# 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:** 1267
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25322 "2015-11-08T04:45:45Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Alabama Board of Education member decries “homosexualists” trying to take over Southern schools, and claims Southern Poverty Law Center wants to make little kids transgendered.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/betty-peters-common-core_563e2a82e4b0307f2cadb27e) Seriously, I can’t even imagine what this person looks like without imagining Early Cuyler from _Squidbillies_ saying it. 😃 But where does all this backwards thinking always, always, always stem from? > [@From Article](#): > > “As I said when I first campaigned and I’ve said it every time since, we need to get back to the basics: Reading, writing and arithmetic from first grade on,” Peters continued. “ **We need to be teaching the ‘c’ part which is Christian values, not Muslim values, not transgender values. We need to be teaching the old Biblical values**." Ay, there’s the rub. We can’t put religious crap on the back burner in this country, it seems. But if the GOP ever want to remain in higher office in the future, they’ll need to get rid of their religious crapola, and fast. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25323 "2015-11-08T06:02:07Z")
I can vaguely picturing someone thinking the Pyramids were used for grain storage, if that person had played thousands of hours of _Civilization III_. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25324 "2015-11-08T06:49:51Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > We have? Why didn’t we tell us that we did? We’ve gone to plaid! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25325 "2015-11-08T07:27:47Z")
And before anyone else says it: Gender Fluid Spectrum = BAND NAME! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25326 "2015-11-08T10:42:00Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Alabama Board of Education member decries “homosexualists” trying to take over Southern schools, and claims Southern Poverty Law Center wants to make little kids transgendered.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/betty-peters-common-core_563e2a82e4b0307f2cadb27e) I read the last part of that sentence and was all 😕 😕 so I clicked the link and read this: > [@](#): > > [Alabama Board of Education member Betty] Peters also made a puzzling critique of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national hate-group watchdog. According to Peters, the group is distributing coloring sheets featuring different clothing items and asking children to color in which clothes they want to wear in an attempt to “teach tolerance for transgenderism to four to eight year olds.” > > “The Southern Poverty Law Center is going to be developing your children or grandchild or neighbors’ children into little social activists for social justice, as they define it, or else transgender stuff," she said. “You will notice these are called outfits. I have never asked my son or my husband what ‘outfit’ they are going to wear. This is just crazy. I think all this stuff is mainly written by whacky feminists.” At which point I was completely 😕 😕 😕 because why would the hate-group-watch organization SPLC be distributing children’s coloring sheets featuring items of clothing? Turns out that the SPLC has a project called “Teaching Tolerance” that creates educational materials on civil rights, diversity, and other social-justice-type topics. One of which is a [“Toolkit for Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression”](http://www.tolerance.org/sex-identity-expression) for grades K-2, which I thought sounded pretty 🆒 🆒. Until I noticed that [its “Which Outfit?” coloring handout](http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/Which%20Outfit%20Handout.pdf) includes, along with shirts, dresses, ties, overalls etc., an undeniable _MERMAID-TAIL COSTUME!!_ The SPLC is clearly trying to turn your child or grandchild or neighbor’s child into an advocate for transspeciesism!! So now of course I’m all :eek: :eek: :mad: :mad: :mad:. Edit: and don’t even get me started on the accompanying [“Which Hairdo?”](http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/Which%20Hairdo%20Handout.pdf) coloring handout, which is clearly trying to turn your child into a Marie Antoinette impersonator. (Nitpick: by the way, where the hell did this paranoid wacko get the idea that men’s or boys’ clothing can’t be called “outfits”? Google search has like 14 million hits for the search term “men’s outfits”.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25327 "2015-11-08T10:49:46Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > (Nitpick: by the way, where the hell did this paranoid wacko get the idea that men’s or boys’ clothing can’t be called “outfits”? Google search has like 14 million hits for the search term “men’s outfits”.) Because in her little corner of her red state, no one uses that particular phrase. If it isn’t in her personal experience, it is obviously a plot by the transsexualists. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25328 "2015-11-08T16:05:11Z")
_“I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy…”_ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25329 "2015-11-08T16:09:18Z")
_We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys And if you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too…_ ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25330 "2015-11-08T17:25:08Z")
♫\*…Mammas, don’t let your boys grow up to be mermaids… Don’t let 'em wear dresses and drive Barbie Corvettes Make 'em wear pants and manly, masculine hair cuts…\*♫ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25331 "2015-11-08T17:29:48Z")
It’s this sort of thing that makes me wonder why we even **have** local elected school boards. Why not just let the state Department of Education run the schools? ---
**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:** [November 8, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25332 "2015-11-08T18:29:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It’s this sort of thing that makes me wonder why we even **have** local elected school boards. Why not just let the state Department of Education run the schools? Home rule is a big, big thing. When I left New Jersey, there were over 600 school districts, because every little township had to have their own. California has a little over 1,000. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25333 "2015-11-08T18:37:26Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Home rule is a big, big thing. When I left New Jersey, there were over 600 school districts, because every little township had to have their own. California has a little over 1,000. !!! In Florida we just have 67, one for each county. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25334 "2015-11-08T18:48:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It’s this sort of thing that makes me wonder why we even **have** local elected school boards. Why not just let the state Department of Education run the schools? States’ rights. Fucking Tommy Jefferson, man. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25335 "2015-11-08T19:21:41Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > States’ rights. Fucking Tommy Jefferson, man. We’re not even talking states’ rights here, we’re talking counties’ or townships’ rights. Why can’t the **state** DoEs run the states’ public schools? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25336 "2015-11-08T19:58:34Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I’m going back to the Obama vs. [del] Ryan the child molester [/del] … To be fair, that particular Ryan’s crime was encouraging his then-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, to have sex in public. Your definition of “crime” may vary. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > We’re not even talking states’ rights here, we’re talking counties’ or townships’ rights. Why can’t the **state** DoEs run the states’ public schools? Posse Comitatus, dude. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25337 "2015-11-08T20:52:02Z")
For those who aren’t following the Ben Carson threads: Carson has demanded an apology from the WSJ for saying that the course he named in his book, Perceptions 301, was not offered at Yale when Carson attended. Carson reportedly posted a link to the Yale syllabus, and said, “Allow me also to do the research for the Wall Street Journal reporter. Here is a syllabus for the class you claim never existed. Still waiting on the apology.” Here’s the link to the syllabus. It completely vindicates Carson. Well, except that the name of the course is Psych 323, not Perceptions 301. And the date of the course is 2002, not the early 70’s. The professor received his PhD in 1999, so he was probably not born when Carson was at Yale. And as I speculated in an earlier post in one of these threads, as a 300-level course, it has a very limited enrollment (Carson claimed his had 150 students). To be specific, each student is required to give a presentation of 10 to 15 minutes. Only two class days are allotted for this, a total of 2.5 hours. So if each student took the minimum 10 minutes, and each began speaking the instant the previous one finished, there would be time for 15 students. Given the time it would take for one student to follow another, and the prof’s comments before, during, and after the presentations, an enrollment of 10 seems more feasible. He also posted an undated story about a hoax psychology retest at Yale. It doesn’t have a single detail that matches Carson’s story, but he again claims that he deserves an apology. So it appears that he didn’t make the story up out of thin air; he saw that article, and concocted a version where he would be the star of the story. He’s plagiarizing his lies. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25338 "2015-11-08T21:34:51Z")
Wow, it would had been easier to just toss his cowriter under the bus, and in another thread it is clear that that is what he has done in a recent interview. What it would be interesting is to find when he did the toss and when he demanded the apology to the WSJ. I would not be surprised though that he is doing **both** moves regardless if they are in essence contradictory. Carson also demonstrates what I have observed with many extreme conservatives, they do have a huge blind spot when they have to deal with time lines. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25339 "2015-11-08T22:17:31Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Carson also demonstrates what I have observed with many extreme conservatives, they do have a huge blind spot when they have to deal with time lines. The space-time continuum has a liberal bias. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25340 "2015-11-08T22:37:01Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The space-time continuum has a liberal bias. No no no. the space-time continuum has had/will have a huge liberal bias. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25341 "2015-11-08T22:48:00Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > No no no. the space-time continuum has had/will have a huge liberal bias. Will have had … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1266) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1268)