Squeaky wheel - meet Grease (not always a good thing)

Heh... Remember all those people marching who wanted to become citizens without having to follow the procedure. The people who flew the Flag of the United States upside down. The people who felt that the Aztlan group represented their thoughts that the US was occupying the land and that they wanted to reclaim it? All of these squeaky wheels are starting to get their grease and it may not be exactly what they wanted. From the NY Times comes this curiously worded piece:

Senate Backs Another Immigration Item
The Senate embraced English as the "national and unifying language" of the country this afternoon as it continued work on a stream of amendments to an overall immigration bill.

A 63-to-34 vote to designate English as the national � not official � language of the United States and to require applicants to pass an English proficiency test seemed to be largely symbolic, since the immigration agency's standard handbook for naturalization already mandates that most applicants be able to read, write and speak basic English, with some exceptions for age and disability.

You can almost hear that little 'sniff' of disapproval that the Senate doing something so 'Republican' The Scotsman has a better picture of what is happening:

U.S. Senate says English is national, unifying tongue
The Senate agreed on Thursday to make English the national language of the United States and moments later also adopted a milder alternative calling English the country's "unifying language."

Which amendment ends up in the final version of an overhaul of U.S. immigration law will depend on negotiations with the U.S. House of Representatives. Neither would bar the use of Spanish or other languages in government services.

The Senate immigration plan couples tightened border security and enforcement and a guest-worker program with measures giving a path to citizenship to some of the 12 million illegal immigrants, most from Spanish-speaking nations.

"This is not just about preserving our culture and heritage, but also about bettering the odds for our nation's newest potential citizens," said Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, who sponsored the national language amendment, which passed by a vote of 63-34.

The United States currently has no official language and some lawmakers said they feared Inhofe's amendment would lead to discrimination against people who are not proficient in English. They also said it could hurt efforts to promote public health and safety in other languages.

"Although the intent may not be there, I really believe this amendment is racist. I believe it is directed at people who speak Spanish," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said.

The issue is politically popular, and in a congressional election year lawmakers strongly supported both measures. Inhofe said opinion polls showed 84 percent of Americans supported making English the national language.

The Senate, by 58-39, also agreed to an alternative offered by Sen. Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, stating "English is the common and unifying language of the United States that helps provide unity for the people of the United States."

Step one with many more to follow. Sure we will stumble along the way but feedback and correction work pretty well. Eventually there will be a good policy in place.