Obviously every criminal action is addressed by a law that is already
on the books. The push for hate-crime laws is just an attempt to increase
the power and influence of the central federal government. And you may have
noticed that it has resulted in the manufacture of new problems to solve,
for example, the almost completely fictitious problem of "road rage". (If you make an
illegal lane change on the freeway, there's already a law on the books which
addresses that. But if you were angry at the time, now you're
in big trouble!) You have probably seen television "news" coverage in which
the "road rage" problem is treated like a proven scientific fact.
"Hate crime" laws are not about reducing crime or improving our society; they are
about control. Hate crime laws are used as a means of providing
special privileges for protected classes of people — blocs of voters — especially
minorities and homosexuals. Hate crime laws attempt to legitimize inappropriate sexual behavior
and to stifle public resistance to its expression. The
manufacture and enforcement of thought crime laws can put an end to individual liberty and respect
for the rule of law.
Background information can be found in an article called
Hate-Crime
Hysteria by Mandi Steele.
Note: Scroll down for information about the latest hate crimes
bill,
HR 1592, also
known as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.
Why
Hate Shouldn't Be a Crime: I am against hate crimes, but I also am against hate
crime laws for three reasons. First, they criminalize thought, not behavior. Second,
they do not protect individuals, but rather select classes of people. Third, they actually
encourage hostility towards one group of people, Christians. George Orwell once said that
sometimes the first duty of a responsible person is to restate the obvious. Note the
obvious: Hate crime laws criminalize thought, not conduct.
The Road to
Serfdom. The persecution of these students provides a case study of the two-pronged offensive
being carried out today against Western culture. First there are the jihadists, who call for our
destruction. Then there are the leftist intellectuals and public figures who defend radical Islamists and
work to silence those who criticize them by criminalizing speech and condemning free thinkers as racists.
Hate
Crimes and Special Victims: An Un-American Story. It is human nature to resent groups and
individuals deemed more special than others. Signaling through laws (or media treatment) that one
group's suffering is more grievous than another's — or that one person's murder is worse
than another's — is also likely to fragment communities, as well as to engender the
very animosities such laws are meant to deter.
Hate
crimes laws are not necessary. Of course, hate crimes legislation is poppycock. All crimes
of violence are hate crimes. Crime is the last segregated business in America. Most black crime
victims are victims of blacks. White criminals generally pick white victims. If you are killed by
a person of another color, does that make you more dead?
"Hate
Crimes" Legislation: A License To Kill The First Amendment. So, if this legislation is not
about stopping "hate crimes" (no law can accomplish that) … and it's not about creating needed laws
(where the laws are needed, they already exist) … and it's not about extending the existing laws to protect
the broadest possible array of likely victims (Democrats in committee nixed that idea) … what is this "hate
crimes" law about? Primarily, it's about punishing people of traditional faith who dare oppose homosexual
behavior.
What Makes A Crime Of Prejudice
Worse Than Any Other Crime? Hate-crime legislation is just laying the groundwork for hate-speech
legislation, which, indeed, is already on the books in some states. This is the step toward
totalitarianism. This is a direct assault on free speech and should be vigorously opposed.
It's
the crime that matters — not the motivation. As the Alberta Hate Bias Crime
Committee urges creation of a province-wide team to investigate and prosecute hate crimes, it
occurs to me that if somebody hit me in the face with a two-by-four, I'd bleed just as red as
a transsexual ethnic minority in a wheelchair.
Utah's "hate crimes" lobby tries again.
The good news is that another "hate crimes" law bit the dust and died. The bad news is that this was
the 10th attempt to pass it in the Utah Senate, which means that its proponents are never going to quit.
Increasing "Hate Crime" Punishment
Violates American Principles. It is a serious mistake for the government to pursue the goal of
seeking to identify and highlight the maximum possible amount of prejudice in the crime problem by counting
as a hate crime every offense motivated in any degree by the offender's prejudice. This definition
sweeps under the hate crime umbrella crimes involving low-intensity prejudices that bubble to the surface
during ad hoc conflicts.
The Haters of Hate.
Here's how hate crime works. If you commit assault, let's say the normal penalty is five years in prison.
Under hate-crime laws, if you commit the assault because of racist ideas, or other bad ideas, then your penalty is
"enhanced" with extra years in prison — and those extra years in prison are not for the act of assault but
for the ideas which prompted the assault. … You are to be punished, imprisoned, for holding a certain idea.
The Trouble With Hate-Crime Laws.
The intent of the bill is to punish motive. This is not the same as intent, and gets into questions of what's
in the perpetrator's head. Did he beat someone up because he dated his girlfriend, took his parking space or
because he was black? Are the welts on the victim's face any different in either case?
A lost battle in the war against "hate crime"
laws: In the current social climate, where multiculturalism rules, it is hard to imagine that a state
legislator would dare to introduce a bill to repeal a "hate crimes" law that was passed in 1990. Yet this is
what happened earlier this month in New Hampshire when state Representative Elbert Bicknell introduced House Bill 136,
to overturn a law that he claims discriminates against the majority of New Hampshire's citizens and depends upon the
granting of special status.
Woman
beaten on bus. As Sarah Kreager, 26, tried to sit down on a Baltimore City bus Tuesday,
police say, a middle-schooler told her she couldn't. When she attempted to take another seat, a
middle-schooler wouldn't let her. Finally, according to police, Kreager just sat down. She
was "immediately attacked" by nine students — three females and six males — from
Robert Poole Middle School. … The suspects in the incident are black. The victim is white,
according to the police report.
The Editor says...
If the colors were reversed, this would be called a hate crime
and Al Sharpton would be all over it.
Here is an update -- and just as I suspected ...
Hate
crime charges rejected. Prosecutors in Baltimore have decided not to charge the
nine middle school students accused in the beating of a 26-year-old woman on a city bus with a
hate crime as a judge postponed their trial yesterday until Jan. 31.
Are Thoughts a Crime? Perhaps Gordon
Smith is merely trying to win reelection in Oregon, a moderate to liberal state with an organized and militant
gay rights movement. … Whatever his reason, it is hard to believe that Gordon Smith really believes that an
American should be punished more severely for assaulting a gay man than for assaulting a little old lady.
That notion is simply too far-fetched to be seriously embraced, but is nonetheless the practical effect of
Smith's bill.
Law as thought control: Disproportionately
harsh prison terms in many places of the country are now becoming the norm, especially so when law authorities decide that
a "hate crime" is involved. … Thanks to unconstitutional "hate crime" laws, simple civil offenses are now ratcheted up
into felony crimes.
Five more years for your thoughts. The
brazen, unconstitutional nature of these "Gotcha!" laws, contrived by politically powerful interest groups to penalize
American whites, have been cited by legal scholars, lawyers, and lots of just plain, ordinary citizens, who are not deaf,
dumb and blind. In Georgia's case, because of earlier wrangling in the state's Senate over the wording of the law,
no specific groups were cited — making an unconstitutional law even more vague and unconstitutional.
Fake
Anti-"Gay" "Hate Crimes" Keep Piling Up. The Associated Press is reporting the latest in a string
of fraudulent high profile "hate crime" reports by homosexual activists who are evidently having trouble coming
up with legitimate incidents of "hate crimes" against homosexuals to bolster their deceptive agenda.
Real
Hate Crimes: In recent years, it's become fashionable in America to talk about the need to stop
hate crimes. But, all too often, "hate crimes" are defined as speech which questions the legitimacy of the
homosexual lifestyle. True hate crimes, however, are acts of violence perpetrated without cause but with a
tremendous amount of malice. A perfect example of this is something that happened in Florida recently.
What's Wrong with Thought Crime ("Hate Crime") Laws?
Violent attacks upon people or property are already illegal, regardless of the motive behind them. With
"hate crime" laws, however, people are essentially given one penalty for the actions they engaged in, and an
additional penalty for the politically incorrect thoughts that allegedly motivated those actions.
Thought Crime Laws: Unnecessary and a Threat to Free
Speech. Currently proposed federal "hate crime" legislation would only authorize direct federal
prosecution of those who cause or attempt to cause "bodily injury." However, such acts are already
crimes, regularly prosecuted and punished under state or local laws. The offender's politically incorrect
thoughts or opinions alone would make such crimes a federal offense.
Is Telling Lawyer Jokes a Hate Crime? A few decades
ago, the "gay rights" movement arose and demanded the right to practice the homosexual lifestyle. "We do
not ask you to approve or agree with us," they would say, "we only ask that you recognize our right to our
practices." But that isn't enough anymore. Today, the "gay rights" movement demands that we not
only accept their right to practice homosexual conduct, but also approve and affirm it as an acceptable
lifestyle. What's next? Will their next step be to silence their critics by making criticism of
homosexual conduct illegal?
'Jena Six' case sparks
march on DC. No one was charged with a crime for hanging the noose. "They need to
deem these things hate crimes when it's necessary and obvious," said protester Letrice Titus, 32, of
Syracuse, N.Y. Organizers said more than 100 busloads of people turned out for the protest
[which was] organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton….
The Editor says...
There is a move underway to make the public display of nooses illegal. Why
not just skip the next several increments and make it illegal to tie a knot in a rope?
NAACP: Feds
must toughen noose law. The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP,
called Monday [11/19/2007] for tougher federal laws to deal with displays of nooses, following a spate of
incidents around the country in recent months and a noose-hanging incident last week inside a classroom at
Central Michigan University.
CAIR Pushes Phony Charges of
Anti-Muslim Hysteria, Hate Crimes. According to the FBI, CAIR has compromised potential
hate crime prosecutions by ignoring requests to keep quiet about ongoing investigations. … Many incidents
that CAIR has labeled "hate crimes" have turned out to be dubious.
'Hate
Crime' Laws Threaten Religious Freedom. Ultimately, "hate crime" laws punish only beliefs
or thoughts. All totalitarian countries employ "thought crime" laws that criminalize the
conscience. Now, under "hate crime" laws that include "sexual orientation," even Western
nations with long traditions of freedom, such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the
United Kingdom and Sweden, are experiencing more and more challenges to basic freedoms. "Hate
crime" laws are a key part of a long-term strategy by homosexual activists to use "sexual
orientation"-based policies and laws to suppress dissent, radically redefine marriage and,
ultimately, to criminalize Biblical morality.
Bush vows to veto
hate-crime expansion for gays. President Bush is committed to vetoing the latest effort
to expand federal "hate crimes" laws to include sexual orientation, even if it means sending a defense
authorization bill back to Congress, the White House said. … The legislation would make it easier
for federal law enforcement to become involved in crimes against people based on their "sexual
orientation" and "gender identity."
[One might easily wonder why such a matter is included in a defense authorization bill. Apparently
that's the only way to get it approved, since a hate crimes law can't survive a vote on its own.]
Update:
Hate
Crimes Bill Put on Pentagon Measure. The Senate on Thursday [9/27/2007] attached legislation
to help states prosecute attacks on homosexuals to a bill funding the war in Iraq in an effort to force
President Bush to sign it into law. Opponents, citing a Bush veto threat, predicted it ultimately
would fail. "The president is not going to agree to this social legislation on the defense
authorization bill," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
HR 1592 -- The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007
The Real "Hate Crime": A "hate crime"
amendment was [added] to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2004 (S.1382). This
bill would censor any discussion or debate about same-sex marriage or special rights, even teaching children the
homosexual lifestyle is wrong and sinful would put you at risk of prosecution. This amendment would even
designate comments supporting traditional values and even parts of the Bible as "hate speech" — a
crime punishable by fines and even jail!
It's
Back: 'Hate Crimes' Bill Reintroduced. Liberals call it a "hate crimes prevention" bill,
but conservatives denounce it as "anti-Christian" legislation. Whatever you call it, the bill is
back — reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Tuesday. Liberals are pressing for
passage, and conservatives are pressing President Bush to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
'Hate
Crimes' Bill Moving to Full House. The House Judiciary Committee passed a "hate crimes" bill
Wednesday night, all 23 Democrats in favor, all 17 Republicans opposed. Every Republican attempt to
amend the bill was defeated. Critics call it a "thought crimes" bill.
'Hate
Crime' Laws Threaten Religious Freedom. Proponents of "hate crime" laws say they are needed to
protect minorities from acts of violence. But "hate crime" laws are unnecessary. Criminal acts are
already illegal. What's more, "hate crime" laws violate the constitutional right to equal protection,
create the un-American offense of "thought crime," and abridge the freedoms of speech, religion and association.
"Hate crime" laws work this way: They add penalties to a criminal sentence if the criminal is also convicted
of having a "hateful" intent toward the victim based on the victim's real or perceived group identity. Crime
victims who don't fit into certain categories see their assailants face lesser penalties. Ultimately, "hate
crime" laws punish only beliefs or thoughts.
What
the Hate Crimes Law Would Do: Clearly, the intent of this law is not to prevent crime, but to
shut down freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of thought. Its passage would strike at
the very heart of our democracy.
Your
Grandmother Could Be Next: The Hate Crimes Bills. This law promises to grant protected status to
"sexual orientation" and "gender identity" — essentially mandating unequal protection under the law,
which will pave the way for criminalization of thoughts and religious beliefs contrary to politically correct
ideology.
Unconstitutional Legislation Threatens
Freedoms. Federal hate crime laws violate the Tenth Amendment's limitations on federal power.
Hate crime laws may also violate the First Amendment guaranteed freedom of speech and religion by criminalizing
speech federal bureaucrats define as "hateful." There is no evidence that local governments are failing to
apprehend and prosecute criminals motivated by prejudice, in comparison to the apprehension and conviction rates
of other crimes. Therefore, new hate crime laws will not significantly reduce crime. Instead of
increasing the effectiveness of law enforcement, hate crime laws undermine equal justice under the law by
requiring law enforcement and judicial system officers to give priority to investigating and prosecuting
hate crimes.
Christians
Sleeping — Antichrist Creeping. Both the house and senate versions of the bill are a
direct affront to freedom of speech and freedom of religion and if by some remote chance they should become a
permanent part of the law they will surely undergo challenges in the Supreme Court about their obviously suspect
constitutionality. The Hate Crimes Bill is a means of squashing the rights of preachers, gospel witnesses,
youth workers, journalists, and every ordinary citizen to quote or explain to others what the Bible says about
homosexuality.
A Bustling
Hate-Crime Industry. Political entrepreneurship involves devising benefits to excite or mollify
niche constituencies. Hence HR 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007,
which has passed the House, trailing clouds of sanctimony — lots of members announced their hatred
of hate. Hate crime laws — 45 states already have them; Congress does not mind being
duplicative — mandate enhanced punishments for crimes committed because of thoughts that government
especially disapproves of. That is, crimes committed because of, not merely accompanied by, those
thoughts. Mind-reading juries are required to distinguish causation from correlation.
'Hate Crimes'
Vote on National Prayer Day Angers Some Christians. Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives
have scheduled a vote on a "hate crimes" bill for Thursday [5/3/2007], which is also the National Day of
Prayer. One conservative group called this an example of "in your face" politics against Christians
in America — a charge strongly denied by the Democrats.
House Passes Expanded Hate Crime
Bill. The House voted Thursday [5/3/2007] to expand federal hate crime categories to include
violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender, acting just hours after the White House
threatened a veto.
Misguided
thought crimes legislation on U.S. House floor. The bill, harmlessly coined "the Local Law
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" by House Democrats, would create a nebulous new class of criminals based
not on the things they do, but on the basis of what they may or may not have been thinking while they committed
the crime. Even worse, the legislation takes the unprecedented step of declaring some victims of heinous
crimes not as worthy of justice as others, simply because they don't happen to fall into a special category of
favored status.
Black pastors fight hate-crime protection
for gays. A coalition of conservative black pastors is lobbying Congress to vote against a bill
that would extend federal hate-crimes laws to cover gays, saying they fear it would prevent them from preaching
against homosexuality.
House passes bill to
add attacks on gays to hate crime law. The House voted Thursday to expand federal hate crime
categories to include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender, acting just hours
after the White House threatened a veto. The legislation, passed 237-180, also would make it easier for
federal law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving bias-motivated attacks.
Jailhouse
Stripes for Thoughts? Isn't it classic community doublespeak when a society that has decriminalized
homosexuality is now contemplating criminalizing opposition thoughts? The question we face is if the federal
government should have the power to lock people away for beliefs flowing from their religion.
The department of hate speech
Era of thought police has arrived.
I speak of the ever-growing scope of Canada's Human Rights Commissions and the damage they are doing to our
fundamental right to freedom of expression. … The commissions have also been at work in censoring religious
institutions. The conservative Catholic magazine Catholic Digest and its editor, Father Alphonse de Valk,
have been denounced to the commission for publishing official Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality.
These cases are still pending, but their outcome is predictable. Unlike in a court of law, there is no
presumption of innocence for the defendant, and the commissions have returned a verdict of guilty in
virtually every hate speech case they have ever heard.
Canada's
Human Rights Gestapo: In 2006, Ezra [Levant]'s magazine republished the Danish cartoons of
Mohammed with an accompanying article about the Muslim riots that followed. It argued that journalists
should not censor themselves out of fear of violence from a radical Muslim minority, and chastised media that
refused to exercise their free speech rights on those grounds. Subsequently, the Edmonton Council of
Muslim Communities ("ECMC") filed a complaint against the Western Standard with the Alberta Human Rights
Commission.
When free speech offends Muslims.
Canada's Human Rights Commissions (HRC) are government agencies, not courts. They were set up, starting in
the 1960s, to fight job and housing discrimination — offensive acts, not words. Borne of good
intention, some argue they have paved a path to politically correct hell. Those behind the creation of
the commissions maintain they were never meant to impede free speech — a right guaranteed under
Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms — and that "thought crime" cases represent a fraction of
the commissions' work.
Idiot's Guide
to Completely Idiotic Canadian 'Human Rights' Tribunals: 'Freedom of speech is an American
concept, so I don't give it any value." — Canadian "Human Rights" Investigator Dean Steacy,
responding to the question "What value do you give freedom of speech when you investigate?" This is
the way free speech ends, not with a bang but as the result of an administrative hearing in a windowless
basement in Vancouver, Canada. At least that's where a "Human Rights Tribunal" is taking place this
week that will further solidify the Canadian legal position that the right not to be offended by something
you read is more sacred than the freedom of the press.
"Hate Speech" is Now Called "Harassment by
Communication". We've heard of laws in the Netherlands and Canada that penalize preachers for
using the Bible to condemn homosexuality. Now it's happening in America. The Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania has added an amendment to its "hate-crimes" law that covers something called "harassment by
communication." Anthony Picarello, chief counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said, "The
wording is broad enough that it could be applied (to religious speakers), and that's something… that
the people who crafted the language had in mind."
Suit to decide workplace 'hate
speech'. The words "natural family," "marriage" and "union of a man and a woman" can be punished
as "hate speech" in government workplaces, according to a lawsuit that is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court. Briefs for Good News Employee Association vs. Hicks, which were filed June 5 with the
nation's highest court, lists D.C. school board President Robert C. Bobb as one of two plaintiffs.
When Speech Becomes a Crime:
It's called hate speech. If there ever were a more Orwellian concept, it would be difficult to find.
For much like the concept of "thought crimes" in George Orwell's novel "1984," hate crimes and hate speech
suppose intent on the part of the "perpetrator" that may or may not have any basis in reality. What is
often mere criticism or disapproval is labeled "hatred" and thus made worthy of punishment.
Student lawsuit hinges on whether 'That's
so gay' is hate speech. When a few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with
questions such as, "Do you have 10 moms?" she shot back: "That's so gay." Those three words landed
the high school freshman in the principal's office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question:
When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped
out?
Sneaking
in another "hate crimes" law. The legislation, if enacted, could lead
to pressure by lobbies of particular "protected" groups to declare as "hate speech" any
open dissent that they deem detrimental to their respective causes.
What
Makes A Crime Of Prejudice Worse Than Any Other Crime? A free
society, if it is to remain free, must leave even genuine hate speech free
to be combatted by reason and education. The alternative is to move toward
totalitarianism, in which thinking the wrong thoughts can land you in prison
or in front of a firing squad.
Banning mean: "Hate speech" is one
of those enormously elastic terms that pretty much means what the speaker intends it to mean. By and
large, anybody saying un-nice things about an identifiable group of people within a protected category (gays
and blacks, but rarely such maligned folks as the Shriners) runs the risk of being tagged for uttering hate
speech.
Teenager faces prosecution
for calling Scientology 'cult'. A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to
describe the Church of Scientology. The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London
police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial
religion.
Pastor appealing order to apologize for
anti-gay letter. A former pastor will appeal a human rights ruling that orders an apology and
the payment of thousands of dollars in fines for an anti-gay letter published in a central Alberta newspaper.
The Alberta Human Rights Commission issued a written order on May 30 stating that Stephen Boissoin and the
Concerned Christian Coalition must pay former Red Deer school teacher Darren Lund $5,000 in damages.
Government to pastor: Renounce your faith!
A Canadian human rights tribunal ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to
homosexuality, according to a new report. In a decision dated May 30 in the penalty phase of the quasi-judicial
proceedings run by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson was banned from expressing his
biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize
to the activist who complained of being hurt.
Opposing the Fairness Doctrine with a Real Fairness
Doctrine: When outlets like talk radio are successfully attacked, the tools to end the encroaching tyranny
upon free dialogue, independent thought and the right to be contrarian will be distracted and weakened. That is the
goal. … When the scattered voices of dissent are cowed or crushed, then minds which do not know they live in prisons
will find escape and freedom harder and harder, until it is impossible. That is the grim lesson of George Orwell,
whose dystopian fantasy, 1984, seems less fanciful each year.
Free Speech on the Run in the West.
In Canada, a teacher drew a suspension for a letter to a newspaper arguing that homosexuality is not a fixed orientation,
but a condition that can be treated. He was not accused of discrimination, merely of expressing thoughts that the
state defines as improper. Another Canadian newspaper was fined 4,500 Canadian dollars for printing an ad giving the
citations — but not the text — of four biblical quotations against homosexuality.
Islamists are attacking freedom of speech. On
campuses and within Western governments it is increasingly taboo to label terrorists who slaughter in the name of
Islam "Islamist terrorists." In Canada, "human rights commissions" attempt to enforce this taboo by putting
such writers as Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant on trial for the "crime" of expressing opinions that offend Islamic
grievance groups — and also for quoting Islamists accurately and thereby casting them in an unfavorable
light. If that's not Orwellian, what is?
The Mark Steyn subsection
Canada's deadly tongue trap:
Here is a little known fact about Canada. It is today a country where you can say or write things that are true and yet still be
brought before a tribunal. That tribunal can fine you; it can order you to pay money to the people who complained about your
words; it can force you to issue an apology; it can do all three.
Free Mark Steyn.
Most of the media in Canada and the United States ignored the British Columbia "Human Rights" Tribunal that took place last
week in a windowless basement in Vancouver. Now, a group of provincial human-rights commissars will decide whether or
not National Review's incomparable Mark Steyn and the largest-circulating magazine in Canada, Maclean's, will be fined or
otherwise censured for printing an excerpt from Steyn's book, America Alone.
O, Stalinoid Canada.
Columnist [Mark] Steyn is being hauled before something called the "Canada Human Rights Tribunal," a parallel
legal system to the normal Canadian courts, without all the bother of due process, the presumption of innocence,
a defined and limited legal venue, and protection for free speech. … As Mark Steyn tells it, no one has
ever been cleared by the Canadian Inquisition over the last 30 years. If you're accused, you get
hanged.
Why I am glad I'm not Canadian:
I've been called a coward, a moron, a bad journalist, and worst of all a bad writer for having the audacity to express my
opinions in this column, but at least I have never been arrested or put on trial for telling the truth. That distinct
honor has been reserved for Mark Steyn, the Canadian author who lives in self-imposed exile in New Hampshire.
Free
Speech on Trial. [Mark] Steyn's offense was to have published, in the fall of 2006, an excerpt
from his book, America Alone, in the Canadian newsweekly Maclean's. In it, Steyn advanced
the provocative but by no means untenable argument that plunging birthrates in Europe would precipitate a
demographic decline, forcing Continental countries to reach an "accommodation with their radicalized Islamic
compatriots." Europe's future, Steyn suggested, "belongs to Islam."
George Orwell meets the OIC. "We
sent a clear message to the West regarding the red lines that should not be crossed." That sounds like
the statement of a victor in a war, dictating terms to the vanquished. And it may well be: free
speech is under attack in Canada — the prosecution of Macleans Magazine and author Mark
Steyn — and in the United States as well by Islamic governments and groups whose goal is to end free
speech when it is aimed at exposing the truth about Islamic terrorism and its roots. Their goal is positively
Orwellian. Replace "Big Brother" with the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" and you have the world
the OIC wants to impose on us all.
The Canadian Human Rights
Commission blinks. The Canadian Human Rights Commission, like any petty tyranny, has a strong
instinct for survival. As I predicted last week on the Michael Coren Show, that instinct would cause
them to drop the complaint against Mark Steyn and Maclean's. And so they did.
Beware of censorship.
While the Canadian Human Rights Commission has bowed to widespread public opposition to proceeding with a complaint against
Maclean's magazine brought by the Canadian Islamic Congress, less powerful and prominent Canadians should beware: For
them, the threat of censorship remains.
Speak easy. The
reason complaints of the sort brought against Maclean's are not dismissed out of hand by federal and provincial human rights
tribunals is due to section 13(1) of the Human Rights Act, and similar codes in provincial statutes. It reads in part
that any communication "likely to expose a person or persons to hatred" can be prosecuted on the "prohibited ground of
discrimination."
Tribunal
not about 'rights' at all. No matter what the tribunal's ultimate decision is in the [Mark] Steyn
case, it should be clear to all that this state agency is committing gross intrusions into the free press
and into freedom of expression in Canada.
Police
tell Christian couple their view on gays are 'close to a hate crime'. Police
questioned a retired couple for 80 minutes about their "homophobic" views after they asked their
local council if they could display their Christian literature next to gay rights leaflets, it
was reported last night [12/22/2005]. Joe and Helen Roberts said that police officers
warned them that their actions "were close to a hate crime" after they complained to Wyre
Borough Council about its gay rights policies. The couple claimed that the police
told them they were "walking on eggshells".
The Princeton Hate Crime That
Wasn't : The Jena 6 case exploded overnight when the Media imagined they
had a "race hate" issue on their hands. They did the same with the Duke Rape case.
Both cases were later proven not to be a case of a "hate crime" at all and, in the end, weren't
even real crimes. … Contrast that coverage with a reported crime that occurred near Princeton
University that perfectly fits the definition of a "hate crime" and we found a media that
stayed mum not reporting a thing about it. The reason, of course, is because this victim
was a conservative, Christian attacked because he was a conservative Christian — the
news media obviously didn't feel there was anything to talk about.
There's
little to like about hate-crime laws. Four years ago, I wrote that Pennsylvania's hate-crime law — which, like California's, is a "piggyback"
statute allowing for extra punishment for crimes deemed to be motivated by bias — could have unintended
consequences. … It is possible that such laws could end up punishing blacks who commit violence against
whites — which is a far cry from the historical experience that inspired hate-crime statutes.
The Editor says...
Oh, I see. Now that blacks are being charged with hate crimes, at long last, suddenly
these laws are not such a good idea.
Nine Youths Convicted in Racially Charged
Halloween Beatings in California. Nine black youths were convicted Friday in juvenile court of
beating three white women in a racially charged attack on Halloween night. The youths, ranging from 12
to 18 years old, could receive sentences from probation to confinement in juvenile prison until age 25.
All were charged with felony assault. The judge found eight of them guilty of hate crimes.
Do We Have a Right
to Hate? On October 10, 2004, eleven Christians were arrested in Philadelphia for criticizing
homosexuality. They were arrested under a Pennsylvania hate crime law, which, ominously, is almost
identical to one (H.R. 254) going through Congress at this very moment. Now, I must point out that
it's unlikely the individuals in the above cases were motivated by hate, unless it's hate of certain behaviors
or beliefs. Yet, the law has prosecuted them under hate laws, Orwellian legislation predicated on the
notion that the government belongs in the hate business.
The "hate crime" lobby wins another
round. The views of an editorialist or commentator, however misguided, can be tossed aside or
taken to heart by those who agree or disagree with him. But what recourse is there from a judge with the
power to punish, based on some bias in his own head concerning the proper way to think about race?
Witches see an opportunity in
new hate bill. The [British] government faces new embarrassment over the religious hatred
bill with a warning that witches and satanists could use it to trigger police investigations of their
critics.
Hate-crime laws incompatible with a free
society. The attempt to expand federal law to cover sexual orientation is particularly
pernicious. Homosexual activists stridently insist that what they call anti-gay speech (including
opposition to gay marriage and refusal to embrace the myth that homosexuality is genetically determined) spurs
violence against gays and is itself a hate crime.
Hate-crime laws penalize
ideas in name of tolerance. Any attack on a person or his property is a crime and punishable as
such. Hate-crime laws add an extra penalty because the offense was spurred by malice toward a protected
group. The additional punishment is for holding bad ideas. It's a short step from there to
punishing pure advocacy. But all ideas, including those that are admittedly ugly and evil, are shielded
by the Constitution.
Democrat Control Means Hate Bill
Will Pass. For the past eight years, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith has tried
unsuccessfully to pass its Orwellian federal "anti-hate" bill. It has failed largely for one reason:
Republican control of Congress. Repeatedly, Republican opponents of their hate bill, such as Rep. Roy
Blunt and Sen. Bill Frist have been able, with Republican congressional backing, to block passage. With
Democrats now in control, such freedom-saving clout no longer exists.
Is A
New Civil Rights Movement on The Horizon? The national media has not
seen fit to report the instances cited above as reverse racism or as hate crimes
against white people. Very often you hear black people simply say "it's
our turn." However, the people who were killed, the people who were fired,
and the students who were abused were white and the perpetrators were black — these
were in fact race crimes, and to call them anything but hate crimes would be plain silly.
Subway
attack was to amuse, police say. The four teenagers who ambushed Sean Patrick Conroy in a subway
concourse Wednesday [3/26/2008] chose their victim at random and attacked him for no other purpose than to
amuse themselves, police said yesterday. … Police yesterday discounted robbery as a motive, and said the
youths apparently launched the attack on a lark.
The Editor says...
If the victim had been black and the assailants had been white, the press would be having a "hate crime"
field day.
The Trouble With Hate-Crime
Laws: We are creating laws that instill the notion that the worth of an individual is
dependent on the group to which he belongs.
What Happens in Countries
with Hate Crimes Laws? By failing to heed the warnings generated by other nations which have
embraced hate crimes laws, the U.S. Congress is placing the religious liberties of all Americans in
danger. Throughout the world, many nations have enacted similar laws, seeking to provide special
rights for classes of people. In each case, these laws have led to the persecution of the Christian
faith.
What Makes A Crime Of Prejudice
Worse Than Any Other Crime? Hate-crime legislation is just laying the groundwork for
hate-speech legislation, which, indeed, is already on the books in some states. This is the
step toward totalitarianism. This is a direct assault on free speech and should be vigorously
opposed.
Hate-crime
Laws and Evolutionary Tyranny. Why is hate being turned into our national boogeyman? Well,
the social-engineers have deemed that hate — and dreaded permutations of it, such as "racism" — are
the end all and be all, the source of all our ills, as they formulate their very own hierarchy of
sin. Of course, lust would never find a prominent place on the totem pole, since the
libertine formulators in question have tried to turn the exercise of it into a national pastime. Nor
would envy strike them as something bedeviling us, since it infuses their souls and animates their
schemes to redistribute wealth.
Here's an example of the imbalance in hate crime prosecution:
Injury Fire At West Chester Business Was
Arson, Hate Crime Suspected. Investigators are looking into the possibility that the arson
was a hate crime, because the business is owned by a Jordanian family.
But when the suspects turned out to be black, the "hate crime" aspect was dropped.
Police: Arson Not Hate-Crime
After All. Investigators said hours after the damage was done, the manager, Musa Shteiwi, and
his son Essa were preparing for another arson at the store. Detectives say they had gasoline in the
restaurant, when according to the son, the father lit a cigarette and caused an explosion.
"Hate Crimes" Trap. Extra
prison time was dispensed for what Nicholas Minucci said during a physical assault with a bat. If
there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is
the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought that
we hate. … We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expressions of opinions
that we loathe.
The
strange tales of Paul Mirecki: News of the beating aligned perfectly with the
mainstream media's template of Christian fundamentalists as right-wing vigilantes. Mirecki's
liberal supporters on the Internet swallowed the story whole. The Wichita Eagle told those
with questions about Mirecki's account to "give it a rest." A Kansas City Star columnist
called allegations of a manufactured hate crime a "cheap shot."
A lost battle in the war against "hate
crime" laws. In the current social climate, where multiculturalism rules, it is hard to
imagine that a state legislator would dare to introduce a bill to repeal a "hate crimes" law that was
passed in 1990. Yet this is what happened earlier this month in New Hampshire when state
Representative Elbert Bicknell introduced House Bill 136, to overturn a law that he claims
discriminates against the majority of New Hampshire's citizens and depends upon the granting of
special status.
Utah's "hate crimes" lobby tries
again. The good news is that another "hate crimes" law bit the dust and died. The
bad news is that this was the 10th attempt to pass it in the Utah Senate, which means that its proponents
are never going to quit.
Thought
Crime Becomes a Reality in Canada. A number of aspects of the new law are
profoundly disturbing. For one thing, there already exists in Canadian law abundant
protection of human rights, including protection against discrimination on grounds of "sexual
orientation." What is distinctive about the new law is the criminalization of negative
criticism of homosexuality as such.
"Hate
crimes" bill: Prescription for tyranny. Such laws create a multi-tiered
system of justice, in which some crime victims' cases are taken more seriously than
others, thus violating the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. In a
media- and dollar-driven situation, your grandmother's mugging will not receive as much
attention as the "hate crime" committed against a homosexual. Both victims deserve
the full protection of the law, but the one that snags the headlines will get more
of it.
More proof that blacks have immunity from hate crime prosecution:
Is 'white boy' a slur? It
sure isn't a compliment. Is "white boy" a racial slur? Judging from some of the debates
that have occurred over the use of "white boy" by African Americans, I'd say the description is certainly
heading in that direction. … I'm bringing this subject up because of what happened to Ryan Rusch,
the 14-year-old Beverly boy who was robbed and badly beaten, allegedly by three black youths. … One
of the juveniles apparently told police that Rusch was beaten and robbed because he was a "goofy-looking
white boy," and police are continuing to investigate the incident as a "hate crime." So far, the
Cook County state's attorney's office has rejected charging the teens with a hate crime.
Hate Crime Laws are An
Assault on Freedom. Although well intentioned, "hate-crime" laws are seriously
flawed. "Hate crime" laws pose a danger to civil liberties in three ways: (1) They
pave the way for suppression of the freedoms of speech, association and religion. (2) They
violate the concept of equal protection under the law. (3) They introduce the un-American
concept of "thought crime," in which someone's actions are "more" illegal based on their thoughts
or beliefs.
Federalizing
Criminal Law While Threatening Civil Liberties. The hate crimes bill, an amendment to the
Child Safety Act (H.R. 3132), was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on
September 15 [2005]. Titled "The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act," the bill is
now under review in the U.S. Senate (S. 1145). This bill lays the groundwork for a
severe threat to religious freedom, expands federal power enormously into cases traditionally
handled by the states, … [and] brings hate crime politics into the schools.
Is this a Hate
crime? Ronda Dowdy awoke Tuesday morning to a sight that shattered her Idaho honeymoon.
Apparently offended by a bumper sticker on Dowdy's car reading "Marriage is between a man and a woman,"
someone allegedly threw a rock through the vehicle's rear window as it sat on Randolph Avenue and left two
notes with pointed messages. "As we were waiting for the police to show up, I saw a crumpled up note
laying in the gutter," said Dowdy, who moved to Pocatello from the Houston area last year. "It said
basically, 'We will not stop until you remove the bumper sticker.'"
Do
words break bones? Hate crime statutes and the speech codes we see on
university campuses throughout the land are grounded in the notion that certain speech
begets violence. Staving off such violence has long been the Orwellian justification
for suppressing certain speech.
Christians
Fear Effects of Canada's New Hate Crimes Law. Signed into
law, the bill punishes speech critical of any "sexual orientation."
Hatred
Bill goes ahead despite Church protests. The [British] Government pressed ahead … with
plans to outlaw incitement to religious hatred despite warnings from Christians that the
move would worsen relations between different faiths. Representatives of more than 1,000
individual churches across the country – including Anglican, Roman Catholic and Presbyterian
faiths – handed in a petition to Downing Street, urging Tony Blair to ditch the Racial and
Religious Hatred Bill. The Bill … creates a maximum seven-year jail sentence for anyone
convicted of intending to stir up religious hatred.
On the use and
abuse of labels: The homosexual lobby [has] succeeded in getting some public
schools to use the terms "harassment" and "bullying" as thinly disguised weapons to suppress
the free speech of those who don't subscribe to their view that the state and society should
affirmatively validate the homosexual lifestyle. Students who simply utter opinions
contrary to the prescribed dogma are stigmatized as harassers or bullies, when they engage
in no harassment or bullying whatsoever.
The Editor says...
Notice that the people who are so greatly concerned about bullies at school are the
same people who teach "survival of the fittest" in biology class.
Bullying is exaggerated, says
childhood expert. The level of playground bullying is being exaggerated and children must learn
to cope with name-calling and teasing to help them develop resilience, a childhood expert says. In a book
to be published tomorrow, Tim Gill, a former government adviser who led a major review into children's play,
argues that mollycoddling children by labelling 'unpleasant behaviour' as bullying is stopping them from
building the skills they need to protect themselves.
California Governor Signs Drag Queen/Hate
Crime Law. This new hate crime law will further imbed cross-dressing in California law, violate
religious freedom, and punish those who criticize homosexuality.
Speak Now or Forever Face Criminal
Charges. As Americans are fighting the battle over the definition of marriage, the culture war
is also raging on another homosexual front. At stake is the religious freedom to proclaim Biblical
truth about homosexual conduct — a freedom which legislative measures and court rulings are
threatening to extinguish. As a result of homosexual activists seeking to receive special treatment
as a protected class, the United States is beginning to consider including "sexual orientation" for protection
from hate crimes. These "hate crime" bills could lead to criminalizing Biblical teachings that condemn
homosexual conduct as a sin.
Senate Passes
Homosexual "Hate Crimes" Bill. One month after Canada passed a law potentially
criminalizing biblical texts that denounce homosexuality, the United States Senate has passed
a "hate crimes" bill, which may eventually be construed to criminalize biblical texts that
denounce homosexuality. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced
this as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, making it more difficult for politicians
to oppose.
Follow-up
NOW: Transgendered
People Need "Hate Crimes" Law. Only days after the U.S. Senate passed "hate
crimes" legislation offering special protections to homosexuals, the National Organization
for Women is apparently appalled that the legislation did not also include transgendered
people in the language of the legislation.
Kennedy's
defense priorities: What is the critical issue in our wartime debate over defense
reauthorization? … Well, anyone who's listened to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) would know
the answer: It's whether we should include the phrase "gender identity" in the definition
of protected classes under our hate-crime laws.
Is
Ted Kennedy more interested in defending the U.S. or the gay rights agenda? Knowing that President
Bush would veto it as a stand-alone bill, Sen. Kennedy attached to the recently passed bill authorizing
$150 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan an amendment he calls the Mathew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate
Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.
Kennedy's 'Hate Crimes' Help for the Military:
Did you know that recruiting stations and military bases are hotbeds of "bigotry and prejudice?" In a
September 26 floor speech, Senator Edward Kennedy claimed that white supremacists and soldiers are allowed
to incite violence against minorities and homosexuals. The Massachusetts Democrat smeared the military to
win votes for his "hate crimes" amendment to the National Defense Authorization Bill for 2008. The ploy,
unfortunately, worked.
The Editor says...
If Ted Kennedy were a man of integrity, he would have resigned from the Senate
in 1969.
Colorado man discovers girlfriend
is transgender, allegedly kills him. A Colorado man is accused of fatally battering a sex
partner with a fire extinguisher after discovering that his companion was a transgender woman. … Weld
County District Attorney Ken Buck said Wednesday that he is considering filing first-degree murder charges
and may prosecute the death as a hate crime.
In Australia,
Exposing Faults of the Koran Is Now Criminal. Three influential Muslims were in
the audience. As Daniel Scot read from the Koran, these Muslims grew enraged that he was
exposing the controversial areas of the Koran. The Muslims hired one of the most
successful attorneys in all of Australia, and filed a complaint against
Daniel. The charge? He had exposed the pitfalls of the Islamic religion, which
could be interpreted as "vilifying" a religion. "Under the Racial and Religious
Tolerance Act of 2001," passed by the Victorian Parliament, Christians are prohibited
from pointing out the evils of other religions.
CAIR's Hate Crimes Nonsense: The Council on American-Islamic Relations cites the
July 9, 2004 case of apparent arson at a Muslim-owned grocery store in Everett, Washington. But
investigators quickly determined that Mirza Akram, the store's operator, staged the arson to avoid meeting
his scheduled payments and to collect on an insurance policy. Although Akram's antics were long ago
exposed as a fraud, CAIR continues to list this case as an anti-Muslim hate crime.
Update:
Everett man who faked hate
crime convicted of arson. A Pakistani immigrant accused of burning down his grocery store in
Everett and trying to make it look like a hate crime has been convicted of arson. Mizra Akram, 40, could
face as much as five years in prison for the crime. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman convicted him
Wednesday [2/21/2007].
The Hate
Crimes That Weren't. The public discourse on Islam and terrorism is
largely dominated by self-important blowhards who are wrong and wrong again, wrong
consistently, and yet are never called to account and are called upon as "experts"
again and again.
The flames of hate
in Alabama: Ten arson attacks against 10 churches — all of them Baptist, all in
small Alabama towns, all in the space of eight days: If anything is a hate crime, obviously this
is. … But are anti-Christian crimes really that rare? Or are they simply less interesting
to the left, which prefers to cast Christians as victimizers, not victims?
"Peeping"
Is a "Sexual Orientation" in Canada, Judge Finds. Pro-family leader worries
that "hate crime" jurisdiction is being expanded. In a decision unnoticed at the
time in the United States, a Canadian judge declared in December [2003] that voyeurism, or
being a "peeping tom," is a bona fide "sexual lifestyle" covered under Canada's
"sexual orientation" portion of its "hate crime" law.
Swedish "Hate Crimes" Law Could Target
Christians; Senate Vote Raises U.S. Concern. Pro-family advocates, noting
the recent passage in the U.S. Senate of a bill that would include "sexual orientation"
in hate-crime laws, fear that the criminalization of public opposition to homosexuality
will also become a reality here in America.
Hate Crimes: Beyond Virtual
Reality. Some so-called hate crimes are misreported or fabricated. In
Houston, a homosexual mugging victim was left for dead in a traditionally "straight" section
of town. The press initially covered it as a hate crime, but investigators found that
the man had been assaulted elsewhere and transported there, "to make it look like a
hate crime."
Hate Crime
Laws and the Reversion to Medieval Society: In 1963 President Kennedy
said, "Race has no place in American life or law." Today we are farther than
ever from that ideal. We are a divided society. The bigotry-is-everywhere
crowd preaches more government and more group-identity laws to protect
minorities. Minority resentment grows and resisters to special privilege are
smeared as racists and homophobes. It's a sad and destructive game that moves
us ever farther from an e pluribus unum color-blind society.
Stomping
on free speech: Bill C-250, [is] a repressive, anti-free-speech measure
that is on the brink of becoming law in Canada. It would add "sexual orientation"
to the Canadian hate propaganda law, thus making public criticism of
homosexuality a crime.
Take Action on Hate
Crimes, Broadcast Decency. The hate crimes bill goes far beyond the current
federal hate crimes law by establishing a new federal offense for "hate crimes." Instead
of a heavier sentence, if a "hate crime" is determined, a completely separate criminal
prosecution would ensue including the possibility of life imprisonment.
Political Correctness and Hate
Crimes. "Politically Correct" is a catch phrase for modern protocol. From
the Beltway in D.C. to Ivy League halls and corporate boardrooms, every citizen is now facing
monumental pressures to adhere to strict, albeit unwritten guidelines in public and sometimes
private conversation. Innocuous as it may sound, these social trends which force people
to speak within certain guidelines forebodes an ominous development — an evolution
toward "thought police", similar to the Gestapo and Gulag days from [the 20th] century.
Definition
of Hate Crime and Sentencing Enhancements for Hate Crimes. "Hate crime" means a
crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property
crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived
race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation
of any person.
Full text of the
hate crime law.
They
Hate Everybody. Police in Middletown, N.J. arrested five teenagers,
charging them with repeated acts of vandalism... but they're not sure they can
charge them with having committed a hate crime on a local church. Because the
vandalism was directed at so many groups — instead of
specifically targeting one ethnic class — it might not qualify
as a hate crime.
Why
It's OK to Hate White People: It's the last and only acceptable
prejudice. Racial identity is simply forbidden to whites in America and
across the entire Western world. Black children today are hammered with the
idea of racial identity and pride, yet racial pride in whites
constitutes a grave evil.
Five reasons to
fear the Democratic party: Reason #3 - The Professional Grievance-Mongers. The ethnic shakedown artists who
have sued over every slight and hyped every faked claim of a hate crime are America-bashing
enablers of the worst sort — and they are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.
Wake Up! Islam
Is About More Than Hate Crimes. In short, crime is crime. It is wrong
regardless of whom the violence has been committed against. It should be punished under
the existing laws that apply to each and every person.
"Hate
Crimes" Law Undermines Protection of Rights. Targeting those
with "politically incorrect" motives undermines the principle of objective
law that undergirds our legal system's protection of rights.
Are
All Rapes "Hate Crimes"? Not to Senator Kennedy. Few people are aware
that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), the main sponsor of the hate crimes bill (S.16)
that the U.S. Senate passed on June 15, 2004, by a vote of 65-33, told a Senate hearing in
1999 that he didn't think all rapes qualified as "hate crimes." Senator
Kennedy insisted that "gender animus" be proved before a rape victim would be
considered a "hate crime" victim.
Pastor finds FBI unresponsive to homosexual activists'
threats: Apparently it's a "hate crime" only if heterosexuals target homosexuals.
Anti-Christian Mood Seen In Texas Killings. The 1999
shootings at Wedgwood Baptist Church don't seem to qualify as a "hate crime". Apparently anti-religious
sentiment doesn't qualify as hate.
Witch
Sues Christians Under Controversial Hate Laws: Controversial new hate legislation already being
applied against two Australian pastors accused of vilifying Islam, is now being used by a witch who objected
to warnings made by elected officials about occult activity.
Christians Fear Effects of Canada's New
Hate Crimes Law. Signed into law, the bill punishes speech critical of any "sexual orientation."
Liberal
democracy's final hour? Both the United States and Europe now have crimes of
opinion, a defining feature of Oceania in George Orwell's "1984." Americans and
Europeans are subject to arrest and imprisonment for words judged offensive by the
therapeutic state. This frightening departure from Western tradition is justified
in the name of curtailing hate and advancing human rights.
The Haters of Hate: This is
the precedent established by hate-crime legislation: you are to be punished, imprisoned, for holding a certain
idea. It makes no difference that, so far, those receiving extra prison time are actual criminals.
The fact remains these individuals, as reprehensible as they are, are serving prison time for their ideas.
Hate is not a Crime: Hate, like love,
is not a crime; it is an emotion. Both hate and love are estimates of another person's worth in
relation to one's own value system. Love is a response to positive, admirable traits in another
individual. Hatred is a response to negative, contemptible traits in another individual. As a
result, someone who condemns all forms of "hate" is really condemning all forms of value judgment.
The Trouble With Hate-Crime Laws:
The intent of the bill is to punish motive. This is not the same as intent, and gets into questions of what's in
the perpetrator's head. Did he beat someone up because he dated his girlfriend, took his parking space or because
he was black? Are the welts on the victim's face any different in either case?
"Hate Crime" Legislation is an Assault on Free
Speech. Sweden's parliament has passed a constitutional amendment banning speech critical of
homosexuality. Offenders can wind up with lengthy prison terms. This is being done, of course, in
the name of "diversity" — although, alas, that lofty ideal apparently doesn't extend to the
marketplace of ideas.
Kennedy
"Hate Crimes" Bill To Be Considered Soon: The bill would allow federal law enforcement
authorities to intervene in local criminal investigations of crimes alleged to have been committed because of
bias against the victim's gender, disability, religion, national origin, or "sexual orientation."
Hate crime, don't criminalize
thoughts: In reality, hate crimes laws are an attempt at thought control. The offenses
covered — murder, assault, intimidation — are already crimes. The legislation
seeks to increase penalties when they are motivated by bias. The extra punishment isn't for what the
perpetrator did, but what he was thinking while he was doing it. It criminalizes beliefs.
"Hate Crimes" Laws: An Assault
On Equal Protection: Although well intentioned, "hate-crime" laws are seriously flawed. They
pave the way for unequal treatment under the law as well as the un-American concept of "thought crime," in
which someone's actions are "more" illegal based on their thoughts or beliefs. A grandmother walking
down the street should have at least as much protection under the law as a homosexual who is leaving
a "gay" bar. But under "hate crimes" laws that include "sexual orientation," the same crime would
be punished with greater penalties if the victim were a homosexual.
More Muslim hate crime
myths: They milked the compassion of their communities. They won sympathy from the
media and politicians. And now it appears they were all hate crime hucksters who cried "racism" to
cash in on the terrorist attacks.
Would the feds arrest Mom & Pop
America for hate crimes?: Have we awakened to a different planet? Does the new secretary
of education, Rod Paige, know how serious this is? Does John Ashcroft? Or do all Americans now
agree that homosexuality is just like heterosexuality? Are critics of homosexuality
all criminals?
Whatever Happened to Equal
Protection?: Prosecutorial abuse has reached new heights in Idaho. A white husband
is being prosecuted for committing a hate crime for coming to the aid of his wife, who was assaulted by a
black man.
Conventional Debate About Hate
Crimes Legislation Misses the Point: The real question is: Should crimes motivated by
hatred, prejudice, or bias be considered as "morally worse" than crimes motivated by, say, greed, anger,
or jealousy? This is not an easy question to answer. But chances are no satisfactory answer
can be given. Legal ethicists have a hard enough time trying to decide whether and which motives
are "moral" in the first place, let alone deciding which are "worse" among two or more motives. Until
this can be satisfactorily determined, it appears that hate crime legislation has no place in our
legal system.
The Color of
Crime: Blacks are just 13 percent of the population but they commit more than
50 percent of the violent crimes. … A black is about 39 times more likely to do
violence to a white than the other way around. Blacks are 130 times more likely to
rob a white than the reverse. The vast majority of hate crimes are actually black
against white rather than the relatively infrequent cases of white against black, which
the media prefer to report.
"Hate Crimes" : A
One-Way Street? If a white commits a violent crime and the victim is a minority, that is by
definition a "hate crime" and worthy of front-page headlines, complete with lead stories on the national
TV news shows. On the other hand, if a minority commits a violent crime and the victim is white,
that does not make it beyond the local media.
For example:
Schoolboy
Kicked Unconscious Over Confederate Book: A 13-year-old
Houston boy who had checked out a book about Robert E. Lee was kicked in the head and sent
unconscious to the hospital, a Southern heritage organization reported. The boy's mother
and lawyer believe the actions of government school officials set the stage for the attack.
Hate
Crimes and Class Legislation: The most serious objection to hate-crime
statutes is that they subvert the ideal of equal justice. The blindfold and
scales of Justitia symbolize the highest standards of law: impartiality, generality,
and uniformity. In our diverse society, only compelling evidence should allow
Justitia to lift her blindfold and treat otherwise-identical crimes and victims
differently because a particular prejudice was a motive in committing the crime. Since
race-, class-, and gender-conscious policies are more likely to divide than unite, the
proponents have a heavy burden of proof in demonstrating the efficacy of bias
laws. They have not met the burden. For all the hubbub, bias crimes
are a small and declining share of all crimes. FBI crime data show that only one
in 1,000 murders, one in 15,000 rapes, one in 3,000 robberies, and one
in 1,300 felony assaults are motivated by bias. And claims that hate crimes
are on the rise are false.
Fake Hate Crime Charges Cast Doubt On Need For
Federal Legislation: A clever propagandist frequently creates a non-existent "crisis" in order
to promote his political agenda. The goal is to gain sympathy for his cause by positioning himself as
a "victim" of an oppressive society. The victim can then claim that the government must pass laws to
protect his alleged "victim class" from "hate." Part of this process of creating a non-existent crisis
is to fake your own victimization. A problem arises, however, when you're caught. Increasingly,
homosexual college students seem most likely to fake "hate crimes" in order to gain sympathy for
their cause.
Black Racism: The Hate Crime
That Dare Not Speak Its Name. While the federal government rushes to Los Angeles to investigate
an incident in which a handcuffed youth was slammed into the hood of a car and punched by an officer, a pall
of silence still blankets the horrendous racial murder of four young people whose murderers are now on
trial. The difference in the responses to these two stories can hardly be attributed to anything
other than the skin color of the perpetrators and the victims involved. Apparently the sexual torture
and brutal executions of four promising youngsters is of no interest to the nation's moral guardians, because
the victims happen to be white.
Senate Judiciary
Committee Passes "Thought Crimes" Bill: S. 625 "Seriously Flawed," Knight Says.
Pennsylvania
House approves hate-crime measure: Amid a flurry of 11th-hour legislative activity, the state
House sent Gov. Mark Schweiker a bill that would enhance punishments for crimes of violence to gays, lesbians
and transsexuals, among others.
Ted Kennedy's Latest Drivel: Conservative
circles are rightly opposed to S. 625, Ted Kennedy's latest bill aimed at hate crimes. This
legislation has the potential to do much harm and little good, and real Americans should oppose it at every
turn. To oppose it most effectively, we need to understand what it contains and what arguments we should
make against those contents. We must then make those arguments to our Congressional representatives
in order to stop this bill from passing the House.
TVC Condemns Senator Kennedy For
Hypocritical Vote On Hate Crimes Legislation: "Senator Ted Kennedy's hypocritical vote
on S. 625, the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act today shows that he is simply a pawn of the
homosexual special rights movement," said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty.
Robert
Knight: Getting to the Truth About Moral Relativism. "I don't just oppose the gay rights
movement," he said simply, but with the conviction that makes his opponents increasingly reluctant to debate
him. "I oppose the whole destruction of the Judeo-Christian ethic in American society."
"[In Canada] if you read biblical verses about homosexuality on the air, you may be 'sowing the seeds for a
climate of violence that could lead to a hate crime.' That's the reasoning. That's why hate
crimes laws are geared to ultimately shutting down freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of
assembly. They're not about enhancing criminal law because any criminal actions committed against
either minorities or homosexuals are already illegal."
- Robert H. Knight, Culture and Family Institute.
New
Hate Crime Report Exposes Homosexual Special Rights Agenda: New
Hate Crime Report Exposes Homosexual Special Rights Agenda
"Hate crime laws are being used by homosexual activists to punish any
person who has the courage to speak out against the recruitment of
children by homosexuals."
Senators Are Blind To Dangers In Tom Daschle's
Hate Crime Bill: "Unfortunately, too many Senators seem willing to pass pro-homosexual bills
that threaten freedom of speech and religion without any debate on the merits."
Homosexual Group Misstates Facts On
Alleged "Eruption" Of Hate Crimes: "We carefully researched each alleged hate crime
cited by the Human Rights Campaign and found little evidence that anti-homosexual crimes were
being committed."
Here We Go Again: More Lies From Homosexual
Activists: It is a tiresome task, but there is a constant need for honest reporters to debunk
the flurry of lies generated by homosexual activist groups.
Hate Crime Law Creates "Animal Farm" Justice
System: Hate crime laws create a two-tiered system of justice where some "victims" are more
equal than others under the law. If a group of individuals — like homosexuals — can
obtain victim status under hate crime laws, they become a protected class that receives greater protections
than the rest of us.
New FBI Hate Crime Statistics Expose Homosexual
Lies: No compassionate American is in favor of someone being verbally or physically assaulted
because of his sexual preferences, but neither should we be subjected to thought crime legislation that
provides special legal protections to homosexuals not accorded other Americans. Criminalizing a
person's views on sexual behavior should not be a matter of federal law.
Homosexual Hit List Targets Leaders For
Death: Murder targets file hate crime complaint.
Murder by any other
name: Gary Trzaska was brutally beaten to death, unprovoked, by three men of another
race. Hate crime? No, robbery. Silly me, in the America of the 1990s, I thought this
was obviously a hate crime. The facts proved me wrong though, you see, Gary was white and
the "robbers" were black.
Official says the Bible "exposes
homosexuals to hatred". Canadian tribunal rules paper can't run ad with critical scriptures.
Popular, Obscure Symbols Defined
as 'Hate': Many images and symbols have been used in the promotion of racism and violent bigotry
in western culture; Nazi swastikas and other military insignia, or hooded Ku Klux Klansmen gathered
around a burning cross. But increasingly, the number of symbols is growing to include numerology,
acronyms and religious symbols, some of which are generating confusion and even lawsuits over their use
and interpretation.
"Hate Crimes" Bill Advances in
Texas: Now that George W. Bush is no longer the governor, Texas is being
re-liberalized. This new bill toughens the current "hate crimes" law, which the courts have held
is unenforceable. The bill is named after James Byrd Jr., a black man who was chained to the
back of a pickup truck and dragged to his death near Jasper, Texas in 1998. Three white men were tried
on capital murder charges in the case, and two of them were sentenced to death. The third was sentenced
to life in prison. (In the Byrd case, how much more punishment could there be? Surely
"hate crime" laws can't make the punishment any more severe than this!)
Update: Texas Senate
OKs "Hate Crimes" Bill: Opponents say "hate crimes" laws violate the constitutional guarantee
of equal protection, make crimes against some favored groups more severe than crimes against others, and
can even create thought crimes.
Further update: OK of hate crimes
bill could cost state leaders: Perry, Ratliff may feel heat from conservatives.
Conservatives
Fight "Hate Crimes" Provision in Major Education Bill: As the full Senate prepares to debate
President Bush's top priority — education reform — the bill is providing fertile ground for
lawmakers and special interest groups to insert language promoting various social agendas.
Canadian
Hate Crime Laws Go Too Far, Say Critics.
Oooops! Shocking
FBI study: Blacks are more likely to be arrested for hate crimes. African-Americans who
thought that hate crime laws would protect them against rampaging white racists are in for a shock: A
new FBI study reveals that blacks are proportionally one-and-a-half times more likely to be arrested for
hate crimes against whites than vice versa.
Media Ignore Homosexual
Murder-Rape Trial: Family groups have complained that the news media have demonstrated
a pro-homosexual bias in their reluctance to cover the case.
MTV's
Lopsided Look at Hate Recently MTV aired "Anatomy of a Hate Crime," in
partnership with the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.
William Raspberry says, "Punishing
thought can't change actions."
Running the Liberal Hate
Maze: Ezola Foster says, "I spent 17 years as an activist in the Democrat Party before I
came to the conclusion that the left wing that controls the Party is motivated not by a love of the oppressed,
but rather by hatred for the values I cherish and those who defend them."
Politically
correct hate speech
Targeting Whams: The
Senate has passed legislation that creates new federal crimes that can only be committed by a White
Heterosexual Able-bodied Male.
Hate (Crime)
Cannot Wish Thee Worse
Politically
Correct Hate Speech
Book: Hate Crimes: Criminal Law and
Identity Politics. The authors argue that hate crime is a hopelessly muddled concept and that
legal definitions of the term are riddled with ambiguity and subjectivity. Moreover, no matter how hate
crime is defined, the authors find no evidence to support the claim that the US is experiencing a hate crime
epidemic — nor that the number or rate of hate crimes is at an historic zenith. Furthermore,
assert the authors, the federal effort to establish a hate crime accounting system has been a failure.
Book review: Increasing "Hate
Crime" Punishment Violates American Principles. It is a serious mistake for
the government to pursue the goal of seeking to identify and highlight the maximum possible
amount of prejudice in the crime problem by counting as a hate crime every offense
motivated in any degree by the offender's prejudice. This definition sweeps
under the hate crime umbrella crimes involving low-intensity prejudices that bubble to the
surface during ad hoc conflicts. The majority of hate crimes turn out to be
fights involving epithets rather than "hard core" ideologically driven violence by people
identified with extremist groups or causes.
Off
His Rocker? "PC Police" are demonizing Atlanta Braves pitcher
John Rocker so that certain "intolerant" beliefs can be equated with mental illness.
Criminalizing
Dissent: The FBI's Project Megiddo, which warns against millennial
terrorism, paints constitutionalists, devout Christians, hate groups, and militias with the
same broad strokes.
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