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May 12, 2006
sign scrubbing with rep. schultheis
In celebration of Colorado's legislative session closing without a bunch of bad immigration laws passing, I write a tribute to one of the many lunacy-based proposals we witnessed this year:
Colorado isn’t doing its residents a favor by conducting business in Spanish, says one Colorado Springs lawmaker.Rep. Dave Schultheis wants schools, libraries and state agencies to forgo bilingual instruction, reading materials and signage and stick to English.
Schultheis, a Republican, maintains the state discourages people from learning English by providing information in Spanish.
“We tend to be shifting our focus away from English,” he said.
Part of the bill Rep. Schultheis (aka Minuteman Schultheis) had delusions of passing included this:
State agencies would be required to print materials and post signs solely in English. Exception would be made for when federal law requires dual language signs and leaflets and in cases where health and safety demand it. source
Well, this just leads to all sorts of irony. Like getting that pesky Spanish word "Colorado" off all signage like say, oh I dunno, the "Colorado State House of Representatives". It translates to: "Red State House of Representatives" -- wouldn't the GOP love that?!
Or how about 18 of Colorado's 64 counties (all 18 formed over 100 years ago) needing to change their names?
Let's see, Conejos County (one of the original 17) would become "Rabbits County";
Costilla County (also one of the original 17) would become "Rib County";
Dolores County (formed in 1881) would become "Pains County";
Huerfano County (of the original 17) would become "Orphan County";
Mesa County (formed in 1883) would become "Table County";
and Montezuma County (formed in 1889) would become... hmmm, looky there Mr. Schultheis, ain't no English word for Montezuma!
Sure does look like all this focus shifting started a lot farther back than we think... from Spanish to English.
Got one more Spanish word for ya... xenofobia and I'll bet we can all figure out how to translate that one.
Posted by almamia at May 12, 2006 6:00 AM