" might as well use the Constitution to wipe your ass." ???


*sigh*...Ron Olesko... when you substitute slogans for reason & pragmatic concerns, I don't know how to answer you...I'll try once more, though.

What do "Our freedoms" have to do with putting the right person into the right position in dealing with the public? I will defend anyone's rights as strongly as you will. I have risked my life doing so ....

I said "I don't know" about the woman in the store....I still do not know. I DO know that when I was in 1st year German class in college, there were a couple of guys in my class that simply would NOT make those 'funny sounds' requires to speak German correctly. I can't prove it, but I suspect that they considered it silly..or not worth the effort. Then, a few years ago, my son was taking piano lessons from a woman who was from Russia....she had been here 30 YEARS, and still could barely make herself understood! I know a woman from Spain who married an American 40 years ago, and insisted that HE learn her language, as she did not like to speak English, and doggedly retains her heavy accent.
I could go on.

My real point is that I want the best for people, (as well as wanting comfortable communication for my own 'selfish' interests), and those whose language skills are lacking will at some point find their opportunities limited. This make me sad. I know that they manage..up to a point, but it is simply impossible

"Most law enforcement officials are trained to deal with this"?

Really? Just how do you train someone to "deal" with a distraught person shouting in a foreign language...especially if they seem inclined to violence? Sure we have 'some' Spanish speaking police where I live...but recently none was available when a boy was causing a disturbance at a fast-food restaurant. He was shot. If he had been Korean or Thai or ".....", there would have been NO one to even call.

I just watched a TV show about an emergency room, in which a doctor treated a 2-year old girl, and had to call a translation service to get someone who spoke Persian to explain to her father how to give her medicine! That was nice..but that service only works when you have time and know the numbers! It doesn't work on police patrols...or in supermarket lines.

Ask ANY school district with a large multi-cultural population just how well they are coping with educating kids in 4-8-12 languages...and how much it costs to try...and what this does to their "no child left behind" scores. They will give you (on the record) a politically correct answer about their efforts. If you can get a private, 'off the record', answer, you hear other things. (I know someone who cares a LOT, but is very frustrated.)

I just don't know what else to say...**I** care... I just can't comprehend how we can cope with changing demographics that are outstripping our ability to do it right. I do know that waving the Constitution is hardly the answer.