Republicans at work…

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith

A bill that would restrict the right to marry to people of faith and
would mandate all marriage licenses be approved by a member of the
clergy was approved by the Oklahoma state House on Tuesday.

The bill, approved by a Republican majority, now goes to the state
Senate for consideration.

House Bill 1125, sponsored by Republican State Representative Todd Russ,
is a radical measure that would end secular marriage licenses in the
state. In addition, the bill would bar all judges and other secular
officials from performing marriages in Oklahoma.

Russ claims the radical legislation is motivated by his desire to
protect court clerks from having to issue licenses to same-sex couples.
Russ says he doesn’t want these workers put in the position of having to
condone or facilitate same-sex marriage.

Under the legislation, atheists and others not wanting to be married by
a religious official could file an affidavit through the court clerk’s
office claiming a common-law marriage.

Republican supporters of the legislation want to remove the state from
the marriage process. Rep. Dennis Johnson, a Republican, said:

Marriage was not instituted by government. It was instituted by
God. There is no reason for Oklahoma or any state to be involved in
marriage.

Johnson and other Republicans are confused. For the record, marriage is
a legal contract between two consenting adults, and as a legal contract
it is governed by the state. A wedding, on the other hand, may or may
not be a religious ceremony, depending upon the wishes of the couple.

If conservative Christians could only understand this simple and basic
distinction, which in many ways mirrors the constitutional distinction
between church and state, a great deal of time, energy, and taxpayer
money could be saved, and used towards more productive ends.

As it stands, the legislation is thinly disguised anti-gay Christian
bigotry, pure and simple. The bill is a naked attempt to force Christian
theocracy upon the citizens of Oklahoma.

A toxic combination of anti-gay discrimination and discrimination
against non-theists, the bill is emblematic of the dangerous and hateful
nature of conservative Christianity in America.

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/prenqv4

On Fri, 29 May 2015 13:35:30 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Republicans at work…

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


===

As you well know, the bill will never pass, and if by some chance it
did, it will be ruled unconstitutional.

That's called checks and balances and it's one of the things that
makes this country great don't you think?

Speaking of toxic, any progress on your personality improvement plan?

On 5/29/15 3:34 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2015 13:35:30 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Republicans at work…

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


Marriage is a religious ceremony and it should be completely unbundled
from the government.
The government has no business in the marriage process.

We have eliminated all of the actual constraints of marriage in the
law so it should simply be recognized as pure contract law and dealt
with as a civil partnership between any 2 or more adults.

Let the church deal with the spiritual issue of "marriage".


That's not going to happen in this country, because the fundie churches
won't stand for that, either.

I'm still trying to understand why gay marriage is a threat to
heterosexual marriage.

On Fri, 29 May 2015 15:52:36 -0400, Keyser Söze wrote:

On 5/29/15 3:34 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2015 13:35:30 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Republicans at work…

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


Marriage is a religious ceremony and it should be completely unbundled
from the government.
The government has no business in the marriage process.

We have eliminated all of the actual constraints of marriage in the
law so it should simply be recognized as pure contract law and dealt
with as a civil partnership between any 2 or more adults.

Let the church deal with the spiritual issue of "marriage".


That's not going to happen in this country, because the fundie churches
won't stand for that, either.

I'm still trying to understand why gay marriage is a threat to
heterosexual marriage.

Gay 'marriage' isn't a threat to anything. It is a contract between two folks that
will help the global warming problem by reducing procreation. You gotta love it.
--

Guns don't cause problems.
Gun owner behavior causes problems.

On Fri, 29 May 2015 20:26:08 -0400, wrote:

This is a bigger issue of the separation of church and state than a
creche in the town square. I am surprised the ACLU folks have not
embraced it. Why does a religious ceremony like marriage have the
force of law? Why is the government involved at all?

===

Quoting Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof": "Tradition!"

More from Tevye:

Tevye: As the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of
them is sick.
Mendel: Where does the book say that?
Tevye: Well, it doesn't say that exactly, but somewhere there is
something about a chicken.

:-)

Wayne, now THAT was FUNNY!

On Fri, 29 May 2015 18:58:14 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

Wayne, now THAT was FUNNY!

===

It was a really funny play and had some great music also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahAOU1HZXlc

On 5/29/15 8:26 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2015 15:52:36 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 5/29/15 3:34 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2015 13:35:30 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Republicans at work…

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


Marriage is a religious ceremony and it should be completely unbundled
from the government.
The government has no business in the marriage process.

We have eliminated all of the actual constraints of marriage in the
law so it should simply be recognized as pure contract law and dealt
with as a civil partnership between any 2 or more adults.

Let the church deal with the spiritual issue of "marriage".


That's not going to happen in this country, because the fundie churches
won't stand for that, either.

This is a bigger issue of the separation of church and state than a
creche in the town square. I am surprised the ACLU folks have not
embraced it. Why does a religious ceremony like marriage have the
force of law? Why is the government involved at all?

I'm still trying to understand why gay marriage is a threat to
heterosexual marriage.


Partly because of the rights and privileges that attach to marriage.

In article ,
says...

On Fri, 29 May 2015 13:35:30 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Republicans at work?

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


Marriage is a religious ceremony and it should be completely unbundled
from the government.
The government has no business in the marriage process.

We have eliminated all of the actual constraints of marriage in the
law so it should simply be recognized as pure contract law and dealt
with as a civil partnership between any 2 or more adults.

Let the church deal with the spiritual issue of "marriage".

Marriage bestows tax benefits, and legal perquisites.
THAT's why queers want it, and I don't blame them.
That's the bottom line, nothing to do with any religion.
And that's why they're getting married (mostly) in non-religious
venues. I don't know the numbers, but I venture to say most weddings
are non-religious.

In article ,
says...

On Fri, 29 May 2015 22:05:42 -0500, Boating All Out
wrote:

In article ,
says...

On Fri, 29 May 2015 13:35:30 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

Republicans at work?

Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


Marriage is a religious ceremony and it should be completely unbundled
from the government.
The government has no business in the marriage process.

We have eliminated all of the actual constraints of marriage in the
law so it should simply be recognized as pure contract law and dealt
with as a civil partnership between any 2 or more adults.

Let the church deal with the spiritual issue of "marriage".

Marriage bestows tax benefits, and legal perquisites.
THAT's why queers want it, and I don't blame them.
That's the bottom line, nothing to do with any religion.
And that's why they're getting married (mostly) in non-religious
venues. I don't know the numbers, but I venture to say most weddings
are non-religious.

The question is why?
In real life there are plenty of people who take a tax hit by being
married (AKA the marriage penalty) but perhaps that is simply a flaw
in the tax system. Maybe we should not even be looking at marital
status when we are looking at taxes. Just look at dependents and move
on.
In fact, right now, the most lucrative tax status is "single head of
household"
If 2 people with dependents get married, they take a bath at tax time.
It is even true if only one has kids. That happened to us.

The real issue is only taxes and perhaps pension benefits tho. The
pension thing is pretty much moot these days anyway. Nobody will have
pensions in a few years if things keep going the way they are going.
IBM pretty much destroyed the pension plan during the first Clinton
administration (why I retired in 96) and other companies followed
suit. Now it is basically your 401k and you can give that money to
anyone you like on your death..

There are plenty of extant pension plans that legally include spouse
benefits. I have one. Then the big one - Social Security.
Single head of household is only "lucrative" for single heads of
household. Not a place I want to be.
You can try to game the tax system, but it usaully doesn't bear fruit.
Wealthy people excepted.