Racist TeaParty Republican Introduces "ENGLISH ONLY" Bill and Says Diversity is Illogical!

WASHINGTON -- Racist Teaparty Republican Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Thursday "diversity has never been America's strong suit, so lawmakers should pass his ENGLISH ONLY bill in the name of unifying the nation."
The racist said: "One of the great things about America is we've been unified by a common language. That common language, of course, is English. Our language is getting subdivided by some forces of the federal government. It is time to speak ENGLISH ONLY."
Nutcase King talked to reporters just after the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on his measure, which would require all federal government communications, including voter and ballot materials, to be conducted in ENGLISH ONLY. His proposal would also nullify a Clinton-era requirement that federal agencies provide interpreters for non-English speakers for certain activities.
King said he is not a racist. King's view of a NON DIVERSE SOCIETY in his bill is aimed at "bringing the country together. After all, diversity has never been America's strong point."
"The argument that diversity is our strength has really never been backed up by logic," nutcase King said. "It's unity is where our strength is. Our Founding Fathers understood that. Modern-day multiculturalists are defying that."
During the committee hearing, Democrats said King's bill violates the Constitution and impedes voting rights. "Having already spent an extraordinary amount of committee time and resources in an effort to roll back the civil rights of women, persons with disabilities, gay and lesbian Americans and other minorities, our majority colleagues are now using the last day before the House adjourns until September to highlight a bill that would place at risk the 24.5 million people in the United States who need language assistance from their government in some situations," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) gave his opening remarks entirely in Spanish -- with imperfect pronunciation to make the point that our country has always been a multilingual one.

City Council Overturns Racist "English Only" Law in Small New York Town

Last year, Councilman Roger Meyer of Jackson, New York, pushed through a very restrictive "English Only" law. The town's focus on making English the official language struck many outside of it as intriguing – foreign languages have not been an issue there. Its foreign-born population is 2.4 percent of the total community of about 1,800 people, far below that of the state, which is 20.4 percent.

Meyer concedes that the measure was more of a pre-emptive strike against what he sees as the "very likely presence sometime in the future of foreign-language speakers who would demand that government services be provided in their language."

“There might be a need in the future,” Meyer said, adding that language use in public services could become an issue “40 years from now.” ”I think it’s heading that way, people seem to be getting more separated,” he said.

You can once again conduct Jackson town business in Spanish, Italian, or any other native tongue. The Town Board voted Wednesday evening to repeal its restrictive English language-only law by a 4-1 vote. It ends a year of notoriety for the community that drew criticism from across the country and resulted in a threatening letter from state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who warned the town that the law was illegal because it was too discriminatory.

About two dozen local residents and a representative from the New York Civil Liberties Union attended the meeting, held in this Washington County community's town hall, a former one room schoolhouse. A number of town residents have been fighting the law since it was first proposed by board member Roger Meyer about a year ago.

"It sends an unwelcoming message about who we are, both to our community and to the greater community beyond Jackson," resident Peg Winship said before the board vote. "It also puts our town at financial risk because it is unlawfully discriminatory and unconstitutionally infringes on free speech and the right to access information about town government."

Filipinos sue CA hospital over English-only rule

...And the supporters of the "English Only" laws said THIS (stifling speech in a public environment) would Never Happen!
LOS ANGELES – Dozens of Filipino hospital workers in California sued their employer Tuesday alleging they were the sole ethnic group targeted by a rule requiring them to speak only English.

The group of 52 nurses and medical staff filed a complaint accusing Delano Regional Medical Center of banning them from speaking Tagalog and other Filipino languages while letting other workers speak Spanish and Hindi.

The plaintiffs are seeking to join an August complaint filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Kern County federal court over the hospital's enforcement of a rule requiring workers to speak English.

Filipino workers said they were called to a special meeting in August 2006 where they were warned not to speak Tagalog and told surveillance cameras would be installed, if necessary, to monitor them. Since then, workers said they were told on a daily basis by fellow staffers to speak only English, even on breaks. "I felt like people were always watching us," said tearful 56-year-old Elnora Cayme, who worked for the hospital from 1980 to 2008. "Even when we spoke English ... people would come and approach us and tell us, 'English only.'" A message was left at the hospital seeking comment.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC has accused the hospital in California's San Joaquin Valley of creating a hostile working environment for Filipinos by singling them out for reprimands and for encouraging other staff to report them. The agency is seeking an injunction to protect the workers against future discrimination.

The EEOC has seen an increase in complaints alleging discrimination based on national origin amid a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, said Anna Park, a regional attorney for the EEOC. That's especially the case in California's central valley, where a greater share of the complaints the agency receives relate to such issues than in the nation as a whole.

In this case, the current and former hospital workers filed a separate complaint under state law in part because monetary damages are capped by federal law, said Julie Su, litigation director for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, which represents the plaintiffs. They want the English-only policy to be changed and for hospital staff to be trained on the new rule. Under California law, employers may require workers to speak English if there is a business necessity, Su said. Delano Regional Medical Center is a 156-bed hospital located about 30 miles north of Bakersfield.

ANTIs Misinterpretation of a so called Murder for Speaking English! Too Bad They didn't read Original Article OR Police Report!

Several ANTI sites including Alipac.us are going bonkers over a BLOG that misinterpreted a recent murder investigation. According to original article NaplesNews.com article and police report:

Sat, Dec 20, between 3 a.m. and 3:34 a.m., the victim and his friends gathered at a laundry area at the farmworker tenant apartments on Colorado Avenue, Immokalee, FL . There already were three others there and the two groups began talking until a dispute erupted involving the victim's group speaking English, not Spanish. The argument turned physical when an unidentified man and one of the victim's friends began a fist fight.

Based on the names of those involved, this is what we do know:
. neither the accused nor the victim were involved when the argument became physical.

. all involved in the argument were Latinos, all male, range in age from teens to early 30s.
. citizenship not a question in the report
. occurred on farmworker tenant apartments (assume all Guest Workers, here legally, latinos)
. Accused said he was defending himself.
. no question about WHY English may have been an arguing point. Did someone call someone a name in English? No details.
. ALL were drinking.

From the police report: The argument turned physical when an unidentified man and one of the victim's friends began a fist fight. Escalante was identified by witnesses as being one of the three men originally in the laundry area. So we see the victim and the accused DID NOT START THE PHYSICAL FIGHT.

Then: When the fight began, he (the accused) fled to an apartment about 100 feet away and ran back with a 8-inch long weapon with a brown or yellow handle. He ran toward the victim and began fighting, hitting him in the stomach. "(The victim) screamed as if he had been severely injured and then retaliated by striking Mr. Escalante (the Accused) with his fist several times," the report by Investigator William Still says. "The men fell to the ground and (the victim) landed on top of Mr. Escalante."

At this point, according to the police report: "The others separated the men and scattered in opposite directions. The victim walked a short distance before collapsing of injuries from at least three stab wounds to his right chest, right lower abdomen, and left groin area."

Based on the original news article and the Police Report it is clear:
1. a fight originated by those other than the accused or the victim.
2. drinking was involved.
3. the accused is claiming self defense
4. While a question re: English being spoken is in the news article, it is not in the police report nor suggested by the accused, who claimed self defense.

Now comes a BLOG written by Brent Batten, an ANTI with obvious racial and ANTI Immigrant tones. Batten FABRICATES an entirely DIFFERENT story. He begins by talking about a totally unrelated story about the Sheriff's Dept. targetting illegal immigrants running afoul of the law. Next, he assumes that those involved in this fight/murder were Illegal Immigrants , then He concludes the fight "erupted over the victim’s group speaking English, not Spanish." Then out of the blue he says "So much for the notion that illegal immigrants are universally a hard-working, law abiding set committed to doing the jobs Americans won’t do, all while trying to assimilate."

Shame on Brent Batten. He CHASTISES and BLAMES an ENTIRE GROUP of People over HIS JUMPING TO HIS OWN CONCLUSIONS ON ONE NEWS STORY. He has an obvious, biased and racial agenda, it is very, very clear.

To make matters worse, over 90% of those commenting on the his negative Blog agree with him, jump to the conclusion that "illegal immigrants" were involved, and blame the ENTIRE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY over this one isolated, drunken crime. Now Alipac.us and other ANTI Immigrant HATE sites have picked up on Batten's blog to blame the entire Immigrant community over this crime.

Even one of my Anonymous commenters has been nagging me to write about this incident suggesting it was a Hate Crime. How ludicrous. This crime was not one of the weekly "Beaner Stompings" in Patchogue, or one of the murderous attacks on Latinos in Shenandoah, nor was it a murder of innocent Chilean students by Dannie Baker in NW FL, nor was it an a murderous attack of a 9 year old child by a plotting group of Minutemen in Arizona. It wasn't even an assault/attack on countless Latinos speaking Spanish while on their cell phones or walking around Walmart. The facts are, there were a group of individuals who were drinking and people other then the accused or victim initiated the fight. The accused is claiming self defense. It was not premeditated nor was it a Hate Crime. We do not even know the citizenship status of those involved. So tell me WHY all the ANTI Immigrant groups are making such outrageous claims. I say they are RIDICULOUS!!

New Mexico Hotel Owner Exercises His Interpretation of Offical English! Speak English Only! Change Your Name!

Here is ANOTHER REASON NOT TO PASS THE "OFFICIAL ENGLISH" legislation supported by the ANTIs!!

Larry Whitten, a retired marine, is used to people following his orders. The Virginia-born Whitten spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos, NM. and purchasing the Paragon Inn. Whitten's management style did not work for him in Taos.

Whitten marched into the hotel with a strong arm. He layed down the law immediately! Among his own rules: he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence. He also ORDERED them to CHANGE THEIR NAMES to some Anglicize version. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. If employees did NOT follow Whitten's Rule of Law, they were Fired!

In the past, Whitten's "rule of law" worked for him. The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed. His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees, angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history

Whitten lamented, "I'm doing what I have always done."

Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel. "I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr.

When Whitten initially arrived, he met with employees. Due to his abusive management style, he was afraid that they were talking about him in Spanish. Whitten immediately ordered his employees to speak English Only. To make matters worse, he ordered anyone who had a Hispanic surname to CHANGE THEIR NAME to the anglicized version. Those that DID NOT OBEY both of these rules were immediatly fired.

Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to Whitten's style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance." Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. He said, "It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.

Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.

The messages and comments Whitten made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further enflamed tensions. The town was in an uproar and protested against Whitten.

During the AP interview after hearing from the fired employees and the townspeople, Whitten became subsued. He said he was sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture. "What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this whole crazy thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Whitten said. (Note:We don't know Mr. Whitten. What kind of racist fool are you?? We know. We know. Some of your best friends are Latino and former Hippies. How could we think otherwise?)

Whitten should have dealt with the situation differently, especially in a majority Hispanic town, said 71-year-old Taos artist Ken O'Neil, while sipping his afternoon coffee on the town's historic plaza. "To make demands like he did just seems over the top," he says. "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn."
References:

Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change their names

Hypocrite Gingrich's 2007 Statement about Spanish and then his Apology in Spanish!

Here is the statement Newt Gingrich made in 2007 about the Spanish language:
“The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”

Now here is his apology to Spanish Speaking People. He made his apology --IN SPANISH -- to hide it from his right wing friends. Now this year, he rolls out a new website called "Americano" which he says is a bilingual website run by Sylvia Garcia, his director of Hispanic outreach and the goal is, to lure Latinos to the GOP and to cash in on Latino Hispanic Heritage Month. Can he spell H-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y? He may as well have put out a youtube/website saying "You speaky espanol, you stupido, voto para yo, un intelligente republicano!":