# 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:** 130
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2581 "2011-02-15T21:09:39Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > Here is how I think you read the clarifying subsection: > 22-16-35. Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person in the lawful defense … of his or her … unborn child …, if there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design … to do some great personal injury [to the unborn child], and imminent danger of such design being accomplished. > > I don’t see this as an authorization to shoot the medical people who are going to abort your employee’s girlfriend’s fetus. I think the Second Amendment option is restricted to the mother and father of the fetus. It is not as expansive as some might think but it is still pretty radical and amounts to declaring open season on abortion providers and support staff (maybe down to the scrub nurse and the receptionist). I’m not following your parsing. 21-16-35 reads:[ > [@](#): > > Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person in the lawful defense of such person, or of his or her husband, wife, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant, or the unborn child of any such enumerated person, if there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony, or to do some great personal injury, and imminent danger of such design being accomplished. ]([http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2011/Bill.aspx?File=HB1171HJU.htm](http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2011/Bill.aspx?File=HB1171HJU.htm)) The ‘or’ conjunctions are alternates for “such person,” yielding: Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person in the lawful defense of … the unborn child of [people just listed], if there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to [cause harm]. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2582 "2011-02-15T22:20:56Z")
What I’m trying to do here is reconcile the two sections. Subsection 34 clearly applies to the supposed defense of the shooter’s unborn child and no one else’s. Subsection 35 just sticks some unborn child language in the middle of a pretty standard provision for the use of deadly force in defense of another. I can’t see Sec. 35 as extending the protection of Sec. 34 to the unborn child of, for instance, your employee. It is an awkward construction in the second section. As I said above, you need to read the whole statute and you need to try to reconcile the conflicts. Here, again is the whole thing, which I read as little more than an “open season on abortionists” law: ``` FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to expand the definition of justifiable homicide to provide for the protection of certain unborn children. ``` BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA: Section 1. That § 22-16-34 be amended to read as follows: 22-16-34. Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is. Section 2. That § 22-16-35 be amended to read as follows: 22-16-35. Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person in the lawful defense of such person, or of his or her husband, wife, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant, or the unborn child of any such enumerated person, if there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony, or to do some great personal injury, and imminent danger of such design being accomplished. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2583 "2011-02-15T22:26:58Z")
OK, so, in theory, could a woman go into an abortion clinic -ostensibly to have an abortion- and “change her mind” during the procedure, killing the doctor performing the procedure. Would that be justifiable under the proposed law? ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2584 "2011-02-15T22:37:59Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > OK, so, in theory, could a woman go into an abortion clinic -ostensibly to have an abortion- and “change her mind” during the procedure, killing the doctor performing the procedure. Would that be justifiable under the proposed law? Sure looks like it, doesn’t it. It is her unborn child and it looks as if that’s all that is needed. Saying “stop I’ve changed my mind” might be more reasonable, but the proposed statute seem to contemplate just that. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2585 "2011-02-16T17:28:23Z")
Republican idiots in the Missouri General Assembly are at it again, proposing solutions in search of a problem, and getting national attention for it. State Senator Jean Cunningham sponsored [Stupid Republican Idea of the Day](http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_46fc0342-39e3-11e0-99a2-00127992bc8b.html) legislation to put 12 year olds to work. The proposal drew attention from Jay Leno last night. The worst thing, Cunningham is somehow Chairman of the General Laws committee that will hold hearings on the [bill](http://www.senate.mo.gov/11info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=4124271). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2586 "2011-02-16T18:00:58Z")
> [@margin](#): > > Your last paragraph. WAnt to vague that up some more? Either it is or it isn’t. First you say it isn’t…then you say it is. **The Spav** (as we like to call him) has earned a reputation for clarity and quiet dignity you would be welll advised to admire. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2587 "2011-02-17T19:40:06Z")
A grateful but restrained nod to my learned friend from the frozen wasteland beyond the Root River Valley. With the onset of the February thaw we can all expect that he will soon cut himself out of his winter underwear, the burning of which is the sure and certain harbinger of Spring along the Upper Mississippi. If there ever were any decent painters from Minnesota we can be sure that the seminal picture would be titled “Burning the Winter Underwear,” and it would have the same iconic status as Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” or “Spring Corn.” ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2588 "2011-02-17T19:49:08Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > If there ever were any decent painters from Minnesota we can be sure that the seminal picture would be titled “Burning the Winter Underwear,” and it would have the same iconic status as Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” or “Spring Corn.” I don’t know. A \*seminal \*picture? I’m thinking more along the lines of Maplethorpe. Or am I thinking ‘semenal?’ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2589 "2011-02-17T21:40:53Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > A grateful but restrained nod to my learned friend from the frozen wasteland beyond the Root River Valley… Aw, hell, **Spav** , go wild! Nod _twice_, let yer ya-yas out! Neighbors aren’t looking! Now, about this “underwear” of which you speak…? ---
**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:** [February 18, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2590 "2011-02-18T23:17:37Z")
Bachmann now decides that if the government gives you a tax break for something, you’re spending government money: [ > [@](#): > > “To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies. You wanna talk about the nanny state? I think we just got the new definition of a nanny.” > > “I strongly believe in breastfeeding,” Bachmann said on Thursday’s “Good Morning America,” but argued the “tax code is used by government as social engineering.” > > Last week, the Internal Revenue Service said it would reclassify breast pumps as medical-care purchases that could be deducted as medical expenses. ]([http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/02/17/2011-02-17\_michele\_bachmann\_tea\_party\_darling\_slams\_first\_lady\_michelle\_obama\_over\_breastfe.html](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/02/17/2011-02-17_michele_bachmann_tea_party_darling_slams_first_lady_michelle_obama_over_breastfe.html)) Interesting how all of a sudden a tax cut is a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2591 "2011-02-18T23:40:43Z")
What a boob! ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2592 "2011-02-23T22:10:07Z")
Governor Scott Walker [reveals his secret plans](http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045) to a reporter claiming to be David Koch. > [@Governor Scott Walker](#): > > …I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders—talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn—but I’ll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly…legally, we believe, once they’ve gone into session, they don’t physically have to be there. If they’re actually in session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they’d have quorum…so we’re double checking that. If you heard I was going to talk to them that’s the only reason why. We’d only do it if they came back to the capital with all 14 of them… Not so secret no more… ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2593 "2011-02-23T22:22:51Z")
Oh, look, now the Buffalo Beast website is [down](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/buffalo-beast-website-down_n_827243.htmll). ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2594 "2011-02-23T22:25:10Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > Governor Scott Walker [reveals his secret plans](http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045) to a reporter claiming to be David Koch. > Not so secret no more… So I think he said to the “fake” reporter that: I have no intention of negotiating or listening to my democrat colleagues. I only said I would talk to them in order to fool them into returning to the state. Once they are physically here, I will wait for them to take a recess, then claim we have quorum and jam the legislation through without them. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2595 "2011-02-23T22:43:49Z")
Yet another Fox Typo: [Gallup poll](http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/23/fox-reverses-poll-union/) which shows 61 percent of its respondents oppose Governor Walker’s efforts to bust unions is characterized on Fox & Friends as showing the exact opposite. After discussing the implications of this for a good chunk of the show, in the final minute of the show, Brian Kilmeade noted the mistake and issued an apology. In the final minute. Plausible deniability, anyone? “Oh, yeah, we corrected that error, our bad.” ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2596 "2011-02-24T02:41:29Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Yet another Fox Typo: [Gallup poll](http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/23/fox-reverses-poll-union/) which shows 61 percent of its respondents oppose Governor Walker’s efforts to bust unions is characterized on Fox & Friends as showing the exact opposite. > > After discussing the implications of this for a good chunk of the show, in the final minute of the show, Brian Kilmeade noted the mistake and issued an apology. In the final minute. Plausible deniability, anyone? “Oh, yeah, we corrected that error, our bad.” Why would any self-respecting reporter call Fox “News” a news network? It is an insult to the entire profession. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2597 "2011-02-24T02:46:06Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > Governor Scott Walker [reveals his secret plans](http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045) to a reporter claiming to be David Koch. > Not so secret no more… I want someone to interview [Dick Tuck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Tuck) about this. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2598 "2011-02-24T14:29:43Z")
“Fox ‘n’ Friend” is in full-on anti-union mode. This morning I caught a part of a story where they were presenting a speech from the head of some teacher’s organization … I can’t remember which … saying essentially: ‘If we want to make a difference in education standards we need the power of the union.’ This story was presented with the title splash: **Education Leader’s Focus: Power, Not Children.** The very next story was a cry and moan piece because \*Waiting for Superman \*was ‘snubbed’ in Oscar nominations. The reason: it’s critical of unions, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2599 "2011-02-24T15:43:38Z")
An opinion piece from [FoxNews.com](http://FoxNews.com) today: [Egyptian Protest Is No Tea Party](http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/24/egyptian-protest-tea-party/). Now, I find most comparisons between what’s happening in Egypt and anything else flat-out stupid, but that’s not why I’m posting. Rather, I read the following single, small point of comparison contained therein: > [@](#): > > The media tells us that the Egyptian protests “drew on every segment of the Egyptian population,” while the same media tells us that Tea Party protests are racist, homogenous, and not a welcome place for black people. The media seems obsessed with counting black people at protests. So how could they miss the rather glaring fact that there are more black people at an average Tea Party than there were in the protests in Egypt? Which is so mind-numbingly stupid that I think I experienced a short loss of consciousness while my mental gears spun trying to process it. The fact is, according to the [CIA World Factbook](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html), that Egypt’s ethnic population is 99.6% homogenous Egyptian. Kinda dismisses the point with prejudice, dunnit? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2600 "2011-02-24T16:07:18Z")
But Egypt is in Africa, Africa is full of black people. Therefore Egypt **must** be full of black people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=129) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=131)