# It Behooves Texas Rep. Betty Brown To Shut Up **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 11, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708 "2009-04-11T01:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/41 "2009-04-12T18:55:46Z")
> [@](#): > > It seems to me that a voter ID law that requires people to choose one name and stick with it is a voter ID law that is functioning exactly as intended. Starting with Elizabeth Brown? ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/42 "2009-04-12T20:13:06Z")
I’m signing my letter to her “Audrey Yamazaki Ngai Chanakarm Chung Leung Kim Jun-Soo Liliuo’kalani Dang.” ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/43 "2009-04-12T22:06:31Z")
When I voted for Obama, i used my expired sams club ID to vote. Where is this a problem in Texas…I’d get pissed about all the Texas bashing if it wasn’t deserved. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/44 "2009-04-12T22:08:10Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d get pissed about all the Texas bashing if it wasn’t deserved. Yeah, me too. I am proud of being a Texan…sometimes. Other times I want to claim another state, ANY other state, as my home. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/45 "2009-04-12T22:10:31Z")
If I were to tell you how many recovering Texans I know who are living here in MN, you wouldn’t believe, already. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/46 "2009-04-12T23:22:50Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > If I were to tell you how many recovering Texans I know who are living here in MN, you wouldn’t believe, already. Maybe that’s how Michelle Bachman got re-elected: expat Texans homesick for the crazy of a Betty Brown type. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/47 "2009-04-13T01:55:49Z")
> [@chez guevara](#): > > 对不起！ 它是好的 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/48 "2009-04-13T20:12:05Z")
What is it about Texas government systems? I had a friend who went to get a Texas driver’s license, having moved there from Alaska. She was told at the Texas DMV that she’d have to take a driving test and do all kinds of paperwork to get the license _“because we don’t accept driver’s licenses from foreign countries.”_ WTF? My friend couldn’t make the clerk believe Alaska is a US state. When the supervisor was called into the dispute my friend said she seemed suspicious as well, but let her get the license. Probably the supe just didn’t want to deal with my friend any more. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/49 "2009-04-13T20:20:29Z")
If we acknowledge that Alaska is a US state, then we also have to admit that we aren’t the biggest US state. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/50 "2009-04-13T21:19:32Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > The problem is, Texas is basically a one party state. If you don’t have an (R) after your name, and your opponent does, then don’t plan on winning any race that’s bigger than citywide. Most of the people I vote for don’t have an (R) after their names, and sometimes I wonder why I BOTHER voting at all. Eh? The Texas house has 71 Dems and 79 Republicans. The Senate has 19 Republicans and 12 Dems. The GOP controls both houses, but the margins are a long way from indicating a one-party state. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/51 "2009-04-13T21:43:36Z")
Maybe I got it wrong, but it seemed to me that the actual problem was that some Asian-Americans were using _different_ names on different kinds of official identification, e.g., a “Chinese” name on a birth certificate and an “American” name on a driver’s license, or something like that. It seems to me that this is an actual problem. Regardless of any nicknames a person might use casually, it doesn’t seem to me that there is any good reason to have differing names appear on different types of official forms. Furthermore, I kind of find it offensive that it seems to be that some immigrants consider it de rigeur to adopt an “American” (i.e., English or European) name. We’re all Americans once we arrive. There’s no need to change our names. As soon as I become an American, my name is American. There should be no concession based on the assumption that English or European-origin names are more American than Asian-origin names. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/52 "2009-04-14T03:07:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe I got it wrong, but it seemed to me that the actual problem was that some Asian-Americans were using different names on different kinds of official identification, e.g., a “Chinese” name on a birth certificate and an “American” name on a driver’s license, or something like that. And to the degree that this is a problem, it’s idiots like Brown that are causing it. She’s the one that _“it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here”_ and _“it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with”_. People like Brown are the ones who want Chinese-Americans to invent an “American” name because they’re confused by people’s real names. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/53 "2009-04-14T09:57:00Z")
This is a real chink in Brown’s armour. I hope someone didn’t beat me to the punch. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/54 "2009-04-15T22:26:21Z")
[The Onion’s take on this issue](http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/texas_legislator_wants_asians_to). ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/55 "2009-04-16T22:56:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Starting with Elizabeth Brown? Absolutely, as regards legal forms of ID. Her friends can call her Betty, Liz, or Sugar-Lips if they want. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/56 "2009-04-21T00:46:09Z")
Now _this_ is funny. There’s a human interest story in the _NY Times_ today, titled [China Brushes Out Distinctive Hues of Names](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/asia/21china.html?_r=1&ref=global-home). You know where this is going. > [@](#): > > Seeking to modernize its vast database on China’s 1.3 billion citizens, the government’s Public Security Bureau has been replacing the handwritten identity card that every Chinese must carry with a computer-readable one, complete with color photos and embedded microchips. > > … > > The bureau’s computers, however, are programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, according to a 2006 government report. The result is that Miss Ma and at least some of the 60 million other Chinese with obscure characters in their names cannot get new cards — **unless they change their names to something more common**. > > Moreover, the situation is about to get worse or, in the government’s view, better. Since at least 2003, **China has been working on a standardized list of characters for people to use in everyday life, including when naming children**. (bolding mine) I think reality wants to have a word with _The Onion_. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708/57 "2009-04-21T01:21:11Z")
They’re essentially just shrinking their alphabet-substitute for official purposes, aren’t they? U.S. government computers don’t accept a lot of characters. People with names written in foreign scripts have to transliterate them to the 26-letter English alphabet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-behooves-texas-rep-betty-brown-to-shut-up/492708.md?page=2)