# I Pit the North Carolina General Assembly **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 13, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272 "2013-05-13T23:30:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/41 "2013-05-18T21:37:59Z")
Oh geez, how could I have forgotten about the “nipple bill”??? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/42 "2013-05-18T23:40:32Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > So if there are laws in 40+ states restricting direct sales of cars to consumers, how are people in most of these States buying Tesla cars, if Tesla lacks a dealer network? In Texas, you can order online and have it shipped by a third party. They have galleries where you can look at the cars, but the [employees aren’t allowed to talk about how to buy one](http://www.teslamotors.com/advocacy_texas). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/43 "2013-05-26T13:50:02Z")
[Oh look we made the front page.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-north-carolina-unimpeded-gop-drives-state-hard-to-the-right/2013/05/25/a9c9ccd2-c3c7-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/44 "2013-05-26T14:28:33Z")
Meanwhile, I am shocked–_ **SHOCKED** _–that Asheville was [singled out by the GOP for punitive measures.](http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20130524/NEWS/305230082/High-level-Republican-says-Asheville-targeted?nclick_check=1) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/45 "2013-05-27T22:53:35Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > -A bill that makes parents’ claim of their college kids as dependents for taxes contingent on those kids not casting ballots in the elections local to their college (a sneaky way to pressure college students not to vote). I actually don’t think this is all that outrageous. The resident population of many small towns with a university is sometimes dwarfed by the size of the student population that skews all election results. And while I’m not in favor of disenfranchising students, they have no ties to the college community on any type of permanent basis: They are simply there to get an education and then leave. The permanent residents should have more of a voice in what they have to live with forever instead of bowing to the will of a fresh crop of transients every four years. Let the students vote in their home towns where they do have a vested interest in election results. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/46 "2013-05-27T23:48:20Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I actually don’t think this is all that outrageous. The resident population of many small towns with a university is sometimes dwarfed by the size of the student population that skews all election results. > > And while I’m not in favor of disenfranchising students, they have no ties to the college community on any type of permanent basis: They are simply there to get an education and then leave. The permanent residents should have more of a voice in what they have to live with forever instead of bowing to the will of a fresh crop of transients every four years. Let the students vote in their home towns where they do have a vested interest in election results. If you’re arguing that students shouldn’t be permitted to be legal residents of the places where they go to school, then make that argument. If you’re arguing that students who are legally entitled to declare the place where they go to school as their legal residence should be somehow discouraged from doing so, on the other hand, you’re just a common or garden vote disenfranchiser. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/47 "2013-05-28T00:01:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > If you’re arguing that students shouldn’t be permitted to be legal residents of the places where they go to school, then make that argument. > > If you’re arguing that students who are legally entitled to declare the place where they go to school as their legal residence should be somehow discouraged from doing so, on the other hand, you’re just a common or garden vote disenfranchiser. I don’t know how I would frame it, but I would use a definition of residency as a place in which you intend to stay indefinitely. If I move to Florida with the intent to stay there indefinitely, then I am a resident of Florida, even if I move out six months later. Likewise, if I have a work contract to stay in Florida for 5 years, but then intended to return back to West Virginia, I remain a West Virginia resident for those 5 years. Similarly, unless the student intends to stay in the community after graduation, he or she shouldn’t vote there, but vote in the place where he or she has the most concrete ties: the home town. I don’t see how this is disenfranchisement in any shape or form. If my proposal passed, every student would still be able to vote ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/48 "2013-05-28T01:02:18Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Likewise, if I have a work contract to stay in Florida for 5 years, but then intended to return back to West Virginia, I remain a West Virginia resident for those 5 years. If you mean to suggest that you should not be allowed to vote in Florida for those 5 years, you are probably the only person in America who thinks that. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/49 "2013-05-28T01:16:00Z")
While I visited my hometown after I started college, I never returned to live there longer than a month or so (summer vacation). Hell, I haven’t even been back there since I got my current job over six years ago. There are also kids who, for whatever reason, want no further ties with their hometown. I don’t see anything wrong with college kids voting locally…if they’re going to college full-time, the place where they’re living _is_ their community. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/50 "2013-05-28T03:59:57Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > … If you’re arguing that students who are legally entitled to declare the place where they go to school as their legal residence should be somehow discouraged from doing so … you’re just a common or garden vote disenfranchiser. IIUIC yup, see [_Symm v. United States_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symm_v._United_States), > [@](#): > > … Appellant Symm is responsible for registering voters in the county. Persons personally known to Symm or his deputies as county residents, as well as persons who are listed on the tax rolls as owning property in Waller County {Texas}, are routinely registered upon filling out the state registration form. Those who fall within neither of these categories are required to complete a residency questionnaire, which asks whether the applicant is a college student and, if so, inquires into the student’s home address, property ownership, employment status, future plans, and so forth. > > On October 14, 1976, the Attorney General of the United States filed an action against Symm, Waller County, the State of Texas, and its Secretary of State and Attorney General, alleging that use of the questionnaire denied Prairie View students the right to vote in violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971(a), 1971(c), 1973, 1973j(d), 1973bb, and the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1973bb(a)(2), the United States moved to convene a three-judge District Court. The request for a three-judge court was predicated on the United States’ claim for injunctive relief to remedy alleged violations of the Twenty-sixth Amendment. The motion was granted, and a three-judge District Court was convened. The District Court found that Symm’s registration practices violated the Twenty-sixth Amendment and permanently enjoined him from, among other things, using the questionnaire. Symm appeals from that judgment. > > **Opinion of the Court** > The Court summarily affirmed the appeal (i.e. wrote no opinion). > > **Dissent** > Justice Rehnquist wrote a dissent … CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/51 "2013-05-28T04:14:55Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Likewise, if I have a work contract to stay in Florida for 5 years, but then intended to return back to West Virginia, I remain a West Virginia resident for those 5 years. Neither the state of Florida, nor the state of West Virginia, nor the Federal government agree with you, under basically any circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/52 "2013-05-28T15:09:49Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > … Appellant Symm is responsible for registering voters in the county. Persons personally known to Symm or his deputies as county residents, as well as **persons who are listed on the tax rolls as owning property in Waller County {Texas},** are routinely registered upon filling out the state registration form. Those who fall within neither of these categories are required to complete a residency questionnaire, which asks whether the applicant is a college student and, if so, inquires into the student’s home address, property ownership, employment status, future plans, and so forth. Waitaminnit, how is that proof-of-residency? Lots of people own property they rarely if ever visit. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/53 "2013-05-28T16:17:42Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I don’t know how I would frame it, but I would use a definition of residency as a place in which you intend to stay indefinitely. If I move to Florida with the intent to stay there indefinitely, then I am a resident of Florida, even if I move out six months later. This is a pretty serious violation of the fourteenth amendment rights of transients. There are people who don’t live in a permanent place, and who have no intention of doing so; your suggestion disenfranchises them. The folks who live in a college town make a choice to do so. If they’re living there for four years, then they’re having to deal with decisions made by people who’ve lived there a lot longer; they didn’t get a say in those decisions. If the majority of the town comprises college kids, it only makes sense to have those decisions at least made by a similar demographic. Otherwise you get this weird oligarchy going on in which a small minority of people (i.e., a majority of the minority of residents who are “permanent” by whatever definition you use) make the decisions for everyone. That’s obviously unfair. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/54 "2013-05-28T18:37:28Z")
[http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/19/2904139/nc-general-assembly-police-defend.html](http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/19/2904139/nc-general-assembly-police-defend.html) Demonstrations in NC. An 83 year old retired minister was arrested for merely observing. > [@](#): > > RALEIGH — Retired Methodist minister Vernon Tyson of Raleigh was among the 200 demonstrators at the Legislative Building last week for the weekly Moral Monday demonstration, protesting new initiatives from the GOP-led General Assembly. > > Many of the demonstrators went into the Legislative Building clapping, singing, chanting, hoisting placards and raising their voices with expectations of arrest. But Tyson, 83, said he entered quietly and reflectively to show support and witness the effort to change political course. > > Tyson sat on the same bench he had the week before. When that was moved, he stood against the wall, watching and listening. Then General Assembly law enforcement officers asked him to move or risk arrest. > > “I said ‘Why?’,” Tyson told filmmaker Eric Preston hours later on a video posted to YouTube. “They said, ‘Well, you’re trespassing,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m a tax-paying citizen and this is the people’s house and I don’t see how I can trespass in a house that I helped to build – and I’m not blocking anybody and I’m not demonstrating. I’m not singing. I’m not clapping my hands. I’m not making any noise. The only people I talk to are you.’ ” > > The officers came back minutes later and again urged Tyson to move, then issued one more warning before arresting him along with 48 others. YouTube: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-X13ZxH1IrQ/maxresdefault.jpg "83 Year Old Specator Arrested at NC General Assembly | Vernon Tyson") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X13ZxH1IrQ&t=27s) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/55 "2013-05-28T18:54:51Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > [http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/19/2904139/nc-general-assembly-police-defend.html](http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/19/2904139/nc-general-assembly-police-defend.html) > > Demonstrations in NC. > > An 83 year old retired minister was arrested for merely observing. Interestingly (for me, anyway), Vernon Tyson is the dad of [Timothy Tyson](http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2010/02/25/tim-tysons-blood-done-sign-my-name-heads-cinemas), author of “Blood Done Sign My Name,” a fantastic nonfiction account of a murder that sparked a civil rights movement in rural North Carolina. His dad worked for racial justice way back when, and today is continuing to fight against the same thugs in power. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/56 "2013-05-28T22:00:57Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > [http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/19/2904139/nc-general-assembly-police-defend.html](http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/19/2904139/nc-general-assembly-police-defend.html) > > Demonstrations in NC. > > An 83 year old retired minister was arrested for merely observing. > > YouTube: > > [http://youtu.be/-X13ZxH1IrQ?t=27s](http://youtu.be/-X13ZxH1IrQ?t=27s) As the old Southern grandmas would say, Bless their\* li’l hearts. \*“Their” being the people who arrested Rev. Tyson ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/57 "2013-05-28T23:15:16Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > As the old Southern grandmas would say, Bless their\* li’l hearts. > > \*“Their” being the people who arrested Rev. Tyson Li’l hearts indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/58 "2013-05-29T01:46:02Z")
Speaking of Jesse Helms, he got his start doing TV editorials for a Raleigh station. Think Floyd Turbo (the Carson character) Of course his views were far right. What’s funny now is the very same station runs far left editorials but they only do it on the radio version of their 6 o’clock news (they run the audio of the news on a radio station they also own). ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/59 "2013-06-07T14:43:51Z")
Aaaaaaaand now the General Assembly in Its Infinite Wisdom is trying to bully Asheville into giving up its lawsuit over the water [DEL]theft[/DEL] transfer [Emails reveal state reps trying to settle Asheville water lawsuit, may change city elections](http://www.mountainx.com/article/50508/Emails-reveal-state-reps-trying-to-settle-Asheville-water-lawsuit-may-change-city-elections) There aren’t enough :smack:s in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272/60 "2013-06-07T22:03:10Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Aaaaaaaand now the General Assembly in Its Infinite Wisdom is trying to bully Asheville into giving up its lawsuit over the water [DEL]theft[/DEL] transfer > > [Emails reveal state reps trying to settle Asheville water lawsuit, may change city elections](http://www.mountainx.com/article/50508/Emails-reveal-state-reps-trying-to-settle-Asheville-water-lawsuit-may-change-city-elections) > > There aren’t enough :smack:s in the world. Yep. The state legislature has taken to heart the adage “All’s fair in love and war,” and by “war” they mean “governing.” If it’s legal, they reason, we may as well. I’m desperately hoping that their overreach comes back to bite them in 2014. But honestly, Rest of the Country, I think it’s up to you. We’ve been targeted by national conservatives for a makeover, and we got massive funding by local and national billionaires. If national Democrats keep trying to write the South off as a Lost Cause, we’re doomed to continued rule by these unapologetic plutocrats. We need help from national Democrats to take the state back from those who have targeted us. Okay, maybe it’s a bit melodramatic. But after MOffitt’s most recent “Nice electoral system you got there, shame if anything happened to it” maneuvering, it doesn’t seem so. Edit: Fun fact, that article’s written by a friend of mine! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-north-carolina-general-assembly/658272.md?page=4)