May 2, 2006
Ah, history.You'll recall the recent reactions like this one, quoted in [USA Today][1], criticizing the translation of the national anthem into Spanish: "Would the French accept people singing the La Marseillaise in English as a sign of French patriotism? Of course not," said Mark Krikorian, head of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter immigration controls.![][2]Well, in true "if you think you know something for sure, chances are you don't" form, it turns out that in 1919 an agency of the U.S. government itself commissioned a version of the Star Spangled Banner in-wait for it-Spanish.[Check it out][3].Did I mention I love history? There's no greater source of humility.Via [ThinkProgress][4]. [1]: http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2006-04-27-spanish-spangled-banner_x.htm [2]: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/service/ssbanner/100000007/0001t.jpg [3]: http://memory.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.100000007/full.html [4]: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/02/spanish-anthem/
Comments
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lazz (anonymous) says...
Dave, you big Pinko ----- the link isn't working.
May 2, 2006 at 11:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
davidryan (David Ryan) says...
Lazz: I think it's timing out; no idea why. It's a Library of Congress page detailing the gov't-sponsored version.
May 2, 2006 at noon ( permalink | suggest removal )
noaconstrictor (Noah Larsen) says...
Not to mention the FOUR versions on the state department web site. Yee buddy...
http://usinfo.state.gov/esp/home/topi...
May 2, 2006 at 12:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lazz (anonymous) says...
Library of Congress page, eh?
yeah, Karl Rove probably just had somebody fired until they unplugged the computer with this on the memory drive ...
I really don't understand Bush coming out against the Spanish version. He's bi-lingual (I wonder if he butchers Spanish as much as he does English; Hispanics look at themselves and say, "did he just say what I think he said?"), and this would be a hugely popular political move, especially given the current turmoil. Talk about free good press ...
Well, good thing he came out against it, because I didn't want to have anything at all to respect him for...
May 2, 2006 at 12:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HTR (anonymous) says...
The Drudge Report is also linking to the government sites, so that could be causing a slowdown...
I think as a condition of being able to complain about the anthem being sung in Spanish, one must a) Prove publicly they can sing at least the first verse all the way through, correctly, in English; and b) Explain in terms a grade-school child can understand what is going on in verse 3:
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave...
Then, have at it...
May 2, 2006 at 12:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scary_manilow (anonymous) says...
DR, where you been lately? So much shady antics in the world of politics, and I was sitting on my hands, waiting for you to come out of hiding... What do you think about this Hookergate thing, anyway?
May 2, 2006 at 12:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
davidryan (David Ryan) says...
Apparently there's more recent history, according to Kevin Phillips:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/02/b...
"When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, [Bush] would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish, sometimes partying with a "Viva Bush" mariachi band flown in from Texas."
I'll reiterate: history humbles we mortals.
May 2, 2006 at 1:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) says...
Scary: Hookergate or WatergateGate has really sort of flown under-the-radar, i guess there are just so many other scandals to worry about, this one hasn't really reached a fever-pitch yet.
I guess people don't like thinking of Duke Cunningham with whores. But yeah, it's gonna be a big one.
If there's something DC likes, it's a sex scandal, and a sex scandal at the *watergate* is just too good to be true. I mean, it's bad, very bad, but good in the "i am entertained by conservative hypocrisy" sort of way.
May 2, 2006 at 2:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
El_Borak (Bill Hoyt) says...
Oh, that's beautiful, David. I must steal it for my own blog. Properly credited, of course...
May 2, 2006 at 3:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
alm77 (anonymous) says...
Okay, so CNN Headlines today. GWB can't speak Spanish, let along sing it! HA!
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/0...
I just read George Orwell's 1984, and I think this one of those exercises where we're supposed to forget the past and pretend it didn't happen.
May 4, 2006 at 12:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scary_manilow (anonymous) says...
Onshakedown:
I was shocked-- SHOCKED-- that the MM (outside of the Wall Street Journal, for some reason) hadn't even touched on Hookergate... Then, WHAMMO! Porter Goss resigns unexpectedly this afternoon, and CNN speculates he may be tied to said scandal... HA HA HA!
May 5, 2006 at 2:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
alm77 (anonymous) says...
What the hell is Hookergate and how did I miss it?!?!?!?
May 5, 2006 at 7:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scary_manilow (anonymous) says...
Free hooke rparties thrown at the Watergate hotel. Sponsered by the same limo service contracted by the Dept. of Defense and Homeland Security in DC. Widely specualted that CIA spooks and Congressmen are involved... The Wall Street Journal broke this last week, then it got buried. CNN barely touched on it (liberal media, my ass)... Yet, so far, NO ONE is picking this story up. Which is shocking, because there's nothing the media likes more than a political sex scandal, and this has the added bonus of being a REPUBLICAN sex scandal. Original reports of Goss' resignation tied him to the scandal, but they spun that one pretty quick, saying his departure was due to tension between himself and evil genius of Central American nation building, John Negroponte.
Who says I don't follow politics?
May 6, 2006 at 2:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )