Am I going to live through a Hurricane tonight

Well, according to CNN and the WeatherUnderground, there is a storm forming south of Taiwan. I'll keep you posted but just so you know, I am excited. I've never seen a hurricane before and I've heard that the ones in southeast Asia are the real deal.

Another hurricane seems to be forming back home (of course a political hurricane...that is all I write about you know). I hope this issue doesn't gain any traction but it exposes a side of the right that I really disagree with. I am talking about Barack Obama's statement that kids in the US should learn another language. The Weekly Standard recently listed it on their snobbery watch; the Gateway Pundit accused Obama of calling monolingual Americans "boorish". I saw some talking heads on CNN and BBC trying to attack Obama on this. GIVE ME A BREAK.

Americans do need to start learning other languages. Language education in the US is a joke. I won't even get into English education, but you don't even start to learn a second language until high school. All scientific studies show that by far the best time to learn a second or third language is when you are young. On top of that, the languages we learn are vestiges of the 19th century, not even the 20th century (ie Russian). We are still learning German and French...We might as well be teaching our kids Icelandic and Tagalog for all it matters. (for the readers knowledge, I have a basic fluency in German, learned in High school and College).

In every world, but especially todays world, knowledge of foreign languages is VITAL, and yet reactionary elements in the US are still opposed to really focusing on giving this important tool to our children.

And as usual the right has missed a golden opportunity to hit Obama right where it hurts. The man is an empty suit! Instead of calling him a "snob", they should be asking him why, after spending 8 years in the Illinois legislature, he did absolutely nothing to improve foreign language education in his state! Or after three years in the US Senate why he never worked to improve the chances of our children having a better stake in the global economy. But of course, the talking heads all stick to the memo saying we need to paint Obama as out of touch...Sigh