UNLIMITED North Carolina Hilarity Thread

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

We need to get SERIOUS about defending marriage in here the tarheel state.  We already have not one but two laws on the books banning gay marriage, but that's not enough.  We need a constitutional amendment, that not only says same-sex marriages are not recognized, but that civil unions, domestic partnerships, whatever else, are also not recognized.

So our house and senate voted overwhelmingly to pass this bill, which will put this this line item on our state primary ballot May 8:

[ ] FOR   [ ] AGAINST
Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one
woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.

I will be playing the jobs angle, how this amendment will hurt our state's ability to attract employers.  There's a lot of good ammo for me in this article.  I have contacted my state representatives, but it's a little late seeing as how putting this measure on the ballot is a done deal now.

I'm also spreading links to this event on FB, reminding people to vote in the primary so they can vote against this amendment.

ETA: For all the good it will do.  I will be surprised if this bill doesn't pass by at least 70%-30%.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

Fucking shit!  My state senator booted me from his FB page and deleted my comments.  I was nice.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

I emailed this to him:

Dear Senator Brock,

I am a resident of your district.  I posted on this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Brock/36906410211 to express my disappointment in your vote in favor of the so-called "Defense of Marriage" amendment, because I believe that if that amendment were to pass, it will harm our state's ability to attract employers.

My posts were deleted, and I was blocked from this page.  I don't know whether you control this page directly, if it is managed by your staff, or if it is just a fan page that you have no control over, but blocking one's own constituents for expressing their views doesn't seem like what a representative of those constituents ought to do.

Thank you for your time.

[Kurt Christ]

I emailed this to him:

Dear Senator Brock,

I am a resident of your district.  I posted on this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Brock/36906410211 to express my disappointment in your vote in favor of the so-called "Defense of Marriage" amendment, because I believe that if that amendment were to pass, it will harm our state's ability to attract employers.

My posts were deleted, and I was blocked from this page.  I don't know whether you control this page directly, if it is managed by your staff, or if it is just a fan page that you have no control over, but blocking one's own constituents for expressing their views doesn't seem like what a representative of those constituents ought to do.

Thank you for your time.

Try to get the fact that this occured published in a local newspaper. If you could, it should do more to generate interest in what you had to say than had your comment been left up in the first place.

[Cain]

Give him a chance to rectify it first, of course.

It could well be an overzealous staffer.  I mean, you've seen the calibre of people the Republicans are attracting nowadays.  Imagine some geeky, 23 year old PoliSci intern trying to internally reconcile Tea Party rhetoric with the idea of limited government when it comes to teh gheys, and then he sees your comments, while manning the state senator's FB page.  That is almost certainly what happened.

[Iason Ouabache]

The good news is that a majority of North Carolinians oppose the amendment right now:

http://equalitync.org/news1/poll-shows-a-majority-of-north-carolinians-oppose-amendment-banning-same-sex-marriage

The poll also showed a strong majority (57%) of North Carolinians support marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples, revealing a dramatic 9% increase in public support for marriage equality in only two years. This result mirrors two separate polls conducted by Public Policy Polling in March and July that also reveal majority support of legal recognitions for same-sex couples.

That probably won't last long. But at least your local media outlets will receive millions of dollars from the Mormons and Catholics. Maybe this is the Republicans' idea of a stimulus package.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

Heh, I wrote this response last night and then went to bed without hitting the Post button.

I emailed this to him:

Dear Senator Brock,

I am a resident of your district.  I posted on this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Brock/36906410211 to express my disappointment in your vote in favor of the so-called "Defense of Marriage" amendment, because I believe that if that amendment were to pass, it will harm our state's ability to attract employers.

My posts were deleted, and I was blocked from this page.  I don't know whether you control this page directly, if it is managed by your staff, or if it is just a fan page that you have no control over, but blocking one's own constituents for expressing their views doesn't seem like what a representative of those constituents ought to do.

Thank you for your time.

Try to get the fact that this occured published in a local newspaper. If you could, it should do more to generate interest in what you had to say than had your comment been left up in the first place.

I think I can do that.  I'll wait and see how/if he responds first.  I'd rather work with him than burn bridges if I can, because I don't see this district ever voting him out.

This guy is about the same age as I am, and I saw on his personal FB page that we have a friend in common.  I'll be seeing that guy Saturday, so I'll ask him and find out if he really knows my senator, and if so what his deal is.

Cain, I also think that is the most likely scenario.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

The good news is that a majority of North Carolinians oppose the amendment right now:

http://equalitync.org/news1/poll-shows-a-majority-of-north-carolinians-oppose-amendment-banning-same-sex-marriage

The poll also showed a strong majority (57%) of North Carolinians support marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples, revealing a dramatic 9% increase in public support for marriage equality in only two years. This result mirrors two separate polls conducted by Public Policy Polling in March and July that also reveal majority support of legal recognitions for same-sex couples.

That probably won't last long. But at least your local media outlets will receive millions of dollars from the Mormons and Catholics. Maybe this is the Republicans' idea of a stimulus package.

The results of the Elon University poll are very different from the Civitas Institute poll (49%-43% in favor of amendment), most likely because the wording of the question in the polls is so different.  I believe the Civitas Institute poll is a more accurate indicator of the likely outcome, because their poll's wording is much closer to the wording that will appear on the ballot.

As you may know, there is a state law that recognizes marriage to be by the consent of a male and female and makes it illegal for two individuals of the same sex to be married or have their marriage recognized by the state of North Carolina . . . Knowing that there is already a law that prevents same sex marriages in North Carolina, would you [support or oppose] an amendment to the North Carolina constitution that would prevent same sex marriages?

Do you support or oppose amending the North Carolina Constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman?

[ ] FOR [ ] AGAINST
Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Elon University was founded by the United Church of christ.




Just sayin......

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

My representative replied to my post on his FB page with a stock thank you for expressing your thoughts, noted and appreciated, that sort of thing.  That's not a lot, but MUCH better than blocking and deleting. 

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

I replied to my representative's stock response, raising concerns about how this amendment would hamper our state's ability to attract employers, especially technology companies, and he read what I wrote and gave me a reply addressing what I said, mostly about how that argument came up while they were debating the thing and listing the reasons why they found it to be weak (1 -- already law in NC, 2 -- it's only one factor out of many that employers consider, and the data indicated that it wasn't a very important one).

I'm blown away that he actually took the time to talk to me, and I want to keep the conversation cordial.  I replied with this.

Thank you for the personal reply.  I know you are busy and I think it's great that you are willing to take time out to talk to me and to read what I have to say.

The language in this amendment is much stronger than the language in the 1995 law.  The 1995 law states that marriages between people of the same gender are not valid.  This amendment goes further, stating that marriage between one man and one woman is the only valid form of domestic legal union in NC.  This language not only invalidates gay marriage but also makes civil unions and domestic partnership agreements impossible in NC.

I'm concerned that it will jeopardize domestic partner benefits offered by private employers.  If the domestic partner of an insured person gets sick with an expensive condition, I can see an unscrupulous insurance company attempting to use the language in this amendment to deny coverage on the basis the domestic partnership being invalid.  

I'm really in favor of fully legalized gay marriage.  The issue doesn't affect me personally, but I have gay friends who are in lifelong committed relationships and who want the same rights as everyone else.  I'm no liberal, but I see this issue as one of fairness.  

Again, thank you for your time.

My senator, on the other hand, hasn't replied to my email, and I'm still blocked on his FB page.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

This is going on in the the town where I grew up, lived away from for about 20 years, then moved back to.  I live here now in case I'm confusing you.

Anyway, the ACLU has come to town.  Apparently they have received several complaints (I swear it wasn't me) that the county commissioners start all their public meetings with prayers in Jesus' name, and sent them a letter basically saying, hey that's illegal and you need to cut that shit out.

In a county where standing up for Jesus is a guaranteed ticket to reelection and kowtowing to the whims of the ACLU is a guaranteed ticket to being ridden out on a rail, the county commissioners did the natural thing and turned their most recent meeting into a Baptist revival.

My reaction to all of this is basically this: 


I love this kind of shit.  It's freaking hilarious to me.  I love the insane overreaction on both sides.  Slippery slope arguments are rampant.  If government officials are forbidden to lead participants in a government function in an official sectarian prayer, then next thing you know they are going to ban the Bible and start feeding Christians to lions again. On the other hand, if we allow a government official to publicly pray at the start of a meeting for God's guidance and wisdom in decision-making, then next thing you know we'll have restarted the inquisition.

It's a losing battle, of course.  The ACLU has like two or three kilowarrens of case law on their side, so this fight is going to cost me and my fellow county taxpayers anywhere from 1/4 - 1/2 million dollars, so that's the down side.

This has gotten a little bit of national coverage, but here's a link from the local paper.  If you don't want to read the whole article, look at the pictures and definitely watch the video at the end of the article.  These are my neighbors.  The guy right after the dirty hippie is my favorite.

I don't think any of you have ever heard me speak, but I have the same accent as the people in that video, so whenever you read my posts, that's what you should be hearing in your head.

The comments on that story aren't anything you haven't seen before on any debate on this topic, but they were interesting to me because everybody posts here using their Facebook account, and I'm like, man that guy is an idiot, and I click on his profile and we we have like 6 mutual friends, some of whom I actually have a shred of respect for.

The video here is also pretty funny.  That's one of my county commissioners speaking.  We can't raise taxes to improve our schools, but we can raise taxes to stand up for Jesus.

[M. Nigel Salt]

Wow, that's damn funny. I love the "It's time to decide what side you're on" bit.