Tuesday, May 4, 2010

He's got a point


Tim James, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Alabama, is promising in a campaign ad that if he wins in November, he'll push to offer the state’s driver’s test only in English. Currently, the test is given in a wide variety of languages. James is claiming that it will save the state money. That's a pretty questionable assertion, but I do agree with his central premise. If traffic signs are in English, and if those overhead highway message boards give important information in English, why shouldn't people who want to drive in this country be expected to speak English before they're given a license? But while James is at it, if he really is committed to improving the caliber of driver on Alabama drivers, maybe he could work to repeal the state law that lets first cousins marry. It never hurts to freshen up the gene pool.

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7 Comments:

Anonymous x anonymous said...

I think that was a slap in the face to us fine people that live in the south! You know there is this big ugly pink elephant in the room and nobody wants to talk about it. Illegal Immigration.

May 4, 2010 at 4:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

AMEN! And wouldn't it be nice if they were literate, as well? ;-)

May 4, 2010 at 6:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So Americans -- who by and large don't even have a grasp of English -- should be forbidden from dring in other countries whose signs aren't also in English? They wanted to save money by not labeling Washington,DC, monuments in several languages, too. I view this as just one more example of American arrogance -- America for Americans. we won't adopt the metric system, either.

May 5, 2010 at 12:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

New York would lose 92% of its cabbies.

May 5, 2010 at 1:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope you never plan to drive in Europe. It is arrogant to refuse to put traffic signs in anything other than English just to punish illegal immigrants. People driving and visiting here are from all parts of the world. I know you're referring to those applying for a drivers license but we should think globally when it comes to signage.

May 5, 2010 at 11:30 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

There are at least 20 world languages that are spoken by 50 million or more people. We should not be going to the trouble, or the added expense, to put our road signs and tests in a bunch of different languages. We have a national language, whether official or unofficial. If you want to enjoy the full benefits of being a resident of our country, you should learn it.

May 6, 2010 at 9:58 AM  
Anonymous x anonymours said...

brant, I lived in bama 20 years ago.... for a year or so... at that time you didn't even need car insurance!

Our local school district hires translators for the illegals. Our state is so freaking broke, it's about to lay off massive amounts of teachers, yet they will keep the translators. Illegals come here to do mostly farm work and some skilled construction workers.

What would happen if say we could wave a magic wand and send them all home? I say it would drive the unemployment numbers down and save the states a lot of money. I think it's a win win.

Every state in the nation should adopt the AZ law.

May 8, 2010 at 6:12 PM  

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