Far left opposes English as official language in U.S.
If you want to be a citizen of the United States, the very least you can do is speak the language.
The U.S. Senate voted this week to make English the national language on the United States.
The measure received strong bi-partisan support, except from the far left corner of the Senate, including Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin ... and Pennsylvania's Bob Casey Jr.
The vote to designate English as the official language of the U.S. was approved by a vote of 64-33.
Not only is the vote symbolic, but the Senate bill also reduces entitlement to multilingual services, something most Americans support. In other words, if you want to be a citizen of the United States, the very least you can do is speak the language.
(By the way, 30 of the 50 states have laws on the books designating English as the official language, but that's not the case in Pennsylvania.)
The S.I. Hayakawa National Language Amendment Act of 2007, offered by Sen. James Inhofe to the comprehensive immigration reform legislation currently pending in the Senate, declares that there is no affirmative right to receive services in languages other than English, except where required by federal law.
"If we want to understand what made past waves of American immigrants so successful, we must focus on the language that helped them become Americans -- English," said Mauro E. Mujica, chairman of U.S. English Inc. "I want to thank those Senators who voted to continue America's proud tradition of uniting our diverse people through one common language. In recent years, our nation has gotten away from the strong governmental message sent by operating overwhelmingly in English. This vote indicates that we are ready to leave the failed experiment of government multilingualism and return to increasing English learning."
Pennsylvania voters made a serious mistake in November 2006 when they elected the far left Bob Casey Jr. to the U.S. Senate over Republican Rick Santorum. (Santorum was the No. 3 most powerful member in the Senate. Casey is ranked No. 92 (of 100) in the Senate, according to the power rankings by the Web site www.congress.org)
Casey, aka Silent Bob, has has zero presence in the Senate in the past five months and Pennsylvania voters are just now starting to realize how far to the liberal extreme Bobby Casey really is.
Here's some more background from a release issued by U.S. English Inc.:
Under the approved amendment, English would be declared the national language of the United States government, calling upon federal agencies to "preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America."
While the measure does not prohibit information and documents in languages other than English, it clarifies that while a government agency can opt to provide services in English, citizens do not have an affirmative right to ask for such services. An exception is made for existing federal law, such as in health care and judicial matters. Sixteen Senators were co-sponsors of the measure.
A Zogby International poll released in May found that 83 percent of Americans support making English the official language of the United States. The poll of 993 likely voters revealed that strong majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents favored official English legislation.
Last year, the Senate approved a similar amendment by Sen. Inhofe by a bi-partisan vote of 62-35.
U.S. English Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States.
Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English can be found on the web at: http://www.usenglish.org
Tony Phyrillas is a leading conservative political columnist and blogger based in Pennsylvania. He is a veteran journalist with 25 years experience as a reporter, editor and columnist for several newspapers. Phyrillas received recognition for column writing in 2010 from the Associated Press Managing Editors, in 2007 from Suburban Newspapers of America and in 2006 from the Society of Professional Journalists, Keystone Chapter. A graduate of Penn State University, Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. In addition to The Mercury website (www.pottsmerc.com), his columns are featured on more than a dozen political websites and blogs. Phyrillas is a frequent guest (and occasional host) on talk radio and has been a panelist on the "Journalists Roundtable" public affairs TV program on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). Phyrillas was named one of the '10 Leading Greek-American Bloggers in the World' in 2007 by Odyssey: The World of Greece magazine. BlogNetNews.com ranked Phyrillas the Most Influential Political Blogger in Pennsylvania for three consecutive years (2007-2010). You can follow Phyrillas on Twitter @TonyPhyrillas
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