Geez, what a waste of a post, Shovelbum.
[quote][i]Originally posted by shovelbum[/i]
<br>Marv, I'm glad you found that piece! I just forwarded it to my linguistics prof. It really proves why people named Newt should allow more intelligent people represent themselves to the Republican cause.[/quote]
Bah. That's lame and you know it. Since when do you have to be an expert in a field to make it a political talking point? And I wouldn't underestimate his intelligence - I'm sure he spent thousands on his college degree.
[quote]He makes a comment about people "randomly showing up to vote" as if it's some casual affair that a person might accidently wander into.....[/quote]
Couldn't you give a little leeway in terms of "figures of speech"? If you consider the voter turnout of the last election year for example, you can see why most people would "get it":
http://elections.gmu.edu/Voter_Turnout_2006.htm
[quote]When he states that citizenship requires pasing a test, he neglects to mention that many of us are natural born citizens. How does his philosophy cover people who are born here and taught to speak a different language? How does he propose we reach out to those children and TEACH them standard English?[/quote]
Maybe because he, like most, don't expect to cater to a demographic that already gets more than it's share of handouts? Maybe because there is a reasonable expectation that people BORN in a country will SPEAK THE LANGUAGE of the country? People have to want to help themselves. Spending more money to spoonfeed those who have no interest in bettering themselves is a sham and you know it. I don't think the Gullah people fit into the same category as people from other countries.
[quote]"Bilingual programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic skills in their native language SO THEY DO NOT FALL BEHIND WHILE MASTERING ENGLISH."[/quote]
Bi-lingual. Two languages. English and a foreign one. I don't think the programs were designed for multiple dialects of English here in the U.S.
edit: I dunno about all this.....it seems that the Gullah are doing their best to fight off integration. And they wonder why they can't speak Engish? Honestly, it seems that many of them DO speak Engish and do go to mainland U.S.A. Leave 'em be I say, preserved heritage culture and all.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah
Heh, I give you credit though, for knowing a thing or two about music. From time to time, we get some clowns here who don't.
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