US Politics April: A Series of Fantastically Bad Ideas

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US Politics April: A Series of Fantastically Bad Ideas

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Redeye Flight posted:

Hey, named the thread! That's kinda cool.

So, what's the good news? I figure we might as well start off a new month with some good news first.

The good news is that the GOP thinkers can't stop saying tone-deaf things about the younger women they desperately need as voters.

quote:

The conservative minds of the Heritage Foundation have found a way for Republicans to shrink the gender gap: They need to persuade more women to get their MRS degrees.

The advocacy group held a gathering of women of the right Monday afternoon to mark the final day of Women�s History Month

.....

�We�re gathered to celebrate Women�s History Month, but I don�t celebrate Women�s History Month,� announced writer Mona Charen, one of the panelists. �It doesn�t interest me whether a person who happens to share my chromosomes sits in the Oval Office. It doesn�t interest me how many women members of the Senate there are.�

What interests Charen and the other women on the stage is their belief, as Charen put it, that �feminism has done so much damage to happiness.� And the solution to this damage, it turns out, is matrimony � the same thing that will solve problems such as income inequality and the Republican Party�s standing among women.

.....

Inverting Gloria Steinem, she argued that �women need feminism like a fish needs a bicycle.� Said Charen: �Women know that because of the nature of their bodies, because they carry and bear children and nurse and nurture children, that they need protection and support. . . . Feminism disdains this natural urge.� Feminism also, Charen said, creates college campuses �where hooking up is considered normal and date rape is difficult to prevent.�

.....

The audience for these pronouncements Monday was small and mostly male, many of them apparently Heritage interns.

�Wow,� said John Hilboldt, Heritage�s lectures director, as he opened the session. �Where are all the ladies?�

It�s a question Republicans may be asking for a long time.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 04:04

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:18

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Warchicken posted:

Because you see, they destroyed the water sources because they were sad about the possibility of being fined for destroying water sources. So when they destroy a water source, lower regulations, and they will of course never do such a thing again. That is how the free market works.

Or you take the SC approach and ban lawsuits which might hold the company accountable because that would make them sad.

quote:

One way to require a cleanup is through a citizens lawsuit, a mechanism used to enforce environmental laws when state or federal agencies do not. South Carolina�s other major electric utilities, SCE&G and Santee Cooper, agreed to dig out coal ash ponds after settling citizens� lawsuits filed by environmental groups.

But no suit has been filed against Duke in South Carolina, even though environmentalists have hinted that they are considering it. The company owns coal waste ponds at power plants in Darlington and Anderson counties.

Changing state law would eliminate the opportunity to sue Duke Energy under South Carolina�s pollution law, Smith said.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 16:27

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

I'm really not sure exactly who considers 2 year old cockerels edible except in the most technical "it won't kill you" sense.

edit: Yes I know there are some stew recipes which tage advantage of the gamey flavor but generally speaking 2 years is way too old.

Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Apr 3, 2014

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 19:24

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Perry might have upcoming troubles because he cut off funding when a D politician caught on DWI wouldn't resign and allow him to appoint whatever R he wanted to oversee Austin(sorry for the paywall)

quote:

Stopping short of saying he thinks a crime was committed, a special prosecutor said he is troubled by the actions of Gov. Rick Perry in carrying out a threat last year to withhold state funding from Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg�s office unless she resigned after a DWI charge.

�I cannot elaborate on what exactly is concerning me, but I can tell you I am very concerned about certain aspects of what happened here,� San Antonio attorney Michael McCrum said in an interview with the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2014 01:23

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

The Warszawa posted:

I know Texas elects judges, are DAs also elected? It seems from what you're saying that they're gubernatorial appointments but I don't know if I've ever seen a judge/DA system split before.

They are elected but my understanding is that if one steps down Perry would get to appoint someone to hold the office until the next election. This would be a bad thing because she was just one year into her term so Perry and Co would have free reign for about three years.

edit: beaten, and likely wrong on the length of the interim appointment because zoux knows his poo poo.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2014 02:32

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

I was under the impression that discussing pay rates was already protected activity?

# ¿ Apr 6, 2014 19:52

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Nessus posted:

Indeed. To do otherwise would jeopardize the sacred freedoms allowed to you in a right-to-work state.

You mean at-will employment, right?

ChipNDip posted:

Those policies are pretty much universal, but they are technically illegal.

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/salary_discussions.html

I really wish that the law were written or interpreted in in such a way that having such a policy on the books was grounds for judgement against the company in cases alleging the offence. If having a policy against sexual discrimination in promotions is enough to get you out of a class action it only seems fair.

Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Apr 6, 2014

# ¿ Apr 6, 2014 20:31

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Radish posted:

I thought bitcoins effectively crashed and were worthless now.

they always are crashing and always were worthless.

but man are they catnip for libertarian wanna-be captains of industry.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 19:17

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

comes along bort posted:

Abortion: it's kinda like buying a car, or some carpeting:

And yet he would doubtlessly vehemently object to mandatory 3 day waiting periods to buy a car as government over regulation.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 03:21

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

You may recall that the Nevada GOP was pretty much taken over by paulites in 2012.

Well they certainly aren't doing anything to endear themselves to the national GOP:

"LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL posted:

Amid raucous debate, Nevada Republican Party conventioneers on Saturday stripped opposition to gay marriage and abortion from the party platform and endorsed Gov. Brian Sandoval for governor in the June 10 primary despite misgivings by conservatives, his criticism of the process and his absence from the meeting.

The convention also backed Sue Lowden for lieutenant governor over state Sen. Mark Hutchison, R-Las Vegas, who was endorsed by Sandoval and who also spurned the party�s move to endorse candidates before the primary.

A nominating committee proposed more than three dozen pre-primary endorsements, although the panel decided against recommending anybody in the gubernatorial race, including Sandoval. The governor was still able to be endorsed by delegates, who cast secret ballots on each race whether or not a recommendation was made.

.........

The party has been riven by divisions for several years � much like the national GOP � with establishment Republicans pitted against conservative Tea Party members and voters who backed former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, for president. Establishment Republicans led the movement to kill the endorsements, while conservatives backed the idea.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2014 22:33

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

M.c.P posted:

Wrt: the Nevada GOP Rution, watching how this shift in policy affects their chances will be interesting. It'll answer the question whether rebuilding is worth trying, and whether the GOP can afford to shed some of its racist/sexist base for people who are merely selfish and dumb about economics.

I'm not sure how much it will matter really for the big races where the local and state parties will have their voice drowned out by big PAC and 501c(3) money. Even for other primary races I imagine it won't matter much because the racists and bigots will still turn out to vote for their favored candidate no matter who the party endorses. An AFA or NOM endorsement would likely carry as much or more weight.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2014 01:54

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Blindeye posted:

There's been a lot of this going on, smaller government! Except if it's smaller than a state government. gently caress your local rights. These kind of bills. Nothing is a more true bellweather of Republican "ideals" than state-level laws.

In Texas it happens every two years. Every single legislative session there are at least a few bills floated to strip away the authority of the cities in response to the threat (real or imagined) of excessively progressive legislation coming out of one of Austin, San Antonio, or El Paso.

This past session they wanted to strip the cities of the ability to ban single use plastic bags vis The Shopping Bag Freedom Act and also prohibit cities from protecting trees by placing any limitation on developers cutting them down. They also wanted to "strip health care dollars from school districts and other jurisdictions extending domestic partner benefits".

Swan Oat posted:

The Central Market Cheese Dispensary already exists in Texas. They do not take gold.

They sell euro-sourced socialism cheese there.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2014 16:58

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

ReidRansom posted:

I don't recall who it was that was saying it, but they've stopped thinking of firearms as tools and have started treating them like totems. Less and less about defense or freedom or even offense or whatever other actual use and more about projecting some ridiculous image they've gotten in their heads.

I mentioned something about that, having grown up on a farm with guns being an important tool, in a previous politics thread but I know I'm not the only one who has made that comparison.

haveblue posted:

What's the point of carrying a gun but not intimidating everyone around you?

In this case there is also a large rather juvenile element of wanting to do something just because they were told they are not allowed to. In Texas open-carrying carrying long guns is A-OK but open carrying handguns is not.

This group of chucklefucks has been wandering the state trying to gin up support so they can cosplay as Texas Rangers or some poo poo. They do things like stand on bridges over busy roads in Austin and cause traffic to slow down because of all the people rubbernecking at the dumbasses with the guns and sign. Really nobody cares because concealed carry permits are cheap and easy to get. It only becomes an issue in the current "I'm the most conservative conservative that ever conserved" GOP primary environment we have now.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2014 14:45

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Phone posted:

Alright, I'm about to knock all of you on your asses, so please hold on to something structurally sound or take a seat:

How did Texas get Toyota to move their operations there?

40 million dollars.

It's OK, though. The lack of corporate state tax and personal income tax will balance the budget, though. I've double checked it using Paul Ryan's excel spreadsheet.

If your business relocating can be a feather in Perry's cap (or I guess now a lens cloth for his smart-person glasses?) there is a ton of money to be had moving to Texas. Of course that money comes at the expense of other businesses and residents already established and paying taxes in Texas but that doesn't make national news.

It might just be a local thing in Austin due to the insane property value increases and continual school district fee jumps but I get the feeling people are getting increasingly hostile about the property tax exemptions given to businesses and commercial developments. I just hope it doesn't result in something incredibly stupid along the lines of CA's Prop 13.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2014 16:00

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Cimber posted:

I wonder how many of those 22 confirmed owners care about the statements due to serious moral issue with racism in America today.

The speculation is the players threatened to strike in the middle of playoffs if they didn't strip him of the team.

# ¿ May 1, 2014 17:52

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:18

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Peven Stan posted:

This is one of the most hilarious right wing talking points. No amount of flailing and "I know a guy who is a welder and makes 150k" can cover up the fact that the average welder makes 32k a year

From two pages ago but I have to agree with this. The real truth is that whenever you hear "there aren't enough X!" you need to append either "at the dirt wages I want to pay!" or "and I refuse to train anyone to do X!"

# ¿ May 2, 2014 23:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US Politics April: A Series of Fantastically Bad Ideas