Democrats Are Sneaky Too

All you Spanish speakers, get the eff outta West Virginia.

Apparently, the Democratic leaders in both the West Virginia Senate and House get to alter legislation right before votes without letting everyone know, and they decided that English should be the official language of West Virginia. According to the Associated Press:

"Two days after the end of the legislative session, state lawmakers are discovering something few were aware of: They voted to make English the official language of West Virginia.

The language amendment was quietly inserted into a bill addressing the number of members that cities can appoint to boards of parks and recreation. Among mundane details about record-keeping, the amendment adds the provision that "English shall be the official language of the State of West Virginia."

Senate Majority Whip Billy Wayne Bailey successfully offered that change to House Bill 2782 amid a flurry of bills moving back and forth between the House and Senate on Saturday, the last night of the 60-day legislative session.

"I just told the members that the amendment clarifies the way in which documents are produced," Bailey, a Democrat, said Monday.

House Majority Leader Rick Staton recommended that his chamber agree with the Senate's changes. But Staton, also a Democrat, said he was unaware of the substance of the amendment until asked about it by The Associated Press Monday evening."

See? And you thought Republicans were the only weasels in government. Turns out pretty much all politicians are sneaky rat finks.

Frankly, I don't have that much trouble with English being our official language. I mean, let's face it; it's the language most of us speak. If I emigrated to France, I'd have to learn French. And our nation was founded by a bunch of Englishmen (after they duly stomped on the thousand-year old civilization of the then-current occupants, and then enslaved a mess o' people from other civilizations and brought 'em in to do the work).

But did we really need to codify that into law? I mean, is West Virginia being overrun by non-native speakers? Have the smugglers stopped dumping desperate Mexicans in Texas and California and selected West By God Virginia as the new destination of choice? Aren't there bigger problems in West Virginia that require some serious thought? Like, oh, I dunno, literacy?

I'm just asking.

By the way, I'd just like to point out that -- as a native Pittsburgher -- I deserve some serious credit for avoiding any snide cracks about all the people in West Virginia who claim they're speaking English but are actually speaking Hoopie, and whether they're gonna be punished under this law.