Myself, Steve Shoe, Barbara Lombardo and David Patterson (chair of Saratoga Springs High School's social studies department) just completed 20 multiple choice practice questions from the U.S. naturalization test in advance of a story running in our July 4 edition about local immigration and naturalization.

The results were unsurprising and disappointing for myself and Mr. Shoe. While Barbara and David scored perfectly, Steve and I each answered incorrectly once.

For Steve, it was the lack of a read through on a question on the Axis powers of WWII. He selected an answer that listed Austria-Hungary, but not Italy. Oops.

I failed to recognize Maine as one of four answers of a state that borders Canada (I chose to ignore walla-walla Washington, and selected Oregon).

It has been suggested by some that this test be posed to Mayor Johnson and the rest of the City Council. I'm not sure what generation they are from, but I'll venture a guess the U.S. is the only country they've ever called home. I guess if they can march in a flag day parade they should know how many amendments the Constitution has. What do you think, would it matter if they didn't ace it?

As I said after regretfully failing to achieve patriotic perfection, now that U.S. Soccer is out of the World Cup race, and Landon Donovan is facing accusations of infidelity, going back to the land of my ancestors may be a viable option. Auf wiedersehen Spa City!