Don't laugh!Bush says Americans need to learn languages

That's right. He said that.

Wait for it...

Here it comes...

President Bush said Wednesday that he will ask Congress for $114 million to teach Americans little-taught languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Farsi. The initiative is vital, he said, because "we need intelligence officers who, when somebody says something in Arabic or Farsi or Urdu, knows what they're talking about." Diplomats also need to speak the local language.

4 1/2 years after the dumbest smart people figured out that language and culture study might have served US foreign policy initiatives prior to a terrorist attack on our soil, Republican George W. High School Spanish I & II C- Student has had an epiphany.

$114 million.

$114 million more than we're already spending on the Defense Language Institute:

The U.S. Air Force met most of its foreign language training requirements in the 1950s through contract programs at universities such as Yale, Cornell, Indiana, and Syracuse and the U.S. Navy taught foreign languages at the Naval Intelligence School in Washington, D.C., but in 1963 these programs were consolidated into the Defense Foreign Language Program. A new headquarters, the Defense Language Institute (DLI), was established in Washington, D.C., and the former Army Language School commandant, Colonel James L. Collins, Jr., became the Institute’s first director. The Army Language School became the DLI West Coast Branch, and the foreign language department at the Naval Intelligence School became the DLI East Coast Branch. The contract programs were gradually phased out. The DLI also took over the English Language School at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, which became the DLI English Language Center (DLIELC).

Bush's rationale:

The new funding, he told the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education, is needed to "defeat this notion" that the United States is "bullying" people.

Hm. Americans should learn languages in order to make the US look good?

Asshattery of the first order.

My favorite part of Bush's little language study idea:

"When somebody comes to me and speaks Texan, I know they appreciate the Texas culture.

"I mean, somebody takes time to figure out how to speak Arabic, it means they're interested in somebody else's culture," he explained.

Ahem.

Native Texan here (born and raised), and I can tell you from personal experience that anyone who professes to be proficient in "Speaking Texan" is bragging about his/her ability to make fun of one or more regional dialects inside the Texas state borders.

For the last damned Texas Two-Steppin' time, George W. Bush is not a Texan. When he "speaks Texan," he gives away his Connecticut/ Massachusetts/ Maine cultural background (he says "rawther," instead of "rather"), and native Texan Republicans with dollar signs where their pupils should be either make excuses for him or pretend not to notice.

As for that $114 million request...

Where's the money going?

And don't forget Bush's bizarre little gem: "Diplomats also need to speak the local language."

It doesn't take an additional $114 million to STOP APPOINTING USED CAR SALESMEN and other assorted idiots WHO RAISE TEXAS-SIZE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN FUNDS AS AMBASSADORS AND ATTACHES, YOU DUMBER-THAN-DIRT CARPETBAGGER!


File this under: If I thought $114 million could be spent to train George W. Bush well enough to pass his 8th grade NCLB English tests, I'd be all for it, y'all.