Orrin, Greetings and God's blessings! I have heard of this before and was absolutley horrfied and the same time did not surprise me when I saw the list. I love Colonel Riley's letter. I think he was holding back a lot more of what he wanted to say. I immigrated from India in 86-87 to come to graduate school. We have 27 official languages there and had it not for the British( yes, I dont like most of what they did there but there are a few blessings that came out of the 200 year rule) we would not have had English. Had it not been English, much of the judicial system, political system and every other "infrstructure" we have there would not exist. I for one would not have gone to excellent schools that we have had the previlege to go to. Mind you all my teachers spoke english when they taught. There were Indian language schools but the atendence and demand for English medium schools will tell the story of why the language schools declined and continue to decline over the years. Had it not been for English, I am not sure India with so many different languages(one language for each state, with multiple dialects in each language) would be united as they are today. Had it not been for English, we would not have had the previlege of so many brilliant qualified professionals in every walk of life embrace every part of the world. Needless to say America would not have been blessed so much talent from India have I and countless others from India did not speak English. I have a special place for India in my heart but I shudder to think, if we continue to breed polititians in this country and not statesman we will end up with provision for all the 27 Indian languages in the US in the name of tolerance and diversity when no one cares for that in India. I think I heard somewhere about the tower of babble. But again, one might wonder if we are speeding up the time of our Lord and saviors return. Had it not been for English, India would not be prospering like they are right now. Had it not been for English, my beautiful blonde wife would not have had the opportunity to communicate with my family from day 1 as they all speak English. I am thankful that I can speak 4 languages, but you take away English, you would not have understood anything I said here. Before my choleric goes overboard, I want to thank you for the platform you have created with this blog. You are awesome! and we will see you in St. Louis. God bless you and keep you. --thank you --venkat(means Orrin in Indian...hehe)