Wednesday, May 15, 2013

WTF Is in the Water in North Carolina?


The Virginia General Assembly is nothing to be proud of.  But of late, the North Carolina Legislature seems to be working over time to win the prize for insanity and batshitery.  It goes without saying, that this insanity directly correlates the fact that the North Carolina Legislature is now controlled by the GOP.   The latest demonstration of what the GOP is doing to North Carolina's reputation and image around the country and the world comes from House Bill 695, entitled "Foreign Laws/Protect Constitutional Rights,"which seeks to cure a problem that doesn't exist.  Instead, its purpose is to bash Muslims and by extension immigrants in general.  The lunacy is mind boggling and yet another example of why I embarrassed to have ever been a Republican.  WRAL.com has details.  Here are highlights:

The latest version of a bill intended to protect the constitutional rights of North Carolinians from "foreign laws" is on its way to the House floor after a contentious hearing in the House Judiciary C Committee. 
House Bill 695, entitled "Foreign Laws/Protect Constitutional Rights," is the most recent iteration of legislation intended to keep courts from recognizing Islamic Sharia law in North Carolina. 

Similar measures have been filed or considered in more than 30 other states, but only a few states have voted them into law. 

The first version of the legislation was passed by ballot initiative in Oklahoma. It specifically named Sharia and was promptly blocked by a judge who declared it unconstitutional because it singled out a religion.

Since then, newer versions of the measure in states from Arkansas to Florida have been more carefully worded. House Bill 695 makes no mention of religion at all, and it wasn't mentioned in committee.

In 2011, Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, ran the same bill. It, too, passed committee but wasn't taken up before the crossover deadline.

At that time, critics and legal experts warned that the broad language of the bill regarding contracts and foreign venues or courts could violate international treaties and admiralty laws and wreak havoc in international business relationships.

The same issues were raised again Wednesday by Kim Crouch with the North Carolina Bar Association, who said the association's Business Law and International Law committees are opposed to the bill.

The North Carolina Values Coalition spoke in favor of the bill. "We do want to protect our citizens," said Laura McGee. "This bill re-clarifies that."

After House Rules Committee Chairman Tim Moore signaled that the bill was unlikely to pass, Cleveland and co-sponsor Rep. Chris Whitmire, R-Transylvania, agreed to amend it so that it would apply only to family law and child custody issues under sections 50 and 50a of state law.
 
GOP Rep. Moore said he didn't know of any cases in which North Carolina courts have allowed Sharia or any other foreign laws to infringe on anyone's constitutional rights, but he said the sponsors were trying to prevent that from happening.

The danger of the encroachment of Sharia law is a popular topic on right-wing radio and blogs, but to date, there's little evidence that it's actually happening.  Muslim groups say it's a scare tactic used by anti-Muslim activists.
North Carolina once was viewed as a pro-business state.  Now, it is going to be known as a haven for nutcases and religious extremists.


1 comment:

David Jeffreys said...

I live in NC and did NOT vote for any of these goons as I voted a straight democratic ticket! But somehow other NC voters gave the republicans a super majority in both the state house and the state senate with a republican governor who will not need to veto any bill! Has Jesse Helms arisen from the dead? And become the new christ of the republican party? As other states have become more progressive, we have regressed!