Georgia USA idiot legislators

[about_average]

They just passed a bill protecting clergy who refuse to perform same sex marriages.
They even admit they are already protected, but the bill will reassure them.

WTF!? Like there's nothing better to spend your time on than writing and debating a piece of 100% legislation?

 

[Tigersman]

Wasted money

The Georgia legislators just got a freebie by working on, voting on and passing this stupid and useless bill. They wasted the taxpayers money on a useless bill. Typical business for a bunch of lawyers.

 

[Hypoxia]

C'mon, legislators love spending YOUR money to further THEIR careers.

Laws ineffective in reality are designed for the lawmakers to leverage support from the sub-100-IQ half of the populace. "Hey, you morons, I'm on YOUR side!" gains votes.

This is a democracy. Voters get the government they deserve. Oy.

 

[BotanyBoy]

C'mon, legislators love spending YOUR money to further THEIR careers.

Laws ineffective in reality are designed for the lawmakers to leverage support from the sub-100-IQ half of the populace. "Hey, you morons, I'm on YOUR side!" gains votes.

Well that explains catering to the clergy....

This is a democracy. Voters get the government they deserve. Oy.

LOL damn right....

 

[dan_c00000]

I remember when they passed the "don't let brown people work law" and all their crops died. That got fixed pretty quick.

 

[Hard_Rom]

The law probably has the full support of ISIL.

 

[about_average]

Well, apparently passing a law giving clergy protections they already had didn't go far enough.
They merged the Pastor Protection Act with the First Amendment Protection Act and passed it.

It gives anyone or any business the right to discriminate against people whose domestic relations they don't approve of, as long as they claim it's faith based discrimination.
Not just same sex couples, but anyone.
Having sex with someone you're not married to? Yup, you can be refused services if they say it offends their faith.
Divorced? Sorry, that offends me, no service here for you.

Georgia HB 757

 

[BoyNextDoor]

That is an interesting point. Could someone refuse service if you are divorced, and not annulled, from your marriage under this law?

 

[about_average]

That is an interesting point. Could someone refuse service if you are divorced, and not annulled, from your marriage under this law?

If you read the bill there's nothing to stop them, as long as they claim it offends their religious beliefs.

And all commentary I've seen comes to the same conclusion.

 

[BotanyBoy]

We should just let businesses be the biggest pricks ever and let them refuse service to anyone for any reason.

The only people they can really hurt are themselves.

I don't understand the need to try and force these assholes to not be assholes.

 

[Hard_Rom]

The law probably has the full support of ISIL.

Major Rethink!
In spirit it has ISIL support. But who cares! This is a separation of church and state. A county official refusing to issue the required state licence is different. A church is not a state organization. A church wedding means nothing in the eyes of the state. In the states eyes all you have to do is co-habit for a period of time.

Plus we have freedom of religion. Some religions discriminates against gays. Should governments be allowed to mandate church policy and dogma?

I'm an atheist. But can you imagine the uproar if the US government said every church in the land MUST perform same-sex marriages. Better chance of getting Yanks to give up their guns!

An article published in the Christianity Today Magazine emphasized that at least in America church attendance since the 1990s has remained stable. Indeed, 50% of Americans replied that God is very important in their lives, comparing with 40% of Irish, 28% of Canadians, 26% of Spaniards, 21% of Australians, and 10% of the French.

A few precedents in law from lower courts and BOOM say bye bye to freedom of religion.

The Right to Refuse Service all restaurant post it, somewhere. Enshrining it as a religious right is state enacting religious laws. A store owner refusing service to someone he doesn't like is committing economic suicide depending on where he is.

Churches wonder why less and less people go to church. Even stable church numbers are only bolstered by our aging population. You can have a 70% approval in population for same-sex marriage and only have 30% of churches perform service.

 

[about_average]

Major Rethink!
In spirit it has ISIL support. But who cares! This is a separation of church and state. A county official refusing to issue the required state licence is different. A church is not a state organization. A church wedding means nothing in the eyes of the state. In the states eyes all you have to do is co-habit for a period of time.

In the US it means you're legally married, no judge needed.
Only 8 states have common law marraige.

Plus we have freedom of religion. Some religions discriminates against gays. Should governments be allowed to mandate church policy and dogma?

No and that's why when SCOTUS overturned anti-same sex marriage laws they specifically provided protections for churches, etc.

I'm an atheist. But can you imagine the uproar if the US government said every church in the land MUST perform same-sex marriages. Better chance of getting Yanks to give up their guns!

See above.

An article published in the Christianity Today Magazine emphasized that at least in America church attendance since the 1990s has remained stable. Indeed, 50% of Americans replied that God is very important in their lives, comparing with 40% of Irish, 28% of Canadians, 26% of Spaniards, 21% of Australians, and 10% of the French.

A few precedents in law from lower courts and BOOM say bye bye to freedom of religion.

I'm not aware of a single law that takes away christian's rights of freedom of religion. There are some, or were, for native americans.

The Right to Refuse Service all restaurant post it, somewhere. Enshrining it as a religious right is state enacting religious laws. A store owner refusing service to someone he doesn't like is committing economic suicide depending on where he is.

Not based on who a person is, only on how they dress or behave in the place of business.
There's a reason you don't see "No Coloreds" or "Whites only" signs anymore.

Churches wonder why less and less people go to church. Even stable church numbers are only bolstered by our aging population. You can have a 70% approval in population for same-sex marriage and only have 30% of churches perform service.

Not the smart churches.

 

[about_average]

A number of clergy have come out as opposing the bill.
The governor appears to be opposed to it.

The best news is that it may have been derailed since a day or two ago when a proponent of the bill called the opponents in the legislature of the bill to Hitler. Apparently missing the irony of the fact that it's the legislators in favor of a bill promoting discrimination against Homosexuals (and others they don't approve of) who are closer to Hitler.

An incendiary column on a religious website comparing Georgia lawmakers to Adolf Hitler has threatened to derail negotiations over “religious liberty” legislation just days before lawmakers go home for the year.

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/stat...-liberty-bill-in-peril-after-advocate-/nqhhY/

 

[lovecraft68]

They seem to be protected from molesting kids, so why not everything else?

 

[BotanyBoy]

They seem to be protected from molesting kids, so why not everything else?

Who the clergy or homosexuals?

 

[someoneyouknow]

Who the clergy or homosexuals?

Haven't been reading the headlines, have you?

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Altoona-Pennsylvania-Clergy-Abuse-370654141.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-priest-sex-abuse-bios-20140121-htmlstory.html

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/06/us/minnesota-archdiocese-sex-abuse-criminal-complaint/index.html

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-schools-child-abuse-claims

 

[BotanyBoy]

Haven't been reading the headlines, have you?

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Altoona-Pennsylvania-Clergy-Abuse-370654141.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-priest-sex-abuse-bios-20140121-htmlstory.html

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/06/us/minnesota-archdiocese-sex-abuse-criminal-complaint/index.html

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-schools-child-abuse-claims

Well I knew that was going on I just wondering if someone was going to step in and give us the RW perspective that homosexuals are evil perverts and the clergy is absolutely perfect in all ways all the time because Jesus was a conservative.

Thanks for ruining my bait.....GAWWWD!!

 

[phrodeau]

We should just let businesses be the biggest pricks ever and let them refuse service to anyone for any reason.

The only people they can really hurt are themselves.

I don't understand the need to try and force these assholes to not be assholes.

The Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter was doing just fine before this happened:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/images/sit-in.jpg

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/freedom-struggle-2.html

 

[someoneyouknow]

Well I knew that was going on I just wondering if someone was going to step in and give us the RW perspective that homosexuals are evil perverts and the clergy is absolutely perfect in all ways all the time because Jesus was a conservative.

Thanks for ruining my bait.....GAWWWD!!

Don't worry, I'm sure someone from the "conservative" side will step up to defend the longest running pedophilia organization in the world, how these are only "isolated events" despite having taken place for well over 1,000 years.

 

[JackLuis]

Georgia GOPer blocks rape kit bill: We don’t need law ‘just because it makes you feel good’

Georgia Republican state Sen. Renee Unterman has blocked a bill with bipartisan support that would require law enforcement in the state to account for untested evidence of sexual assaults.

Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb said that he sponsored House Bill 827 — or the Pursuing Justice for Rape Victims Act — because audits had shown that, in some cases, thousands of rape kids had been ignored for years.

But Unterman, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said that she would not allow the bill to move forward for a full vote on the Senate floor because it had been “overly politicized” by Holcomb, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“If there was a problem, I would be Johnny on the spot and I would have written the legislation,” Unterman insisted. “I think he really overly politicized it in an election year and I’ve got a problem with that.”

 

[about_average]

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/l...untable/2015/09/10/rape-kit-funding/72026820/

 

[JackLuis]

Tech CEO threatens to pull 15,000 person convention out of Georgia if governor signs anti-LGBT law

The CEO of one America’s largest tech marketing firms gave the governor of Georgia an ultimatum on Thursday: sign an anti-LGBT bill sitting on your desk and I’ll pull my May convention in Atlanta and take it elsewhere, reports On Top magazine.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had already expressed his displeasure with the impending passage of HB 757, which would allow groups to deny service to members of the LGBT community due to “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

While the bill specifically defines faith-based organizations as churches, religious schools, and mission groups, critics of the legislation fear the language is vague enough to also cover businesses, hospitals and adoption centers.

Georgia lawmakers did make a slight change to the legislation — by replacing direct references to same-sex marriages in the law before sending it off to GOP Governor Nathan Deal — that wasn’t good enough for Benioff who is demanding the lawmaker veto the bill outright.

Well take responsibility Georgia your wing nuts are loose.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

This thread was on my mind, when I read about my MA governor, taking a secret trip to Georgia.


Gov. Charlie Baker said he will no longer leave the state without telling the public after The Boston Globe reported Thursday that he had taken an unpublicized trip to an island off the coast of Georgia to participate in a powerful conservative-leaning think tank’s national conference.



Speaking during a monthly interview segment on the WGBH program Boston Public Radio, Baker described the trip to the American Enterprise Institute Global Forum as “no big deal.” But he said such travel plans will be made public in the future.

“That won’t happen again,” he said. “Every time I travel outside Massachusetts, we’ll make sure everybody knows that I’ve traveled outside Massachusetts.


Massachusetts Democratic Party was quick to criticize Baker’s trip Thursday morning, saying in a statement that the governor had been “caught sneaking out of state to an exclusive, conservative confab using taxpayer resources.

According to an agenda of the forum obtained by The Huffington Post, Baker was scheduled to speak on a panel about “reinventing education,” with a focus on “vocational education, apprenticeships, and prison reentry programs.



http://www.boston.com/news/2016/03/...tate-travel/c6oBMN6gynJzPzwZJMx1pL/story.html

 

[urguyscott]

If you go back and look at who passed most of the segregation type laws it was the Democrats. They still tell people how to vote and look down on minorities saying they are too stupid to get voter i.d. from the DMV's so elections can be honest. And yet the very people they look down on follow them and obey their orders. In other words, people who claim to be for fair and just rights are willing to give up their own rights and force others to give up theirs.
As for the churches, they too are being pressed to discriminate against their own followers and called hateful names by those who should know better because they have gone thru the same things. Two wrongs don't make a right. If you believe you have rights, then others should have rights also.
There are lots of religions and political views that I don't agree to or even have no respect for as they violate what I feel is wrong. But as long as they don't force their views on me I won't force mine on them. There are plenty of churches that will give people of the same sex the paper saying they are married as well as civil authorities so it isn't that they are not allowed. Time and customs change. Sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst.
As far as Georgia is doing, it is the will of the people and for now that is where it stands. Why should you force any Muslim or Christian or Hindu or other religion to go against their beliefs as long as those beliefs do not cause harm or destruction? When a religion becomes a cult or a business or a political agency than people have a right to demand they follow the laws of the land. But as long as a religion does not force its people (like some we can name in this country as well as in other countries) or a government not allow religion to be taught as a belief and not as a "cause" then we should respect that even if we have to pass laws to protect that right.

 

[about_average]

If you go back and look at who passed most of the segregation type laws it was the Democrats. They still tell people how to vote and look down on minorities saying they are too stupid to get voter i.d. from the DMV's so elections can be honest. And yet the very people they look down on follow them and obey their orders. In other words, people who claim to be for fair and just rights are willing to give up their own rights and force others to give up theirs.
As for the churches, they too are being pressed to discriminate against their own followers and called hateful names by those who should know better because they have gone thru the same things. Two wrongs don't make a right. If you believe you have rights, then others should have rights also.
There are lots of religions and political views that I don't agree to or even have no respect for as they violate what I feel is wrong. But as long as they don't force their views on me I won't force mine on them. There are plenty of churches that will give people of the same sex the paper saying they are married as well as civil authorities so it isn't that they are not allowed. Time and customs change. Sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst.
As far as Georgia is doing, it is the will of the people and for now that is where it stands. Why should you force any Muslim or Christian or Hindu or other religion to go against their beliefs as long as those beliefs do not cause harm or destruction? When a religion becomes a cult or a business or a political agency than people have a right to demand they follow the laws of the land. But as long as a religion does not force its people (like some we can name in this country as well as in other countries) or a government not allow religion to be taught as a belief and not as a "cause" then we should respect that even if we have to pass laws to protect that right.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.