Since they don't have the political courage to address the Oklahoma budget crisis, the Derplahoman idiots in the Oklahoma legislature have been hard at work looking for solutions to important issues that don't technically exist.
For example, the House spent a good chunk of Monday debating HB 1495. Introduced by Travis Dunlap – the same guy who wants to make it harder for his wife to leave him and/or watch internet porn – the measure would require that death certificates list "suicide" in cases of assisted suicide.
Who cares that assisted suicide is illegal in freedom-loving Oklahoma, or that people seeking a humane end to debilitating pain and suffering probably don't give a fuck what a sheet of paper says, this is an important issue that must be addressed.
The Tulsa World has the details:
The Oklahoma House of Representatives spent 90 minutes Monday arguing about whether something that is already illegal should be even more illegal and finally decided the answer is yes.
The House voted 62-26, with 11 members not voting, to send House Bill 1495, by Rep. Travis Dunlap, R-Bartlesville, to the Senate. The bill would require death certificates to list “suicide” as the cause of death in cases of assisted suicide.
As skeptics pointed out, and supporters of the measure readily agreed, assisted suicide is already illegal in Oklahoma. And Dunlap said he knew of no specific cases of it in the state.
Wow. That's crazy! Oklahoma lawmakers are wasting so much taxpayer time and money pandering to the religious right that even The Tulsa World is now using snark in its political coverage. What's next? An editorial calling out the idiocy of Derplahoman lawmakers? I hope so.
Here's more:
But he and his most vocal advocate, Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City, argued that the bill is necessary to head off a rising tide of assisted suicide laws across the nation and in other countries. They said the bill is supported by National Right to Life, which is best known for its anti-abortion-rights positions.
“Assisted suicide is not legal in Oklahoma,” Calvey said. “Is it occurring? I don’t know. I suspect it is, but I don’t know."
“Assisted suicide is a terrible problem, and we don’t need to be covering it up. Assisted suicide coerces people into death, often aided and abetted by governments.”
Wait a second? Kevin Calvey is against this? You would think he'd be all for assisted suicide, especially when you consider he once threatened to set himself on fire to protest the evils of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Remember that?
Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City, got animated during debate on Senate Bill 548, which would provide 6 percent raises, paid from court fees, for Supreme Court justices and other appellate court judges and employees. The bill ended up passing and returns to the Senate for final consideration. Calvey is upset with court rulings that have gone against efforts to restrict abortions and said that withholding the pay increase would be effective in punishing the justices. He loudly said that if he were not a Christian, he would go across the street to the state Supreme Court building, douse himself in gasoline and set himself on fire to “protest the evil in that building.”
Seriously, how can you threaten to set yourself on fire to protest a court decision and then turn around and argue in support of a symbolic bill designed to shame people who may want to take their own life because they are in pain and dying? I know Oklahoma politicians enjoy double standards, but even that seems over the top.
