The English-only movement is essentially an anti-immigrant movement, but they don’t always make it as obvious as this.

An Arizona-like Immigration bill is looming in the Indiana legislature, as one state senator is looking at cracking down on illegal immigrants in Indiana. But the bill goes a little further, making English the only language used by state and local government.

“It’s going to put everyone under the same rule of law, there isn’t going to be a question anymore that people in the state of Indiana are legally able to be here and legally able to work here as well,” State Senator Mike Delph, (R) Carmel, said.

Senator Delph, is the author of Senate Bill 0590. A bill that will require police to as people to verify their legality, for example, during a traffic stop if police suspect they could be illegal.

The bill also mandates all local and state government to only use the English language.

“Any government entity at the state or local level would be required to perform all of their operations and interactions in English, including public meetings, voice activated systems with the telephone or electronic communication,” Delph said.

An English-only provision tacked onto a bill designed to stick it to immigrants. Bit of a giveaway, isn’t it.

Meanwhile, another English-only bill has passed the Indiana House, and is on its way to the Senate. What’s up with Hoosiers these days?

I have two new reasons to like Obama: he stands up against the English-only movement, and then he stands up for his comments against the screaming lunatics.

Here’s the clip.

I get three things out of this video:

1. Obama rejects ‘English-only’ laws
2. Immigrants should learn English
3. Americans, especially the young, should learn foreign languages

Simple enough? Not for the howler monkeys, who turned Obama’s remarks into the outrage du jour.

The Americans for Legal Immigration PAC said in a statement, “Barack Obama has stepped on a political land mine by stating Americans should be forced to learn to speak Spanish.”

Force, schmorce. Listening comprehension is too much for these people. Maybe they need to learn English.

Why would the Right Wing care about this? Simple. Learning a foreign language a) makes you smarter, and b) helps you become more culturally aware. Smart, culturally aware people don’t vote Republican, so they’re just protecting their racket. But doesn’t it make sense that it’s better to be able to do something than to be unable to do something?

So I want to hang this all over them. Let’s see these headlines:

Americans should be ignorant: Republicans
Obama claims ability better than inability
Conservatives say US kids should be uncompetitive

Obama’s response to the flap:

“The Republicans jumped on this. I said, absolutely immigrants need to learn English, but we also need to learn foreign languages,” the likely Democratic nominee said as the 1,000-plus crowd in a school gymnasium cheered. It’s a position he long has held.

“This is an example of some of the problems we get into when somebody attacks you for saying the truth, which is: We should want our children with more knowledge. We should want our children to have more skills. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s a good thing. I know, because I don’t speak a foreign language. It’s embarrassing,” Obama said chuckling as his audience did the same.

I love how he’s not backtracking against the noise machine, and I hope to see a lot more of this.