On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:45:55 -0800, LWG wrote
(in article ):

Exactly! So let's start right now, with this decision. We're behind in our
work.

You may remember my favorite government story. I think in Washington state
there was a regulation that for their mental health patients, a translator
had to be available for every patient for whom English was not their
language of choice. It came to the attention of the administration of the
mental hospitals that a number of their patients spoke Klingon. That's
right -- Klingon. It has a syntax and all the attributes of a language.
Soooo, Washington state started advertising for Klingon interpreters for
their mental hospitals. They didn't go so far as hiring one, and I'm not
really sure why.

An urban legend, see Snopes for that one.

What, before a sniper takes out some suicide bomber in Baghdad, you want to
put it up to a vote of 300 million people, with lots of time for debate?
Oops, he missed. Shall he fire again? Have another debate and take another
vote.

Just how far do you think the voters should micro-manage government?



What is the economic advantage of offering weather reports in additional
languages? Who decide what constitutes "enough speakers?"


You know, that question could be asked of every single decision made by
government.





--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor