Alice Rankin: Here we go again! It is not SPEAKING English-only. It is English as the official language of government. Read Betsy Russell's column. She tells it like it is. When my husband was first elected a County Commissioner, the first resolution he introduced for a vote, was to make English the Official language of Kootenai County. It passed. This is so that we don't have to print our ballots in a dozen languages and provide interpreters in courtrooms at the taxpayers expense, or have language experts to read official documents that are submitted. My husband was then "beat up", by letters to the editors and quotes in news articles, that he wanted to prevent people from speaking their native tongue in their own homes, on the street or among their friends. Rubbish! Those who choose to mis-state this debate as one of hostility toward those who do not have English as their first language, have a political agenda. They are setting up a "strawman" to knock down. It is simply about having one unifying language of our country. Like French in France, like Russian in Russia, like Spanish in Spain, and NOTHING else!

Thom George: Alice, if you want to know who the "namecallers" are, you need look no further than John Duh who uses one of the favorite tactics of conservative language manipulator Frank Luntz: By defining "conservatives" as "decent people" and "normal people." therby defining Liberals as not decent and not normal. It is a typical passive-aggressive style that allows the Conservative to resort to the very name calling that they claim to despise. Too bad intellectual honesty isn't a characteristic that Mr. Duh aspires to.

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