“Assimilating” isn’t wrong, if that’s what makes you truly happy in life. Neither is maintaining an identity from the motherland if that’s what makes you happy. Couple of generations down, majority of immigrants are “assimilated” anyway. Who are we to peg individuals in a category where they belong. If it’s prejudice that keeps immigrants from moving ahead in America, then it’s equally wrong to hate on people who never felt they belonged among a group to begin with.

I never said it was right or wrong. People keep claiming that I have passed a judgment here, and I am honestly perplexed and befuddled by this. What I said was that the fact that his name is familiar and easy for an American to say (and yes, Bobby is an American name) means that that nativists who would normally oppose a candidate named Piyush have no objection to one named Bobby.

It’s an important point, but not one that is value laden. People keep reading my post according to what they want / expect to hear, and it’s really bizarre for me as the writer to see what people think I said.

But something else which is interesting….

In the latest Politics Home survey, Bobby Jindal is the most popular Republican in the US, and in fact the most favourably rated of all of the politics figures they asked their surveyees about, see: http://www.politicshome.com/USA/Landing.aspx?Blog=6132&perma=link

If his son had been named Moishe Teitelbaum Jindal, what would you think? If his daughter had been named LaQuisha Jindal, what would you think? fair enough point. laqisha. lol. He’s a brown Catholic. Slade Ryan (to my ears) sounds very waspy, that is, very white, very angle an very protestant. It sounds as deliberate as any of the names I’ve listed above. american white cultures are more diverse than this, you’re stereotypes aren’t too fine-grained. the catholics in louisana are cajun, which is way diff. than northern catholics. here’s a baby name map. a new england WASP would not have a name like ‘slade.’ it’s a nouveau name and lacks class. things are different in the south, and the southern upper class has that weird habit of giving kids last names as first (e.g., jackson). it turns out that slade is a welsh surname, but i suspect it is a normal name in his social circles. see this article on politics & baby names. btw, bobby didn’t take a big step toward assimilation: marry a white chick (which around 1/3 of american brown brownz do).

“Slade” isn’t a Welsh surname; it’s an English surname…from Old English/Anglo-Saxon.

I think it may have more to do with his hair.

I have feeling that Blago will make one of the great political comebacks of all time. Even D.L Hughley the future voice of black America has called Blagojevich his all time hero and said he wants to help prove Blago is innocent.

ya never know these days.

Jindal seems like a smart and successful politician. I fail to understand this attitude. It seems unique. 1. An American of Indian origin Sonal Shah is religious, retains her desi roots / culture and connections and donates her time (and possibly money) to VHP. It is a problem and she is evil and not to be supported. 2. An American of Indian origin Bobby Jindal moves away from his desi roots / culture and connections and donates his time and energy to republican party and becomes a governor. It is a problem, he is not to be supported. Hmm. So in order for an American of Indian origin to be supported, it looks like he/she needs to get a manual from the likes of Vijay Prashad on what constitutes good behavior and follow the same.

wow. this is incredibly true. Almost strikingly on target.