumb. If you come to America, learn the language. Period. If you aren’t learning the language, trying to maintain your own culture to the extent that you can’t properly communicate - get out of our country. You are only setting yourself up as someone the rest of us is going to have to support with tax money and frankly we’re tired of it. If you are a new immigrant, don’t know the language yet, you’d better be in a class to learn. It is a privilege to be an American citizen. We want new people to love and protect that privilege as if they were native born.
Gusty? Well, blow me down!
He’s just play’n the odds.
Classic...
If he did that he could kiss any chance of being elected to anything good bye. They can't even get drunks off the roads and you think they should go after seniors. according to this your premise is flawed. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070719115903.htm . http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070719115903.htm
IIRC, the State of Alabama lost a law suit a while back and is bound by a federal court order on this. Not a bad tactic as far as vote pandering; certianly James is tickled to death with all the free publicity.
And shut mah mouth!
Agree. While I never learned to speak german fluently, I made sure I knew enough of the language to read simple instructions, etc. and I could speak well enough to order dinner, ask directions, and get my face slapped by extremely beautiful ladies. hehee
We can push it as a "green" measure!
Save a tree! Print it in english only!
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