Constitutional and other Topics

Constitutional Topic: Official Language

Many people are surprised to learn that the United States has no official language. As one of the major centers of commerce and trade, and a major English-speaking country, many assume that English is the country's official language. But despite efforts over the years, the United States has no official language.

Almost every session of Congress, an amendment to the Constitution is proposed in Congress to adopt English as the official language of the United States. Other efforts have attempted to take the easier route of changing the U.S. Code to make English the official language. As of this writing, the efforts have not been successful.

Here is the text of a proposed amendment. This particular bill was introduced in the House of Representatives as H.J. Res. 16 (107th Congress):

The English language shall be the official language of the United States. As the official language, the English language shall be used for all public acts including every order, resolution, vote, or election, and for all records and judicial proceedings of the Government of the United States and the governments of the several States.

Also introduced in the 107th Congress was this text from H.R. 3333:

The Government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the United States of America. Unless specifically stated in applicable law, no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the Government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English. If exceptions are made, that does not create a legal entitlement to additional services in that language or any language other than English.

Often these bills are in response to legislation recognizing non-English languages in public discourse of some kind. H.R. 3333, for example, also explicitly repealed the Bilingual Education Act which authorized funds to educate American students if their native tongue as well as to provide specialized training in the learning of English.

The most recent efforts to promote English as the official language has come as more and more immigration from Spanish-speaking and Eastern nations (such as China and Vietnam) has brought an influx of non-English speakers to the United States. According to the 1990 Census, 13.8 percent of U.S. residents speak some non-English language at home. 2.9 percent, or 6.7 million people, did not speak English at all, or could not speak it well.

The ACLU, which is part of a group opposed to establishing a national official language, has published a paper detailing reasons that such a move should be opposed. It starts by mentioning an effort by John Adams, in 1780, to establish an official academy devoted to English, a move which was rejected at the time as undemocratic. The ACLU notes past efforts at English-only laws that abridged the rights of non-English speakers or which generally made life difficult for large non-English speaking populations. One example cited in Dade County, Florida, where, after a 1980 English-only law was passed, Spanish signs on public transportation were removed.

The ACLU believes that English-only laws can violate the U.S. Constitution's protection of due process (especially in courts where no translation service would be offered) and equal protection (for example, where English-only ballots would be used where bilingual ones were available in the past).

English-only proponents like U.S. English counter that English-only laws generally have exceptions for public safety and health needs. They note that English-only laws help governments save money by allowing publication of official documents in a single language, saving on translation and printing costs, and that English-only laws promote the learning of English by non-English speakers. One example offered is that of Canada, with two official languages, English and French. The Canadian government itself has addressed this issue, noting that in 1996-7, only 260 million Canadian dollars were spent on bilingual services.

There has been at least one interesting contrast to the pro-English efforts. In 1923, Illinois officially declared that English would no longer be the official language of Illinois - but American would be. Many of Illinois' statutes refer to "the American language," (example: 225 ILCS 705/27.01) though the official language of the state is now English (5 ILCS 460/20).

According to U.S. English, the following states have existing official language laws on their books: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming. A small handful date back more than a few decades, such as Louisiana (1811) and Nebraska (1920), but most official language statutes were passed since the 1970's.
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_lang.html

Может не мешало бы создать раздел (или закреплённую тему) где освещать (a не обсуждать) важные вопросы об США?

Не нужно.

Зачем их освещать, если не обсуждать?

_________________
всё будет не так...

Alien_u2 писал(а) (03 июл. 2008 19:23

) :

Не нужно.

Зачем их освещать, если не обсуждать?

Эти вопросы часто возникают в других темах и в других разделах

When to Lower the American Flag
By Ken Savage

I have noticed that since former president Gerald Ford passed away, flags have been at half staff. It has been about 3 weeks so it got me wondering how long they need to stay at half staff. Also, how do people who have flags know when to lower them, how much to lower them and how long to keep them lowered?

I found that there are 4 instances in which the flag is to be lowered to half staff. These include: Memorial Day, Peace Officers Memorial Day, at the direction of the President of the United States, at the direction of the state government. There is one exception to that. If Peace Officers Memorial Day falls on the third Saturday of May it then falls on the same day as Armed Forces Day. In that instance, the flag should be flown at the peak instead of half staff.

So what is the time frame that the flag should be flown at half staff for each occasion? For Memorial Day and Peace Officers Memorial Day a single day at half staff is called for. With the death of any member of congress the flag should be at half staff for the day of and day after the death. For an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of an Executive or Military Department, a former Vice President, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession of the United States the appropriate time for half staff flag is from the day of the death to the day of the internment.

As you get higher up in office rank the half staff period gets longer. For the sitting Vice President, any sitting or former Supreme Court Justice or the speaker of the house of representatives the appropriate half staff time frame is 10 days from the death. The President or former President gets 30 days from the death. That would explain why I am still seeing flags at half staff.

There are occasions when the President of the United States will instruct the American people to hold the flag at half staff. This can be for situations such as September 11, 2001 or the death of any well respected person from this country or out of respect for a leader of another country. A good way to find these updates out is to go to the official website for the White House. www.whitehouse.gov.

I have also found out some information about the way in which you are supposed to raise and lower a flag to half staff. You always briskly raise the flag all the way to the peak of the pole and then slowly lower to half staff. At noon time you are supposed to again raise the flag all the way to the peak of the pole and then slowly lower down to half staff. Then at the end of the day you are supposed to once again raise the flag to the top of the pole and then slowly lower but this time all the way to the bottom.

I never really realized how much thought went into having a flag. I think it is really interesting. It makes me appreciate that much more all of the people that take the time and effort to wave our nations flag.

USA Flag

United States Code Title 4 Chapter 1 — The Flag
http://www.ushistory.org/.../flagcode.htm

American Flag Etiquette.
http://www.usa-flag-site.org/etiquette.shtml

Rules for Display of the American Flag
http://www.usa-flag-site.org/etiquette-display.shtml

Rules and Regulations
http://www.ushistory.org/.../flagetiq.html#q031

The Issue: Does the First Amendment allow the government to punish individuals who mutilate flags, burn draft cards, or engage in other acts deemed disrespectful of patriotic symbols?

http://www.law.umkc.edu/.../flagburning.htm

alrick писал(а) (03 сен. 2008 16:58

) :

The Issue: Does the First Amendment allow the government to punish individuals who mutilate flags, burn draft cards, or engage in other acts deemed disrespectful of patriotic symbols?

http://www.law.umkc.edu/.../flagburning.htm

Я как-то мужа пытала.Сказал,что согласно Конституции,никто формально не может запретить сжечь,к примеру,флаг.
_________________
Я, конечно, презираю отечество мое с головы до ног - но мне досадно,
если иностранец разделяет со мной это чувство.
(А.С. Пушкин)
First they ignore you,
then they ridicule you,
then they fight you,
then you win. -Mahatma Gandhi.

Я за то чтобы освещать всякие новости о США. Мне например никто не сказал, что уже пора делать документы на гражданство. мы тут отораваны, разбросаны и этим пользуются.
У нас есть женщина в группе так она в США уже 20 лет и была столько лет нелегалкой их Мексики из-за того что не знала где прочитать всякие бумаги и правила, работала по 12 часов в день и ей часто просто не платили.
_________________
Тяжел камень, весок и песок; но гнев глупца тяжелее их обоих.

Благоразумный видит беду и укрывается; а неопытные идут вперед, и наказываются.

(Притчи)

была столько лет нелегалкой их Мексики из-за того что не знала где прочитать всякие бумаги и правила -

МНОГО ЛЕТ ? не могла прочитат`???? если бы хотела, точно нашла бы...

а так ето сказочка в пол`зу бедных, вот, мол, какая я несчастная, никто мне не пoмог...

типа, ей все должны. ага, щазззз...

_________________
всё будет не так...