# 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:** 692
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13821 "2014-04-01T12:08:32Z")
8-year old smarter than South Carolina Republicans. No news there. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13822 "2014-04-01T13:12:38Z")
I was really hoping that one would be an April Fools’ thing. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13823 "2014-04-01T19:43:54Z")
[Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts wants to jail gays who don’t submit to gay conversion therapy.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/03/31/jail-people-conversion-therapy/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13824 "2014-04-01T19:49:12Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts wants to jail gays who don’t submit to gay conversion therapy.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/03/31/jail-people-conversion-therapy/) “Gay conversion therapy” actually sounds like something that for some unimaginable reason (population control, maybe) would be prescribed for **straights.** ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13825 "2014-04-01T20:46:12Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > “Gay conversion therapy” actually sounds like something that for some unimaginable reason (population control, maybe) would be prescribed for **straights.** Although it’s applied to gays, it really is for the (bigoted) straights. It sure isn’t helping the victim/patient of the therapy. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13826 "2014-04-01T21:26:58Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts wants to jail gays who don’t submit to gay conversion therapy.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/03/31/jail-people-conversion-therapy/) I’d say his chances of becoming the next Governor of my state are about 0. We like the elect Republican governors, not bat shit insane ones though. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13827 "2014-04-02T21:04:42Z")
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, two Republican legislators have derailed a resolution, spearheaded by an eight-year-old’s letter to her representative, to have the Columbian wooly mammoth named the state fossil. Why? [Because they want the resolution to specify that the mammoth was created by God on the sixth day.](http://thinkprogress.org/home/2014/04/02/3421993/creationists-block-woolly-mammoth/) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13828 "2014-04-02T22:12:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Meanwhile, in South Carolina, two Republican legislators have derailed a resolution, spearheaded by an eight-year-old’s letter to her representative, to have the Columbian wooly mammoth named the state fossil. > > Why? > > [Because they want the resolution to specify that the mammoth was created by God on the sixth day.](http://thinkprogress.org/home/2014/04/02/3421993/creationists-block-woolly-mammoth/) Six posts too late! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13829 "2014-04-02T22:21:34Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts wants to jail gays who don’t submit to gay conversion therapy.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/03/31/jail-people-conversion-therapy/) I’m sure a man who wants people locked up for thoughtcrimes and subjected to brainwashing would be a shoo-in for public office. And I’m sure his supporters would be perfectly happy with the precedent it would set, particularly when the other party eventually gets into power. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13830 "2014-04-03T02:13:55Z")
I think this speaks for itself: [http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy14budget.pdf](http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy14budget.pdf) “Five years ago, we had a financial crisis.” Really? Where were you six years ago, in 2008? > [@Gyrate](#): > > I’m sure a man who wants people locked up for thoughtcrimes and subjected to brainwashing would be a shoo-in for public office. And I’m sure his supporters would be perfectly happy with the precedent it would set, particularly when the other party eventually gets into power. Not in Massachusetts; we like our Republicans pragmatic, fiscally conservative, and socially non-committal. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13831 "2014-04-03T02:20:49Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I think this speaks for itself: > > [http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy14budget.pdf](http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy14budget.pdf) > > “Five years ago, we had a financial crisis.” > Really? Where were you six years ago, in 2008? This tops it: “Unfortunately, the President is shirking his duty. He has missed his budget deadline four times in five years.” ---
**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:** [April 3, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13832 "2014-04-03T04:30:53Z")
The Mississippi legislature has approved the conference report for S.B. 2681, a.k.a., the [Religious Freedom Restoration Act](https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/mississippi-makes-clear-fight-not-over). All it needs now is the very conservative Republican governor’s signature to become law, and it becomes legal to discriminate against anyone so long as it is the result of a religious belief. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13833 "2014-04-03T05:14:37Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > The Mississippi legislature has approved the conference report for S.B. 2681, a.k.a., the [Religious Freedom Restoration Act](https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/mississippi-makes-clear-fight-not-over). All it needs now is the very conservative Republican governor’s signature to become law, and it becomes legal to discriminate against anyone so long as it is the result of a religious belief. Note to self: Move to Mississippi, convert to Aztec religion, make many sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13834 "2014-04-03T06:00:41Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > The Mississippi legislature has approved the conference report for S.B. 2681, a.k.a., the [Religious Freedom Restoration Act](https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/mississippi-makes-clear-fight-not-over). All it needs now is the very conservative Republican governor’s signature to become law, and it becomes legal to discriminate against anyone so long as it is the result of a religious belief. How wide open is this law? I can open a store and refuse to serve anyone who thinks the idea of a god is possible? No service if you’ve been to a church ever? Can you legally post a sign in the window saying, “NO Christians Allowed”? ---
**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:** [April 3, 2014, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13835 "2014-04-03T07:19:39Z")
I’d say this cute trick slash loophole/unintended albeit predictable consequence would be immediately shut down by a lawyer arguing that an anti-religious, areligious, irreligious belief does not, in fact, constitute a religious belief so suck it librulz. But hey, there’s no legal test for what constitutes a “real” religion that I’m aware of, Scientology proved that and then some. So if the sign says “NO non-Pastafarians allowed, Jedis tolerated under sufferance”, you should be ok. That being said, the article linked states : > [@](#): > > The [original version](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2014/pdf/SB/2600-2699/SB2681IN.pdf) of Mississippi’s law was even broader than Arizona’s. But the [law that passed yesterday](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2014/pdf/cr/SB2681CR.pdf) is narrower. It allows lawsuits only against the government, and requires the government to show a very good reason for policies that substantially burden the free exercise of religion. Some seemingly neutral governmental policies, like dress codes, could have a significant impact on religious believers. (Take, for instance, a [recent incident in New Jersey](http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic/aclu-appeal-filed-over-man-s-hatin-egg-harbor/article_8c1999fe-4a54-5612-8459-66d4083a4ed6.html), where an Orthodox Christian man was held in contempt because he refused to remove his religiously required hat in a courtroom.) When they do, the government will have to justify the burden. Full text of the law linked. Oh, and there’s a rider tacked on about the State’s official seal wot should have IN GOD WE TRUST on it or something, I ain’t know, man. I’m no legal guru, but on the surface it seems more of a Hobby Lobby Good Obamacare Bad type bill than a Queers Keep Out one. Just as stupid, different flavour. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13836 "2014-04-03T14:45:21Z")
I guess you can call me a bigot, but I really prefer that Jedis have their own facilities, away from decent folk. -TK-9936, Cloud City Garrison, 501st Legion- ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13837 "2014-04-03T15:32:43Z")
And the Druids. Not looking for any Druids, and I don’t want to find any. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13838 "2014-04-03T15:34:55Z")
These aren’t the Druids you’re looking for… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13839 "2014-04-03T15:58:41Z")
We will worship like the Druids Running naked through the wuids Drinking strange, fermented fluids And that’s good enough for me! ---
**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:** [April 3, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13840 "2014-04-03T16:00:49Z")
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