Is that a banjo I hear?

So the Deliverance wing of the Senate GOP (along with a few red state Dems) want to make English our "national language." Isn't that special. There is a cheap joke about the president now having to master the language in there somewhere, but seriously, how pathetic of an attempt at pandering to the mouthbreathers of society is this? Why don't we just call it the "Let's Make Government Less Efficient While I Get This Cross a Burnin' Act?"

I find this particularly interesting given that we Americans (sadly, your humble correspondent is included) are about the worst industrialized country in the world when it comes to languages. As business becomes more global, so many of us here remain English-only speakers. When my wife was in Paris, I encountered hotel switchboard operators that effortlessly switched from French to perfect English. But here--at the INTERNATIONAL terminal at O'Hare Airport, there is not ONE directional sign in another language. The "information" officer was a surly rent-a-cop who only spoke English, and when foreign nationals didn't understand him (who would have anticipated that at the INTERNATIONAL terminal????) his response was to speak in English, only louder.

Official English, the national anthem in Spanish, gay marriage, service academy prayers, even our old friend flag burning--I love seeing priorities in the right place. Good thing we don't have any real problems to address.