You are right about 1 thing - most of us sure do not understand.  I for one do not.  I have bits and snippets of the story, but that apparently does not tell it all.  My ancestors were 7/8 french - Cajun and from the Caribbean. Yet we assimilated (except for our cooking, which caught on with the rest of the country thanks to Paul Prudhomme).  We speak French (my grandmother only spoke french in the house, my Grandfather, pure Cajun, hardly at all - I was taught in school). but English is the language of our country, so of course we speak that as well.

The only difference between my grandfather, and yours is that mine left, yours stayed.  And apparently in staying they developed an isolationist mentality that I do not understand.  New Orleans was as French as Quebec City.  And it assimilated into an english speaking country.

Because I do not speak english by birth. I speak it now because I HAVE to know it to work.

So, if Germany had won the war, and we'd be "speaking German by now", I'd be speaking German rather than English. So what?

This argument only stands if you happen to be on the winning side of the culture war, and you have integrated this languo-sphere. It's a very anglophone-centric view of reality.

Ain't an isolationist mentality at all. We have world-class festivals of Jazz, Comedian, and other elements. We host the single American F1 race. We have multiple world-class companies hosted in our grounds.

Our culture has incredible shining in Las Vegas, with Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion and others holding more than half of the top-10 Las Vegas shows. Our singer have a huge market share in both the USA and France.

Actually, you could say that Cirque du Soleil is probably the very embodiement of our openness on the world, as it integrates artists from the four corners of the world, dance styles and the like, all trained over here.

This ain't a land of isolationist. This is a land of people who don't want to see their grandkid speak english as home, because they fear they will stop being what they are as a distinct culture.

You misunderstood (or I stated it poorly) my statement.  I understand the analogy.  I just do not understand the mentality.

I did not mean isolationist in the nation sense.  But isolationism in the cultural sense.  My Grandmother I spoke of?  Born in New Orleans (last century), so we were still learning french before we learned english (my mother spoke a patois that was French and english mixed up - Frenglish?).  Quebec has a lot to offer and has offered a lot, of that I am sure.  But you are still isolated (there is that isolationist part) from the rest of your countrymen. 

of course the victors write the rules and the history, so your statement about German is relevant (I use the example of Japanese since I do speak German - better than french now,. although I understand spoken french very well).  But that is history, and while the English were not magnanimous in Victory, they were not barbaric either.  That is what I do not understand.  We let Louisiana do their own weird things (that is from the English side as the english did weird things from my French side - BTW - I am no part English).  They have parishes, instead of counties.  They have an election system more European than any of the other 49 states.  And of course they speak more french (or their version actually) than the rest of the nation combined.  But they are still American.  American First, French second.

I am proud of my french heritage.  But I am the first to slam France too (but that is neither here nor there as I do not see an inhibition on your part to criticize the French either).  I just do not understand the intransigence of the Quebecois to understand that there will never be a nation of Quebec, or a new French colony.  And that merging the cultures of the different parts of Canada is going to make it more French, than it will Quebec more english.

That can be understandable but I wouldn't mind my kids learning new languages. It's up to me to ensure they don't lose their culture but if they choose to it would no longer be  in my hands. But tell me, do you think, in order to preserve the culture, do people in Quebec need to treat outsiders in the manner described here? Especially considering you are admitting they are sensitive to this issue. As I said before if this fear is so big perhaps they should eliminate anything that would promote tourism and simply ask English speaking people to stay away.

This brings up an interesting side bar.  Indeed, the French (France type) are extremely xenophobic when it comes to outside influence, going so far as to fine you for using a non-approved non-french word for something they have coined a french word for.  It is trying to keep the culture pure, but I believe it is a losing battle now.  Airplanes and now the Internet have made it so that you either adapt or perish, and America is the land of adapting.  We assimilate all cultures.  And I fear that those who try to keep theirs pure will only see it atrophy and die.

American English has more words than any other language (including the Royal English) because we take words from every other language.

I beg to differ. there are so many nuances in the native language that you haven't integrated yet in english.

If you speak french, you should know that, Guy.

(I will adress your comments later on, but I just love this conversation. Told ya I ain't again talking about my own homeland, even if you criticise it )

One thing can't be denied about this bill that is positive. It's got this Administration scrabbling for a Federal solution as this bill being passed basically is proof of the failure of this and the previous Administration when it comes to this particular issue.

Chuck, I fear anything the Federal Govt. comes up with will end up being unenforced as seems to be the norm.

It will be enforced it pressure is made to enforce it.

Wether you accept the Federal justice system's ruling or not is up to you. Again, Obama produced documentation already, and some people on this blog (or in the street) aren't accepting these proofs.

It is my sentiment that even if a court officially declared Obama's documentation as acceptable proof, these people would still deny the acceptance.

Btw, don't you have to procure, you know, some documentation about your identity when you propose your candidacy to be President? Don't the Secret Services do an investigation on you to make sure you won't damage the office of the POTUS?

I did not mean to imply American English has absorbed all languages, just that we take words from all languages and put them into our language as just another entry in the dictionary.  So of course there are going to be plenty of words in French, Spanish, Russian, etc. that are not in English. But English has a lot of words from those languages that are part of the every day vocabulary of Americans.

I think they slipped gears on you Cikomyr.  Charles is talking about what Arizona did outside of the "Obama-law", i.e. the immigration bill they passed into law.  That is spurring the feds to do something, which Nitro says will just not be enforced (whatever is passed).  I tend to agree with him and Charles.  It will precipitate some type of action in Washington because they have to do something, but Obama does not want to address the issue, so whatever is passed will be ignored.

As for the documentation, I do not think you have to produce anything but a bunch of signatures.  That is why we have scandals after all.