Monday, January 10, 2011

Unemployment Benefits

Congress has announced they intend to make it more difficult to claim Unemployment Benefits.

Starting next Monday the forms will be printed in English.
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12 comments:

Beejay said...

Stinker...too funny.

January 10, 2011 at 9:23 AM
OKIE said...

Definitely brought a grin!

January 10, 2011 at 9:28 AM
OrbsCorbs said...

Gee, I wonder how my parents made it as legal immigrants in the USA? They were expected to learn our language and then they were tested on it. Oh, the horror! Even worse, they were taught American history and then they were expected to know that, too. Outrageous! They actually had to make changes in their lives to function in the society they had chosen, instead of expecting society to change for them. I know: crazy, crazy ideas! That's how they did things in the old, dysfunctional days before we realized that laws, morals, and human lives mean nothing.

January 10, 2011 at 12:17 PM
MinnesotaChick said...

snicker snicker.....

January 10, 2011 at 12:25 PM
Huck Finn said...

Orbs, my Grandmother was an illegal immigrant. She was born on the boat, hidden and her birth was claimed once they landed in America. Only steerage class was forced through Ellis island and my great grand parents were second or third class passengers.

Ah yes, learning the English language. Bullshit. Everyone really needs to read about immigrant history in America. Learn about the German schools, the Danish schools the Italian schools where the language was that of the immigrants.

Read how many foreign language newspapers and clubs were out there. Learn about the foreign health and fitness clubs.

Parkside has an excellent course on Immigrant History in America and the Professor is author to many books dealing specifically with the Danish immigrants of our area.

Sorry, just tired of the neanderthal attitudes and the choice of ignorance over truth and how history is repeatedly rewritten or forgotten altogether in order to put forward biased viewpoints.

Indignation is a fine emotion... if-it's-earned. Sorry I'm cranky, I'm just really tired of low brow humor and attitudes. Empathy for others is at an all time low and it's saddening our country has gone so totally redneck.

January 10, 2011 at 1:08 PM
kkdither said...

I choose to counter your bullshit comment, huck. I don't care what you learned in your class.... I know my family history.

My grandmother came to America from Denmark. This was around the latter half of the 1920's. She learned the language by herself. She worked hard to become an American citizen. She prided herself in her ability to write cohesive notes to her children's teachers. She chose to set an example.

My mother was born here, but her older brothers and sisters, who spoke nothing but Danish, went to English speaking public schools here in town and learned to use the language.

Maybe there were other schools around that dealt in other languages? Was this for the more elite? Times were pretty tough for most who came, it was depression era times and most were coming to Racine for the prospect of industrial jobs.

There were clubs... the Dania and The German Club, where people socialized in their original language. I don't see a problem with that. Who wouldn't find comfort and recreation in that? Those types of places are still in existence.

January 10, 2011 at 3:17 PM
OrbsCorbs said...

What do Polish language schools and newspapers have to do with the government bending over backwards for certain ethnic groups, but not others? There still are schools in Chicago that teach my native tongue and a newspaper printed there, without United States tax dollars involved. Everyone in the USA is free to preserve and celebrate their heritage, but NO ONE has the right to ram it down anybody else's throat, especially with public money.

I grew up in an immigrant home, I lived it. Don't bullshit me.

January 10, 2011 at 3:18 PM
OrbsCorbs said...

I now regret the tone of my previous comments. I shouldn't have commented at all. Like Huck, I've been a little pissed off today, too. I think it's a result of the Tuscon shootings and the fallout.

Immigration is one of those dead horse topics that we beat back and forth, back and forth, but I don't think one mind is ever changed because of it. We don't even speak the same language when we're using English. You say immigrant, I say illegal alien. What's the use?

January 10, 2011 at 8:17 PM
drewzepmeister said...

My great grandfather immigrated from Germany with only $11 in his pocket. Somehow he started up a successful steel foundry in Grafton.

January 10, 2011 at 8:18 PM
hale-bopp said...

Really? They are still being written by a government bureaucrat, does that really count as English?

I am not going to generalize here about the language, but I know some people hear others speaking a different language in this country and think they should learn to speak English. I hear other languages and wish I had the skills and ability to learn a lot of different languages as it would enrich my world. Just a thought.

January 10, 2011 at 9:04 PM
SER said...

I can speak 2 languages, English and Ghetto. I also use to be pretty good at Pig Latin but haven’t used that in a long long time.

January 10, 2011 at 10:11 PM
Why Not? said...

Being an immigrant myself I understand that it is important to learn the language of the country your are living in . I think however it's a difference in what is important to you. For me learning a second language was a huge goal I set for myself, I was interested in learning about the culture and the lifestyle of the average Swede. I wanted to become a part of it as to understand the world that my husband grew up in. That was my importance and I had the benefit of being able to take the time and money that was necessary to learn the language. I am proud that when I speak to people in Swedish they cannot believe that I come from the USA, they just thought my Swedish was a different dialect usually from the north is what I hear.

I know LOTS of immigrants that come here for different reasons. Many that are here escaping horrible situations in their country of birth, others here for love like me, others for employment opportunities. I believe their reason for being here is a huge factor as to why they spend the time to learn the language or not. Many that come with families it is more important to come straight out to work so taking the time to learn the language properly happens when they have the time. Which isn't often. Those that come here for love often times will try a little harder but even then it's not always high up on the list. Here again I see that they want to work right away to start supporting themselves.

Learning a language takes a lot of time and energy and I'm not saying that it is an excuse not to learn a language. Just that it takes some a lot longer than others and some will never learn the language just because it does not fit their schedule sometimes working to feed a family is more important than sitting in class. Does this mean that they shouldn't get proper care in the hospital when they are sick, or be properly informed when they require information, or a proper education?
We all just need to remember that not all of our stories fit in other peoples lives.
I got the Swedish down, now I just have to work on my English skills again..

January 11, 2011 at 2:30 AM

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