Rain Delay

Since Mother Nature refused to cooperate on Tuesday and rained out the Cubs, most of the rest of us were forced to find some other way to amuse ourselves. Jerry Hairston used his time off to go on the Score and beg forgiveness from Dusty Baker. Hopefully it works, and we won't see much more of Neifi in the starting lineup. Meanwhile, it looks like other people were hard at work as well. In fact, the West Virginia lawmakers were so busy trying to wrap up their work session, that apparently they voted through a bill that made English the official language of that State without even knowing it. Evidentially, one of the sneakier members of the legislature stuck the provision onto an existing bill, and since congresspersons have a lot more important things to do than actually read the laws they're voting on, nobody caught it.

Some people are going to think this bill is racist, or xenophobic or exclusionary or something, but there's one word I'd use to describe it: futile. Sure, it'd be a lot easier if everybody spoke the same language, and easier for me personally if that language was English. But what exactly does it mean to have an official language? Will those who speak French in West Virginia be fined or jailed? Almost all street and business signs are in English already, so that won't change. Will immigrants suddenly flock in droves to ESL classes, for fear of persecution? And what if other state's get into the act? Some states are going to have Latino majorities in the near future. What if California or Arizona votes Spanish as their official state language? I guess I should have paid better attention in my college Spanish classes.

Anyway, I'm sure that if it's a slow news day, West Virginia's decision is going to be plastered all over the national newscasts. We'll be repeatedly treated to the sight of field reporters doing man on the street interviews, asking idiots what they think about this issue. And the problem is, the question they should be asking is: what the hell do lawmakers have to do that's more important than actually reading the bills that they vote on, and will end up affecting all their constituents?