North Carolina is going completely insane. Was it because Republicans couldn't stand having the Democratic National Convention there in 2012? Nah, it's the psycho anti-abortionists who gained control of the state legislature and are enacting mystical and insane legislation:
Dahilia Lithwick:
North Carolina is proving itself to be the poster child for all that is wrong with modern American democracy and—with thanks to Moral Mondays—also highlighting all that may someday save it.Once a temperate and tolerant beacon of the South, the state is poised to enact a rash of inexpressibly awful legislation, rushed through a Republican legislature. Because the GOP has veto-proof super-majorities in the state House and Senate and a Republican governor—for the first time since Reconstruction—the party has been on a spree.
Republican-controlled redistricting was fantastically effective. So much so that in the 2012 elections, nearly 51 percent of North Carolina voters picked a Democrats for the U.S. House, yet Republicans won nine of the state’s 13 House seats, as Chris Kromm and Sue Sturgis recently pointed out.
Some of the gems advanced recently in the legislature include an abortion bill tacked first onto an anti-Sharia law and then snuck in through a motorcycle safety law (new TRAP regulations may shutter all but one clinic in the state).
Another bill forces all educators to teach seventh graders that abortion causes preterm birth (it doesn’t). Lawmakers also enacted legislation (described here and elsewhere as “the harshest unemployment insurance program cuts in our nation's history”) that resulted in 70,000 North Carolina citizens losing their unemployment benefits. The state is one of the 15 to have refused Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. A proposed education bill would slash teacher compensation, (already ranked among the lowest in the nation), eliminate tenure, and use vouchers to reallocate $90 million of public-school funding to private schools (The school superintendent issued a statement this week saying that in light of the proposed deep cuts to the education budget, “For the first time in my career of more than 30 years in public education, I am truly worried about students in our care.”)
Don’t forget the embarrassing proposed resolution allowing counties and cities to enshrine a state religion. Or the proposed ban on nipples.
But that's not all. If you're in a bar and you accidentally knock over someone's drink after he's had a few already, I'd expect he'll draw down on you - just because he can. Oh, and also because gun-owner freaks tend to abuse alcohol and you know what that means. And with the Stand Your Ground laws and George Zimmerman acquittal infecting the behavior of many gun enthusiasts, expect this to get ugly.
North Carolina Gun Owners Will Soon Be Able To Carry Firearms At Bars And Playgrounds
On Tuesday, North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill allowing gun owners with concealed-carry permits to bring their weapons to playgrounds, bars, and public recreation areas, although bar owners will still be permitted to deny entry to armed patrons. Gov. Pat McCrory (R) is expected to sign the expansive bill into law soon. The measure will also allow concealed-carry permit holders to keep their guns in cars parked on school campuses. The bill was stripped of an especially extreme provision that would have eliminated the requirement for background checks or handgun permits.Since the Newtown elementary school shooting, legislation to put guns in more places is gaining traction among Republican lawmakers, who argue that gun-free zones leave people unarmed and vulnerable to attack. But North Carolina’s plan to put guns in bars poses a far greater danger. Shootings involving alcohol are all too common. Nearly half of all homicides are preceded by some sort of argument, frequently a drunken fight over a perceived insult. Moreover, an estimated 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women who killed someone were drinking alcohol at the time.
Gun owners also tend to abuse alcohol at far higher rates than people who do not own guns, engaging in risky behaviors like binge drinking and drunk driving.
It'll be just like the good old Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok days, I tell you. Drinks, drugs and guns. Yippie ki yay, motherf*&kers!
