How do these people get elected?

[riceboy]

Rep. Betty Brown said that Asians should change their names to make them more American Besides that point she is sticking to her statement. I think the Representative is a little out of touch to say the least.

Texas lawmaker suggests Asians adopt easier names | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

OPINION Blog | The Dallas Morning News

[tkam]

Welcome to Texas

[grawk]

Representatives don't generally represent all that many people. As long as they don't offend a majority of those people, they can get away with a lot.

[morphsci]

Have a nice day, in Texas

[ojnihs]

[Dusty Chalk]

[swt61]

Welcome to my world!

Even the kids down here have gun racks on their Big Wheels.

I think Betty Brown should adopt a new lipstick that I could easier deal with!

But she'll keep defending her statement, because she has no idea what a moron she is, or why the rest of us might take offense to her absurd remark.

Edited April 9, 2009 by swt61

[Aimless1]

No doubt considers herself a fine example of her religion. Racism and bigotry is still insidious and not always so subtle.

[Hopstretch]

Someone needs to tell Betty that if all Asians were called John Smith it would be even harder for her to tell them apart.

[Duggeh]

Whats the american version of the BNP? This sounds like the sort of crap they come up with.

I'd expect immigrants to learn the language of their adopted country and to obey its laws and rules, but I wouldn't expect them to conform to amalgamative conveniences of paperwork.

[inukage]

Living in california, and going to school with a large number of asian kids, i can say two things for sure:

1. If they all had American names, i for one would have trouble telling one from the other (sorry Mr. Nyeugn *pronounced "ng")

2. Living in a very liberal state, saying something like that in say San Francisco will get you shot, even if the kids don't ride around with gun racks on their toys haha. I guess everywhere has varying degrees of heavy-handedness, and for different reasons.

Still, is it worse than having The Terminator as your governor?

[Grahame]

^^^ It has its advantages.

[tkam]

I'd expect immigrants to learn the language of their adopted country

I'd like it if more immigrants in the US would bother to learn English, though it's partially our fault by not having an official language on a national level. Quite a few states have official languages but without a national policy they are kinda useless.

[Icarium]

yeah it's pretty sad times.. I remember when that came up in The West Wing. It's pretty stupid.. just like pennies.

[xand1x]

Is this some kind of sick joke?

Edited April 9, 2009 by xand1x

[Duggeh]

BBC NEWS | England | Nottinghamshire | Postmaster's foreign language ban

[Dusty Chalk]

In her defense, if what she meant was, they should pick one name and stick with it, it would make the bureaucracy run more smoothly. If you read the article, the context of the statement was:

Ko [a representative of the OCA] told the committee that people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent often have problems voting and other forms of identification because they may have a legal transliterated name and then a common English name that is used on their driver’s license on school registrations.

I mean, I realize it's a cultural thing, but in the US, we're used to having one name.

EDIT: If you watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9hdVUzMeDw

...she explicitly says, "I'm not talking about changing your names". (3:45 mark)

Edited April 10, 2009 by Dusty Chalk

[Hopstretch]

Right, because contemporary Texas Republicans have always been preoccupied with getting more non-white people to the polls.

[cclragnarok]

In her defense, if what she meant was, they should pick one name and stick with it, it would make the bureaucracy run more smoothly. If you read the article, the context of the statement was:I mean, I realize it's a cultural thing, but in the US, we're used to having one name.

Maybe that's what she meant, but that's not what she said. According to the second link, she's "standing by the comment and sees nothing insensitive about it."

[Dusty Chalk]

One, no one uses "behooves" in any construction without the advance intention of being a complete prick and, two, "you and your citizens" is a nice touch considering that -- since this is a debate about voting issues -- ipso facto everyone concerned is a fucking American citizen, whether or not they look like Betty Bitchface Brown.

Yeah, no doubt she's being a prick -- "I understand it's a difficult language" -- obviously being sarcastic.

But he's arguing that the law be more lenient to Chinese people -- sorry for taking the minority stance -- but he's wrong. She's asking him to go off and come up with a solution, but I don't think that's the right one. I think the right one is that if one has more than one name, there needs to be a way for the system to handle it. I realize that's more work for everyone involved (both the bureaucrats and the people with multiple names), but it's the right one.

Of course, I live and work in a world where I have to explain in triplicate every time I fill out a form that I don't have a middle name. In my world, there's a place on most forms that says, "other names or aliases you have gone by". And no, I don't work for the penal system, though sometimes it feels like it.

[grawk]

oh get your pc panties out of a bunch

[swt61]

Right, because contemporary Texas Republicans have always been preoccupied with getting more non-white people to the polls.

One, no one uses "behooves" in any construction without the advance intention of being a complete prick and, two, "you and your citizens" is a nice touch considering that -- since this is a debate about voting issues -- ipso facto everyone concerned is a fucking American citizen, whether or not they look like Betty Bitchface Brown.

This mirrors my feelings exactly!

I'm about as White as a loaf of Wonderbread, and I was born and raised in this country.

That being said if anything I'm even more distraught that we let people like this represent the general population. I'm completely embarrased when some backwater redneck, racist like Betty Biggot spouts some insensative, narrow minded retoric when what she's supposed to be doing is representing the view of the majority of her constituants. And I can assure you that is not the view of the majority of her constituants, even in Terrell, Texas.

[Hopstretch]

oh get your pc panties out of a bunch

Sorry, I'm a Mac guy.

[Duggeh]

Sorry, I'm a Mac guy.

I've seen some lame jokes, but that one had both arms, both legs, most of its face and scalp and the right nipple blown off by a grenade.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Sorry, I'm a Mac guy.

I've seen some lame jokes, but that one had both arms, both legs, most of its face and scalp and the right nipple blown off by a grenade.

And yet I have a whole new respect for him.