National Anthem (i'm ready for the flames)

[radfringe]

i have my fire retardent bathrobe on...

here goes: Frankly, I don't care who sings a version the national anthem nor in what language.

Officially - there is only one recognized flag of the United States and only one recognized song of the United States.

All the rest are unofficial variations and covered by FREEDOM OF SPEECH

the only thing this latest broo-haa-haa does is to distract from the issue - and that issue is what to do about ILLEGAL immigration.

waving a flag and singing a song doesn't make you any more or less legal

[Ravenseye]

1. And illegal immigration is a distraction

to not make us notice the war and the incompetence and corruption of the government.

Both are non-issues.

[rucky]

13. A "distraction" that's mobilized millions against Bush.

something we've been unable to do on the "real" issues at hand.

[slaveplanet]

35. I'm assuming by millions you mean

the protestors? If that's so then how do you figure it's against Bush.
Bush is pro amnesty. The protests had the backing of Rob Allyn and Co.
Bush's high powered PR firm, under the employ of Vincente Fox.
The Republicans are playing both sides against the middle once again.
Bush could care less who's against him at this point, Everything they do is
like they don't give a rats ass about public opinion.

Might it have something to do with knowing the outcome of future elections?

[rucky]

38. Who are they protesting against, then? n/t

by the level of manipulation you suggest, it sounds like they're protesting against themselves.

[slaveplanet]

46. Not who,

What.

What they're protesting against are laws enacted by just about every sovereign nation on the planet including Mexico itself. And therein lies the rub. If the president of Mexico is willing to dump millions trying to convince US citizens to eliminate their borders, shouldn't he also lead by example and do away with Mexico's formidable southern border?

Bushco would like nothing more than the borders of Canada and Mexico eliminated, it is the prize that those who control him most desire.
And a necessary stepping stone in cementing global control.

[Ravenseye]

45. We're sheep

Why so many people are marching for an issue that's decades old while we do nothing about the war, or the incompetence of the administration, or anything....

It's just beyond me. We should have had ten million americans in the street after we found out about the Patriot ACt stripping away our rights, but we did nothing. We should have had people on the streets in protest so many times since then. Sure they've been there but honeslty in pittling numbers. Joe Schmoe should have been out on the street. To this poitn it's mostly just hardcore people.

[DrRang]

19. Being so holy and all, Bush should have spoken out instead against

tarty singers who "blow job" the microphone while singing the national anthem, in any language.

[salin]

2. heard jr speak "against" the Spanish version yesterday...

one thought came to mind... "Here comes the next GOP proposed constitutional amendment! Protect the Star Spangled Banner!"

[rodeodance]

5. you are prob. right on this.

[Nobody]

39. Really! Then I'd have to approve, we can all sing only the original lyrics

that begin:

To Anacreon in Heav'n
Where he sits in full glee....

You gotta love a national anthem written to the tune of a drinking song. An ENGLISH drinking song written in 1776. (Who were we at war with in 1776?)

By the way, I saw it once and if I can find it again, I'll link to the lyrics of "The Battle of 1812" set to the same tune that is from the British point of view. It commemorates the burning of the White House.

"To Anacreon in Heav'n" is a very versatile tune. There may be more than these two, and the one that's got the Bush Administration's undies in a bunch.

[salin]

42. hilarious references

great factoids to have in hand for future references!

[ThatsMyBarack]

3. Nice Hot Pants!

;) :rofl:

[KharmaTrain]

4. There Is No "Official" Language

The founding fathers had a chance to designate a language as being official...Franklin favored Hebrew...but they chose not to. They choose NO official language that enabled the nation to grow as millions of immigrants and hundreds of languages and cultures have been integrated into American culture...so will the Hispanics.

Until I see large ranchers and corporates frog-marched for their hiring practices, or a serious attempt is made to keep American businesses from off-shoring (including Mexico) to exploit cheap labor, this "illegal" immigration strawman is all hat and no cattle.

BTW...I have a Spanish version of the national anthem here...it was recorded in 1973. I don't remember a stink then.

[Ravenseye]

8. I heard it was almost German

I seem to recall that they had a vote on their being a national langauge and it just barely failed by a few votes....The language was German. Don't know the veracity of that.

[liberal N proud]

6. Another play by the neocons at nationalism

The Star Spangled Banner was only made the National Anthem in 1931.

On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0194015.html

[tanyev]

33. That's interesting.

I don't care for the song much, but it does make a lot more sense as an anthem for the army and navy. If one has to have a national anthem at all, I would much rather have one that celebrates the beauty and greatness of the country.

[liberal N proud]

40. Like America the Beautiful?

[tanyev]

44. Sort of.

I personally think that would be a much better choice than the SSB, but I understand that some people are not comfortable with the religious references. Don't know what the answer is.

:shrug:

[elehhhhna]

7. New Americans will show us how protests are done on Monday,

COunt Houston in , bigtime, btw.

[madame defarge]

9. I'll burn with ya...

That's it in a nutshell. You've stated exactly what I was thinking...and better.

And yes, this is most definitely a distraction from the real issue of illegal immigration. Wouldn't surprise me if some Rover let the Spanish version of the anthem out of the bag this week... It's all too staged & convenient with the May 1 protests coming up...

996 days & counting...& hoping for impeachment...

[SaveElmer]

10. I agree with Jimmy Carter on this...

This whole issue is a Tempest in a Teapot designed to distract from larger issues...

Forced to state my position on this I would agree with Jimmy Carter, that I understand what those who created the Spansih version are trying to do, but at public events it should be sung in English...

But...like I said, this should be a non-issue. And the more it dominates discussion the more we are distracted from the failures of the Bushies!

[radfringe]

11. Lou Dobbs

latest rant on the issue is to blame a 'corrupt' mexican government

that doesn't fly with me - there are just as many illegals coming in from other countries (corrupt or not)

and so what???? You want to talk about corrupt and incompetent government - you don't have to look further than our own back yard at all freaking levels

and yeah - the first thing that came to me when I heard bush come out against a spanish version was "wonder how long before some freaking yahoo in congress wants to to introduce a constitutional amemendment"

the second thought was "when will O'reilly declare a war on music?"

the third thought - when will the riots and violence start? now I'm not saying those who will be protesting on monday will be the ones starting it - it's just that this is a hot button issue, people are pissed off about enough other things that this issue is adding fuel to a fire

I'm having flashbacks to the sixties when we had a screwed-up economy, deficits, unpopular war, protest marches, civil right demonstrations and an idiot in the white house - although all of those stretched out over a longer period of time -- the current conditions are merging into a "perfect storm"

[Brazenly Liberal]

32. "perfect storm"

I read so many political blogs, I don't remember where I saw this. I wish I did because it makes perfect sense and I'd like to give them credit:

We shouldn't call what's happening to Bush a perfect storm because that implies events beyond his control brought him to the nightmare. This is all his doing. He won't own it, but we need to keep insisting that he own it anyway.

[rock]

12. Free speach. 'Nuff said.

It's a non-issue (the kind Repukes love).

[stray cat]

14. Thats what I was thinking - its just a song not the national anthem

The words are not even a real translation - its another pop song that anyone can sing and listen to.

[Obamarama]

15. This is such blatant nationalism at play it disgusts me....

Who the hell cares? I suspect the national anthem will always be predominately sung in English. I don't care if ethnic groups want to sing it in Swahili, Urdu, or in this case, Spanish. Tell me where that detracts or dishonors this country? Rather, it shows how many people from across the world have chosen to call our country home. Why can't they have ethnic pride (in this case their language) and national pride (in their new home in the US) at the same time.

[Sonicmedusa]

18. Absolutely!

"Nationalism" is the perfect word for it all.

I have to agree that all this is simply a distraction. I think to some extent, Bush is cow-towing to fellow Texans. But more then that, despite his optimistic banter from the rose-colored garden yesterday, the middle and lower middle class KNOWS things are NOT so rosy, economically. So, lets give them something to direct their anger at.... Must be the Mexicans fault, huh?

Worked for Hitler. ;)

[treestar]

28. Amen

[kath]

43. They've become expert at whipping up FEAR, now they're whipping the

sheeple into a nationalistic frenzy.

And NEVER forget what an evil force nationalism can be.

:scared: :scared:

[QC]

16. Why would you get flamed for expressing such a perfectly safe opinion?

It's like saying, "Alright, I know I'll get flamed for saying this, but George W. Bush just isn't a very good president."

[Olney Blue]

17. You can take your flame-retardant bathrobe off-

I agree with you!

[xchrom]

20. i'm with you.

and frankly -- it's a certainty that within x number of years this will be a majority latino or mexican or hispanic american country -- what then?

booooiiieee -- that'll wind somebody's panties tight.

[MADem]

21. As I have noted elsewhere

If Monkeyboy went to the Columbus Day Dinner, and a bunch of kids in Italian regional costumes sang the tune in Italian, or he went to the St. Paddy's Day breakfast, and a bunch of kids in Celtic outfits sang it in Gaelic, or he went to any other "heritage" celebration and something along the same lines occurred, Faux Noose would call it "adorable."

This is all about the immigration issue--it's xenophobia, directed against Spanish-speaking peoples, for the purpose of getting the nation exorcised against a group.

The only ones breathing a sigh of relief are the Arabs and Southwest Asians...they figure, there's only so much hate these nitwits can generate, and maybe they'll catch a bit of break.

[treestar]

29. Exactly. nt

[itzamirakul]

22. Personally, I don't think the National Anthem should have been

rewritten and sung in Spanish. I think all of the immigrants who are trying to "impress" American citizens with the "rightness" of their argument, should have take the time and effort to learn the English version of the song, even if it was difficult to do. That would impress me more than such a dreadful sounding Spanish version.

I understand that $1.00 of the profits made on the sale of the cd's will go toward aiding the immigrant's fight for citizenship and 90% will go to the Englishman who spearheaded and produced this album. This infor was on a newsprogram, on Friday.

[BlueJazz]

26. Yep...You know...As someone who speaks English and Spanish..

..(Spanish,..Fairly decent)..I don't "Get" this whole Deal.

I mean, you can't take a song and "Translate" it into another language without changing the
whole song...It just doesn't work like that.
Example: (Sentence Translated from Spanish) "To the Store I go maybe after in afternoon"

Yeah..You "get it" but it's just not the same idea.(in English).

So..when they sing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish, they're not singing the same song we do.

So What's the Fucking point of doing it? :)

[treestar]

30. They know it in English

Most of them are bilingual. It is Americans who cannot dream of learning another language who find the prospect "scary." Not that a Spanish majority is that soon to come, if it ever does, but the slightest hint scares some people.

[lonestarnot]

23. Since I can't sing it in any language, I don't give a cat's meow in either

direction.

[mac56]

24. Had a big debate with my wife about this last evening.

She thinks the Spanish language anthem is shameful. Feels like the US is a big melting pot, so those people should all assimilate the way our ancestors did.

To me - - it's similar to the uproar over civil unions for same sex couples. If two men or two women enter into a civil union, does it really diminish or devalue YOUR traditional marriage in any way? I can't see how it could.

Just so - if some Spanish speaking Americans create a Spanish version of the National Anthem, does it really diminish or devalue YOUR love of this country in any way?

[treestar]

25. Totally right - hell there are probably already several humorous

versons of every patriotic song.

Not to mention most of them are taken from tunes that already went with another song.

The whole thing is just stupid. If anything, it is flattering to the US that its mostly bilingual Spanish speaking population would care enough to do that.

[Orangepeel]

27. I say we force Christians to sing "Adeste Fidelis" in Latin

It should be sung in its original language and Latin should be the official language of Chrisitianity anyway! No gingerbread cookies for anyone caught singing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful!"

:eyes:

The whole Anthem in Espanol thing is just silly. Compare it to, say, flag burning (which should also be a nonissue, IMO). Flag burning shouldn't be illegal (except for fire codes and such), but it is still a rude and asshole-like thing to do. This is exactly the opposite. If someone wants to honor the US by singing the National Anthem or express patriotism for his/her new homeland, leave 'em alone. It should be about the sentiment, not the actual words.

[tanyev]

36. Or, anyone who wants to read the Bible should have to learn

Greek and Aramaic.

:yoiks:

[KittyWampus]

41. Actually, I agree that Bible students should learn Hebrew. I am.

Slowly and painfully. But it's worth. The only way to learn the full intent of what is written is to read it in original language.

But anyway, I think this whole thing is raising the issue of media-sideshows to a whole new level of stupidity.

[Brazenly Liberal]

31. No flames here

I saw a man singing it on the news. I had just walked into the room and missed who he was or where he was singing it. But watching him, I had a moment of sweet nostalgia.

I went back in time to Miss Behrens' 3rd grade class, where we were taught that America is made up of people from all over the world who took the risk of coming to a strange place to find a better life and contribute to making everyone else's life better. At that age, I was still completely unaware of how the land had actually been stolen from someone else. I just knew I thought it was the coolest thing ever that I lived in a place where people had wanted so badly to live.

I guess I should put on my Flame-Retardant jumpsuit, too, because I'm really just sick to death of seeing immigrants demonized. And I am absolutely unable to see any noble reason for objecting to this song. The performance I saw was very moving. And quintessentially American.

[donco6]

34. I'll go a step further . . .

Say, the US does someday become a Spanish-speaking country (whatever that means, which is an entirely different discussion altogether).

Wouldn't you want the people of that country to still be holding to the original ideals of the US? Say, like those embodied in the National Anthem?

Maybe, God forbid!, it would be interesting to see the Constitution translated into Spanish. It would be a battle with the translation (as anyone who's ever done one knows they cannot be literal word-for-word translations). But wouldn't it be useful for other peoples of the world to understand the (supposed) tenets of our democracy?

Just askin', not tellin'

[Nobody]

37. Here's another good one for Jorje Arbusto el estupido

I would like to send him a postcard and write on it:

Yo juro fidelidad al a bandera del los Estados Unidos de America, y al la Republica que representa, una sola nacion bajo dios indivisible con libertad y justicia para todos.

This by the way is the way I first learned the pledge of Allegiance. I have to translate into English if I want to say it in that language. Otherwise I am not fluent in Spanish. That's the power of rote learning. My Spanish class summer school taught us that first thing, and grade school didn't recite it every day.

If I am asked to join a group in reciting the pledge I'll usually recite it very softly in Spanish because that's how I know it best.

(By the way, Agent Mike, I am a born American citizen whose ancestors are all from Europe and Scandinavia. Stay the hell out of my neighborhood, too. My Latino/a neighbors are legal and most are citizens.)