The Stupid that is the NRO
By John Amato Friday Jul 25, 2008 1:30pmK-Lo---Please, make it stop. It hurts.
If Obama could go to Germany and give a speech in English and be not only understood but well-received, why does he say we all need to learn another language?
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Blithering Idiots always use the best tools at their disposal to approve of their own laziness... and that would be stupidity. So, the more idiocy, the lazier they can be. And the lazier they get, the less they learn. Hopefully, these people will soon stupefy themselves out of their own brainstems.
If for no other reason, learn a second language to help one to get better command of their primary language. It has nothing to do with politics, you dolt.
*sigh*
Maybe you should learn another language so that you get a better understanding that the world doesn't revolve around you.
What K-Lo is really trying to say: The sun and the world revolve around America. Why should we learn another language, when everyone knows that everyone speaks AMERICAN, the true language of the universe!
... because they can listen to your conversation and understand everything you say.
However, when they speak in their tongue and laugh about you... you will be left in the dark.
It is just fucking sad to the point of being infuriating.
obama is smart.......he knows we need to be able to speak other languages to compete in the global market.
if you spend any time out west the hispanic demographic is growing rapidly.......that speech in berlin was directed more toward americans that's my opinion....wow there so many haters on this guy....i believe he provides a much more compelling future than mccain....
Wow the stupid... It burns!
What this JACKASS fails to realize is that he was able to give that speech in English because, get ready for it, GERMANS CAN SPEAK MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE!
25% of the U.S. Homeland seems to be suffering terribly, from cognitive dissonance. Heard Rush yesterday bitching and moaning about Barack Hussein Obama and Michelle Mybelle Obama? Then I saw Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck going Apeshit about Obama last night. You would think these idiots would welcome a Barack Obama Presidency? I guess they probably do. McCain had the WORST week ever. I've never seen such a sad sack whining about every little step Obama made. To me Obama seems cool, collected, and by opposing the territoiral pissings in Iraq in 2002 has the judgement to be President and Commender in Chief. As for McCain, maybe someone needs to change his diaper, but he is about to stroke out. I don't care that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein more then I care that McCain's is Sidney. LOL! John Sidney McCain. Barack Obama is a cool cat, cool cool cool.
George Bush supposedly speaks English, but I can't understand a word he says other than NUCULAR. Should I learned his language, or should he learn mine?
I wonder if, in the aftermath of the current occupation, every Iraqi will be required to learn English from grade school onward.
poerba @ 9:
i wouldn't doubt it.....it will easier to train them for their
jobs at wall-mart and 7-eleven
Kathryn Jean Lopez isn't stupid. People may disagree with her, fair enough. But she's not stupid.
There are a lot of smart people that post at NRO, and I won't make comparisons because their site and this one are completely different, but I don't think I've ever read there where they've called anyone here stupid. I can only recall a couple instances where they've even mentioned C&L.
The Dude's right...as I've said, somewhat in jest, I'm not interested in insisting that all these 'immigrants' learn to speak English - so long as they're not taking my fast-food orders - for the reason that 'if I can't understand what names they're calling me, I don't want them to know what I'm calling them.'
Some years ago when I was traveling to South America for my company...and unable to understand much beyond some basics of what others were saying (they, of course understood me), I was consistently struck with the reality of the situation. Namely that they could be talking about where they were going to dump the body, or how much were they going to demand for my return (along with how much my company would agree to pay), and I wouldn't have the slightest idea. Of course the people I was dealing with weren't into that stuff, as far as I knew, but it was disconcerting.
Trust me, learn the language, any language, along with the one you grow up with.
Post American @ 7:
Obama/Kerry '08 and let's get it over with.
constituent @ 5:
That was one of the main criticism in the European media of the speech, it is always funny to read the same news of the speech as reported in Europe, night and day... The speech, albeit given in a powerful managed to not impress overseas.
The sad part is the diminished level of expectations in this country, which means that proper grammar and good delivery are now superhuman achievements.
dennis @ 11:
Indeed, we should believe you and not our lying eyes. That piece then as I read it is a monument to ignorant and incoherent thought. But thank goodness you know better.
the hypocrisy and ignorance hurts alot.
The Dude @ 15:
I know better than you do because I read their site. Unlike you. I don't think it would be hard for them if they chose to, to pick something off this site and have a field day with it. I'm saying they don't do that.
Beelzebud @ 6:
Exactly! I wonder if you could find 200,000 Americans in one town here in the US who could understand a speech in German. Yeah, I don't think so either.
The National Review Online doesn't just employ Kathryn Jean Lopez, but David Frum, Mark Levin, and Jonah Goldberg, as well. It's like a Bizarro World version of the Manhattan Project. Or maybe it's like some kid peed in the human gene pool.
dennis @ 17:
Funny how you are unable to read my comment properly (I already stated I read that piece) and yet want to establish some sort of authoritative view in matters of reading and comprehension.
Tah, tah... now.
The right doesn't want Americans speaking other languages so they can claim there was an error in translation when foreign governments say they want us out.
Reminds me of the Right Winger who said the fliers advertising the Berlin rally being printed in German (you know, the language in Berlin, Germany) were proof that Obama was a Nazi. The site's readers agreed.
Americans are ignorant as to even the varieties American English can and does take, so how do ya'll expect Americans to bother to learn languages like Putongha or Deutsche or Nipponese or Espanol?
As a foreign language teacher I constantly hear similar comments from my students. They, along with so many Americans, have the belief that the world revolves around us. The idea that we should learn another language seems to offend their sense of entitlement. As one who has studied 3 other languages, I can tell you that, in addition to learning the languages, I had my eyes opened up to other cultures and other points of view. I also learned more about my own language and culture by being able to make comparisons with others. Learning ANYTHING is good. Why someone would think learning another language could possibly be a bad thing is beyond my ability to comprehend.
dennis @ 17:
This may be true, sir. I do not read their website. Nor do I have to subscribe to a person's entire life to have the ethical responsibility of calling out ignorance. You may think I was being brash, and I'll concede I am brash. That does not change the level of entitlement that people who purport this exhibit, nor dos it negate their willful ignorance.
People around the world learn English not because they share a border with us and therefore must communicate with us semi-regularly in their own lands, but because our leadership of commerce and pioneering of industry makes us very lucrative business partners. Also, we hold more destructive capability (in weapons terms) than a few of the other superpowers COMBINED; therefore, willful ignorance of what we say, especially when angered, is not a wise option.
Were these people born in any other country than the US, they would understand the intellectual NEED to understand others so as to get along well in the world. However, these people were born in an ignorant paradigm of self-serving individualism, wherein it is taken for granted that all the pleasures of life come to THEM, so long as they show up to their jobs every day (or if they have a family in business or politics that gives them aristocratic entitlement).
It saddens me that these people claim to be active participants in the leadership of the world through the greatest country in the world, yet they have no desire to even learn the languages of those that share their borders, let alone those people around the world who support the economy that gives them such entitlement as they feel is their birthright. I'll leave the crashing of the economy to school them on the latter, and leave it to my original thoughts as to why they should learn a second language.
I'll learn another language when the border-jumping illegals that live in my neighborhood learn English. If you want to go live in another country, you should do it through the official channels. Learn the language, apply for citizenship, become a citizen, get a job, a place to live, and integrate yourself in the culture. It should be the same thing here in this country. Go through the official channels, learn English, get a job legitimately with a social security number and pay taxes like the rest of us.
The idea that I need to learn another language so I can have the appearance of being "worldly" is left-wing arrogance, and this is coming from a Democrat who spent a year in Europe for school.
That's WAY beyond stupid! Does she even have the slighest clue what she said? Does she even realize that if Chancellor Merkel came to Washington DC and gave a speech in German that she and the other half-wits at NRO wouldn't have a clue what she was saying? The ignorance of the radical right never ceases to amaze me.
To me it's like this:
Imagine you try to sell your product in another country and you can speak that language and thus are able to get 200 000 costumers.
Now imagine you couldn't speak that language. How are you going to compete in the global economy?
Oh, I forgot that for conservatives the only foreign languages you will have to deal with are the languages of your gardeners. And who believes the liberal myth that in the future Mandarin will be an essential language.... well.... maybe those America-hating rich Americans who teach their toddlers Mandarin.... stupid elitists....
gremlin @ 24:
Many people don't want their rosy-colored world to be disturbed. Learning another language goes against that rosy-colored view, as it means that their particular world is not all there is, and is quite provincial. If they don't like that, then they just do what people throughout the entire world globally have done, they stick their head in the sand and pretend it all goes away. Many Americans fail to realize that technically, the US is a collection of regional cultures and dialects united by the Constitution, and not a single entity, so why should they bother about the rest of the world?
Agent13 @ 26:
You use others' wrongdoing as justification for your own lazinesss in learning another language... and yet you claim others are they who are arrogant? You can project your own loathing onto others all you want, it still does not change the subject matter: you, and whether or not you will commit to meeting the world on terms other than your own selfish interest.
Commentator @ 22:
When my great-grandfather was asked to fight in the Nazi army, he shot himself in the arm for what he was sent to a concentration camp where he died. Since apparently I have anti-fascism in my blood (and maybe that's why I hate the Bush administration so much) YET I plan to vote for Obama anyway, I'd love to speak to the site's editor and the readers and tell them they're veeery mistaken whoever these sick fuc*tards are.
Remember when one President of the US said the famous words 'ich bin ein Berliner'?
Regardless of the honest intent behind the Berlin airlift, those words were burned into the hearts and minds of Germans because they simply said 'I care about you'.
It is a sign of good will and respect to at least greet foreign guests or being a foreign guest greeting the locals in their own tongue.
Heck most countries do not even care if you speak their language as long as you try to be friendly and nice.
And unlike Bush or any of the other retards, Obama does not start off by insulting everyone.
Agent13 @ 26:
Name one nation in the world that has a culture with one language. No, I'm serious on this. Name one.
Japan fails because they are now encouraging Ainu to speak Ainu.
Why should we even learn a first language? You can be president, like Bush, and not know how to speak English. Bush can make a noise like "nucular" for eight years and no one will bother to tell him it's not even a word.
frank @ 32:
You've got your chronology mistaken, JFK was only a freshman Congressman in the Airlift era. Ich bin ein Berliner was said after Kruschev constructed the Berlin Wall, and was to cheer up Berliners who saw their city divided. The Wall was built in the 60s, the Berlin Airlift was in 1948. Your point still stands, but the chronology's wrong.
dennis @ 11:
Dennis, I must disagree, not only is Kathryn Jean Lopez stupid, you, my dear troll, are FUCKING STUPID beside being ignorant and assinine.
But that's only my humble opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7fomRHIaF8
dennis @ 11:
Her policies are definitely stupid for the 21st Century. Whether or not she's personally stupid is unknowable. Cultural stagnation in a period of rapid change like this works bad no matter how powerful the society.
What is a k-lo? Sounds like a discount-dollar store.
bart @ 37:
bart i got more out of that than anything he ever said verbally.......not once did i find interesting to listen to bush not once.....sure i am bias but i figured he is the president of the u.s.....bush is a gut person not a communicator...that's not the communicator i want in office.....in addition to that he's a dick everytime he speaks....he's not positive or optimistic as he claims.
he's a born again alcoholic hypocrite
Der stumme gerade Unterhalt, der stummer erhält.
Hmm, let's see, perhaps because it shows that people in the rest of the world speak other languages and can understand foreign leaders? Unless of course you subscribe to the brilliant logic that everyone should learn English and then we can be lazy and just speak one language.
I have to wonder how people like this have managed to live so long without walking in front of a moving vehichle.
Geno @ 41:
Is that terror talk?
Soon Germans and other Europeans will be wearing T shirts that say "Save the Americans, Send money to the Obama campaign"
On the other hand they might want T-shirts that say "Send McSame $$ and let him Sink the Ship"
If only we could talk Karl Rove in to supporting Obama he might have time to arrange for Germans to vote in our fall election.
Agent13 @ 26:
Hum, I wonder do you live in the California by any chance?
It would help if K-Lo actually learned English. Have you seen some of her writing before? It's horrendous! And get this: she's considered an "editor" at NRO.
Mister Anderson @ 43:
LOL, I think so!
(I was never good at German.. is that the equivalent of 'ask a dumb question, get a dumb answer'?)
language is the window through a culture. american has turned inward and as such has become small-minded, lacking a wholistic view of the world, which in turn has caused it make wrong judgements. as the world learns english, it learns the culture it is steeped in. the world knows more about america and can gauge it better as an ally or as an enemy, while america remains ignorant of the rest of the world.
Because he is a pinko-commie-kenyan-darkface-islamofacist-nutjob with just a sprinkle of jihadist on top.
It's funny, republicans write shit like this and then are aghast at why in hell people don't hold this country in high regard.
For some twisted reason I'm reminded of an episode of The Waltons right now. To get back at Hitler, the good people of the town organized their own book-burning to torch a bunch of them-thar "furrin books." Much to their chagrin, embarrassment and shame, one of the books they threw in the fire was the Bible in German.
Learn a new language and you gain insight into another culture.
Gain insight into another culture and you're better able to see your own.
Be able to see your own culture and you can see its imperfections.
See its imperfections and you can repair or change them.
Selah.
K-Lo, now playing five nights a week as Miss Frigid in "Someday, Mama, I'll Be A True Neo-Con," at the Trump Taj in Atlantic City.
Geno @ 41:
Es ist Treu, mein Herr. Es ist Treu.
dennis @ 11:
1. If you are attacked by Arab religious extremists the logical response is to:
A. Use all your resources to overthrow a secular Arab dictator who is the enemy of the people who
actually attacked you.
B. Hunt down and kill every last one of the SOBs that attacked you. If you have to ally yourselves with
evil dictators to do so, then you do. After all, they can't be worse than Stalin (our WW2 ally).
2. Almost all the worlds scientists agree on the theory of Climate Change. A tiny minority are paid by the
coal and oil companies to dispute the theory. The logical response is:
A. Acknowledge the theory clearly has nothing to do with politics and is the result of years of scientific
research at the highest level.
B. The theory is foolishness. All the world's scientists have united in what is obviously a liberal plot to
discredit capitalism.
3. An evil madman has attacked your country and killed 3000 of your people in cold blood. You know what
country he is hiding in. Your response is:
A. Give the country an ultimatum: hand over the madman or we will go in and get him..
B. Spend 6 years claiming ignorance of the madman's whereabouts, while describing the country
harboring him as 'our #1 ally in the War on Terror.'
4. Supply side Economic Theory under Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush have resulted in historically
average or slightly above average economic growth that has primarily benefited the economic elite. A
side effect of the theory has been the accumulation of trillions of dollars in national debt that will be a
great burden on future generations. Given that the past generations achieved, through traditional
economic theory, economic growth as strong or stronger, that benefited all society with comparatively
insignificant debt: Supply Side Economics can only be described as:
A. A complete failure.
B. A total success.
5. President BC cheats on his wife repeatedly. He engages in an affair with a White House intern. He lies
about the affair in a civil law suit bankrolled by his political enemies. He uses his friendships to help his
former WH mistress secure an entry-level corporate job which she, as a college grad and ex-WH
employee, is clearly qualified for. President GB is a complete incompetent. Though repeatedly warned
of the likelihood of a terrorist attack by the prior administration, he fails to take their warnings seriously.
As a result 3000 Americans die. He selects as his National Security Adviser a woman who has no special
knowledge of terrorism, instead she is an expert on the Soviet Union - a country that no longer exists.
He puts an attorney for an organization of Arabian horse show judges in charge of FEMA... you can see
where this is going to go. He misleads the country into an idiotic, pointless, ridiculously expensive war
that causes the deaths of 4000+ Americans and serious injuries to tens of thousands more. He seriously
damages America's decades old traditional alliances. He commits war crimes. He violates international
law. He asserts a constitutional privilege that he and the members of his administration are above the
rule of law. He spies on American citizens illegally.
One of these two men is clearly guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and must be impeached and
removed from office in order to protect the country. It is clearly:
A. President BC.
B. President GB.
Kathryn Jean Lopez IS stupid. I'd like to be nice, but I have to be honest: ALL modern conservatives are basically stupid
That whole thing is amazing. The statements she makes make no sense. They're not nonsense, they're anti-sense.
Her writing is essentially as if the thoughts she has collide with intelligent thought, causing a chain reaction that destroys all sensible idea, then compresses all of the resulting idiocy into a small pill of stupidity of near-infinite gravity, until it all finally explodes in a bright and powerful Supernova of Dumb.
General_Rennenkampf @ 33:
Iceland.
"No monoglot truly knows his own language." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
constituent @ 5:
Well, just maybe, Obama's speech was directed or intended for the American audience,
but having traveled throughout much of Europe, I have found that "over there" it is quite
common for all the natives in whatever country to speak not only their native language,
but English and usually one or more other foreign languages, so tho given in English, I
would venture a guess that 90 percent in attendance understood. "Their" foreign language education, in other than native tongue, commences in elementary schools
and consequently ENGLISH is, at least by the younger generation, spoken and understood. A practice/policy that is missing here in the States. Sad and bad; but
that is the reality of our teaching/educational systems here in the States.
joeedugan @ 55:
Or maybe North Korea.
Let them keep thinking that drivel, when Mandarin and Cantonese become the languages to know to do business in the world because China will be largest economy in the world very soon (for all intents and purposes it already is) they will be left out in the cold.
FLMAO! I will love to their first conversations. Why don't you say God bless you when you sneeze?
Knee ho po ho tsa ma?
ROFLMAO!
Hilarious, everybody I met in Germany at the extreme least could speak pigeon English and most were quite proficient. What a stupid statement!
I have always soared in Language Arts along side my affinity for learning about different cultures and lands. I was raised to appreciate the entire world. I taught myself the French Language. I absolutely adore it. The language is so beautifully lyrical. :)
....I have been reading this site for quite sometime. Today, I thought I would join the fun. I am from Indiana...hoping to turn it blue for Barack come November! I used to be a Fox News watching-Free Republic member-Sean Hannity-Bill O'Reilly loving Republican. I am ashamed to say that I voted for Bush twice. He did an absolute great job of instilling fear in the country to vote for him in 2004. I fell for it and I am sorry that my vote help keep him in office.
As time went on and I watched and read other media outlets and seeing the huge blunder the Iraq war was/is, I converted to Liberalism. This election year has shown me the error of my ways and that fear gets no one anywhere. I have never been a fearful person but Bush insisted to the American people that it's either them or us and we have to fight them(terrorists) on their turf rather than ours.
That propaganda worked for awhile but then I started educating myself about the REAL facts and became increasingly angry that this asshole of a so-called President lied to us and sent our men and women over to Iraq to die for no reason. Sure, Saddam was a tyrant, but it is not our responsibility to overthrow dictators and to force democracy on anyone. Yes, in theory democracy for all is great, but it can never be forced.
I still shake my head and wonder why the hell I fell for the bullshit, but I remind myself that while I did vote for him, there are over 4,000+ Gold Star parents who have lost their sons and daughters for nothing and millions of Iraqis who have been killed, mamed, uprooted from their homes and their lives forever interuppted because of this illegal war, not to mention this disgrace of an economy.
It boils my blood to know how the Republicans AND the media are trying to discredit Barack. They are completely disgusting and I symbolically spit on them! Knowledge is most definitely power and now that I'm armed with it I am dangerous. The American people must reject and denounce(hehe, somedays, I miss Hillary...lol) the fear that the Republicans are trying to instill. We are not the only country facing terrorism.
As Americans, we do not know what it's like to have bombs dropping on our heads at night while we sleep. However, the majority of the middle east does and we have always been the ones dropping the bombs. That makes me sad and angry. We have done a lot of wrong to a lot of people around the world and I can understand why others attack the US. Our chickens have definitely come home to roost. I am not saying that 9/11 was the fault of the citizens of this country, but of the government who has continued to plant its arrogance in the middle east and then seem completely taken aback by the audacity of an attack on the country.
My friends think that I am some far-left loon now, but I tell them that I am enlightened with the truth and that no more will I be made afraid of imaginary WMD!!
Mister Anderson asks: Is that terror talk?
Only if you're one of the "dummies."
How many of you can speak two languages? Lies don't count.
Agent13 @ 26: "I’ll learn another language when the border-jumping illegals that live in my neighborhood learn English. If you want to go live in another country, you should do it through the official channels. Learn the language, apply for citizenship, become a citizen, get a job, a place to live, and integrate yourself in the culture. It should be the same thing here in this country. Go through the official channels, learn English, get a job legitimately with a social security number and pay taxes like the rest of us. The idea that I need to learn another language so I can have the appearance of being “worldly” is left-wing arrogance, and this is coming from a Democrat who spent a year in Europe for school."
Actually the ability to learn other languages is the basis for the world's past, community, growth and future.
You sound like someone who had problems graduating from high school...or did you even attend?
joeedugan @ 58:
OK, I'll give you those, but who would seriously want to live in NK?
man, they really have to go out of their way to get obama...dont they?
i have a much better idea
forget learning new languages or competing in the global market
lets just all dig holes, stick our heads in deep and kiss our asses goodbye
Agent13 @ 26:
as most retarded in this country, you missed the point
the point was not to be able to speak to your neighbors, but to converse with those in other countries
you know...globalization
thats a big word....look it up
Shorter K-Lo:
"If Europeans are willing to be smarter, why can't Americans just stay dumb?"
Also, I don't think Agent13 (comment 26) is from California. Most Californians I know (and I was born there, and I live there) don't have that attitude and actually do bother to learn some Spanish. My family is about as honky as you can get, and we all speak Spanish to various degrees. It was actually my grandmother's first language. She lived her whole life on border towns (on the US side) in both Texas and California. I find that most of the people who hate illegals so much are either not natives of the state, people in Georgia or other places dealing with hispanics moving in for the first time, or people who have never even seen a Mexican, but have a Limbaugh/Dobbs fueled hatred for them and pretend that their life is miserable now because sometimes when they call a company it says, "for Spanish, press 2" despite the fact that they live in some 99.9% white town in Nebraska, but once on "the internets" will pretend to be living on some bordertown to give themselves credibility. There have been Mexicans speaking Spanish on the bordertowns of the southwest since back when, you know, those towns were still a part of Mexico. No American living there expresses any shock of Spanish being spoken.
Go to the borders of Spain, France, Italy, Germany, etc. and guess what? At the border towns, people don't always speak the language of their home country! The fact that so many Americans find this such a complete injustice just proves what a sheltered life they live, so completely removed from the rest of the world. They have no concept of whats normal when two different social groups occupy areas right next to each other. There is bound to be some overlap.
Immigrants play a huge role in the economy and as a place that was once part of Mexico, it is understood by reasonable folk that Spanish might be encountered. True Californians understand this and are proud of their unique history. Its as integral to California as Silicon Valley, Farming, Hollywood, and the Gold Rush.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 66:
I hear you loud and clear. But, tho I can speak two languages(English and German)
and can probably manage to communicate understandibly in Spanish, it is the Far
Eastern languages that are for me, and I assume most, the most difficult. Yet, with
China/Japan being BIG players in the World as competitors, those are the languages
that probably,for future generations, are going to be most needed, however, to my
knowledge, very few classes in either of those languages is being taught in either High
School or college. I may be wrong, but that is my initial observation.
General_Rennenkampf @ 65:
Kim Jong-il likes the system there just fine, thank you.
Von@61: Good for you, Von. Fight the Power!
doggiebobo @ 69:
its up to parents
very young children absorb quickly and can learn and master mulitiple languages
my nieces and nephews speak 3...english, hebrew and spanish...
the asian languages are hard...but there are vids on youtube that show 3 and 4 year old american kids speaking fluently
so forget the school system...its up to us
i'm curious if there were any german translators at the speech
Two years of Latin in High School taught me so much about my own language. Do they still teach Latin in High School? I don't think so.
Conservatives are like stunted children with a grudge against the world. That's no way to live. In fact, there was a maxim that was taught to kids way, way back... "Never let a day go by without learning something new."
What do you call someone who can speak 3 languages? Trilingual.
What do you call someone who can speak 2 languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks only one language? American.
joeedugan @ 70:
Sure...he does. The question is whether his people do.
Nada @ 39:
It's like a J-lo but pear shaped , lives in a box and eats elmer's paste.
StirFry @ 77:
Ahahahahahahaha!!! XD
gremlin @ 24:
I remember when Barack first made the comment, about two or three weeks ago, Lou Dobbs just about blew a gasket. I know he hates Obama; it's easy to tell from his reporting, but talk about a non-issue to carp on.
dennis @ 11:
Stupid is as stoopid does!
General_Rennenkampf @ 76:
Honestly, I've always thought even Kim would leave if he could. Offer him asylum in the West, let him keep all the money he's stolen, give amnesty to his henchmen and he'd be gone in a shot. He's 67 and I'm sure he'd rather spend his golden years in a warm climate, surrounded by hookers, booze and porn (supposedly his main interests in life), rather than in gloomy NK. Not quite justice, but it'd be a better situation for the people there.
joeedugan @ 81:
I'm scared that if the Pyongyang regime implodes, we'll see the Democratic People's Republic of Jesusland due to what those South Korean Christians'll do in the North....
She's right. Raising your kids to be ignorant, unsophisticated, narrow-minded, insular, and parochial is the job of all good parents.
Another illustration of why Obama consistently loses the moron vote.
joeedugan @ 81:
Nope, he's a pedo. His luxury train is full of very young girls. Saw it on BBC.
barkleyg @ 3:
I especially thought it was funny when K-Lo claimed that the native language of the bible was English. As far as I know, Jesus didn't speak a lick of English... because the language DIDN'T EXIST BACK THEN.
Ironically, at the time, the closest you probably could have come to English was... get this... German. You know, the language they speak in Berlin.
Funny, when you think about it. Oh. That's right. Right wingers don't think. They just do what they are told by the people who own them.
It's Amazing how stupid those idiotic xenophobes can be.
poerba @ 85:
I'm shocked. Other than running an evil police state, letting millions of his own people starve, sending untold numbers into gulags and the unhealthy fascination with nukes he seemed like an OK guy.
Wise_Fool @ 30:
What kind of blather is that?
Explain to me again why I should be forced to learn another language? It wasn't my idea to make English the 'lingua franca' in the world of trade, why should I suffer from any kind of liberal-induced guilt trip that just because I don't know another language I'm not as good as Europeans who are forced to learn English?
You seem to think you understand the world better than you really do, and I certainly hope you don't go over to Europe anytime soon with that attitude.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 67:
Oooh, the big liberal just brought the hammer DOWN! Wow, I'm hurtin'.
English is the language spoken in America. I'm an American, therefore I speak English. Were I to move to Germany, France, Italy or anywhere where English isn't the language of the country... I would learn the language before I went so I could live and communicate. However, where I am right now, I need to know English.
If you seriously think that you should learn another language just to make sure you're part of some fictional global community, then you're delusional and have too much time on your hands. Some of us are more concerned with vastly more important things.
OK, sue me, but I took exception at Obama's comment. And you need to know his full comment, not just the "Americans need to learn another language" ending. Let me also say that Obama has my vote, but he really pissed me off here. What he said was, in response to immigrants language skills "don't worry about them learning English, they'll learn English. What we need for Americans to do is learn another language". Well, I live in South Florida, and I can assure you that there are a lot of immigrants, legal or not, who can live their whole lives in their communities and NEVER have to speak English. I've talked to young people who live in Miami who cannot get a job if they DON'T speak Spanish. That just doesn't seem right in America. When native born Americans are made to feel like aliens in their own country, I have a problem with it. For the most part, the U.S. has welcomed these people with open arms and opportunity, and learning English seems a small price to pay. Yet I'm sure I'll be called a racist for even suggesting it. If America is truly a "melting pot" than the English language is the heat that does the melting. If you refuse to learn, we'll continue to be stratified, not melted.
I live in a town called Lake Worth, which has a strong link to Finland. We have Finnish immigrants come over and learn to speak English fluently in a few months. If you've ever seen the Finnish language, it is so different than English, it amazes me that these people learn so quickly. Spanish, on the other hand, a Romatic language, should in theory be a much easier "learn", but it just doesn't happen
I like Obama, but he needs to open his eyes as to what is happening in America.
Why do American right-wingers continue to insist that we should be the stupidest people on the planet?
Mike Smollon,
I too live in Miami, FL, and the situation in S. Fl. is vastly different than in Lakeland. First, if you had as large a Finnish population in Miami, you would probably have as many Finnish immigrants who didn't learn English. Communication is a basic survival skill,and people will communicate in whatever way is easiest, and necessary to survive. Having taught ESOL to adults, many want to learn english, but it is a difficult language, very irregular so many continue to speak spanish. Since many hispanics have difficulty finding people to speak English to them, learning the language in Miami is more difficult, I suspect, than learning Finnish in Lakeland.
Miami has become a multi cultural city and is destined to become more so. Rather than railing against non-English speakers, why not learn to enjoy the diversity? After all, one does not choose where one is born, or one's native language. So one is not more right than another, one ethnicity is not superior to another, and the US is, after all, a nation of immigrants (or used to be thought of as such). Every generation of immigrants has been railed against as refusing to learn the language, but the second and third generations always assimilate (as a teacher, I can tell you sometimes too much so, and it is not always a good thing) and learn the language.
Those who can't or won't learn multiple languages themselves suffer the consequences, and many regret their inability or unwillingness (whichever it is) to do so. In addition, the fact is that hispanics are a majority in Miami, and largely so because whites have moved out. So the fact that spanish is the majority language in Miami is as much the fault of non-hispanic whites as of hispanics. Majority rules.
joeedugan @ 19:
And they are all totally freaked over Obama. I count 17 references to Obama and none on Gramps McCain. On the NRO site they even have a whole "Obama and more" Section. It appears they can only take shots at Obama and can't find a way to promote or defend McSame.
joeedugan @ 55:
When I was taking German in high school, I had a friend/classmate who was from Iceland, and had lived in Denmark for a time. She came to the USA able to speak Icelandic, Danish, *and* English in that order (pathetic that she speaks English as a third language so much better than Bush does as an excuse for a first language). And then she took German when she arrived here. Her father, who still lived in Denmark, continued to send her Danish books through the post the entire time that I knew her, and it's entirely plausable she picked up some Tagalog from her step-father. I don't know if she's an exception to the rule, but I do know I was green with envy.
Self-centered right wing morons. How's that for being redundant.
Europeans are smart enough to understand that the economy works for the people, not vice versa as American conservatives would have us think.
Most Europeans speak several languages.
Most Europeans enjoy universal health care not governed by the greed factor.
Europe has a top-notch affordable public transportation system. There answer to moving people from City A to City B is not building more lanes on a highway, but improving rail and bus.
Are Europeans smarter than Americans? Possible, but more likely it's our cherished concept of "personal responsibility." That's an outgrowth of our history when people on the frontier actually had to be like John Wayne holding off the James/Younger gang with one single action Colt that never ran out of bullets. Sadly we've never grown nationally past 1914 thinking.
pissed off patricia @ 18:
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English is the international language. German is not. Thus one would not expect 200,000 people in an American town to speak German, unless it was full of German inmigrants. How many of you commenting here can speak Korean? Chinese? Cambodian? Russian? Spanish? Persian? Arabic?
Ron.j @ 96:
Aye kin speek Anglish purty danm goot.
Europeans are smart enough to understand that the economy works for the people, not vice versa as American conservatives would have us think.
Most Europeans speak several languages.
Most Europeans enjoy universal health care not governed by the greed factor.
Europe has a top-notch affordable public transportation system. There answer to moving people from City A to City B is not building more lanes on a highway, but improving rail and bus.
----------------------
This story is from the UK but the same situation applies here: Taxpayers can bear no more, admits Alistair Darling.
Taxpayers are at the limit of what they are willing to pay to fund public services, the Chancellor has said in an interview with The Times. In his gloomiest assessment yet of the state of the British economy, Alistair Darling gave warning that the downturn was far more profound than he had thought and could last for years rather than months.
He revealed that he told Cabinet ministers this week that there would be no more money for schools, hospitals, defence, transport or policing.
He confirmed that the Treasury was considering revising its fiscal rules to allow more borrowing to deal with the economic problems. He said that he did not believe that voters, already struggling with higher food and fuel bills, would be willing to pay more tax. “People will pay their fair share but you can’t push that,” he said.
================
No, the economy does not work for the people. People working create an economy.
In the coming economic depression, people who are highly taxed will not be able to afford even higher taxes.
All that was imagined to be affordable, will no longer be.
{FIFY, SiteMonitor}
I wish I could speak other languages. That would be sooooo cooool! My father spoke six languages fluently. Could read and write them also!
He also managed to do this while compiling a WWII active duty record, that put him in the first 1500 soldiers to be sent home.
So I fail to see any connection between comprehensive communication skills, and American patriotism.
Next GOP talking point please!
Ron.j @ 98:
The richest 2%, who pay almost NO taxes on their wealth and gorge themselves at the taxpayer trough create little or no employment. You free market zealots really need to put down the Ayn Rand fantasy land bullshit you read, and visit reality.
The reason people can't afford anything now (including taxes), is because of stagnat wages over the last 30 years! Unfortunately, the people created this stagnat wage credit card debt country they now have, by voting for those measley $200 GOP tax cuts over the last 30 years. Now they are suffering the consequences of the catch 22 the GOP new they would put them in. They almost need another across the board (GOP tax cut crumbs) in oreder to survive their pathetic wages and job prospects.
The problem in America today, is we are in another republican free market Guilded Age! Why is it that historical facts never seem to penetrate that free market fairyland you live in. When 8% of the people have more mone than 50% of the people, you cannot have any type of sustainable economic growth.
Our economy has been destroyed becuase we have totally de-invested in education and all the other things you mentioned above, and transferred all that wealth to a tiny segment of the population that was already mega-rich to begin with! Leave it to a conservative to get their cause and effect paradigm 100% wrong.
The mega-rich can (should and will) have no trouble paying taxes in the 2nd republican great depression we are presently enjoying. After we begin to put that money back into the middle(working) class again, our country will rebound, and guys like you will still be clueless as to what actually worked.
If these corporations can afford to fund the Heritage Foundation liars, the Rush, Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity propagandists with billions of dollars a year, then they can most definitely pay MORE taxes!!!! GET A CLUE!!! The people that still have money in America (super-rich like Bush/Cheney) can afford to pay at least a 90% higher tax rate!!!
Geno @ 41:
Der stumme gerade Unterhalt, der stummer erhält.
Say what?
General_Rennenkampf @ 52:
Es ist Treu, mein Herr. Es ist Treu
treu = faithful / loyal.
wahr = true / actual
So it should be:
Das is wahr mein Herr. Das ist wahr.
mister mix @ 73:
German translators at the speech:
Probably, while most Germans speak English, it is often poorly and the older ones hardly speak it.
Annaleigh @ 94:
From what I know Danish and German are not that far apart. Same for Swedish.
As for the 'knowing many languages' it is not that uncommon. Friends of mine, she from Sweden and he is from Camerun speak a lot of languages. I think 4 and 5 respectively.
Language wise I can only say I was lucky to grow up bilingual and those two are enough for me.
I tried some Japanese and French and really did not catch them.
But I can get by in Europe with the basics of words with Latin origin, a nice smile and lots of gesturing.
Europeans are not smarter then Americans. Forget it.
While Europeans probably have a better basic education, you need more then that.
Europe, just like the US, has it's share of high-school drop-outs and village idiots.
Contrary to the US there are some differences.
In Europe being cool is not what is most important in school nor is playing in the [sports]team.
Actually besides mandatory physical education in schools there is little else that is offered. Most sports are offered by 'private' clubs.
From my view Europe does also not have some kind of inferiority complex that seems to make people in the US behave like idiots.
Sure, Europeans have the 'fast car = cool guy' thing but not the overdoing with the acting.
And not just with teens or young adults, even kids act like they have gone crazy.
There is more but it would bust this topic.
In summary for a European an American is a cool guy and often goes overboard and not really the one you would trust with your girl or your car.
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