Faustam fortuna adiuvat
The official blog of Fausta's Blog Talk Radio show.
Just a quick reminder that you're visiting the back-up blog for http://faustasblog.com.
Labels: Fausta's blog
posted by Fausta @ 9:40 PM
0 comments
Welcome to this week's Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included in the Carnival, please email me your links: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.La irreflexiva proclamación de Ingrid Betancourt como candidata al Nobel de la Paz realizada por la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet evidencia tanto injustificada improvisación en las iniciativas internacionales de La Moneda como preocupante irrespeto por los mecanismos y procesos que requiere la diplomacia para sumar aliados y consolidar amistades en el mundo.COLOMBIA
Early this month, Valero Energy in Texas got the unwelcome news that Mexico would be cutting supplies to one of the company's Gulf Coast refineries by up to 15 percent. Mexico's state-owned oil enterprise is one of Valero's main sources of crude, but oil output from Mexican fields, including the giant Cantarell field, is drying up. Mexican sales of crude oil to the United States have plunged to their lowest level in more than a dozen years.Ted Kennedy's most recent award
To tap the potential of jatropha bio-fuel for expanding product portfolio, STC plans to acquire vast tracts of land in Surinam and Indonesia to grow the plant and market the oil to end users.URUGUAY
A third of Uruguay's agricultural property may now be owned by foreigners, according to Uruguay's Rural Association. They include farm companies PGG Wrightson Ltd. of New Zealand and Buenos Aires-based Adecoagro, which is backed by billionaire investor George Soros.VENEZUELA
International buyers, seeking to take advantage of rising global food prices, are attracted by the South American country's relatively cheap land, policies that encourage foreign investment, and no tariffs on farm exports, said Roberto Vazquez Platero, a former agriculture minister. As a result, farm prices have more than doubled in three years.
…
In Uruguay, Argentine farmers don't face the same taxes and price controls as they do at home. After four months of protests, Argentina's producers forced President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to cancel a March 11 increase in oilseed export taxes to more than 45 percent from 35 percent. The scrapped tax would have made it unprofitable for many farmers, already stretched by the 35 percent levy, to grow soybeans, said Eduardo Buzzi, head of the Argentine Agrarian Federation.
By contrast, Uruguay, whose population of 3.3 million is less than a tenth of Argentina's, charges farmers a flat 25 percent tax on their income.
'Investment Was Welcomed'
"What Uruguay did was simply not to interfere,'' Eduardo Blasina, an agriculture analyst, said in an interview in Montevideo. "Investment was welcomed.''
posted by Fausta @ 10:42 AM
0 comments
Today's WSJ has an article by Travis Pantin, Hugo Chávez's Jewish Problem, which highlights the ideological connection between Hugo Chavez and Norberto Ceresole.
As an alleged oppressor of the Palestinian Arabs, Israel has its own place of special infamy in Mr. Chávez's worldview. This latter theme has served him particularly well in his efforts to mobilize the sentiments of his rural constituents. Thus, during a 2005 speech marking Columbus's discovery of the Americas, Mr. Chávez likened the plight of Venezuela's Indians to that of Palestinians. Reminding his listeners of how their ancestors had been "murdered in their land" by "governments, economic sectors and great land estates," he thundered: "You were expelled from your homeland, like the heroic Palestinian people."This is an ominous sign, and yet one more symptom of the illness that is Chavez's regime.
All of these elements seem entirely derivative of Marxist-Leninist theorizing, with a strong admixture of postcolonialism à la Franz Fanon and Fidel Castro. But Mr. Chávez is not just another Latin American leftist on the Castro model. While the Cuban dictator may be his most important political influence, his greatest intellectual debt is to the Argentinian writer and thinker Norberto Ceresole: a man not of the left but of the populist right, a Holocaust denier and a sworn enemy of Israel and the Jews.
Born in 1943, Ceresole was one of the leading spokesmen for the radical populist government of the Argentine president Juan Perón. Later, in the guise of a political theorist, he argued that the only appropriate leaders for Latin American nations were caudillos: nationalist, militarist and charismatic strongmen capable of ushering in a "postdemocratic" age in which the region's people would become effortlessly at one with the generals who would direct every aspect of society. Led by a group of such caudillos, a confederation of Latin American fascist states would then be in a position to beat back American global hegemony.
Ceresole reportedly traveled with Mr. Chávez during his initial bid for power. After the latter's 1998 victory, he published a celebratory volume, "Caudillo, Army, People: The Venezuela of President Chávez." The second chapter is entitled "The Jewish Question and the State of Israel." In it, Ceresole espoused a "new revisionism" that defined the Holocaust as a "myth" and Israel as a global menace:
The existence of this political enterprise—Israel: a power concentrated in the monopoly of monotheism and implemented through an army, police forces, jails, tortures, assassinations, etc.—seeks to consolidate itself through a series of ideological manipulations in the bosom of the hegemonic power of the United States, which seeks to be accepted as the ruler of the world by any means, even generalized terror, and dissuasive and persuasive practices.
It was for this reason, according to Ceresole, that one of the greatest threats to the Chávez regime lay in Venezuela's "Jewish financial mafia." Indeed, the Venezuelan Jewish community as a whole was to be considered guilty of race-based hostility to Chávez's redemptive nationalist movement.
* * *
The ingeniousness of Ceserole's doctrine, as filtered through the sensibility of Hugo Chávez, resides in its blending of Marxist economics with two venerable anti-Semitic traditions. The first, still powerful in South America, derives from Catholic teachings about the historic Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus. The second, encapsulated most notoriously in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," has flourished in both rightist and leftist variations throughout modern European history, resurfacing in our own time in the fulminations of extreme anti-Zionists.
if Russian military forces ever visited Venezuelan territory, they would be greeted "by flying colors, drum beats and songs, as this means the arrival of our allies with whom we share the same view on the world."Worried that this might imply that Russia's welcome to build a military-technical base on its territory, the Venezuelan government was quick to correct that, saying that it only means that the Russian Navy would be welcome to dock at a Venezuelan port.
Labels: Argentina, Hugo Chavez, oil, OPEC, Russia, Venezuela
posted by Fausta @ 5:31 PM
0 comments
I made it home last night.
Fausta,It was a wonderful journey.
My husband Tim and I had the pleasure of dining with you on the zephyr this week and we wanted to tell all of the cynics out there that a trainride should be experienced by everyone at least once in your life. I don’t even consider myself an outdoor person, but when you see the sights on the train, the only word that can describe it is majestic. We live in the city and usually drive from california to denver but, on the train, you get to see the "Real America" that we tend to forget about. It's also a very nostalgic experience that my husband and i will have for the rest of our lives. Who's waxing nostalgic in an overcrowded airplane or when fueling at the pump. Who I ask you? WHO?
posted by Fausta @ 9:12 AM
0 comments
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wore a suit for the occasion, and, grinning at about 300 business leaders he usually calls "oligarchs,'' asked for help relieving a drought in investment.Chavez minister anti inflation plan: Haggle!
Labels: Argentina, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Latin America, Mexico, politics, Venezuela
posted by Fausta @ 9:41 PM
0 comments
I'm riding the Zephyr for the trip back from BlogHer08 and have been reading an article Maria sent by Ben Jervey of the NY Post, RUN OUT ON A RAIL
Ask around onboard almost any Amtrak train, and you’ll get a pretty short list of reasons why people ride the rails. In the café car, chugging along one of the country’s oldest routes, I counted four types of passengers. There are thrifty ones looking to save a few bucks on plane tickets. There are those who are scared of flying, a group that has no doubt grown in recent years. There are the zealots - without exception, older men - who describe themselves with charming lack of inhibition as "rail junkies," "railroad nuts," "train buffs," or, my personal favorite, "railfans." The rest - indeed the majority - say they"re here for "the experience." Good thing for Amtrak, that romantic notion of the rails is alive and well. Naturally, it’s something the beleaguered rail company promotes to death. The experience is an important sell; nobody ever mentions reliability or practicality.
Jervey is right about riding the Zephyr for the experience: the views have a spectacul beauty of almost mystical quality, and the Zephyr is the way to enjoy them, much more so than driving through the same part of the country. I have driven trough much of the area and one gets to enjoy the views much better in the train.
You might save money over plane fare if you ride in a seat, not in a sleeping compartment. For a two-and-a-half day trip you will need a bed to sleep, so there is no saving.
As for the three other kinds of passengers, the "experience" ones outnumber all the others. While most of them are Americans, you will also find a good number of Brits, several South Americans, and an Australian couple or two.
While Jervey makes a long list of Amtrak grievances, the main problem is that freight trains have priority over passenger trains. That is the main cause of delays in all the routes Amtrak serves, and, as I mentioned on this post, the logistics for passenger rail travel in America are much different than for rail travel in Europe .
That said, I recommend that everyone take the Zephyr from San Francisco to Denver. It is a journey of wonderous beauty.
posted by Fausta @ 6:47 PM
0 comments
Last night BlogHer08 rounded up with a huge party at Macy's, where we all had a great time. It was a great conference, and a lot of fun. There's a video interview of me at the shoe department (imagine that!) which will be up on YouTube (or maybe not). When it turns up I'll link to it.
posted by Fausta @ 12:33 PM
0 comments
I've been in San Francisco since Wednesday evening and the city is as beautiful and lively as I remember it.
posted by Fausta @ 7:24 AM
2 comments
11:45AM PDT
posted by Fausta @ 2:45 PM
0 comments
I'm on my way to San Francisco but there's always the Monday Carnival, so, welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your post included, please email me, faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.Labels: Carnival of Latin America, Venezuela
posted by Fausta @ 3:33 PM
0 comments
The distances in the US are vastly larger than Europe's. In Europe you ride a train for 9 hours and have traveled through three countries. In the US, you're barely making it across Pennsylvania and Oregon.Whoever tells you that long-distance rail travel will be practical for travel across the USA better come up with a solution to all these issues at the same time. Until they do, air and car travel are they way to go.
The passenger trains share the tracks with the freight trains. In Europe, fast-speed passenger trains have exclusive use of their tracks. Fast-speed train tracks have to be meticulously inspected before and after each train, and must be impeccably maintained.
The US is much more sparsely populated than Europe. Higher population density brings about the higher volume necessary to sustain a train line.
posted by Fausta @ 11:47 AM
2 comments
posted by Fausta @ 12:59 PM
4 comments
As previously announced, Dr Andrew Bostom is appearing on Book TV right now and Monday, July 14, at 1:00 AM Eastern to talk about his new book, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History.
Labels: Andrew Bostom, books, Islamic Jihad
posted by Fausta @ 7:22 AM
0 comments
Brave little Nojoud Muhammed Nasser talked to CNN about her divorce.And the husband was not prosecuted for this? Under Islamic Sharia law she had to pay him $200 to compensate him for the loss of his bride.You can watch the interview here.
posted by Fausta @ 6:51 PM
0 comments
It's a nice summer day and I've been listening to Bryn CDs while doing various chores indoors and out, so here's a nice YouTube with Bryn Terfel and Tom Jones singing together.
Labels: Bryn Terfel, music, YouTube
posted by Fausta @ 5:19 PM
0 comments
Labels: news, TV, WhiteHouse
posted by Fausta @ 7:06 AM
15 comments
Support Harry’s Place Blogburst
Harry’s Place, a UK blog dedicated to promoting the ideals of freedom and democracy, is being sued by Mohammed Sawalha, the President of the British Muslim Initiative, which has been linked to Hamas and the Islamic Brotherhood, both terrorist organizations. The blog reports that Mr. Sawalha, according to the BBC…"master minded much of Hamas' political and military strategy" and in London “is alleged to have directed funds, both for Hamas' armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah”.
In their revelation of the impending lawsuit against them leveled by Mohammed Sawalha, they write:
Mr Sawalha claims that we have “chosen a malevolent interpretation of a meaningless word”. In fact, we did no more than translate a phrase which appeared in an Al Jazeera report of Mr Sawalha's speech. When Al Jazeera changed that phrase from "Evil Jew" to "Jewish Lobby", we reported that fact, along with the statement that it had been a typographical error.
Mr Sawalha has been the prime mover in a number of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood associated projects. He is President of the British Muslim Initiative. He is the past President of the Muslim Association of Britain. He was the founder of IslamExpo, and is registered as the holder of the IslamExpo domain name. He is also a trustee of the Finsbury Park Mosque….
…Mr Sawalha says that the attribution of the phrase "Evil Jew" to him implies that he is "anti-semitic and hateful". Notably, he does not take issue with our reporting of the revelation, made in a Panorama documentary in 2006, that he is a senior activist in the clerical fascist terrorist organisation, Hamas.
It looks like Harry’s Place is going up against some pretty top-notch lawyers on this one, and they’ve got guts, but as the post goes on to say:
If Mr Sawalha persists in attempting to silence us with this desperate legal suit, we will need your help.
We won"t be able to stand up to them alone.
This is why we've started this blogburst, to get the word out that we won't let members of Hamas or any radical terrorist group censor us or any of our fellow bloggers.
If you’d like to add your site to the blogroll, simply email us at admin@neoconstant.com, and include your site’s URL.
Then copy and paste this entry into one of your posts. Future posts will be emailed to you. Thanks, and don’t forget to head over to Harry's Place to show your support of their freedom of speech!
WE SUPPORT HARRY’S PLACE
Labels: Islamic Jihad, UK
posted by Fausta @ 1:05 PM
0 comments
Pictured: Smiling preacher of hate Abu Qatada enjoying an £800,000 home and a life of benefits
Not a single international terrorist has been forcibly removed from Britain since the 7/7 terror attacks, for the simple reason that their quisling allies run the country.This really is the end of Britain.
posted by Fausta @ 7:34 AM
0 comments
Labels: Blog Talk Radio, Islamic Jihad, Israel, Middle East, politics, Second Draft, terrorism
posted by Fausta @ 7:06 AM
0 comments
The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book, "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." It is a great scientific detective story about how a horrific cholera outbreak was traced to a particular neighborhood pump for drinking water. And Johnson begins a mind-opening excursion into a related topic this way:Dave Schuler adds to James Joyner's post by saying,
"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol."
Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process.
Johnson notes that historians interested in genetics believe that the roughly simultaneous emergence of urban living and the manufacturing of alcohol set the stage for a survival-of-the-fittest sorting-out among the people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and, literally and figuratively speaking, went to town.
To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had -- what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, genes not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying goes, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases.
The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol."
The connection between civilization and beer is even stronger than George Will alleges. Nomads can do a lot of things but it’s darned hard to brew mead or beer unless you adopt a sedentary habit. There are anthropologists who believe that human beings founded the first permanent settlements in order to brew mead or beer. Beer-drinking anthropologists, naturally.I've had the pleasure of enjoying a beer in Joyner's company and have seen George Will drink a beer too, so we can all drink to that.
Labels: beer, history, John McCain
posted by Fausta @ 4:36 PM
3 comments
Dr Andrew Bostom is going to appear on Book TV next Sunday July 13, at 7:00 AM and Monday, July 14, at 1:00 AM Eastern to talk about his new book, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History.
Labels: Andrew Bostom, Blog Talk Radio, books, Islamic Jihad, podcasts
posted by Fausta @ 10:05 AM
0 comments
Via A Colombo-Americana's Perspective video report Colombia's elite troops fighting the FARC
Alavaro Uribe made the fight against the FARC the cornerstone of his presidency. Colombia's elite troops are in charge of defeating the guerrillas in the heart of the jungle.This is a must-watch.
In March reporters Ibar Aibar and Sebastian Dufour followed the Colombian military’s special armed forces, forces responsible for carrying out President Alvaro Uribe fight againt the FARC. They were also the ones who liberated Ingrid Betancourt.
These hand-picked men were trained by the U.S. military and are well-equipped. They track FARC leaders across the thick Colombian jungle. For days on end they hike across mountain passes that are 3, 000 metres high carrying 50 kilogramme-backpacks, braving rain and mud, eating monkey meat and remaining primed for battle at all times. But those times of battle are becoming increasingly rare.
"We control the areas where the guerillas have gathered their weapon reserves, their food and their medical supplies," says Colonel Luis Gomez, adding that the FARC is pulling back as more and more people defect from their ranks.
The Colombian army extracts information from these defectors. Military forces would be useless without this in a zone where thermal cameras alone cannot track rebels.
Ibar Aibar has seen a "Colombian army which is extremely hardened." Four months after filming he is not surprised by the army's latest exploit: the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages.
Click on the video above to watch this special edition of "Reporters"
Labels: Alvaro Uribe, Colombia
posted by Fausta @ 9:05 AM
0 comments
Any of you who have been to Rome surely remember the statue of the she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, the founders of ancient Rome according to legend. The statue is a symbol of Rome.A statue symbolising the mythical origins and power of Rome, long thought to have been made around 500BC, has been found to date from the 1300s.Elsewhere in Europe, the Manekin Piss remains a fitting symbol of Brussels, home base of the EU which continues to attempt to shove a constitution on countries which don't want it.
The statue depicts a she-wolf suckling Remus and his twin brother Romulus - who is said to have founded Rome.
The statue of the wolf was carbon-dated last year, but the test results have only now been made public.
The figures of Romulus and Remus have already been shown to be 15th Century additions to the statue.
In a front page article in the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, Rome's former top heritage official, Professor Adriano La Regina, said about 20 tests were carried out on the she-wolf at the University of Salerno.
He said the results of the tests gave a very precise indication that the statue was manufactured in the 13th century.
posted by Fausta @ 7:55 AM
0 comments
Via Babalu:
"We'll have to finally bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadoes. It is time we did that. Now, let's acknowledge, yes, they broke the law. They should have to pay a fine, they should have to learn English, they should go to the back of the line, they should not get citizenship ahead of those who have been waiting patiently, but we also have to put them on a pathway to citizenship."Then he changed his mind:
You know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, "We need to have English - only." They want to pass a law, "We want English-only."
Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.
You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], "Merci beaucoup." Right?
Via Memeorandum, American Voters Reject Obama's call for Bilingualism: A national telephone survey conducted last month by Rasmussen Reports found that U.S. voters overwhelmingly disagree with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (see video)Even when bilingualism is not assimilation, the fact is that you can not assimilate into a culture without a good working knowledge of its language. All immigrants should learn English, and to learn English, you have to be taught.
Eighty-three percent (83%) place a higher priority on encouraging immigrants to speak English as their primary language. Just 13% take the opposite view and say it is more important for Americans to learn other languages.
In his comments, Obama emphasized the economic benefits of learning a second language: "If you have a foreign language, that is a powerful tool to get a job." Data suggests that most voters see the issue in a broader context.
A separate survey found that one factor fueling the anger over immigration is the belief that most government officials encourage immigrants to retain the culture of their home country. This helps explain why voters who are angry about immigration are primarily angry at the government, not immigrants. Among those angry about immigration, 59% believe most government officials encourage immigrants to retain their home country culture.
Last fall, a Rasmussen Reports survey found that 77% of Americans believed that employers should be allowed to require employees to speak English while on the job. With the Supreme Court recently upholding tougher standards for voter identification at the polls, 65% of voters now believe election ballots should only be printed in English. Thirty-two percent (32%) say they should be printed in both English and Spanish.
The importance of assimilation into the culture is highlighted in another recent survey: 54% of voters say it is more important to encourage all immigrants to embrace American culture than it is to reduce the number of immigrants. Just 36% take the opposite view and say reducing immigration is a higher priority. That survey, as with many others, also found a strong preference for ballots and other government documents to be printed in English only.
Labels: bilingual ed, Democrats, Election2008, illegal immigration, immigration, Oh look Obama changed his mind
posted by Fausta @ 7:04 AM
1 comments
Drudge:
Jackson Statement: For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Senator Obama_s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment.Via Macsmind, O'Relly has the video of what Jackson said:
_My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility.
_That was the context of my private conversation and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms
Labels: Barack Obama, Election2008, Jesse Jackson, politics
posted by Fausta @ 9:08 PM
1 comments
One of the pleasures of blogging is that it gives me the opportunity to come in contact with very interesting websites. A couple of hours ago I received an email from Adam Kott of the International Affairs Forum, which has recently completed a roundtable on UNASUR that explores the organization's potential to become a strong political and economic bloc similar to the European Union.
Labels: EU, Latin America, South America
posted by Fausta @ 5:10 PM
0 comments
"Today, Barack Obama is going to vote for the FISA bill he swore to filibuster when he needed the support of the far left. The Senate is finally expected to wrap up the bill updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act today, which includes the controversial provision of retroactive immunity for telecom companies facing lawsuit. While the bill splits Democrats, it's expected to pass with united Republican support.More at LGF.
Obama will be back for today's vote and has said he'll support final passage."
Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats, Election2008, Oh look Obama changed his mind, politics
posted by Fausta @ 12:12 PM
0 comments
Obama was saying,
You know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, "We need to have English - only." They want to pass a law, "We want English-only."Obama does pronounce Spanish very clearly when he does his political ads. He also does it for a political purpose. His thought that Americans should make their children bilingual in Spanish panders to "Hispanics" who are not interested in assimilating, but makes no sense vis-a-vis the argument that doing so would keep Americans from embarrassment when traveling in Europe: only a small number of Europeans speak Castillian (including, increasingly, non-Castillians born and raised in Spain). May I remind Obama that what we call Spanish in the USA is Castillian in Spain?
Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.
You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], "Merci beaucoup." Right?
You know, no, I'm serious about this. We should understand that our young people, if you have a foreign language, that is a powerful tool to get ajob. You are so much more employable. You can be part of international business. So we should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age, because children will actually learn a foreign language easier when they're 5, or 6, or 7 than when they're 46, like me.
There's nothing particularly exceptional about Obama's position, unless you are an English-only partisan cowering in fear of your cultural identity being swamped by funny-looking people from strange lands. Or one of the similarly insecure patriots who believe any criticism of the U.S. is a sign of "blame-America-first" treachery. And I suppose the whole comment about "going to Europe" opens Obama up to more charges of elitism, and disconnection from the lives of those who, right now, can't afford to even think about going to Europe.Leonard clearly ignored people like myself, who are fully bilingual in Spanish, and who also can read French and a little Portuguese. Some of us are "Hispanic" (which, as I've said before is a term I use for expediency), many of us are not. I have met thousands of Americans born and raised in the USA who are multilingual.
I was watching Obama complain that we don't speak European languages while Europeans speak English fluently. Fair enough—though the vast size of the US, the presence of two oceans on our borders, the ubiquity of Spanish here, the knowledge of other languages by millions of Americans, both explain a lot, and belie the notion that we are all English-only speakers, while the multitude of nations in close proximity has historically made Europeans by necessity multi-lingual.Hanson, a university professor, adds the educational angle:
But that said, Obama's previous idealization of minority-theme charter schools and the need for more "oppression studies" are precisely the sorts of therapeutic curricula that ensure Americans are not getting classical instruction in languages and literatures. We still await his visit to an inner-city school where he might lecture the student body and faculty that more Latin, French, math, and Shakespeare would do more to make students competitive in an increasingly tough, global job market than thousands of hours of oppression studies and victimization classes.Obama is wrong in believing that "Immigrants will learn English" on their own well enough to meet the challenges of any well-paid profession. Immigrants need to learn the structure, grammar, syntax and pronunciation of proper English. I know this from my own personal experience. Additionally, when it comes to the instruction of foreign languages in schools, the more classroom hours you dedicate to "self-esteem" oriented or victimization studies, the fewer hours you'll have for rigorous academic curricula of any kind, foreign languages included.
Labels: Barack Obama, bilingual ed, Democrats, education, Election2008, illegal immigration, immigration, politics
posted by Fausta @ 8:36 AM
2 comments
New Jersey Voices
Fausta was born and raised in Santurce, Puerto Rico and is a long-term resident of Princeton, New Jersey. She discusses New Jersey, taxation, current events, and how news are reported in the French and Spanish-language media at Fausta's Blog.
