Tim Blair

f)Squiffy

How bout "India Sucks?" How bout "India Is-a-feculent-hellhole?" How bout Thiruvananthapuram-Is-a-puss?"

I just want to help.

Sachin?

India should have copy-righted her name. The cat should be called 'unIndia', or 'nonIndia'. People are so sensitive to perceive slights where there are none. It may be a matter of leftist self-esteem.

It should be called "Haliburton" or "Michael Moore".

No one would complain about those names, surely!

Additionally, hasn't little India been around for years already?

Why are the Indians only getting irate about this now of all times?

How is a cat an insult to India? If GWB named one of his turds India, then maybe it's an insult. What kind of idiot takes the time to make and burn an effigy because of a cat's name. I can't imagine it was easy finding such crybaby whiny little bitches in India, Indians are typically cool.

John-John.

GW could have avoided a lot of trouble if only he had listened to T.S. Eliot:

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES . . .

A difficult matter

The whole issue should be referred to this agency:
The Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Why name a cat India in the first place?

Because it's a pretty name, Andjam. Human females use it too, though here in the US it's mostly among Southerners. In ``Gone With the Wind'' Ashley Wilkes' spinster sister is named India.

Jeez, don't have a cow guys, oops!

What's the difference between a Hindustan Ambassador (seen here) and a Mormon?

You can shut the door on the Mormon!!!

India in the past was a common name for women in the South. (trivia: Ashley Wilkes sister in Gone with the Wind was named India).
I suspect this is the origin of the name, not the country, since Cats are frequently given old fashioned names like Morris the Cat. (my cat is named Kitty, but then I'm from the north).
And the state of Indiana was not named after Asia India, but the Indians...

Ooops! Should have read the instructions more betterly. For those who want to see the Hindustan Ambassador, here it is.

A Thousand apologies.

g) "Mrs Slocombe".

on a theme ?! (Whoopi's crudity at the Kerry love-in the other night; now GWB's cat; and here the link is to Tasmania.)

My cat is named Xena. Now I suppose thousands of Xena the Warrior Princess fans will riot and burn me in effigy. Oh wait -- they don't know what I look like. Well, here's a few pictures of a sort of lookalike. Really! Would I lie to you? :innocent stare:

How about "Bharat the Cat"?

Wow! Can I have your number?

They're taking the cat name as a label, rather than one side of a conversation with the cat that they're not hearing the other side of. It's probably a stupidity they picked up from Western Philosophy, or rather picked up stupidly from Western Philosophy.

I bet they're from the city.

g) Catmandu

Just to be sure, we're talking India Indians, not woo-woo Indians, right?

(Just kidding. Heard someone say that and thought it was funny.)

Don't know if Aussies are familiar with this, but some of our more insecure woo-woo Indians complain about sports-team names like Indians, Braves, Chiefs, etc (I'll give 'em Redskins, cuz that's an out-and-out slur.) Always wondered why Scandinavians in Minnesota don't complain about the Minnesota Vikings.

Is the cat black and named for India ink? Guess "Ebony" would be out, even though it is a lovely wood.

What about "Blacky Paki"? That might assuage their umbrage

Since the First Cat is named India, perhaps the country that previously used that name should change its name to something else, like Punjarallahjabadamungbladolahtida.

Tandoori Kitten? Sounds like a dish at a Chinese/Indian restaurant. "I'll have the Tandoori kitten, and a side of poodle pakoras."

This is funny because the same Indian nationalists are probably campaigning at home to rename India back to its pre-colonial and Hindi name - Bharat.

What's so bad about naming a cat India? I think India is a pretty name for a cat or a person.

Is there some religious belief or custom Bush has violated by naming his cat India? I believe dogs are considered unclean by Muslims. Do the Hindus have some sort of taboo on cats?

If they wanted to name the 'first cat of India', America or USA, it wouldn't bother me at all. Could be a compliment.

Rajan R,

They are, but would like to add an "a" for Bharata to make it the Sanskrit name for an ancient king. A petition from '02 actually ends with:

"Combined with the revival of Sanskrit as a national language, this will enhance its prestige among the international community. The example of Israel with Hebrew lies before us. Sincerely, the Undersigned"

(wow!)

I like Cat Hindu. Regards

i) Mahatma Garfield.
j) Pussy Tikka Masala.

Just wait til Osama Bin Laden finds about Bush's piglet, "Muhammed".

What are the names of Bush's cows? Will the youths of Thiruvananthapuram still be outraged when they find that they are name Ground Chuck, Serloin, Flank and Rib Eye?

"And the state of Indiana was not named after Asia India, but the Indians..."

It doesn't seem like anyone mentioned that the American Indians are called "Indians" cause Christopher Columbus and them thought they had landed in India, not any kind of New World.

So, yes, Indiana is named after Indians, but those Indians are named after India (by mistake). Maybe everyone knows this, but it's not a coincidence that people in both the Americas and southern asia are both named Indians. And, BTW, Indianapolis is named after the woo-woo Indians also, as is the "Indy 500" (Indirectly).

Maybe George and Laura should be more sensitive (ha, ha), but what the heck difference does it make, as cats don't know their names anyway. They don't answer to lowly humans, as we are their servants.

Some Indians were in a swivet about this back in 2000. Local papers there had many articles about the "outrage". The White House even reacted with a terse statement telling the complainants to get a life.

It is curious why this cat is being flogged again, though. Must be a very slow news diet in India these days.

There is in fact a confusion about the Crayola color ``Indian Red'' that was covered in http://rhhardin.home.mindspring.com/johnkencut.indianred.ram which drew protests from the wrong Indians.

"Always wondered why Scandinavians in Minnesota don't complain about the Minnesota Vikings."

Ex-military folks like President Bush sometimes name their pets after the Military Alphabet Code. The code for "I" is "India".

I have a good ex-military friend who named his cat "Tango". As far as I know he did not hear from any outraged Argentines.

Wow, Andrea, we must be twins, separated at birth! Uh huh.

My former employer, a mediocre midwestern university, used to have a Viking as a mascot. When an African-American president took over, the politically correct crowd forced the university to change the mascot to a wolf, because the Viking was deemed offensive (to whom, we never found out). The designer of the new logo, however, didn't know beans about wolves, so the new mascot looks like a junkyard dog. You gotta love political correctness and progress, no? It's only one of many small nibbling-to-death reasons why I don't work there anymore.

Royce, I think you've probably got it right. I never even thought of that.

He should have named the kitty Kaybeck, then (Phonetic Q), and just pissed off the French Canadians instead. Let's see who we can piss of without even trying: It might get some people MADD (get it, get it) to name him Whiskey, but it doesn't sit well with your friends in AA - My name's George and my cat's an alcholic....

oops, should read "alcholic", one more beer and I won't be able to post at all.

Here Kitty, finish up this Moosehead for me, I gotta go pee ...

"He should make amends," Latheef added.

I suggest a box of Omaha Steaks (bacon wrapped to cover all the bases...)

I could understand the French being insulted by Paris Hilton, but a cat named India? No.

If I was GWB, right about now I'd be looking to getting a large mean dog and calling it Pakistan...

A complaint of this nature warrants inflammation, if only for the entertainment value.

A high school in the US with a mainly woo-woo Indian student body decided to strike back against Indian-named teams by calling their intramural teams the "Fighting Whiteys". The logo is a fifties-style middle-age smiling white guy with pipe. Made themselves a ton of money selling shirts on the Internet - mostly to white folks. Haven't ordered mine yet, but I will. Oh, yes, I will. Of course, if I wear it, that will transform it into something offensive to nonwhites, I'm sure.

Always wondered why Scandinavians in Minnesota don't complain about the Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings tend to do well. If their win-loss record was like the Washington Redskins, I'd be complaining, too.

It's worth pointing out that the indians tend not to complain when badass military hardware is named after them- the foremost example being the Apache attack helicopter.

Howabout "Indian Pussy"? You know, like Latheef is.

My cat is called "Chairman Meow". Don't tell the Chinese!

That's EXACTLY as I imagined you'd look, Andrea.

Folks, speaking as a real-live Indian of the American persuasion, I can assure you that most of us think "Indian" team names are no big deal, but the "Fightin' Whitey's" are hilarious.

(Here's the CafePress page by the way. Proceeds go to a University of Northern Colorado scholarship program.)

In any case, we're cool with it, so long as we can keep bleedin' you white folks dry in the casinos. Pretty quick, we'll just buy the damn country back.

Speaking of high school team names. In the scrub desert of southwest Washington state, next to the Columbia river, is a town called Richland. During WWII, the uranium that was used in the atomic bomb was refined and enriched at the Hanford nuclear reservation just outside of Richland. The people of Richland have always been proud of the contribution they made in ending WWII.

The teams at Richland High School are known as the Bombers. The logo on the side of their football helmet is a mushroom cloud. The citizens of Richland, and the alumni and students of Richland H.S., have resisted tremendous pressure over the years to change the name and logo of the team. In the mid-1980's the nuclear freeze nim-rods even brought a bunch of Japanese citizens over to Washington state, well to Seattle anyway, to weep and whine about how hurt they were by that logo. The locals in Richland told them to go fuck themselves. GO BOMBERS!!!

Uh Charlie.....Hellashous Honkys? BTW, the tax rate just went up. India's out of the bag.

k) Catastrophe

I believe the "Fightin' Whitey's" are also know as the Prodestants.

Go Prodestants!

My cat is named Xena. Now I suppose thousands of Xena the Warrior Princess fans will riot and burn me in effigy. Oh wait -- they don't know what I look like. Well, here's a few pictures of a sort of lookalike. Really! Would I lie to you? :innocent stare:

No, but we might want to in response to you having "the" between "Xena" and "Warrior Princess".

Is "Lathleef" an Indian version of "Latham"? They seem to have a lot in common.

Andjam: take it up with my cat. It's her name.

Perhaps they could have called little Tiddles
Pakistan or
Kashmir

why not "I hate muslim fundamentalists and protestors can go f*ck themselves". It might be a little long on the Vet card but it covers more bases. I'd like to see the reaction at the press conference when someone asks for the new name of the pet.

Those Fighting Whites T-shirts look good but I couldn't be bothered explaining the significance to every idiot I meet.

why not "I hate muslim fundamentalists and protestors can go f*ck themselves". It might be a little long on the Vet card but it covers more bases. I'd like to see the reaction at the press conference when someone asks for the new name of the pet.

Those Fighting Whites T-shirts look good but I couldn't be bothered explaining the significance to every idiot I meet.

We have a cat named China. This has not yet caused an international incident. But tonight I intend on vigorously telling her to free Tibet.

Fuck You Pussycat

(whoa-oh-oh-oh-ohhh)

What about calling it Moraji Desai? Bush could then do the cute thing of writing the cat's name on its drinking bowl.

This post is worthy of The Glass House Tim.

Would anyone complain if the Prime Minister of India named his pet cat America?

Maybe Aussies could petition the Prez to name the cat Vegemite...

Don't let's lower our standards, pig sucker. Things were just getting good here.

I think all cats for the next two days should be named either "Vegemite," "Marmite." or "Peanut Butter," then we'll take a poll and then...and then...
ah...

... isn't their PM named "Budgie Pie"?
Aussies'd find that offensive ...

Not a lot of meat on a Budgie.

Govindaloo

"Not a lot of meat on a Budgie."

... as in Apricot(s) Pie?

Could be just enough for "India".
I guess they could use the leftover drummies as toothpicks?

What's in a name? How about dinner?
Especially next time the Indian PM is down at the ranch, how about this as the main course?

Catburger?

Dalit is a nice name for a cat.

This problem could easily be fixed by killing the cat. I would be happy to assist. Bag, brick ,cat, water - problem gone away longtime.

I hate cats almost as much as I hate leftoids and islamofascists and. . .

I'm going to have a lie down now.

I'm not often grossed out and suprised at once, well done Habib, that was truly sick.

While on the topic of eating cute animals I can highly recommend wallaby hamburgers and kangaroo steaks. I'm yet to try emu but I hear that's not bad either. Oh, I've also eaten dog in Thailand, a bit tough but tasty.

Andjam: take it up with my cat. It's her name.

Is her name "Xena" or "Xena the Warrior Princess"?

``Would anyone complain if the Prime Minister of India named his pet cat America?''

I don't think so - America is already a girl's name among Hispanics. And why shouldn't it be? The name of the continent comes from Amerigo Vespucci, after all, who named it after himself :)

That's right. Amerigo OWNS YOU ALL!!!!

A local university's teams used to be known as the Hurons after an indian tribe which also lent their name to the Huron river and Lake Huron. PC freaks decided a few years back that this was offensive to the tribe. They commissioned their mighty research department to check this out. The researchers reported back that, unfortunately, the tribe was extinct so no direct assessment could be made. Still, the researchers were sure the tribe would have been offended if it existed. Therefore, they proposed to change the team name to Eagles.

When this was publicized in the newspapers, the university was contacted by the Chief of the Wyandott tribe of over 10,000 members. He informed the mighty research department that "Huron" was the French name for the tribe whose English name is "Wyandott". He further pointed out that their tribal headquarters was located in the city of Wyandott, Michigan, less than 25 miles from the mighty research department's campus. Finally, he mentioned that the tribal council had voted and liked the idea of the team nickname being "Hurons" and asked the university to keep it.

Naturally, the university went right ahead and changed the team name to "Eagles". Asked for comment, the Chief said: "What next, will they take away our Lake?"

"Garbudda!!"

"America" was a name invented by the German publisher who printed and published signor Vespucci's maps. Amerigo was far too modest to do something such as naming a continent after himself or a cat after a sub-continent.

Mahatma is taken Tim, and I'm not a cat. Blame my liberal hippy parents.

Triumph the Comic insult dog is right.....
Cats are C@@@s

Andjam: here is my cat's reply: "MaaooOOOoowrrr. Raaarrr!" I think it means "Shut up and open a can of tuna, bitch."

>In any case, we're cool with it, so long as we
>can keep bleedin' you white folks dry in the
>casinos. Pretty quick, we'll just buy the damn
>country back.

That's why I'm totally in favor of Indian casinos. Responsible gamblers can have a little fun, losers can redistribute their income to Indians, and Indians can get some legal, non-violent payback. I dig it.

Bush's cat is all black. I still think it was named for very black India ink even though the White House officially lists the kitty's namesake as a Rangers ballplayer Ruben Sierra whose nick is "El Indio". Anyway, the wrong countrymen are sleighted by "India". Sierra is Puerto Rican, maybe a Latino with native American or Caribbean heritage. Or maybe they call him this because he is stoically strong and silent (we now know this ia an unwelcome stereotype of native American Indians). Either way, if India the cat were named for him, his nick was femininized, as in La India. Shouldn't Puerto Rican men be doubly insulted?

Bharata Indians should be ashamed for trying to steal someone else's rightful PC indignation.

Bush's cat is all black.

That's proof that he's a witch!!!

Maybe he should name the cat Isis. Let's ask Richard Riordan's opinion...

Bush's cat is all black. I still think it was named for very black India ink ...

Or India rubber.

Bush's cat is a FAKE!

Sounds like a bunch of people in Thiruvananthapuram, India have no life.

I just got a black kitten, and she is named after ink (we are graphic artists at my house). I almost (whew!) named her India, but instead we just named her Ink. Pathetically common, I know, but she is not exactly a blueblood herself. :)

If you ever get a dog, speedwell, try the name "Spot". Introducing "Ink" and "Spot" would really be a combination to raise some eyebrows! ;-)