*Has Bobby Jindal been informed?
http://www.zeenews.com/news555566.html
I don’t wish to participate in US’ religious paranoia: SRK
Updated on Saturday, August 15, 2009, 13:28 IST
New Jersey: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was detained for as long as two hours early on Saturday at the Newark airport in the US, thanks to his surname ‘Khan’, has reacted strongly to the episode calling it ‘uncalled for’.
Speaking exclusively to Zee News about the incident that has left him deeply saddened, Shah Rukh said, “I am devoid; it hurts your self respect. I don’t want to make an ego issue out of it but I think I would avoid coming to this place now.”
(((Shah Rukh Khan is a movie star and he does have an ego, but he's always struck me as a reasonable guy for a man in his position. Basically, a bunch of TSA goombahs from Jersey grabbed him at one in the morning, and gave him the "phone call? We're divine in the airport here, you don't get no stinkin' phone call" routine. Needless to say this untoward episode is getting colossal press in the Indian media as today is Indian Independence Day.)))
(((My guess is, they grabbed him because he looked weird. Guys who have a billion screaming fans have funny body language.)))
Further elaborating on the episode, Shah Rukh said, “I was made to answer silly questions which had no relation with a legal and a general interrogation. They didn’t let me use my phone for an hour. I was travelling alone as the US consulate hadn’t allowed a visa to my bodyguard who coincidentally has the same name. As it is I am quite reluctant in coming to the US and I would make sure that I avoid it in the future.” (((I'm not saying the USA needs Shah Rukh Khan to survive, but that stinging remark is probably worth 50 million dollars in collateral damage to Indian-US tourism.)))
When asked what he had to say about Ambika Soni’s statement on the issue where she had called for frisking laws to be made stringent for foreigners in India, “the way they are in US”, the actor said in a lighter vein, “Yes, perhaps that way you can frisk and grill Angelina Jolie too.” (((When Pakistani Moslem terrorist assault Bombay, they don't go to the airport; they steal boats and shoot up the bus stations. So no doubt it makes sense that they need to frisk movie stars.)))
“This has happened with me before and that’s why it concerns me all the more. As it is I shy away from coming to the US because I don’t want to participate in their paranoia about religion and everything that the US has developed into over the years. I don’t want to say that it happened because I am a Muslim as it may lead to something else, but I think it had something to do with that only. We can only avoid this by not coming to the US,” added Shah Rukh.
Suggesting what can be done to avoid such embarrassments, the actor said, “I guess they need to modify the system. I am sure they can do much better than this, being the advanced country America is.” (((Since there's a special new category for "failed states," it stands to reason that there ought to be a category for "formerly advanced countries.")))
The actor ended up by saying, “This particular episode makes me appreciate our independence one million times more. I need an incident like this to strengthen my faith in God further. I am looking forward to coming back to my country.”
(((I hope Shah Rukh finds some comfort in the fact that cops in Jersey just picked up
Bob Dylan.)))
(((Y' know, at one in the morning, the cops get kinda bored. I happened to see an Alfred Hitchcock movie a couple days ago, and the characters were so weird that I noted the origin of the screenplay, which came from a novel written by some guy named "Jack Trevor Story." I had a vague feeling that I'd heard of Jack Trevor Story, that he'd worked in the movies or in television somewhere. So I looked him up, and discovered this sad narrative of a dissolute, craggy-looking Bohemian guy working in film, who got worked over by London bobbies. Basically, because he has the wrong face, the wrong attitude, the wrong posture. Yeah, at one in the morning even London bobbies get surly. I guess we can be glad that Shah Rukh Khan and Bob Dylan didn't catch this particular species of intimidation.)))
