# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1095
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21882 "2015-05-30T03:47:45Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > [http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/29176394/10-things-to-know-for-friday](http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/29176394/10-things-to-know-for-friday) The byline says Associated Press, though. I know news organizations can cut stuff out of AP stories (I’ve seen it elsewhere), but I don’t think they’re allowed to rewrite it. So (much as I hate to say it), it looks like Fox isn’t at fault. DAMNIT, I READ THE THREAD! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21883 "2015-05-30T04:08:10Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > The byline says Associated Press, though. I know news organizations can cut stuff out of AP stories (I’ve seen it elsewhere), but I don’t think they’re allowed to rewrite it. So (much as I hate to say it), it looks like Fox isn’t at fault. > > DAMNIT, I READ THE THREAD! AP posted [a correction](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/1/10_THINGS_TO_KNOW_FRIDAY?SITE=AP). It was their doing. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21884 "2015-05-30T06:44:20Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > AP posted [a correction](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/1/10_THINGS_TO_KNOW_FRIDAY?SITE=AP). It was their doing. And at least [two](http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/10-things-to-know-for-friday/ar-BBkkPz3) [outlets](http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-today-095924373.html) have posted the corrected version, though the one at the original link does not seem to have had the chance to get around to it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21885 "2015-05-30T21:15:13Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I read that whole article, watched the video, then read Senator Johnson’s blog post about it, and I gotta ask: why are the people with all the money and all the power so shit scared and angry all the time? Because unlike the rest of us, they have a lot to love if liberals/progressives get their hands on the levers of power? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21886 "2015-05-30T21:27:37Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Because unlike the rest of us, _they have a lot to love_ if liberals/progressives get their hands on the levers of power? Are you calling liberals fat? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21887 "2015-05-30T21:29:26Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Basically, everyone is afraid. It seems like a lousy way to run a society. > > It seems like, if we could find a way to make sure that everyone’s basic needs are met, then there wouldn’t be near as much fear and hatred. Even the wealthy would have less to fear. You’d think they’d realize that. > > But maybe that’s pollyanna-ish. In any case, that’s a discussion for other threads. Psst. [Basic Income.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income) Picking up steam in the more civilized countries, still relatively unknown outside progressive circles in the US. Gonna make conservatives and libertarians squeal like the pigs they are! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21888 "2015-05-30T21:33:45Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I suspect it is a general _homo sapiens_ defect. Thinking is hard work, if we can shove it off on someone else, hey, great deal. So the first smarmy sociopath comes along, we just hand them the keys. This appears to be the shape of history: society ends up being run by the charismatic sociopaths, so it ends up a gordian linguine. It is not clear whether there is a robust way out of this trap. The Russians and the Chinese tried and ended up back at square one – probably because their efforts were spearheaded by smarmy sociopaths. I have sometimes thought that rather than think of new systems of government, the most effective way to build a better world might involve coming up with ways of detecting and rendering harmless sociopaths. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21889 "2015-05-30T21:35:04Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Are you calling liberals fat? Er … a lot to\* lose.\* Clearly, the BBW/Billionaire erotic fiction I’m writing at the moment is affecting my typing. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21890 "2015-05-30T22:40:46Z")
[Oklahoma state House of Representatives passes a bill requiring that all marriages in the state be performed by a member of the clergy.](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/03/oklahoma-house-passes-bill-restricting-marriage-to-people-of-faith/) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21891 "2015-05-30T22:41:33Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Psst. [Basic Income.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income) Picking up steam in the more civilized countries, still relatively unknown outside progressive circles in the US. Gonna make conservatives and libertarians squeal like the pigs they are! And not terribly different from the [Negative Income Tax](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_income_tax) proposed by the notorious Communist Milton Friedman. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21892 "2015-05-30T23:31:36Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I have sometimes thought that rather than think of new systems of government, the most effective way to build a better world might involve coming up with ways of detecting and rendering harmless sociopaths. Well, I guess you could render them, but who would buy the finished product? I think your business model is unfinished. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21893 "2015-05-30T23:35:37Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Oklahoma state House of Representatives passes a bill requiring that all marriages in the state be performed by a member of the clergy.](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/03/oklahoma-house-passes-bill-restricting-marriage-to-people-of-faith/) So, [quote=“[(excerpt of) text of OK-HB1125] ([http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf\_pdf/2015-16%20INT/hB/HB1125%20INT.PDF](http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2015-16%20INT/hB/HB1125%20INT.PDF))”] **Section 7**. A. [del]All[/del] Except as provided in subsection E of this section marriages must be contracted by a formal ceremony performed or solemnized in the presence of at least two adult, competent persons as witnesses, by [del]a judge or retired judge of any court in this state, or[/del] an ordained or authorized preacher or minister of the Gospel, priest or other ecclesiastical dignitary of any denomination who has been duly ordained or authorized by the church to which he or she belongs to preach the Gospel, or a rabbi and who is at least eighteen (18) years of age. [/quote] … fuck the mussulmen? (Note that it would still be possible to get a common law marriage certificate, but the fee would be $50 instead of $5.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21894 "2015-05-30T23:42:27Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > Well, I guess you could render them, but who would buy the finished product? I think your business model is unfinished. The finished product would be good for making soap and candles. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21895 "2015-05-31T00:02:21Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Um, does anybody have Annise Parker’s phone number? > > I’m single. She isn’t. Our Mayor & her partner had to go to California to marry. Mayor Parker behaved quite professionally at the news conference where Our Governor & Our Jr Senator hogged some limelight–wearing macho-man jackets to look like they’d been out rescuing kitten and puppies from the flood waters. Both these idiots have been campaigning against gay marriage, most hatefully. Well, Cruz has been pretty hateful. Films from Houston looked pretty bad but it is known to flood here; the water drains off pretty quickly. Traffic was a mess & some houses were flooded–mostly in a neighborhood housing Texas Medical Center employees. A few people died–but the city has hardly been cleansed of sodomites. The worst flooding is rural–along the rivers. The cities just got more coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21896 "2015-05-31T00:04:59Z")
[Governor Paul LePage of Maine says he will veto every bill presented to him by the Democrats in the legislature unless they do away with the state income tax.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/05/30/maine-governors-massive-tantrum-will-veto-every-bill-dems-propose-until-he-gets-what-he-wants/) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21897 "2015-05-31T00:25:48Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Oklahoma state House of Representatives passes a bill requiring that all marriages in the state be performed by a member of the clergy.](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/03/oklahoma-house-passes-bill-restricting-marriage-to-people-of-faith/) > [@eschereal](#): > > So, > … fuck the mussulmen? > > (Note that it would still be possible to get a common law marriage certificate, but the fee would be $50 instead of $5.) What about other religions besides Christianity and Judaism? Hindus have to be married by Christian or Jewish clergy? Pagans? Satanists? And note that the proposed statute requires marriages to involve a ceremony, so presumably if there’s no ceremony there’s no marriage. Is there any way at all that this is Constitutionally acceptable? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21898 "2015-05-31T00:44:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > What about other religions besides Christianity and Judaism? Hindus have to be married by Christian or Jewish clergy? Pagans? Satanists? > > And note that the proposed statute requires marriages to involve a ceremony, so presumably if there’s no ceremony there’s no marriage. As I noted, they leave open the option of common law marriage, which seems to be effectively equivalent to sanctified marriage, at least as far as property and spawnlings. When it comes to power of attorney type stuff (e.g., plug-pulling), the partners would probably have to have an additional notarized document. At, of course, additional cost. > [@](#): > > Is there any way at all that this is Constitutionally acceptable? No. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21899 "2015-05-31T03:48:12Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > No. Okay, so if a guy like me can see that it plainly is unconstitutional, how is it that all these jackasses can’t? Or is this just posturing? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21900 "2015-05-31T03:59:51Z")
Combination of posturing, nullification, and “Oh, Lawdy, Lawd Gawd, In Jesus Blood Fucking Amen!” (Often seriously phrased as, “The laws of God take precedence over the laws of men.” These shits really believe that.) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21901 "2015-05-31T04:23:35Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Okay, so if a guy like me can see that it plainly is unconstitutional, how is it that all these jackasses can’t? > > Or is this just posturing? Is it Oklahoma? Do they have a stone-tablets monument on the statehouse lawn? These guys are just testing the limits, to see what they can get away with (“_hey, we included the Hebes, so it is not establishing **A** religion_”). No one has ever gone to prison for writing a bad law. (Hmm, now that might be a thought …) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1094) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1096)