All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[Raptor13]

It's our latest reminder of what a crock the statement "Nuh uh. Both parties are just as bad," actually is...

It’s Your Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day!
(And please, for those who those who really felt the "Both Parties are Just as Bad" statement is defensible, remember, I'm still challenging you to write your own essays each day, to keep pace with me, if it's actually "just as bad". Keep in mind, you have to pick someone from politics who has either ran for, held office within the past 5 years, and have multiple verifiable news sources to any quotes/beliefs they might have to build a solid, established track record of stupid that clearly isn't a fluke. Hell, we'll even accept people who help write party platforms within that time frame. Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 303-12, since this was established on 7-18-14)


Wyatt "Tommy" Tucker

There are plenty of wacky members of the Republican Party in the North Carolina State Legislature, but State Senator Tommy Tucker is noteworthy for some of the ridiculous legislation he's submitted, let alone voted for. And it takes some doing to find yourself amongst beareaucratic boobs like George Cleveland and Skip Stam, but Tucker holds his own in that department. Tucker is in his third term in the State Senate, having been elected in the 2010 Tea Party year, and getting to run unopposed in the past two elections since.

The most disgusting moment from Tommy Tucker in the five years he's been in office was probably back in October of 2013, when in a hearing discussing SB 287, Tucker's suggestion that the affairs of the state legislature no longer be reported to local newspapers, but instead, just put on the internet, some of the state's journalists argued against this change, but were shut down at every opportunity by Tucker to protest. Quickly, Tucker advanced his bill out of committee by saying he had won a verbal 6-5 vote, and when an appeal was made by Democrats to assure the count was correct by a show of hands, Tucker refused, and adjourned the meeting. He was then approached by Hal Tanner, publisher of the Goldsboro News Argus, who mentioned a previous member of the state legislature who was booted from office on corruption charges, enraging Tucker, who storming off said:



As recently as January 2015, he also made headlines during debates about a loophole in North Carolina's law in paying settlements to victims of the eugenics program they ran in the from 1933 to 1974. Tucker was arguing against payouts of settlements by claiming they weren't responsible for sterilizations performed in county hospitals, just the state hospitals.


Amongst Tucker's more ridiculous votes and bill submissions:

• In December 2010, Tucker submitted a bill that would prevent students from cyberbulling their teachers. While that sounds reasonable, the penalty he suggested for students expressing their first amendment rights was to give them jail time. Not suspension from school. Not explusion. Not juvie. Not fines. JAIL.
• Tucker also took great offense to the existence of the Racial Justice Act, voting not only for its repeal, but also voting to ban the use of statistical evidence that would show racial bias in cases where the death penalty was chosen.
• Tucker is a big opponent of same sex marriage in North Carolina, voting for the state to adopt a ban on it in their state constitution, and after the Supreme Court stepped in and declared such measures unconstitutional, he voted for SB 2, in February 2015, which would allow several state officials to back out of performing duties which apply to performing those marriages on "religious grounds".
• You may have heard of North Carolina having some bizarre environmental legislation the past few years. For example, there was HB 819, which actually banned climatologists and other scientists from monitoring sea level change along North Carolina's coastline. Yes, Tommy Tucker voted for it in July 2012.
• You may have also heard about the time North Carolina Republicans turned a "motorcycle safety" bill through committee amendments into a radical anti-abortion bill, SB 353, which allowed any physician to opt out of providing an abortion for "religious reasons", as well as a myriad of other sweeping regulations. Yes, Tucker voted for that.
• When it comes to healthcare, Tucker has gone the route of a lot of GOP state legislators, voting to block the Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina in February 2013.
• In July 2013, Tucker also voted for North Carolina Republicans' attempt at disenfranchising voters through amending their voter registration laws with HB 859 in a quest to prevent the statistically non-existent problem of "voter fraud". You know, this kind of voter fraud.

Tucker's third term comes to an end here in 2016, and it will be interesting to see if his famous quote that makes it clear the power has gone to his head will come back to haunt him, and the people of North Carolina decide they can do much, much better from their elected representatives, or if they opt to give this guy a fourth term at bumbling his way through office.

Wow, besides the two religious objection bits, even I can say that this guy sounds like someone who needs to be removed. I have a feeling that this isn't the whole story though (par for the course) so it will simply be added to my prayers, as that's the only real authority anyways

[worstblogever]

Ah, those family values...




http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewir...ssault-charges

I wonder what his positions on the issues were? I WONDER.

Perhaps another profile in discourage for WBE someday. :P

I was just telling myself the other day, "There are states you still haven't profiled anyone from, slacker. Find some crazy Republican in Vermont sometime!"

So... now just Hawaii?

[Tendrin]

I was just telling myself the other day, "There are states you still haven't profiled anyone from, slacker. Find some crazy Republican in Vermont sometime!"

So... now just Hawaii?

Look at WBE go. Our very own 50 state Initiative!

[worstblogever]

Look at WBE go. Our very own 50 state Initiative!

I might still need a Connecticut, too.

[Clarkie]

Hell yeah...nyah nyah to Miliband.

Collecting some cool wagers too. Enough to buy new issues for the next 3 years or so.

Well thank goodness for that.

[Clarkie]

So it's like a member of Congress. You guys had your version of the Congressional election.

Not really, comparisons don't work very well. UK doesn't even an elected two house body, it has an elected and an appointed one. Which is crap and undemocratic.

[Malvolio]

I might still need a Connecticut, too.

Would Linda McMahon count? She's never held an elected office, but she has run for the Senate.

[PretenderNX01]

Not really, comparisons don't work very well. UK doesn't even an elected two house body, it has an elected and an appointed one. Which is crap and undemocratic.

They used to be done by state legislator but then state by state they changed it to popular election and then made it national with the 17th amendment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...tions_and_term

The Tea Party wants to make Senators appointed-only again
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/op...4.html?hp&_r=0

Sometimes Governors appoint themselves to the Senate until a special election takes place, so there are other conservatives who want to do away with that and just have it go to special election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevente...acy_for_reform

[JCAll]

Not really, comparisons don't work very well. UK doesn't even an elected two house body, it has an elected and an appointed one. Which is crap and undemocratic.

And a Queen who secretly leads the underground lizard men in their quest to enslave the human race!
Talk about undemocratic.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

And a Queen who secretly leads the underground lizard men in their quest to enslave the human race!
Talk about undemocratic.

Silurians or Sea Devils?

[Mr. Mastermind]

As a I predicted, here's Chuka Umunna's pitch for the Labour party. Not an official announcement, but it looks almost certain that he's putting his name forward.

There's a lot in there that I would agree with, and also cold hard facts about Labour's spending record. I still don't want him as leader, but Shadow Chancellor could very work. Most of all, a Brown v Blair proxy war between him and Andy Burnham would do great damage to the party. Get someone who is not tied to either side of the party. Dan Jarvis is not a bad choice by any means. Certainly would be hard to attack, given his normal background, lack of connection to previous governments, and status as an ex soldier.

[Kieran_Frost]

So it's like a member of Congress. You guys had your version of the Congressional election.
Some districts like the Tea Party candidates, certainly a lot of Limbaugh listeners do but even in Republican strong-holds the TP ones don't always outshine the mainstream conservatives in the primary.

Pretty much. It's not a perfect comparison, but it's close enough to get how it works.

UK doesn't even an elected two house body, it has an elected and an appointed one. Which is crap and undemocratic.

*sigh*
The House of Commons and the House of Lords serve two very specific purposes. One is to create the laws, as they are elected by the people, to be representatives of the people. BUT... even back long ago Parliament understood that anyone who relies on the electorate must, on some level, cow-tow to "the politics of election". The House of Lords is specifically NOT elected; so they aren't controlled and concerned by getting re-elected. They (in theory) vote on the bills from what they believe is right for the country (not what the country demands, or the politicians desire). And even then, if the bill is passed through the House of Commons three times, it can still get passed without the need of the House of Lords.

[BeastieRunner]

Would Linda McMahon count? She's never held an elected office, but she has run for the Senate.

She didn't do anything crazy other than waste he husband's money in large amounts.

[Mister Mets]

So it's like a member of Congress. You guys had your version of the Congressional election.
Some districts like the Tea Party candidates, certainly a lot of Limbaugh listeners do but even in Republican strong-holds the TP ones don't always outshine the mainstream conservatives in the primary.



One could argue we started the trend last year with the senate and congress. Hopefully we realize the error of our ways come 2016.

A major difference with the British system is that the Prime Minister is their most prominent world leader. It'd be like if the Speaker of the House was as big a deal as the President is now. The Cabinet members are also members of parliament.

As a result party leaders are much more prominent during legislative elections. Voters know that a vote for the local candidate is a vote for the party leader to a greater extent than in the US, where much of it is a referendum on the President.

One interesting aspect is the shadow cabinet, senior members of the opposition party who criticize the cabinet ministers and propose alternatives to policies in their purview. So it'd be like if Republicans officially had a Shadow Secretary of State whose job it was to criticize Kerry (although technically, Republicans hold the legislature so in this scenario, they'd have the cabinet posts, and a Democrat would be the Shadow Secretary of State.)

[Tendrin]

So it'd be like if Republicans officially had a Shadow Secretary of State whose job it was to criticize Kerry (although technically, Republicans hold the legislature so in this scenario, they'd have the cabinet posts, and a Democrat would be the Shadow Secretary of State.)

So Fox News, then?