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, as well as the 2009
reiteration known as HR 1913. This latest version is
even more dangerous because it might actually become a law, and if it does, it could potentially
make it illegal to criticize homosexuality as sin (by quoting from the Bible in church, for example),
or to denounce Islam as a false religion. If the First Amendment is important to you, I urge you to
learn more about HR 1913 before it's too late to (legally) speak up.
New: There is now a subsection about
Hate Crimes that Aren't: Apparently a criminal act can only be
considered a "hate crime" if the victims are not white and the perpetrators are not black.
Fake Hate Crimes: An
Islamist Weapon. As Daniel Pipes has documented for years, Islamist organizations in the West
are quick to label crimes as anti-Muslim hate crimes as part of their effort to make Muslims feel under
attack and to paint themselves as Muslims' protectors. ... Cutting through the propaganda requires
understanding the ways in which crimes are misrepresented as hate crimes — and why. There are
two main culprits to consider: Muslims who stage fake hate crimes and Islamist organizations that seek
to exploit them.
The
Long Arm of Hate Crime Law Grows Longer. Think you know what a hate crime is? Think again.
According to a June 22 report in the New York Times, if someone defrauds elderly people in Queens, N.Y., he may
very well be brought up on hate crime charges in addition to fraud charges simply because he committed his
crimes under the belief that old folks are easy marks. Furthermore, this novel use of hate crime law
has proved so successful in obtaining stiffer sentences for convicted criminals that it is likely to be
adopted across the state of New York, and from there, no doubt, to other states with similarly flexible
hate crime statutes.
Obama's Wonderland Is
No Fairy Tale. [Scroll down] When questioned by senators about the massive expansion in
hate crimes enforcement, Attorney General Holder responded that hate crimes legislation "would not
necessarily cover" instances where whites, Christians, or military members were assaulted. Preferential
treatment for blacks at the expense of whites and Asians was part of Obama's tenure during his time as
senator. Double standards and obvious favoritism now reign supreme. Most egregious is Holder's
dismissal of the case where New Black Panther Party members intimidated white voters.
Did someone
mention preferential treatment of the Black Panthers?
The hate-crime
wave that's not. What's the biggest crime problem facing Massachusetts today? After the
gut-wrenching story of a 14-year-old gunned down in Dorchester, you might say it's street violence. Given
that we've had three speakers of the House indicted in a row, a state senator due to be sentenced in September
and a city councilor awaiting trial on bribery charges, perhaps you think it's public corruption. But
if you're Barack Obama's top prosecutor in Massachusetts, you know the answer: hate crimes.
Constitutionally
Dangerous. [Scroll down] The newly minted "hate crime" law likewise federalizes offenses
based on absurdly attenuated links to interstate commerce. If a misogynist uses a knife manufactured in
another state to rape a woman, that's enough to make it a federal crime.
When It
Comes To Hate-Speech And Violence, Liberals Rule. For some strange reason liberals are
identifying all contrary opinions as hateful regardless of the words actually used. ... When it comes
to hate speech and violence, liberals rule the roost but are the quickest to accuse conservatives of
their own anarchic tactics.
Hating Hate Crimes.
Suppose a middle-aged white man gets beaten to a pulp in a mugging. His assailant will be charged with the
crime, nothing else. If the same crime is committed against a member of the special victim class, the
crime becomes worse — a "hate crime." He'll have a federal case. So, in effect, the
justice meted out depends on the victim's status — not on the severity of the crime. This
violates major swaths of the Constitution. It certainly twists the 14th Amendment's "equal
protection" clause beyond recognition.
'Hate'
hysteria: Why 'anti-bias' laws are foolish. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act, which President Obama plans to sign soon, is named after two men who were murdered in 1998. Shepard,
a gay college student, was beaten to death in Wyoming. Byrd, a black hitchhiker, was dragged to death behind a pickup
truck in Texas. Bigotry seemed to play a role in both crimes. Here is something else Matthew Shepard and
James Byrd have in common: Their killers were arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison or
death — all without the benefit of hate-crime laws, state or federal.
12 Policies that Undermine Civil Society.
[#5] Hate Crimes Expansion. The FY 2010 Defense Authorization bill recently signed into law by
President Obama included language that expands the definition of a federal hate crime to include "sexual
orientation" and "gender identity." It creates a new protected class of victims based on their sexual
preferences. Among many concerns about this provision is that it could be used to prosecute religious
groups or individuals based on their beliefs or speech.
Secondhand
Hate: Another step downhill for modern liberalism. The left, which invented first "hate
speech" (opinions they didn't like) and then "hate crimes" (crimes judged less on the criminal's actions
than on what he was presumed to be thinking), has now gone on to its epiphany, which is "hate" defined not
by your words or deeds but by what other people have decided you really think. "Hate" is no longer
what you do or say, but what a liberal says that you think and projects on to you.
Hate-Crimes Law Named No.1 Anti-Christian Act
of 2009. The new federal hate crimes law has all the potential to be a major attack on
religious liberty and freedom of speech, according to top religious liberty attorneys. The law
was chosen the number one anti-Christian act of 2009 by the Christian Anti-Defamation League.
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.
By hook or crook...
House Approves
Hate-Crimes Measure as Part of Defense Funding. Legislation to punish hate crimes became a flashpoint on
Capitol Hill on Thursday [10/8/2009], as a measure expanding the definition of such crimes was attached to the bill
outlining the Defense Department budget and approved by the House over the strong objections of Republicans.
Dems
undermine free speech in hate crimes ploy. What does a hate crimes bill have to do with money
for U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq? Nothing, except that the National Defense Authorization
Act, which will win final passage in Congress and be sent to the president's desk this week, also contains the
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which Democrats placed inside the defense
measure over Republican objections.
Punish Crime, Not The Thought.
The House has voted to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation. Aside from
violating the Constitution's equal-protection clause, just what does this have to do with national defense? The
House voted 281 to 146 Thursday [10/8/2009] to make it a crime to attack homosexuals and others. The measure
was attached to a must-pass $680 billion defense bill.
It's 'Just Plain Wrong' for Democrats to Attach Hate
Crimes Measure to Defense Authorization Bill. GOP congressmen accuse House Democrats of "using"
the military and an otherwise bipartisan defense-funding bill as a means to ram through a key piece of
legislation on the homosexual activist agenda — expanding the definition of hate crimes to
include sexual orientation. The House voted of 281 to 146 Thursday afternoon [10/8/2009] to make
it a federal hate crime to attack homosexuals and others because of sexual orientation. The
legislation also creates a brand new category of hate crime: attacking U.S. military personnel
because they serve in the military.
Obama Signs Defense
Policy Bill That Includes 'Hate Crime' Legislation. President Obama signed into a law a
$680 billion defense spending bill on Wednesday [10/28/2009] that includes a controversial measure
extending hate-crime protection to gays.
Hate Crimes Laws Encourage Anti-Christian
Bigotry. For almost a decade, Christians in England have been accused of the crime of
homophobia for criticizing homosexual practices or advising abstinence from homosexual activity. ... Many
Christians, usually Evangelicals, have been interrogated, arrested, and charged with homophobia and hate
crimes for daring to criticize homosexuality. And unfortunately the trend of illiberal laws, which
swept over Europe for the last ten years, have breached the great divide and will now blow unrestrained
throughout the United States in the guise of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention
Act.
New hate
crimes law is a mistake. President Barack Obama has signed into law the Hate Crimes Prevention
Act. ... Sen. Harry Reid, our brave Democratic majority leader, slipped the hate crimes bill into the defense
authorization bill to avoid having to have our senators consider the controversial hate crimes bill on its
own. It's for good reason that our Democratic legislators wanted to hide under a rock while passing
this terrible piece of legislation. It may help them with the far left wing of their party. But
weakening and damaging our country is not something to be proud of. And that is exactly what this
new hate crime law does.
Understanding "Hate Crime"
Laws. Stop thinking [of "hate crime" laws as] "protection" for minorities and gays.
These laws are crafted so that, superficially, they look like one thing, while really being designed
as a first step to bring about another goal, that is, giving government bureaucrats the power to
determine what qualifies as a First Amendment right.
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.
Christian
preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin. Dale McAlpine was charged with causing "harassment,
alarm or distress" after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of "sins"
referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships. The 42-year-old Baptist, who
has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a
sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the
word of God.
Hate Crime Over Rap Music?
Declaring that white people "shouldn't be listening to rap music," a 14-year-old Florida boy allegedly assaulted a
man Monday night [7/26/2010] in what police say was a racially-motivated attack. The teenager was arrested
after he allegedly struck the 22-year-old victim, who is white, in the face.
Adding "Sexual Orientation" to Hate-crime Statutes.
It's a mistake to get bogged down discussing the details of hate-crime laws because the real problem lies in the laws
themselves. Why? Because they are an effort at thought control. ... [According to the hate-crime law
proponents] all groups deserve equal protection, but some deserve more equal protection than others. It's also plain
that the real goal here is to send a message, one seeking to stigmatize the left's newlyminted sins. Hate-crime laws
aren't at all about eliminating hate; they're about eliminating what leftists happen to hate. Leftists feel sympathy
for minorities and homosexuals, so they get protection, but not for whites and heterosexuals, so they get projection.
This explains the blatant double standards in hate-crime law application.
Media Bias Against Traditional Values:
In most of the West we have hate-speech laws, which don't really stifle hate, just whatever the left happens
to hate. Thus do we find average citizens being criminally punished for expressing traditional opinions.
For example, there was a Canadian man named Mark Harding who was convicted in 1998 of a "hate crime" for
distributing pamphlets critical of Islam. Then, his countryman Hugh Owens was forced to pay damages of
1,500 Canadian dollars after taking out a newspaper advertisement in which he criticized homosexuality and
cited Bible passages. And the thought police intrude even into the Church. In Sweden, Pastor Ake
Green was punished for preaching against homosexuality from the pulpit. While we don't yet have these
types of hate-speech laws in the United States, they may be on the horizon.
'Hate Crime' Laws
Threaten Religious Freedom. 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.
The
Spirit Behind Hate Crimes Laws. Should pedophiles be placed in a federally protected class to
ensure their lifestyle is not maligned by someone having the audacity to say pedophilia is reprehensible or,
heaven forbid, even sinful, since such speech could incite a deranged individual or group to ill-treat them?
I believe most people would emphatically say no to such a question while wondering what the inquirer had been
smoking. And the thought of the federal government to even consider such protection to pedophiles does
seem ludicrous. But if you have not noticed the branches of the U.S. government specialize in such absurdities.
Hate Crimes Prevention Act has far-reaching
effects. A member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says the federal hate crimes" bill pending
in the Senate "will do little good and a great deal of harm." University of San Diego law professor Gail
Heriot testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday that the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention
Act, or S. 909, has special problems of overreach, with implications for federalism and double jeopardy
protections. Those problems, she argued, should prompt even proponents of state hate crimes statutes to
question the desirability for a federal statute.
Proposed federal law would be a
hate crime against America. "We're not going to win this case, but that's okay. Once we
get 'hate crime' laws on the books, we're going to go after the Scouts and all the other bigots." This
was a remark made in the gallery by the Clinton White House liaison for "gay" issues during U.S. Supreme Court
hearings on the Boy Scouts case in 2000. She had whispered it to the Rev. Rob Schenck, whom she
mistakenly thought was one of those liberal clerics who think God is still making up His mind about
sexual morality.
The
Folly of Hate-Crime Laws. First, let us consider the question of which "community" [James] von Brunn was
allegedly attempting to devastate. He rushed the Holocaust museum, which memorializes the 6 million Jews killed
by the Nazis and their enablers. There could be no more poignant symbol for the Jewish community. Yet von Brunn
[allegedly] killed not a Jew but an African American — security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns. So which
community was affected by this weird, virtually suicidal act?
RI hate crimes bill unnecessary, says
Carcieri. Rhode Island's governor has vetoed a hate crimes bill that was designed to expand the
state's hate crime definition to include "gender identity" and "gender expression." In his veto message,
Governor Don Carcieri (R) contends that "those who struggle with gender confusion deserve our compassion and
understanding — not laws that cement them into an identity which denies biological and objective
reality."
FBI:
Hate crimes rising in US. The number of hate crimes in the United States climbed slightly in 2008, while
anti-gay or religion-motivated attacks surged markedly, according to new government data Monday [11/23/2009].
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tallied 7,783 crimes in 2008 — up 2 percent from
the previous year — that were motivated by a bias against race, colour, gender, religion,
sexual orientation, national origin or disability.
Rebuttal:
The
Hate-Crimes Spike that Isn't. [Scroll down] The real headline should be this: "FBI,
in spite of its gigantic budget and zombie army of coddled bureaucrats, has no reliable data on hate-crime
trends." But none of this will stop this story from being cited by every diversity-pimping NGO and
taxpayer-fleecing government agency operating as a full-employment program for sociology majors as proof
of a "disturbing increase in hate crimes" as they seek to swell their budgets.
Democrats Jumping
the Race-Card Shark. A rather inconvenient fact, however, is that the only reported act of
racial violence so far happened on Tuesday [9/15/2009] on a public school bus in St. Louis and the
offenders were black, the victim white. An apparently unprovoked attack on a high school student took
place over — get this — a seat on the bus.. The irony is downright nerve-wrenching.
A black student beat the white student to the cheers of his black classmates and the bus driver supposedly
did nothing to intervene. KKK in reverse? That's a lot more violence than Rosa Parks got over her
seat on the bus. In fact, Rosa Parks wasn't on the receiving end of anything more than arrogant stares.
Hate crimes amendments
pass easily. The Senate on Monday passed four amendments to the Defense Department authorization bill that
limit the extension of federal hate crimes laws. One amendment requires that hate crimes be identified and prosecuted
based on "neutral and objective criteria." Another boosts penalties for attacks on U.S. military service members and
their families, while a third authorizes the death penalty for certain crimes that result in death.
The Editor says...
Why would a person be afforded better-than-equal protection under the law, just because his
or her spouse is in the Army?
When is a hate crime not a
hate crime? Hate crimes, of course, can only be committed by whites against other racial and ethnic
minorities. ... Blacks who commit hate crimes are not racist because, well, it's white racism that's motivating
them. Make sense? It does to many in a liberal city like Austin.
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?
Are
hate crimes any worse than others? If enacted, the law will almost certainly be challenged in
court. The Constitution does not grant the federal government any general police power —
prosecuting crime is primarily a state and local responsibility — and it is far from clear that the
Supreme Court would go along with a congressional attempt to federalize such a broad swath of criminal law.
"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.
Holder to Congress: New hate crime law
needed. [Scroll down] For more than a decade, Democrats have sought to update the hate
crimes law, which already makes it a federal crime to attack someone because of their race, creed or color.
... Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said some of the debate in her state over immigration "has been part of
hate and people have been beaten up because they happen to be Hispanic, they happen to be on a street corner
where somebody doesn't want them."
The Editor says...
Well, Senator Feinstein, the hate crime law already covers incidents of that sort — and apparently the law
does not prevent crime. California has laws against assault and battery. Obviously there is more
at stake than the Senator is letting on.
Hate Crime Bill Slides through House . The
House voted to pass federal hate crimes legislation yesterday [4/29/2009] that elevates one class of victims of crime
for higher federal protections than everyone else based on any one of 30 definitions of sexual orientation including
pedophiles, exhibitionists, necrophiliacs and those who choose bestiality as their sexual identity. While the
bill was in committee, Democrats refused amendments to limit the scope of eligible sexual orientations for these claims,
including the rejection of a bill specifically crafted to exclude a protected status for pedophiles. "This bill
designates in particular gender identity for federally protected status," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), chairman of
the House Republican caucus. "Without, I might add, any evidence of any hate crimes occurring against individuals
for gender identity."
'Hate Crimes' Bill is Full of Swill.
To the express exclusion of other identifiable groups — including veterans, the elderly and the
homeless — S. 909, in its current form, would grant special federal resources and preferred
minority status to pedophiles, homosexuals, cross-dressers and — as Democratic sponsor Alcee
Hastings recently admitted on the House floor — a host of other APA recognized "sexual orientations"
(i.e., deviant sexual fetishes and perversions).
Maryland
becomes first state in nation to protect homeless people under hate-crimes law. Maryland
granted a new safeguard to its most downtrodden residents Thursday, becoming the first state in the nation
to extend hate-crimes protection to homeless people. ... California, Texas and Ohio are considering similar
bills, and legislation has been introduced in Congress.
Here we go again. This bill
establishes severe penalties for those thinking wrong thoughts during the commission of a serious crime-from
10 years to life, depending on the crime involved. And what would those wrong thoughts be?
The additional penalties would be assessed if the crime were committed "because of the actual or perceived
race, color, religion, or national origin" of the victim. Another section of the bill applies to crimes
committed "because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, or disability of any person." There must be a reason for differentiating between gender and
gender identity in the law, but we're not sure it's worth going into.
How Will New Hate Crimes Bill Affect Your Free
Speech? Our last president was ridiculed for claiming to have peered into Vladimir Putin's eyes
and gotten, in his words, a "sense of his soul." Our current president wants to do something even more
audacious: to peer into your mind to get a sense of your thoughts. And if he finds them
insufficiently accepting of homosexuality, he may want to lock you up.
'Hate
crimes' law makes some more equal than others. The measure is particularly controversial because
it puts the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" on an equal footing with race and religion. ... U.S.
citizens are protected from physical attack already. The bill, however, adds extra penalties for the
intention behind the attack. That foray into the thought world is a short step from prosecuting speech
the government thinks might contribute to certain crimes, not just the crimes themselves.
Father wants son's beating treated as a hate
crime. Bloodied and bruised, the 18-year-old managed to walk five blocks to his grandmother's house before
being rushed to the hospital. Milligan's father believes several African-Americans beat his son, who is white,
because he is dating an African-American woman.
Empty
Symbolism on Hate Crimes. The logic behind the proposed measure is hard to follow. Says
sponsoring Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), "No members of society — none — deserve to be
victims of a violent crime because of their race, their religion, their ethnic background, their disability,
their gender, their gender identity, or their sexual orientation." Which raises the question: Who
exactly does deserve to be the victim of a violent crime?
Don't
ignore hate crimes against whites. This is a tale of two stories. Both are about race. It's a
tale of how we perceive and define hate crimes, and of how the media cover matters of race. On June 27, only
two days after Attorney General Eric Holder told members of Congress how hate crimes "victimize entire communities,"
Marshall and his family were victimized in a hate crime themselves. It might be at this point that you're
wondering why you've never heard of this story. It's because Marshall and his family are white, of course,
and their victimizers are black.
Enforce the hate crime laws we have now, Mr. Holder. U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder ... wins, hands down, the 2009 award for the "Most Despicable Display of Using a Genuine Tragedy To
Advance Your Personal Political Agenda." ... Where did President Obama GET this guy? ... Exactly two days after Holder's
congressional testimony, a group of 30-50 black youths attacked a white Akron, Ohio family. Holder has uttered not
a mumble about this being a hate crime. This is the same guy who took the entire country to task or our "cowardice"
in not discussing issues of race.
Incoming
Attorney General Hostile to Civil Liberties. Eric Holder, Obama's nominee for attorney general,
is hostile to civil liberties. ... Holder also has advocated hate-crimes legislation to prosecute people whom
state prosecutors refuse to prosecute because of a lack of evidence. To justify broadening federal
hate-crimes law, he cited three examples where state prosecutors refused to prosecute, citing a lack of
evidence. In each, a federal jury acquitted the accused, finding them not guilty.
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.
So, you want to
compare hate crimes. On a Sunday morning in Wichita, Kan., a man is murdered while attending
church. The killing is immediately labeled a "hate crime" and an act of "domestic terrorism." The
news media is outraged. Television networks act as if the man was a martyr, and the story is front-page
news in every newspaper in the country. ... The next day, in Little Rock, Ark., two young men are shot down by
a lone gunman. One of them dies. For the most part, the public knows nothing about this shooting
because the news media don't report the story. They are too busy covering every possible aspect of the
first murder. ... And no one calls it a hate crime.
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.
HR 1913 — The Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009
Hate Crimes Against Freedom. The
recent passage of House Resolution H.R. 1913 has brought America one step closer to implementing a pointless new hate
crimes laws that will threaten free speech without making a single American safer. ... The proposed law does nothing
to reduce crime, is philosophically confused, and may have a chilling effect on free speech. ... There has been much
concern that the bill would silence rabbis, pastors, and priests from preaching traditional moral values against any
of the preferred classes protected in the bill, which go well beyond merely the promiscuous or homosexuals.
Federal Hate Crimes Statute: An
Unconstitutional Exercise of Legislative Power. Every decent person abhors violent crimes that
are motivated by prejudice or bias. Thus, the case for congressional legislation that would expand
federal authority that already prohibits some "hate crimes" may seem compelling. But the Local Law
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913, HCPA) is based on serious analytical and
constitutional flaws and would actually be counterproductive to prosecuting violent crime.
Hate Crimes Legislation Vote Coming Next Week.
U.S. Representative, Barney Frank, announced Thursday that the House Judiciary Committee will be considering
hate crimes legislation, H.R. 1913, this coming week of April 20. Frank is expecting the
committee to pass the bill which would leave it in the House to vote on later this spring, according to a news
release issued by Barney Frank on his website last week. The bill, H.R. 1913, is named the Local
Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. As of Tuesday [4/21/2009] the bill already had 42 co-sponsors.
Is Your Minister a 'Hate Crime' Peddler?
The George Orwell congress resumed its session yesterday. Not content to attempt to end the secret ballot by
the "Employee Free Choice Act," the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark up and pass the equally-Orwellian
"Hate Crimes" bill, HR 1913. Just as the "Employee Free Choice Act" would end free choice, the
"Hate Crimes" bill would criminalize free speech. ... The "Hate Crimes" bill wants to criminalize speech
that insults politically-fashionable minorities, such as gays.
Hate Crimes
Legislation Brings Debate. [Scroll down] Many Christian activists are concerned the hate crimes
bill would penalize speech — specifically speech from the pulpit condemning homosexual behavior. This
has led many conservatives to conclude the bill is a backdoor attempt to infringe upon the First Amendment
rights of Christians who oppose gay rights. "The idea of being prosecuted for reading Scripture may seem
delirious, but it is just as crazy to think it couldn't happen," said Catholic League President Bill Donohue."
House
Committee to Vote on Hate Crimes Bill. An identical legislation (H.R. 1592) was passed by
the U.S. House in 2007. The Senate later attached the hate crimes legislation to a high-priority defense
spending bill, which included funding for the Iraq War, in a political maneuver to pressure former president
George W. Bush to pass the amendment. But Bush said the spending bill and the hate crime
legislation were two separate issues and vetoed the bill including the legislation.
Is Quoting
Scripture a Hate Crime? On April 22, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark-up
a hate crimes bill sponsored by Rep. John Conyers. Serious questions have been raised by religious
leaders about this legislation, especially as it pertains to religious pronouncements against homosexuality.
Hate Crimes Legislation
Vote Coming. U.S. Representative, Barney Frank, announced Thursday that the House Judiciary
Committee will be considering hate crimes legislation, H.R. 1913, this coming week of April 20.
Frank is expecting the committee to pass the bill which would leave it in the House to vote on later this
spring, according to a news release issued by Barney Frank on his website last week.* The bill,
H.R. 1913, is named the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. As of Tuesday the bill
already had 42 co-sponsors. The bill was introduced into the House on April 2 by U.S. Rep. John
Conyers (D-Mich.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
'Hate crimes' bill — bad
news for believers. A vote is looming this week in Congress on a bill that one conservative
activist warns would not only silence Christian opposition to homosexuality, but also would legitimize
deviant forms of "sexual orientation." A markup vote is expected Wednesday in the House Judiciary
Committee on the Local Law Enforcement and Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
Protecting 30 Bizarre "Sexual Orientations"
and "Gender Identity" — Ever-Expanding Definitions. The main purpose of this "hate
crime" legislation is to add the categories of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," "either actual or
perceived," as new classes of individuals receiving special protection by federal law. Sexual orientation
includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality on an ever-expanding continuum. Will Congress
also protect these sexual orientations-zoophiles, pedophiles or polygamists?
Obama And Democrats Outdo
Themselves With HR-1913. If you thought you had heard all the bad news coming from the
Obama administration and a Democrat packed congress, you were wrong. Two weeks ago, Representatives
John Conyers (D-MI) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) quietly re-introduced the so-called hate that on Wednesday
April 22, the full US House Judiciary Committee will vote on H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement
Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
Biased 'Hate Crimes' Bill Would Create a
Caste System of Victims. Congress is set to vote on a bill that would create a caste system of
victims and violate the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection for all citizens under the law.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) President Wendy Wright sent a letter urging congressmen to reject the Local
Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1913...
Hate Speech law in the USA could restrict religious freedom.
ICC has learned that the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill tomorrow [4/22/2009] that
could allow federal officials to prosecute Christians who teach that homosexual behavior is sinful and that
Islam is a false religion.
Leftist Church Leaders
vs. Free Speech. The war on conservative speech has moved from the White House to your neighborhood
pews. Left-wing church leaders want the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on "hate
speech" over cable TV and right-leaning talk-radio airwaves. President Obama's speech-stifling
bureaucrats seem all too happy to oblige.
Why
Congress Should Reject Federal 'Hate Crimes' Bill. All violent crimes should be vigorously
prosecuted — but this novel legal approach violates several core principles and holds a number
of dangers. [#1] It violates the "equal protection of the laws" by protecting some victims more
than others. ... [#2] It punishes thoughts and not just actions. ... [#5] It sets us on a slippery
slope toward serious infringements of the freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In some
jurisdictions that have adopted these laws, "hate crimes" have been defined to include not just violent
physical acts, but merely verbal activity as well, using terms like "hate speech," "intimidation," and even
verbal "assault." By ratifying the "thought crimes" mentality, this bill paves the way for future
expansions of its scope.
Democrats Refuse To Exclude Pedophiles In
'Hate Crimes' Bill. We have just finished sitting through about 8 hours of debate in the
House Judiciary Committee hearing room over the last two days. The so-call hate crimes bill H.R. 1913,
the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed out of committee by a partisan vote of 15-12.
A vote of the entire House is expected next week — on Wednesday, April 29.
So-Called hate crime bill threatens
religious freedom. The so-called hate crimes bill will be used to lay the legal foundation
and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, business owners, Bible teachers, Sunday
School teachers, youth leaders, Christian counselors, religious broadcasters and anyone else whose actions are
based upon and reflect the truths found in the Bible. H.R. 1913 broadly defines "intimidation.
A pastor's sermon could be considered "hate speech" under this legislation if heard by an individual who then
acts aggressively against persons based on any "sexual orientation." The pastor could be prosecuted for
"conspiracy to commit a hate crime."
Democrats Have Gutted Their
Publicly-Stated Reasons For Legislation. The Democrats admitted defeat on the phony "findings" to
justify passage of H.R. 1913. TVC hammered them on these phony findings that claimed homosexuals
and drag queens were fleeing across state lines to avoid personal attacks. The Democrats voted to remove
the "findings." This is a major victory for our side — and for our activists who wrote thousands of
letters to expose this fraud.
Religious Freedom is Threatened by
H.R. 1913. Your pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime" if
the so-called hate crime bill passes the U.S. Senate and House and the President signs it.
The Worst Attack on First Amendment Freedoms of Speech, Religion in
American History. On Wednesday April 25 we woke up to find headlines about how Michelle
Obama likes to sneak out and eat at fun restaurants. Not so well covered by the media was the passage of
the Hate Crimes bill re-introduced and passed in committee by John Conyers. (D-MI) What does it
mean? The bill co-sponsored along with 42 other representatives and crafted by openly gay Congressmen
Barney Frank is riddled with gay agenda politics and disregards the will of the people. It was
introduced between sessions when little attention is being paid to discussions or votes in the house
and is rife with skullduggeries.
Evangelicals Enter Hate Bill Fight! If
there is one thing Rep. John Conyers did not want, it was premature news that his extremely dangerous new
federal hate crimes bill (HR 1913) had been entered into the House Judiciary. A milder, shortened
version (HR 256) was introduced in early January to take any flak against hate crimes legislation.
The much more threatening version, HR 1913, contains all that is necessary to establish a hate crimes
bureaucracy in America. Shielded as long as possible, it has 42 co-sponsors and is a polished weapon for
destroying free speech. Conyers wanted to stealthily introduce it just before spring recess of Congress
last Thursday — to be rapidly pushed to victory when members of Congress return April 20.
Congress To Vote On
Hate Crime Legislation. Congress is set to vote today [4/29/2009] on a controversial measure that would
extend hate crime protections to gays and lesbians. Supporters of the bill claim the legislation is necessary to
protect the rights of a vulnerable minority, while opponents charge the bill is a guided attempt to restrict religious
liberties.
Thought crimes.
Democrats are making it illegal to think certain things. The House of Representatives passed legislation
yesterday [4/29/2009] that extends federal so-called hate-crimes laws to include sexual orientation.
This is a move to provide special status for specific groups. It is also unnecessary. If a
miscreant kills or rapes somebody, he should be prosecuted for murder or rape. What he might have
been thinking is beside the point.
Adding "Sexual Orientation" to Hate-crime Statutes.
The hate-crimes bill fails to define "sexual orientation," thus leaving much room for mischief. And the legislation's
proponents certainly give us ample cause for alarm. ... Janet Porter at WorldNetDaily.com ... writes, "Rep. Steve King,
R-Iowa, offered this very simple amendment to H.R. 1913 in the House Judiciary Committee: 'The term sexual
orientation as used in this act or any amendments to this act does not include pedophilia.' It was rejected."
Democrats won't hold hate bill hearings .
In a major strategic shift, Senate Democratic leaders will push the federal hate crimes bill to the floor of the Senate
as another amendment to a "must-pass" bill. Widespread Christian/conservative protest has destroyed the bill's
chances of going forward as standalone legislation — as happened on April 29 with passage in the House. Democrats
say there will be no hearings and no amendments allowed. There will undoubtedly be a minimum of debate on the floor
of the Senate, probably no more than an hour. Clearly, they are in dread of allowing the hate bill to be opened to
public scrutiny and Republican attack as the "Pedophile Protection Act."
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?
Hate speech law unconstitutional:
rights tribunal. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that Section 13, Canada's
much maligned human rights hate speech law, is an unconstitutional violation of the Charter right to free
expression because of its penalty provisions. The decision released this morning by Tribunal chair
Athanasios Hadjis appears to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal mandate to
pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended against complaints of censorship.
Liberal Hate Speech:
Normally, according to the media elites' rulebook, when liberals rant, it's called free speech; when conservatives
rant, it is hate speech.
U. of I. instructor fired over comments on
homosexuality. The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on
Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the
church's teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.
Academic
Freedom, for Some: The Hounding of Dr. Howell. Officials at the University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana have sparked controversy over their decision not to extend the hiring of Adjunct Professor
Kenneth Howell, a highly rated instructor who has taught electives at the university since 2001 on the history
and tenets of Catholicism. Howell's apparent "offense" is that he accurately rendered those teachings
in an e-mail distributed to students in one of his classes.
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.
Maclean's wins third round of hate
fight. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled yesterday that a controversial
article about Islam in Maclean's magazine did not violate the province's hate speech law, marking the third
time this year the Canadian Islamic Congress has failed in its efforts to force the magazine to print
a rebuttal.
Jury's
out on system's dedication to secular values. Being acquitted by a pretend court must be something
like being found healthy by a pretend doctor. Both exercises might make you wonder what the point was
in the first place and why the authority to render such verdicts was granted at all. Little solace,
then, is to be found in what on the surface seems to be a reassuring declaration. Such concerns abound
in the aftermath of the "not guilty" verdict handed down Friday [10/10/2008] by the BC Human Rights Tribunal
in the case against Maclean's magazine.
Decision
by B.C. Human Rights Tribunal was the cowardly way out. Government bureaucracies and public
institutions have a unique way of signaling that they no longer serve any purpose and it's time to eliminate
or drastically reform them. They do so by conducting themselves in a manner that demonstrates self
preservation has become their one and only objective. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal made it abundantly
clear this past week that they are in the business of staying in business — nothing else matters.
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".
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.
Wanted for
hate crime. The Home Office definition of a 'hate crime' is: 'Any incident... which is perceived
by the victim or any other person (my italics) as being motivated by prejudice or hate.' On that
basis, Prince Charles could have his collar felt for referring to his polo partner as 'Sooty' — even
though the gentleman in question has no problem with his nickname.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
Hate Crimes that Aren't:
The police and the press are doing everything they can to avoid stating the obvious. A criminal
act can only be considered a "hate crime" if the victims are not white and the perpetrators are
not black.
The War on Cops.
The left's police-hating chickens are coming home to roost. While partisan liberals have gone out of
their way to blame conservative media and the Tea Party movement for creating a "climate of hate," they are
silent on the cultural and literal war on cops that has raged for decades — and escalated
tragically this year.
Denver police arrest 32 in series of downtown assaults.
The Denver Police Department arrested 32 men and juvenile boys after a months-long undercover investigation into
what police said were racially motivated assaults and robberies in downtown Denver, including the LoDo entertainment
district. A task force composed of Denver police, the FBI and the Denver district attorney's office investigated
26 incidents in which groups of black males verbally harassed, assaulted and at times robbed white or Latino
males, according to Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.
LoDo assault victims often sucker-punched. [Peter]
DeQuattro, who is white, was one of the most recent men targeted in a downtown-centered spree of attacks where small
groups of black men and youths — many with admitted gang ties — tried
to knock out white or Latino men with whacks to the head. They sometimes stole from them or
taunted them with racial epithets.
Racial terror in
Denver that won't make national news. Chilling details are emerging in the local Colorado press about violent
black gangs who have been targeting white victims for months. ... Although police knew what was going on, citizens
were left in the dark. More dangerously blind diversity-mongering at work?
Obviously this would be a hate crime — if it had been a predominantly black church.
Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin's church purposely set on fire. Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by
arson, leading the governor to apologize if the fire was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her
failed campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee.
Arson suspected in fire at Palin's church.
A Friday night fire at Gov. Sarah Palin's church caused an estimated $1 million in damage, and
investigators say it could be the work of an arsonist. Firefighters were called to Wasilla Bible
Church about 9:40 p.m. and found flames and smoke coming out windows at the back of the three-story
structure, said James Steele, chief of the Central Mat-Su Fire Department.
ATF: accelerant poured
around Palin's church. Federal investigators in Alaska say an accelerant was poured around
the exterior of Gov. Sarah Palin's home church before it was heavily damaged by a fire. The Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Monday that the accelerant was poured at several locations
around the church, including entrances.
No hate crimes charges in Palin church
arson. Eugene Delgaudio, president of Public Advocate of the United States, urged law enforcement officials
to thoroughly investigate the Friday night arson of the Wasilla Bible Church, in which the entrance of the church was set
ablaze with a group of women and children inside. "We do not know if this arson and attempted murder was perpetrated
by advocates of homosexual marriage, but the church has been the target of verbal attacks by the homosexual lobby and
their apologists in the major media and this attack follows countless other recent attacks by homosexuals against
Christians," said Delgaudio.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.'"
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.
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.
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.
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.
Racial
bullying roils a Philadelphia high school. [Scroll down] Inside is a cauldron of
cultural discontent that erupted in violence last month — off-campus and lunchroom attacks
on about 50 Asian students, injuring 30, primarily at the hands of blacks.
The
Democrats' Fake Hate Crime. On March 20th, something truly extraordinary happened. On
the eve of the health care vote, a group of black Democrat Congressmen (eschewing the private tunnels they
usually use to cross from their offices to the Capitol) chose to walk en masse through a crowd of
protesters, confident that the knuckledragging Tea Party goons they and their media pals have reviled
for a year now would respond with racial epithets. And then, when the crowd didn't, the black
Congressmen made it up anyway.
Cleaver changes
his 'I was spit on' story. It's too late to affect the narrative about the tea party protest a
couple of weeks ago, but indicative of the rank dishonesty involved in the smear.
Did
State-Run Media Conspire on Racist Tea Party Attack. The American Thinker did an outstanding
job describing the events on March 20th, when democratic members of Congress in Washington DC were reportedly
taunted by tea party activists with racial and sexual slurs. It appears from the timeline of the events
that this race-baiting story was in the works before the Black Caucus members paraded through the tea party
crowd on Capitol Hill.
Rep.
Carson: Tea Party Protesters Are 'One of the Largest Threats to our Internal Security'. As
our readers have already learned, Rep. Andre Carson gathered Capitol Hill reporters around him and told the
tale of racial slurs and menacing crowds on the verge of hurling rocks at the congressmen. Our first few
videos showed the congressmen coming out of the Cannon Office Building, walking down the steps and into
Independence Avenue from various angles. None of those videos revealed the racial hatred Rep. Carson
conveyed to reporters that day and none of the videos showed a mob rushing or in any way impeding the
congressmen.
War Memorial Torn Down by Vandals: Is This a Hate Crime? The
Mojave Desert War Memorial, which was saved temporarily by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, was torn down
by vandals sometime Sunday night [5/9/2010]. Liberty Institute, which represents longtime memorial
caretakers Henry and Wanda Sandoz, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), The American
Legion, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the American Ex-Prisoners of War, is offering a reward
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the removal
of VFW property.
Did DOJ Try to Whitewash Black Panther Intimidation
Case? On Election Day 2008, two men — identified as members of the New Black Panther
Party — stationed themselves outside a polling place in Philadelphia dressed in military clothing.
Videotape captured these two strolling back and forth in front of the polling place, with one clearly brandishing
a nightstick. A white poll watcher testified that he was called a "white devil" and a "cracker."
This poll watcher was told by one of the Panthers that he would be "ruled by the black man."
More
about preferential treatment of the Black Panthers.
The Left
Hates Conservatives. Perhaps the most telling of the recent revelations of the liberal/left
Journolist, a list consisting of about 400 major liberal/left journalists, is the depth of their hatred of
conservatives. That they would consult with one another in order to protect candidate and then
President Obama and in order to hurt Republicans is unfortunate and ugly. But what is jolting is the
hatred of conservatives, as exemplified by the e-mail from an NPR reporter expressing her wish to personally
see Rush Limbaugh die a painful death — and the apparent absence of any objection from the other
liberal journalists.
More
about the JournoList scandal.
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