Your Honor, The Nutbag Part II: Speak English or Get Out

I hate nutbags. The only thing worse than a nutbag is an idiot nutbag. And the only thing worse than an idiot nutbag is a nutbag in power. And the only thing worse than an idiot nutbag in power
is one holding the lives of children in his hands.

Meet Wilson County, Tennessee Family Court Judge Barry Tatum.

Apparently, His Honor the Nutbag is fond of telling immigrant mothers who appear in his court to "learn English or else."

Take a recent case involving a woman from Oaxaca, Mexico, who had been brought before Judge Tatum after she'd refused to immunize her kids or show
up for Children's Services appointments. At the custody hearing, Judge Tatum instructed the mother to learn English and use birth control.

And just last October, Tatum made another such order to a Mexican woman appearing before him on charges of child neglect. He set a court date for six months, denying her request for counseling and instructing the woman to learn
to "speak English at a fourth-grade level" by that time or lose custody of her daughter, according to the woman's attorney, Jerry Gonzalez. According to this article, he's made such orders at least five other times. Gonzalez said the judge was setting the mother up for failure. "She probably doesn't have a sixth-grade education. I daresay the judge himself, an educated man, could not learn to speak Spanish to a fourth-grade level in six months," Gonzalez said. "He gave her an impossible task."

Tatum explained that he gave the orders in hopes that the parents would make a greater effort to assimilate into American society, opening more opportunities to their children.

"If the mother is able to learn English, she will be able to speak with her daughter for the first time in a substantive manner and will show her that she loves her and is willing to do anything necessary to connect with her," the order read.

Although many have condemned Tatum's practices, he actually has supporters in Tennessee who cheer him on his nasty bigotted way.

Though the judge's order may have been a mistake, "the general sentiment is, if people are going to be in this country, we all have a moral obligation to learn to speak the language," said Bob Bright, 61, who runs an insurance agency in Lebanon.

"I know if I was in Mexico I would make an effort to learn Hispanic."

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OK, I have a few things to say about this (you knew I would):

*Is His Honor the Nutbag even aware that we don't HAVE an official language in this country, and NO ONE is required to speak English here "or else"?

*"Use birth control"? What the fuck? First of all, I know many people from Mexico (my sister is married to a Mexican as well), and nearly all are Catholic. This judge is basically giving them a court order to violate the tenents of their religion and completely desicrating the Constitutional right to free practice of religion at the same time. Secondly, HOW DARE HE presume to make orders on a woman's reproductive rights? He's a judge in a pissant town in Tennessee...not even the Supreme Court will tell a woman what she should or should not do with her uterus, buddy, so who the hell do you think YOU are? King Bohunk? And finally: not all birth control works 100% of the time. In fact, NONE of them do, including sterilization. Don't believe me? You should meet my son, the Pill Baby. You sexist moron.

*What the fuck does speaking English have to do with child neglect and custody issues? You're worrying about the speck and ignoring the log, Sir Dildo.

*This motherfucker must have balls the size of freakin' CLEVELAND to order a woman to learn a foreign language at a fourth-grade level in six months. And then refuse her counseling for the child neglect issues she was brought in to court for in the first damned place. Priorities out of whack? This fucker's the master of it.

*"Assimilate into American society." As a Native American whose people have been killed, tortured, kidnapped and made to suffer over and over again in efforts to "assimilate" us, I could have vomitted for hours after reading that. Does no one learn from history? The last boarding school closed in 1992....not long enough for everyone to forget already, surely? I bet His Honor the Nutbag would love to re-open the schools...and fill them with Mexican mothers. What an ass.

*Of course, you MUST learn English to show your child you love them. No other language has a version of the word "love," you know, and non-English-speaking people don't really love their kids anyway. (And yes, that's sarcasm.)

*He has supporters? Who actually cheer the bastard? A pox on all of them!

*"Learn Hispanic"? Eegads...but these are some stupid fucking hillbillies.

I am so sick to my stomach by this nutbag...even though the Second Annual Nutbag of the Year Awards are still months and months away (to read the first Awards, click here)...we may already have a winner.

Blech.