Weekly Wrap-Up

They don’t call him “Dirty Harry” for nothing. Here is an update on Sen. Harry Reid’s newest crusade to essentially outlaw debate in the Senate:

“Democrats on Thursday voted to change chamber precedent, in effect rewriting the rules to ban a work-around Republicans had used to force votes even when the Democrats in the majority didn’t want to hold them.”

This is known as the “nuclear option” – which six years ago, Sen. Chuck Schumer said “would change over 200 years of Senate history and destroy our country’s system of checks and balances.”

Last night, Schumer said of the nuclear option: “Sure!”

Six years ago when Chuck helped block the Republicans’ use of the so-called nuclear option, he declared that “Armageddon has been averted.”

Of his vote last night to (based on his past statements) unleash Armageddon, Schumer says... well, nothing so far – which is peculiar for him.

It’s hard to take anything the Democrats do seriously when we read here that the Obama jobs bill isn’t based on sensible economics or basic fairness, but rather what Chuck Schumer thinks sounds best for the Democrats.

And the Post puts all its cards on the table, asking “Why Does Chuck Hate NY?”

Enough about Chuck – here in New York, I wouldn’t say Andrew Cuomo hates our state but he doesn’t seem terribly fond of English as our primary language. As the Buffalo News reports,

“Twenty-seven state agencies will have to begin providing official forms and translation services in six languages beyond English under an executive order signed today by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.”

Cost to taxpayers? An estimated $1.5 million each year – pencil dust to the politicians in Albany I’m sure, but if you ask me that’s a big chunk of change for a state in New York’s fiscal shape.

As I told these reporters, this new policy is ludicrous. America wasn’t built this way. Immigrants came here and they learned the English language quickly because they knew it was important.

We need to be making it clear to ALL New Yorkers that it’s important to learn English... but with policies like this new mandate from Gov. Cuomo, we continue the idea that people don't have to learn our language.

Beyond that, this is yet another example of the liberals’ “nanny state” philosophy, where the state or federal government has to do everything for everyone all the time.

(And keeping with that philosophy, do we really think this policy will stop at just six languages? How long before the Muslim community starts screaming racism and demanding that Arabic also be included? What about the Swedes, the Germans, and the Japanese, or immigrants from Brazil who would be lost without a Portuguese translator? We could go on and on with this, and I’m afraid that the Cuomo liberals will.)

What’s your take on this? Do you think it’s a good idea to offer state services in every language imaginable so that immigrants don’t feel the need to learn English? Or do you agree with the Conservative Party that we should be encouraging people to learn English instead of enabling those who refuse to assimilate?

Vote today in our new Weekly Poll.

I’ll bet you could hear some interesting language at Yankee Stadium after last night’s disaster.

Have a great weekend!