# Fuck you, Texas Republicans **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2013, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942 "2013-06-26T06:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/121 "2013-06-27T17:23:55Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > And while I am horrified at Perry’s last little idiocy that you quoted, him saying that an unwed teen mother can grow up to be a Senator _might_ actually be the most feminist thing he’s ever said. So, I’m conflicted. I’m not. He’s telling somebody who’s been an unwed teenage mother that he knows the situation of unwed teenage mothers better than she does. With a straight face. Chutzpah, thy name is Rick Perry. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/122 "2013-06-27T17:39:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I agree – this is a most curious contradiction. Killing a human being is a terrible thing for a government to do, and it’s especially disturbing to see the claim that Texas values “all life” juxtaposed with their abysmal record on executions. > > I favor the Texas move on abortion. I strongly despise the Texas position on capital punishment. > > I’m regarded here as a reliable Republican, but the death penalty makes it nearly impossible for me to find a politician that represents ALL my feelings. Very few in the political arena oppose both abortion and the death penalty; to my way of thinking, the two positions require each other. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > ISTM for many, neither position is fundamentally about the sanctity of life, but of _power_. Anti-abortionism is about maintaining power over women in our society. Death penalty support is about maintaining power over “bad guys” in our society. It’s an attitude of needing to see oneself as superior, morally or developmentally etc. over somebody, and having those somebodies be forced to acknowledge it. **Elvis** summed it up for me. I have no respect whatsoever for men who are anti-abortion. They will never be able to get pregnant so they should have no power over those who can. My reproductive choices and those of my daughters are not yours to make for me or them. During my last pregnancy the doctors and nurses literally feared I would go into convulsions and die because my blood pressure was so high. I was on multiple medications and watched carefully. I was lucky everything worked out very well but it could have easily turned out the other way, as my OB told me more than once. No one else has the right to me or my girls that we must literally put our lives in danger because the birth control failed. Fuck any man who would dare tell a woman otherwise. Abortion should remain legal so that women are not told to risk injury or death because they had sex. The death penalty should be abolished because it does not work, costs far too much money and essentially makes sure that our state will execute innocent people. The two have nothing in common. People who are pro death penalty while being anti-abortion simply wish to divide the world into the innocent vrs. the guilty. As someone who has suffered two very difficult pregnancies AND been mugged and robbed on more than one occasion they can fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/123 "2013-06-27T17:43:13Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > **Elvis** summed it up for me. I have no respect whatsoever for men who are anti-abortion. They will never be able to get pregnant so they should have no power over those who can. My reproductive choices and those of my daughters are not yours to make for me or them. My wife asks me to pass on to you that she’s also anti-abortion. Now what? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/124 "2013-06-27T17:53:28Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I’m not. > > He’s telling somebody who’s been an unwed teenage mother that he knows the situation of unwed teenage mothers better than she does. With a straight face. > > Chutzpah, thy name is Rick Perry. I know. I was attempting to make a funny. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/125 "2013-06-27T17:54:35Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > My wife asks me to pass on to you that she’s also anti-abortion. > > Now what? Gross, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/126 "2013-06-27T17:55:17Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > When a bill is massively 80% unpopular with the people you putatively represent, I have fewer problems with public demonstrations in the legislative buildings to voice that discontent. If there is no other recourse then I completely agree. However I think the vote is a reasonable counter. If the bill really is that unpopular then they’ll be voted out and we’ll be the better for it. > [@Carmady](#): > > There is already a countermeasure to this so-called “mob rule.” It’s called law enforcement clearing the room. Which they did: the “ruling mob” was cleared out very quickly. The only reason they had any effect was that the politicians created a situation where they didn’t start trying to vote until 10 minutes left in a month long session. My problem is that in the future we’re left with the remedy of always clearing out the room when the voting deadline is imminent. Wouldn’t we prefer that all the proceedings be public? > [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](#): > > But if you missed the illegal actions taken by Robert Duncan as he presided over the Senate – the refusal to recognize Senator Van de Putte, the refusal to accept rising points of order to adjourn – then you missed the reason we erupted. And do you miss the possibility that you’ve given future mobs some legitimacy in shouting down legislative votes? If the legislature did something illegal then I’m sure there is a way to pursue punishment. I don’t blame the gallery for what appears to be a visceral and unplanned reaction but I guess I’d like to see some contrition. > [@Karrius](#): > > Why are the people who keep going on about how the protestors are awful outright refusing to acknowledge the republicans in the senate broke all sorts of rules, and even _altered time stamps after the fact to make an illegal vote look like it was legal_ ? Why aren’t the elected officials being held to, oh, any standards at all? > > Oh, right, they’re republicans, so when they break the law for the purpose of harming others, it’s a _good_ thing to those people. Right. I think you are projecting. Maybe you don’t mind shouting down a vote because it was the big bad Republicans who lost in the end? For my own part I believe that if any of the Republicans broke the law during the proceedings they should be prosecuted. I’d completely support the gallery taping the vote and using it as evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/127 "2013-06-27T17:57:14Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > My wife asks me to pass on to you that she’s also anti-abortion. > > Now what? That’s her personal choice. What you don’t realize is, that you are the equivalent of a vegetarian who wants to outlaw meat for everyone else. Couple that with the reason you’re anti-abortion in the first place, namely that you belong to an ancient cult that asserts without any evidence at all that _fetuses have teh souls_, and I’m not seeing you as the reasonable person in this argument. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/128 "2013-06-27T18:07:36Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > That’s her personal choice. > > What you don’t realize is, that you are the equivalent of a vegetarian who wants to outlaw meat for everyone else. > > Couple that with the reason you’re anti-abortion in the first place, namely that you belong to an ancient cult that asserts without any evidence at all that _fetuses have teh souls_, and I’m not seeing you as the reasonable person in this argument. You don’t believe anyone has a soul, I take it? But yet you also feel that at some point in the development of a human life, the law should protect that human life from extinguishment by another human’s wilful action. Is that true? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/129 "2013-06-27T18:16:08Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You don’t believe anyone has a soul, I take it? Why would I? There has never been any evidence presented for one? If I damage or drug a brain, the person changes their behavior. That’s pretty good evidence that consciousness is generated by the material of the brain. But that’s neither here nor there. If your ancient cult thought that marital sex on Wednesdays was punishable by death because it constituted Soul Rape™ or some similar weirdness, it would be acceptable for you to abstain. It would not be acceptable for you to try to force others to live by your weirdo beliefs. Same thing here. > [@](#): > > But yet you also feel that at some point in the development of a human life, the law should protect that human life from extinguishment by another human’s wilful action. > > Is that true? Surely. And the fact that an early stage fetus is essentially brain dead, isn’t mitigated by the fact that it has cute little toes and a heartbeat. People should be protected by law, and calling something that has no mind at all a person is a little weird. But that’s the point, isn’t it? We disagree on this. But neither of us has to go through nine months of misery because the other says so. Why should a woman? ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/130 "2013-06-27T18:16:16Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You don’t believe anyone has a soul, I take it? > > But yet you also feel that at some point in the development of a human life, the law should protect that human life from extinguishment by another human’s wilful action. > > Is that true? Indeed Bricker. ALL life is SACRED. Every time your wife exudes a living, unfertilized egg cell it’s MURDER! Better get busy Bub… Texas has the express lane for murderers. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/131 "2013-06-27T18:17:54Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > My wife asks me to pass on to you that she’s also anti-abortion. > > Now what? So she’s just as thoroughly indoctrinated as you are by a bunch of perverted old men in Rome who demand you both believe what they tell you to believe. That’s what. > [@](#): > > You don’t believe anyone has a soul, I take it? When did you decide to stop even pretending? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/132 "2013-06-27T18:20:18Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > And do you miss the possibility that you’ve given future mobs some legitimacy in shouting down legislative votes? You keep using this word “mob”. While it’s been described that way by some folks, the crowd was hardly a mob. Yes, they shouted down a vote. For 15 minutes. Then they were hushed up and escorted out. They were never violent nor truly unruly. The idea that voting people out is a reasonable alternative is pretty laughable. Did you not keep track of the gerrymandering discussion? Representation in Texas doesn’t track the actual demographics of Texas. Districts in Texas have been drawn to favor Republicans. And voters are NOT generally single issue. Worse yet, if ‘voting’ is the answer, why allow such filibusters (ones where you actually stand and talk for hours on end) in the first place? Why not just go through with the vote and let that decide each time? Answer that, and you have a perfectly cromulent reason why occasional direct participation by citizens is a valuable part of our society and why ‘voting the bums out’ is not a good excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/133 "2013-06-27T18:26:34Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Surely. And the fact that an early stage fetus is essentially brain dead, isn’t mitigated by the fact that it has cute little toes and a heartbeat. People should be protected by law, and calling something that has no mind at all a person is a little weird. > > But that’s the point, isn’t it? We disagree on this. But neither of us has to go through nine months of misery because the other says so. > > Why should a woman? Because that nine months of misery is going to save a human life. I know you disagree. But we have a process for making laws in a representative democracy, almost by definition slated to handle the reality that all persons will not agree on the wisdom of any given law. I don’t understand why you believe that for this issue, you are entitled to declare that your view must be the one to drive the law, even though for most other issues, you understand that we make law by electing representatives and allowing them to craft the law. For this issue, you seem to believe you hold a a special card, “Go directly to GO; Collect $200,” that entitles you to bypass the operation of the representative democracy. You don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/134 "2013-06-27T18:28:25Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > You keep using this word “mob”. While it’s been described that way by some folks, the crowd was hardly a mob. > > Yes, they shouted down a vote. For 15 minutes. Then they were hushed up and escorted out. They were never violent nor truly unruly. But that was a rather critical 15 minutes, wasn’t it? Would you have been as appreciative if the law already existed, and this legislative effort was trying to repeal it, but was stopped by pro-life activists shouting down the vote for the crucial fifteen minutes? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/135 "2013-06-27T18:36:11Z")
> [@sylmar](#): > > Indeed Bricker. ALL life is SACRED. > > Every time your wife exudes a living, unfertilized egg cell it’s MURDER! > > Better get busy Bub… Texas has the express lane for murderers. Hell, nearly every cell in your body is undoubtedly alive and contains all the information needed to make a potential human being in a healthy womb. Spit on the sidewalk and you’ll kill more ‘people’ than Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/136 "2013-06-27T18:40:46Z")
And every time you take a shit you need to say a prayer over it. Anti-abortionism is based on the premise that life begins at some specified moment, whose selection is so obviously correct to its believers as to be fact rather than dogma. But there is no basis other than religion for picking that moment, and different religions at different times have picked different moments at that. Others hold life to be a gradually growing thing, rather than instantaneous. But \*\*Bricker \*\*is among those religious dogmatics who are so completely absorbed in belief as to be no longer able to recognize it as such. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/137 "2013-06-27T18:42:34Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Yes, they shouted down a vote. For 15 minutes. Once. In 2013. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/138 "2013-06-27T18:43:39Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Worse yet, if ‘voting’ is the answer, why allow such filibusters (ones where you actually stand and talk for hours on end) in the first place? Why not just go through with the vote and let that decide each time? Answer that, and you have a perfectly cromulent reason why occasional direct participation by citizens is a valuable part of our society and why ‘voting the bums out’ is not a good excuse. The answer is obviously IOKIYAR. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/139 "2013-06-27T18:47:41Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Once. In 2013. It may have to be a few more before we’re through. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942/140 "2013-06-27T18:48:40Z")
> [@sylmar](#): > > Indeed Bricker. ALL life is SACRED. > > Every time your wife exudes a living, unfertilized egg cell it’s MURDER! > > Better get busy Bub… Texas has the express lane for murderers. In my view, an unfertilized egg cell is not a human life – it’s simply a cell, a product of the woman’s body. So, too, is a sperm cell. And so also a skin cell, a muscle cell, and a stem cell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-texas-republicans/661942.md?page=8)