Egy nyelv sosem elég!

So, after a rather depressing Saturday (just hop on over to espn.com if you want to know why, hockey, football, any of the articles will do... or if you prefer, google Bev Purdue, it's enough to make a grown man cry.), I decided that a little blogging was just the thing to cheer me up!

I came across this rather interesting article today.

Basically, Eric Crafton of the Nashville's Metropolitan council has introduced a measure to make English the official language of Nashville, effectively barring the government in Nashville from using any other language.

This I find to be a bit needless and silly. I can't imagine a situation where a politician would go around speaking a language no one else could understand just for kicks. They (yes, I am using the third person plural as a gender neutral singular pronoun!!) need votes to keep their jobs, so why would they use Spanish or Afrikaans if their constituents or clients don't speak it? He does mention that he "happened to see a state legislature meeting in California where several of the state representatives had interpreters at their desk because they couldn’t speak English" and I must admit I'm a bit skeptical of this claim. It just doesn't make sense that someone who wishes to become a part of American Society and the political process would fail to learn English. It's pretty useful in case you haven't noticed. Also, I've have found no evidence to support his claim elsewhere on the internet. If it isn't on the internet it must be false, right?

My point is that we aren't danger of having the North Carolina State Legislature (yes, I know Nashville is in Tennessee, I'm just using North Carolina as an example) conduct their proceedings entirely in Malay. Though, now that I think of it, it would be an excellent way for the government to dupe the masses... not that the masses are paying much attention anyways... sigh...

But since I don't think this post is long enough yet, let's assume for a moment that it is true. California has some legislators that neither speak nor understand English satisfactorily. So what? Yes, it may be a bit cumbersome, there are plenty of other countries that deal with multilingualism just fine. Let the representatives pay for their own translators if they must, and get over it.

I also wonder if Mr. Crafton considers American Sign Language to be English or not...

And now for your viewing pleasure:



In case any of you were wondering, he isn't actually speaking Hungarian... it's just gibberish.

A légpárnás hajóm tele van angolnákkal!!!

Fairness...

I ragged a little on Joe Biden in my last post, so I guess it is only fair I make a little jab at Sara Palin.

“It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there.”

Yikes! Are you sure they speak English in Alaska?

It has been a while....

I know that I didn't finish my last series of blogging, and probably never will. Suck it up.

To make up for my prolonged absence, I bring you amusing articles!

The first on here is from Reuters, which is always good for a laugh... article here. Summery quote:

An underdog in Sunday's election for governor of Bangkok punched and kicked a television journalist Thursday, saying he was provoked by tough questions during a live interview.

What would America have done if Sara Palin had just decked Katie Couric halfway through that interview instead of sputtering her way through it...

But let's step away from politics for a moment here.

Now, I could write a nice witty passage right now leading into the next bit of news I want to share, talking about how, in light of politics and the elections, we sometimes lose sight of the people that really contribute to our society. But, I'm not going to. Instead, I'm just going to tell you that it's time for this years Ig Nobel prizes to be awarded! Check out the official website here. Previous awards have gone to:

• Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney, for performing a comprehensive survey of human belly button lint -- who gets it, when, what color, and how much.
• Karl Schwärzler and the nation of Liechtenstein, for making it possible to rent the entire country for corporate conventions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other gatherings.
• Jack Harvey, John Culvenor, Warren Payne, Steve Cowley, Michael Lawrance, David Stuart, and Robyn Williams of Australia, for their irresistible report "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various Surfaces."
• Robert Faid of Greenville, South Carolina, farsighted and faithful
  seer of statistics, for calculating the exact odds
  (710,609,175,188,282,000 to 1) that Mikhail Gorbachev is the Antichrist.
  [REFERENCE: "Gorbachev! Has the Real Antichrist Come?"]

I love all of these parody awards, one day I hope to own a Golden Raspberry Award for bad film work of my own.

And finally, does anyone know if "It has" can be abbreviated "It's"?





OH! and Quote of the Month: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"

Haha, Joe Biden.

Tennessee Trip: Day 1

I'm currently writing from my hotel bed in Murfreesboro, Tennessee... a lovely city and #84 on Money's 745 best cities to live in list.

There is very little to say about the trip thus far... got to the airport without incident... has some disappointing Caravel soft serve... slept on the flight... got a rental car and all that nonsense, it was all very easy. The two most exciting bits I suppose were me getting stopped and yelled at by security because I ran through the metal detector and I had my phone in my pocket and our cool waiter at Outback. I got grilled pineapple and he was a very nice guy, a student, and Ron Paul supporter. I also made a tower out of the coasters on the table.

In more interesting news.... Barack Obama runs for public office in Brazil... six of them actually. Article Here.

A Quick Thought About the Election...

In browsing the headlines and news tags, one can't help but be assaulted by hundreds of mediums saying, in effect, "OOO! SHE DID THIS!" or "THIS IS WHAT SO-AND-SO SAID ABOUT HIM!"

It makes me wonder... who do they think they're writing to? I think what is happening is more preaching to the choir than anything else. They're writing for an audience that already agrees with them, and audience to will read their articles and say "YEA, SEE!?! I TOLD YOU!?!". They're not going to convince anyone like this... the people that oppose their views are just going to stick up their noses and launch another "But your candidate did this!" and nothing will have been accomplished.

I feel sorry for the people who have yet to make up their minds. It must be incredibly boring/ frustrating.

A Victory for the Penguin!

There is a lovely article in today's N&O. I particularly like Dr. Munger's statement on the last page, speaking to those who might feel a vote for Munger is a "throw away" vote. Article Here.

When food's involved...

Amazing things can happen as evidenced by this story.

I think this deserves a ROFLMAO

Money Quote:

"It's cratering," she said of the restaurant system. "Candidly, I don't think the taxpayers should be subsidizing something that doesn't need to be. There are parts of government that can be run like a business and should be run like businesses."

Bob Barr on the Colbert Report

I occasionally enjoy watching an episode of the Colbert Report or the Daily Show. They're good for a laugh.

A few nights ago while watching an episode of the Colbert Report, I was delighted to see they were interviewing Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential nominee.

My delight was heightened even more by the fact that Colbert called Barr on his support for DOMA and the Patriot Act as well as his switch on Medical Marijuana.

The interview itself did not to do much to improve my opinion of Barr... he came off a bit boring in my opinion but I think he did a good job of handling the questions posed to him about the Patriot Act and Medical Marijuana. He made no comment regarding DOMA, much to my disappointment. I'm not really sure there is anything he could say to satisfactorily defend his support of that particularly vile bit of legislation. He scares me, I'm not gonna lie.

I wanted Mary Ruwart to get the nod, and I will be unable to vote in the upcoming election so it doesn't make a great deal of difference what I think about Barr. I'm just scared that my party is going to be run over with social conservatives... Linos? before I'm even legally allowed to vote. I'm all for us getting more attention on the national stage and drawing in more support but not at the expense of the party's identity.

A significant number of Libertarians are... unsatisfied... with Barr. Many were quite upset that he was nominated and did not show much of a willingness to support him in the general election. Hopefully this does not lead of any splintering or other things that could damage the party in the long run.

Best quote from the interview: “Bob Barr has a long, Libertarian voting record. In Congress, he supported such privacy-friendly, small-government initiatives as the Defense of Marriage Act, which made the government small enough to fit in a bedroom.”