It never ceases to amaze me how the Fish Wrapper editors can be so willfully ignorant of the facts so often. Today's blindness comes to us courtesy of the topic House Bill 2459, submitted by Rep. Donna Nelson, R-McMinnville. The bill would make English the official language of Oregon.

As they do with anything that would dare to cause any minor discomfort to illegal immigrants, the editors have a problem with this, too.

It wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't send illegal residents packing or help legal ones assimilate. Perhaps it would soothe some fears, though, by erecting a symbolic fence. Around the country, many people worry about illegal immigration, in part because they find the influx of newcomers scary. Old-timers fear they no longer fit into the future of their own states.

Yes, it is scary, because of the costs that regular tax paying citizens have to pay, and of all the crimes that illegals commit on a regular basis. But apparently that's nothing to be concerned about.

Legislators have to synchronize requirements for Oregon driver's licenses with new federal regulations requiring drivers to prove their legal status. This is critical so that our driver's licenses can continue to be used for federal identification purposes, as in boarding airplanes, for instance.

Wow, I'm glad to see they actually support some enforcement of immigration laws.

They also should authorize a study to track emergency-room costs for undocumented immigrants. Last year, North Carolina authorized a study of the impacts of illegal immigration on health care, education, social services, criminal justice, the economy and work-force development. This kind of study is the only way to counteract ignorance and poisonous political rhetoric -- with facts.

I just love this one. To them, the "ignorance and poisonous poilitical rhetoric" is from those who claim that illegals are costing us billions of dollars in health care costs. News to the editors; we don't need new studies. The statistics have been available for a long time (for example, here, here, and here).

But declaring English to be the state's official language? The Legislature should skip this grand gesture, unless it feels an overwhelming urge to declare the obvious.

Sometimes the obvious needs to be declared. Just look at the case of gay marriage. Oregon state law did not specifically declare marriage to be between only one man and one woman (there was a fantastic article in the Oregonian by an attorney that layed out the hostory of state law on the issue, but I can't find it on the Fish Wrapper's lovely web site), and the gay lobby tried to exploit that loophole to force the other 96% of society to accept gay marriage as legal. Because of that, Measure 36, which specifically defines marrige to be between one man and one woman, had to be voted on in 2004, and won by a margin of 57% to 43%. So even though it may seem unnecessary now, it will probably be necessary down the road.

In a striking juxtaposition last month, in fact, on the same day The Oregonian reported on Nelson's bill to make English the state's official language, the newspaper also reported on the rising popularity of learning Mandarin. Portlanders flock to classes, and try to get their children into them, for the same reason immigrants everywhere are eager to learn English -- to expand their opportunities.

So what does language classes have to do with it? That's comparing apples to oranges. They can take all the language classes they want, and they should be. It is arrogant and lazy to go to a new country and expect everyone there to speak your language. I see it all the time, and it drives me nuts. When I spent a few months in Mexico, I always spoke Spanish and never once expected anyone to speak English, and I would expect others to do the same.

Research on immigrants shows, over and over, that they're motivated to learn English because it helps them to succeed. But in all immigrant groups, language acquisition follows the same trajectory. The first generation tries, but may never fully master the new tongue. The second generation tends to be bilingual. And in the third generation, English conquers all. The immigrant language is forgotten.

That may be true in the idealistic liberal land of the Fish Wrapper, but not in reality. The elementary school in shose district I live is one of the poorest and has many, many Mexican and Russian immigrants. We are fortunate enough to be able to send my kids to a private school, and I recently found another reason to be glad for that. According to a parent from the public school, many of the classes are taught in Spanish and Russian. How the heck are these kids supposed to learn English like that? These young years are when it is easiest to learn a foreign language, but instead the kids are being coddled and taught in their own language.

English is in no danger here. Although nearly 7 percent of Oregonians speak Spanish, 0.6 percent speak German, 0.5 percent speak Vietnamese and 0.5 percent speak Russian, the overwhelming majority of the state's population still speaks English. There's room for every flavor in our state. Including vanilla.

Yes, there is room, but only as long as people who speak those languages actually obey the law and start adapting to our culture instead of being lazy and expecting our culture to adapt to them.