  Tuesday, July 31, 2007  English only? Be careful what you wish
for  When I hear people take umbrage about the use of Spanish as
an option on ATMs and phone menus, it seems a clear
demonstration of how easily anger can triumph over reason.  OK,
suppose the “English-only” crowd gets their way. Let’s do away
with all public communications in Spanish and make English the
sole language of the land. Will that speed up the ATM line when
someone not fluent in English is ahead of you? Will it reduce
the time you wait when calling about a product problem? Will it
lower the cost of products by making customer service more
efficient? Please, give me a good reason. But spare me the worn-
out tirade about an assault on our culture. The use of Spanish
in commercial venues is not some plot hatched by a cabal of
ivory-tower multiculturalists. It’s the work of business people
promoting that most American of values: profit.  There are over
40 million legal Hispanic residents in the United States today.
Many among this populati