# 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:** 925
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18482 "2015-01-16T22:13:13Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > We also invented the necktie\* while the Muslim world invented belly dancing which in turn gave us Shakira. It’s a neck-and-neck vote. > > \*(well, popularized technically but come on, you’re not going to give all the credit to some Balkanic, barely even francophone nobodies, are you ?) Pretty sure skinny neckscarves go back to ancient Rome, _ami._ It’s really no fair comparing France to the entire Muslim world; they can pull in al-Khwarizmi and folks like that. Better to compare modern secular France to modern Islamism; then you win. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18483 "2015-01-16T22:30:40Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > So basically they’re chanting “small government!” while expanding big government? As someone who bemoans the dismantling of internal accountability offices in the Clinton/Gore era, I’m torn. More internal accountability might actually be a good idea, except that I can’t trust these maniacs to base it on anything other than a demented idea of thrift, as alluded to in [post #13884](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18054754&postcount=18434). > [@adaher](#): > > It’s not stimulus if it provides jobs years later. > > I’d also note that on Keystone, we’re now going on 5 years of red tape. I’m not sure why this is appropriate for projects but not for regulations, which are just as costly and hurt real people. Provide examples please of real people hurt by regulations being adopted or revised too quickly. And Keystone XL doesn’t count. Since I’ve been using ancient Rome references, here’s another one. Would failing to conquer Egypt being “hurting Romans” because they wouldn’t get all that free Egyptian corn in tribute? Just because you aren’t getting this _particular_ pipeline, which is a \*tiny \*amount of fuel compared to the global market, _in an era of cheap energy,_ and indeed of _technological advances leading to a variety of competitive energy provision systems,_ does not mean people are being “hurt” in any sense worth moralizing over. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [GOP’s choice to rebut next Tuesday’s SOTU address: Joni Ernst.](http://www.salon.com/2015/01/15/can_joni_ernst_avoid_the_gops_state_of_the_union_curse/) No, really. OK, now they’re just trolling us. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18484 "2015-01-16T23:26:23Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Interesting that this failed under the most favorable possible circumstances — the “hero” knew that an attack was coming, he was personally acquainted with all the innocent victims, and the bad guys were very obviously the bad guys, so he knew whom to shoot. > > But in the normal dream scenario of the gun nuts, they are in a store or restaurant, minding their own business, when the shooting starts somewhere nearby, and they rush to the rescue. They don’t know the people under attack, and the shooters may not be wearing ski masks and carrying assault rifles; they may just be wearing normal clothes, and using pistols. > > In that case, if multiple gunmen start shooting, and local heroes start shooting back, how does a new hero arriving on the scene know who the bad guys are? > > I mean, assuming none of them are black. More importantly, how does a **cop** know? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18485 "2015-01-16T23:33:54Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > … > > I mean, assuming none of them are black. Obviously, if the bad guys aren’t black, the test wasn’t truly reenacted under the most favorable of circumstances. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18486 "2015-01-17T00:02:15Z")
[Kentucky State Senator C.B. Embry Jr](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/15/gop-bill-offers-2500-in-damages-to-anyone-who-catches-a-transgender-person-in-the-wrong-bathroom/)introduces a [bill](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/15RS/SB76.htm) that will allow a student who catches a transgender person in the ‘wrong’ bathroom $2500 in damages from the school. Then the student has to explain why they were checking out the transgender person’s equipment. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18487 "2015-01-17T00:17:12Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > [Kentucky State Senator C.B. Embry Jr](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/15/gop-bill-offers-2500-in-damages-to-anyone-who-catches-a-transgender-person-in-the-wrong-bathroom/)introduces a [bill](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/15RS/SB76.htm) that will allow a student who catches a transgender person in the ‘wrong’ bathroom $2500 in damages from the school. > > Then the student has to explain why they were checking out the transgender person’s equipment. Richer yet: > [@](#): > > AN ACT relating to the physical privacy of students **and declaring an emergency.** ---
**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:** [January 17, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18488 "2015-01-17T00:55:23Z")
Utah Representative Jacob Chaffetz has decided the room in which he shall be chairing the House Oversight Committee will be more pleasant without all those portraits of past committee chairs. [Cue tizzies](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/15/1357940/-Rep-Chaffetz-removes-Issa-portrait-from-Oversight-hearing-room-Washington-recoils-in-horror). I do enjoy seeing critters chasing their tails, but it is also quite disturbing to learn that Issa (_cf_. this thread’s OP) has a fan club. Just, ewww. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18489 "2015-01-17T00:57:08Z")
Just to be clear, the stupid idea is Issa’s, not Chaffetz’s, right? ---
**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:** [January 17, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18490 "2015-01-17T01:00:34Z")
The stupid idea is that it should be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18491 "2015-01-17T01:03:06Z")
Yes, but we’re talking politicians here. And Issa is more of a glory seeker than most, which makes this a serious affront to his ego. Chaffetz is kind of a maverick, he doesn’t care for the leadership of either party, so I’m sure he had his own personal reasons for wanting to get those other faces off that wall. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18492 "2015-01-17T01:07:03Z")
Bobby Jindal doubles down on [Muslim ‘no-go zones’ in Europe](http://www.religionnews.com/2015/01/16/gop-hopeful-bobby-jindal-doubles-muslim-no-go-zones-europe/) > [@](#): > > Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, will give a speech Monday (Jan. 19) in London and reiterate the disputed claim that Muslim immigrants have created “no-go zones” in Europe where non-Muslims are not welcome. > > An advance text of Jindal’s speech, circulated by his office, warns that Islamic radicals are fomenting anti-Western sentiment in “no-go zones” where they rule themselves by Islamic religious law, not the laws of their host nations. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18493 "2015-01-17T01:07:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Just to be clear, the stupid idea is Issa’s, not Chaffetz’s, right? No, Chaffetz’ action is stupid, Issa’s reaction is simply predictable. > [@](#): > > On the specific question of whether or not past committee chairmen should get their portraits hung on the committee room walls, I Do Not Care. It seems pointless and self-aggrandizing, but that has been the very definition of the House Oversight Committee during the Obama years so we might as well dedicate the walls themselves to the premise. > What is deeply funny, however, is that anyone involved thought they could remove a picture of Darrell Issa and numerous other past chairmen from the walls without the supporters of Darrell Issa quickly railing against the act as a conspiracy against Darrell Issa. This is Darrell Issa we’re talking about, after all. I’m only surprised he hasn’t appeared on Fox News to explain how the Great Portrait Scandal is intimately tied to Benghazi. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18494 "2015-01-17T01:11:30Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yes, but we’re talking politicians here. And Issa is more of a glory seeker than most, which makes this a serious affront to his ego. > > Chaffetz is kind of a maverick, he doesn’t care for the leadership of either party, so I’m sure he had his own personal reasons for wanting to get those other faces off that wall. He doesn’t want them to see what he’s doing? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18495 "2015-01-17T01:12:53Z")
Hopefully Jindal educates himself soon on this subject. Daniel Pipes, about as extreme as you get on the issue of Muslims, actually visited a couple of these zones, and said this: > [@](#): > > I had an opportunity today to travel at length to several banlieues (suburbs) around Paris, including Sarcelles, Val d’Oise, and Seine Saint Denis. This comes on the heels of having visited over the years the predominantly immigrant (and Muslim) areas of Brussels, Copenhagen, Malmö, Berlin, and Athens. > > A couple of observations: > > For a visiting American, these areas are very mild, even dull. We who know the Bronx and Detroit expect urban hell in Europe too, but there things look fine. The immigrant areas are hardly beautiful, but buildings are intact, greenery abounds, and order prevails. > > These are not full-fledged no-go zones but, as the French nomenclature accurately indicates, “sensitive urban zones.” In normal times, they are unthreatening, routine places. But they do unpredictably erupt, with car burnings, attacks on representatives of the state (including police), and riots. > > Having this first-hand experience, I regret having called these areas no-go zones. > Read more at [Sharia Law Muslim 'No-Go' Zones | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/nogozones.asp#d7Dc1kwmLxD8i5Sb.99) I’m reluctant to call Jindal stupid over it though, because respectable media sources such as Investors Business Daily have reported that there are “no-go” zones. It’s a myth, but you can’t expect people to not believe ANY myths. Especially when your side is producing so much “information” on the subject without much in the way of a rebuttal from the other side. Until now, at least. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18496 "2015-01-17T01:24:33Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m reluctant to call Jindal stupid over it though, because respectable media sources such as Investors Business Daily have reported that there are “no-go” zones. It’s a myth, but you can’t expect people to not believe ANY myths. People in general, no. I think we should hold public officials and candidates to a higher standard. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18497 "2015-01-17T01:45:51Z")
Yeah, I think the stupid is in season now. Blooming like that red plankton. [According to incoming Texas Governor Greg Abbott, cities have become Big Government, the people need the little state government to protect them from the Cities’ evil regulations](http://www.npr.org/2015/01/15/377526831/new-texas-governor-adds-to-tension-between-state-city-governments). Denton, for example, should not be allowed to ban fracking within the city. And Dallas has imposed an intolerable burden on junkyards by requiring them to have a permit. Because the R mantra of “local control” means whatever they want it to mean, whenever they want it to mean whatever they want it to mean at the time. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18498 "2015-01-17T01:47:42Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m reluctant to call Jindal stupid over it though, because respectable media sources such as Investors Business Daily have reported that there are “no-go” zones. It’s a myth, but you can’t expect people to not believe ANY myths. Especially when your side is producing so much “information” on the subject without much in the way of a rebuttal from the other side. Until now, at least. Not to climb all over the quoted poster, but I’m not at all reluctant to call Jindal either a fucking idiot or an especially clumsy demagogue, as I would anyone who promotes this utter poppycock. Let’s just give this notion the slightest thought: France, the UK and few other European nations supposedly have areas where national laws don’t apply, and “sharia law” does. What mechanism is in place to hear any legal issues that come up? In France, if not French judges who have apparently abrogated their adherence to the French legal system, who adjudicates these cases? Who enforces any rulings handed down? Are there officially-recognized, or unofficial, “sharia” police? How is it that the highly popular, hard-right, anti-immigrant party in France (the _Front National_), is not trumpeting from the rooftops this sneer at French sovereign status (they aren’t, I’ve checked)? They certainly don’t hesitate to point out the same when done by the European Union. If that’s too complicated, how could it be that a country that deemed muslim headscarves as ‘religious symbols’ and banned them in public, at the same time would turn a blind eye to such a wholesale refusal to adhere to French law? Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18499 "2015-01-17T03:26:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > People in general, no. I think we should hold public officials and candidates to a higher standard. In practice, we hold them to a much lower one. Look at any average politician and they’ve usually got tons of half truths, mostly falses, totally falses, and pants on fire statements on the fact check sites and they almost never own up to any of them. Even the most well respected politicians would be relegated to the Pit if they were Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18500 "2015-01-17T06:32:34Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > [Kentucky State Senator C.B. Embry Jr](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/15/gop-bill-offers-2500-in-damages-to-anyone-who-catches-a-transgender-person-in-the-wrong-bathroom/)introduces a [bill](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/15RS/SB76.htm) that will allow a student who catches a transgender person in the ‘wrong’ bathroom $2500 in damages from the school. > > Then the student has to explain why they were checking out the transgender person’s equipment. So what’s to stop a transgender student from making a deal with people to be “caught” on purpose and split the money? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/18501 "2015-01-17T11:01:53Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > So what’s to stop a transgender student from making a deal with people to be “caught” on purpose and split the money? I didn’t read the links, but I would guess . . . There are penalties against the transgender student also, for using the “wrong” bathroom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=924) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=926)