House passes hate crimes bill

Very good new, and in spite of the despicable comments of Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

What about members of society that look funny, or talk funny, or don't dress quite 'right' for the neighborhood they are in? If punishments for 'hate crimes' aren't high enough, then maybe we should raise punishments for crimes regardless of who the victim is?

I congratulate the House of Representatives on this terrific news! We should remain vigilant and remember this is but the first step in the War on Hate. We need to pass a Hate Speech bill in order to finally stamp out all forms of hatred or speech that we find disagreeable or dangerous. If extremists don't like it, they can get out of OUR country!

Huzzah again to the House of Reps and Ted Kennedy!

Maybe Christians should start worrying more about feeding the poor, supporting widows, clothing those in need, (as their scriptures state) and less about who committs to whom. The "Christians" who arent doing these things are instead spending loads of money attempting to legislate their ideas and thereby forcing others to live by their doctrines...it will never work! In fact we are extremely turned off by it! Christians, in my opinion, were the driving force in helping up to achieve such a liberal administration!...Thank you! They are exhausting! and people are frankly sick ot it!

About time!! Finally a move from the far right.

What kind of "political intelligence" or news story provides no opposing point of view? What were the objections? Could it be that some people think that such laws criminalize thought instead of action (violence)? Foon Rhee is surprisingly incurious for a reporter...

If I'm attacked by a black gang because I'm white will this new law protect me?

Can't help but wonder how much was attached to this bill. We already have laws in place to protect and defend.

DOES THIS MEAN GOLDMAN SACHS CAN CONTINUE USING TARP RESCUE MONEY TO FUND TRANSVESTITE SEX CHANGE OPERATIONS FOR ITS EMPLOYEES, AS PROVIDED IN THEIR BENEFITS PACKAGE ?

NOT SURE IF THAT WAS THE INTENT OF CONGRESS

I'm all in favor of imprisoning preachers and priests who rant about the Bible prohibiting homosexuality. For too long they have been preaching hate from the altar, spreading their lies, and provoking others to commit hate crimes. It's about time somebody stood up to them.

No like Bush.

This is a law to attract votes not to protect people that are already protected under the law. A crime is a crime.

I Agree with Jason, you stupid Christians should just let him go to Hell in PEACE!
you just Go Jason!

Peace

Some of you are such fools. Don't you see what a slippery slope this is? Ever heard of the BILL OF RIGHTS? What if they start classifying anti-government speech as "hate speech"? Or, what if, for example, there were a few, we'll say Mongolians, in congress and they were conspiring together to subvert our nation? And a few people started to uncover what they'd been doing, and start saying, "hey this small group of Mongolians are corrupt and are committing crimes," but then the Mongolians place the race card and scream "hate speech!!" Or if someone complains and says that YOUR religion is a hateful one and so you can't talk about it or practice it anymore. Etc. The bill of rights is there for a REASON.

If I'm attacked by a black gang because I'm white will this new law protect me?
Posted by Joe April 29, 09 06:09 PM

Only if they call you a homosexual while attacking.

"Maybe Christians should start worrying more about feeding the poor,..."
1st: I assume you haven't looked at some of the top leaders tax returns as the left wants the government to provide programs and ...those "Christians" you are trying to put down tend to donate more money and time to help needy people.
2nd: Since congress would not define sexual orientation, the bill has left a big opening for over 30 different sexual orientations. Ex: Frotteurism - which means approaching an unknown woman from the rear and pressing or rubbing his "thing" against her buttocks. Sorry but I would be charged with a hate crime with my response. Nice work Liberals!!

Bush was an idiot who favored anything that his 'christian' (ie, hypocritical) fan base endorsed.... Thank og he and his idiots are gone!

Well Mr. Farrer,
It's a good thing you don't generalize. Reading your entry, it sounds like you are a critical thinker who will never have to worry about being accussed of a "mass" hate crime.

Wikipedia describes two types of hate crime, criminal and hate speech. The former is of no concern, would it be an issue if I express personal disapproval of homosexuality, tell someone that I would object to be patted down by a gay policeman, express concern that the gay lifespan may be shorten by 40%, tell my son that he couldn't associate with gays, or refer to it Biblically as despicable?

This law protects no one. If some is going to beat someone else then that is against the law reqardless of anything else. It seems to me that Murder is against the law yet it happens all the time. Laws dont protect anyone. I am sure that if someone is of the mind to beat someone to death that the first thing that they are going to think is "oh I better not because of the law that was just passed" please its insane. You can not legislate morality.

What a bunch of morons. Stiffer penalties aren't the answer, as I cannot recall a single instance in which a hate crime law stopped any criminals from committing a crime. The answer is education. And, for you losers that are ragging on Christians imposing their religious convictions on others, isn't this just the other side of the same stick? Of course it is.
Also, I noticed that no one is brave enough to mention that Islamic Sharia law (which gets its jurisprudence from the Holy Qur'an and Hadiths) actually sanctions the killing of homosexuals. So, if a Muslim were to kill a homosexual, well, that's okay, according to Islam. Christianity, on the other hand, condemns the killing of one's "neighbor." So, someone who commits a crime of hate against another individual is NOT being very Christ-like and is certainly not considered a Christian in good standing.

In fact, I do believe the Christians have a saying: Love the sinner, hate the sin.

But, I digressed. The point is: ALL violent crimes are hate crimes. Stiffer penalties never have been a deterrent and never will.

This is all just a "feel good" measure by the politicians so they all can pat themselves on the back and tell their gay constituents that they support gay rights. But, if they REALLY supported gay rights, they would have passed a bill allowing same-sex marriages, now wouldn't they? What a bunch of hypocrites!

One would think this a major milestone, it is but a pebble. So long as deliberate or mindless hate rhetoric offers people permissions, some will take them.

Matthew Shepard, did not die because he was gay. Like many, he died because we verbalize our prejudices carelessly, and some, who hate more than we, who read our words as permissions, act violently upon that hate.

The persons who carried out the violent attack of breaking a window and shutting down former congressman Tom Tancredo at UNC-Chapel Hill this month should also be charged with hate crimes. Why? Because they hate free speech and the people who engage in it when their ideas disagree. It is odd that categories of people can be protected but free speech not: An unharmed but silenced populace will be the result if thugs like those at UNC get their way. Free speech is not free if it can be intimidated. Further, speech is a fundamental characteristic of human beings, not just a “right.” To suppress political speech is therefore to suppress human beings, a practice of tyrants. It could also be argued that the perpetrators hate Mr. Tancredo and what he stands for because of their perception that he acted as a European American—ie Caucasian—man. In other words, their motivation, though in part to stifle free speech, was race-based because they did not want him to engage in political speech they perceived as having European American content. Whether it did or not is beside the point; what should be in question is their motivation. Their motivation, again, would appear to make what they did hate crimes. They successfully suppressed Mr. Tancredo’s civil and human rights only because of his heritage. The disorderly conduct charge against student Helen Koch therefore is not enough--She and the others were motivated by two of the vilest forms of hatred known today, the hatred of independent speech and thinking and the hatred of a racial or civilizational group. I would rather think that ALL races and ethnic groups get equal protection by our so-called hate crime laws, including protection and remedies for them against acts of hatred when they engage in what should be free political speech. To crush free speech on the basis of race, once again, is to crush a vital part of that race itself, and should thus be a hate crime. Shielding Ms. Koch behind a disorderly conduct charge and ignoring the others who stifled Mr. Tancredo’s rights as a human being and as a member of a certain social group fail to do justice to the situation.

Lets raise the bar and create thought crime laws!

lol... what a bunch of foolish libs... law against what a person thinks while committing a crime.

Hate crime laws are sponsored by the ADL in their relentless efforts to criminalize any criticism of Jews or Israel. They have been successful in many parts of Europe and in Canada and Australia. The first amendment, and the Republican party, have blocked them in the US thus far, but with the first Jewish president (see the article by that name by James Petras) they'll get what they want.

While they are criminalizing thought for adults, they are teaching the holocaust to children in kindergarten, google florida holocaust education K-3 to see the manual for grades K-3.

So they quick to make a law to protect gays but what about a law protecting marriages as only between a man and a woman and families that are the main component of the economy in this nation.

I like the idea of all being EQUAL under the law. Last thing we need is yet another piece of legislation. There are already laws covering violent crime. This is going to be a mess with long term negative consequences. Pretty sad that the government feels they have to step in to make us all get along. Actually its pathetic and ALL sides are to blame - no exceptions. This will lead to less freedom of speach and eventually a loss of rights.

It was about time

Talk all you want, believe it or not, but the Bible stands firm, like it or not. AND by the way, THE GOD of THE BIBLE HAS the LAST WORD, despite what ANYONE on Earth says or thinks. THAT IS A FACT! It is time for Righteous Anger, in the time of it, but ALWAYS prefer LOVE as the First Action.

There should be laws against violence, regardless of what race, gender orientation, species, etc the victim belongs too.

Most importantly though, they should be prevented with proper education about compassion and tolerance. The way we bring up our society is what needs to change, the laws are only retroactive.

All crimes are motivated by some kind of hate or self loathing. This is baloney. How can you determine the exact motive is due to the victims sexual preference, color, creed, or whatever. Punish the act, not the motivation. Stupid liberals.

Long, long overdue -- though I'm not so sure about the "prevention" argument here. What hate-crimes legislation really does is to define crimes motivated by bigotry as worse than those that are random -- just as we now distinguish between degrees of murder. This is not a free speech issue. As Ted Kennedy rightly said, hate crimes are a form of domestic terrorism. They are attacks on individuals with the intention of intimidating entire groups of people. They should therefore be punished more harshly by a just democratic society.

Has anyone bothered to check out the statistic on how many same sex partners beat up on their current lover, compared to violence from non homosexuals on queers. Well I have and it is about 20 to 1.

Well I guess we really needed a love crimes Bill.

About 5 years ago an iranian muslim student plowed his SUV into a crowd of college kids for revenge for muslims around he world. He was not charged with a hate crime. he was not even charged with terrorism. Then the college was debating if it was a terrorist attack or not. Just think if a white person did that to muslims. Someone please tell me how thats fair.

Somebody ought to take this one all the way to the Supreme Court.

You Christians crack me up. I'll bet you had no problem with the original bill that included religion in the protected class, did you?
It's about time that ALL people are treated equally in this country. And you people wonder why your numbers are dropping? Go feed the homeless or something.

Frank - why are crimes motivated by bigotry more worthy of punishment? And is any crime not motivated by bigotry "random"? Is it ok to be bigoted against groups of people not protected by this legislation?

And aren't murders generally classified around whether or not it was planned, and not specifically what was going through the murderer's mind at the time?

Did anyone hear Perez Hltion's rants about Miss California? Well, hate crimes gainst Christians -would cause this to be illegal? So much for free speech.

This Blog's Comments is PACKED with HATE SPEECH & Hatefulness by Pro-Gay-Homosexuality!
Hate, Hate, Hate is all I've read for months from the LGBT Community, and that SF newspaper posting the Names, Addresses and Amounts of Yes on 8 in the paper along with a Google map to POINT straight where the LGBT's could go and do their "HATE" against those persons!
YOU LGBT's HATE Christians! You talk about Christians as HATEFUL, How many of you have been helped by a Faith-Based Org.?Why don't you piss off and go
Celebrate with NAMBLA now!

A crime is a crime. Making that crime "extra special" because of the sexual preference of the victim is idiotic at best. This is all part of the attempted mainstreaming of homosexuals and part of the implementation of the gay agenda. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Yes the old testament teaches God created woman for the man. But Jesus said Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. So as Christians if we pray for and love our enemies, who is anyone to say we cant preach what we believe? Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. But Gods word says we wil be persecuted for His names sake, so i guess its just another prophesy being fulfilled.

Jesus does not commit hate crimes, hate is performed by evil. Evil the same as Bundy, Hitler, the Klu Klux Clan. Evil, not anything else. Christ lovers are not this worlds problem. The constitution was written by God fearing men who believed in mens rights to freedom without condemnation for their beliefs.

These "hate crimes" will be enforced by the Federal Government! We already have state & local laws, which addresses ALL of these crimes! This bill does
NOT protect anyone. And, isn't it "discrimination" when we allow the government to decide which "groups" are more IMPORTANT than others? Violent crimes
should be severly punished, regardless of intent. We need BETTER LAWS to
PROTECT all citizens - and harsher punishments for violent crimes - laws that
PROTECT "victims and their families." Call your Senators & your
Congressmen - Tell them to vote NO on this bill. It's absurd & a waste of
OUR money.

So let me get this straight... because I am a Christian who believes what the Bible says and speaks freely (as I'm allowed according to the 1st Amendment) what is found therein... I am guilty of a hate crime if that "free" speech contains anything anti-homosexual? Sounds to me like that "free" speech is going to cost me a great deal. So freedom of speech is for other people - and since I am exercising my freedom of speech right now to say that the act of homosexuality is reprehensible, I guess I am guilty of encouraging hate crimes and should be arrested right now. Christians need to stand up against this evil propaganda. We need to stand up and declare that we have had enough!!!!

Quote from Posted by Ronald April 30, 09 02:27 PM .You Christians crack me up. I'll bet you had no problem with the original bill that included religion in the protected class, did you?
It's about time that ALL people are treated equally in this country. And you people wonder why your numbers are dropping? Go feed the homeless or something.

Ronald do you realize that this bill was originally just intended to protect hetero & homosexuals, but the democrats decided to add ALL philias. Phedophilia.
when the republicans saw that, they proposed that veterans of war should be under the same protection. It got shot down hard. Someone please explain to me
how the safety and protection of a child molester is more important than the safety and protection of a veteran returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. The week before the secretary of defense puts out a warning that the vets returning from Iraq & Afghanistan might not adapt to society and very well could become terrorists.
So first the liberals try to scare the public at the vets return from war. Then they refuse to add them to this "Anti Hate Crime Bill" Anyone else see something truly wrong starting here?

Liberals have been screaming for years about the Patriot act, wire tapping, Gitmo.
It is all about our rights, freedom, etc. Yet you are all for this crappy bill? It only protects minorities. If you are a white woman and you are raped by a group of minorities they will be charged with rape but not a hate crime. All violent crime is hate! Now we have thought police where your speech could be considered hate filled. You liberals have ruined this country, Thank you.

I for one do not agree with any violent crimes against anyone, no matter what they believe. But, this hate crime bill is not only trying to protect those who are involved in violent acts, but it is trying to silence the christian. You can do one and not the other. A true christian will not be involved in any type of hatred or hurting anyone personally. So please help me to understand why christians are going to be punished for what the unjust do! I am a conservative christian, I believe in a God that loves us all and wants to forgive each and every person who willingly comes to Him for salvation. We do not drag people who do not believe this to court and press criminal charges against them, so why should they do so to us, because we believe differently? THAT is hateful to me! We came to this country for religious
freedoms, it is what our country is founded on, it is not out dated, nor is it narrow minded. It's just our right ! Do you not find that the hatred may be coming from the other side of the problem? If we as a country do not want hatred to be dominant, then you have to secure the rights of both sides, without taking the rights already given us! WE as christians are not the enemy, we have hurt no one, if the words of our God offend someone, taking our Bibles and silencing us will not change what God says is right and wrong, it will only take it from the for front to the back burner, but His Word is still true, and the day will come just the same for ALL of us to answer for the way we have conducted our lives. If someone has taken the time to stop and tell you about His saving grace, how can you say that is hateful...they loved you enough to tell you how to go to heaven with us, that is the ultimate love.
So please before you vote to take OUR rights away, try making the law work for ALL of us, whether we believe one way or the other. I don't know when the laws of the land changed to only protect one set of values and not all our values.

The people who founded our country put in some very specific rules as an addendum to the Constitution (aka Law of the Land).

These are called amendments. The first amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Historically, the government has generally been very, very careful about tampering with this amazing document--and this for very good reason.

For those of you who are offended by what preachers preach, or the message rabbis teach, or the homilies delivered by priests, or even the call to prayer given by the muezzin at a mosque, then this same wonderful 1st amendment gives you the full right not to go to any place of worship whatsoever.

In this country, no one can ever ever arrest you for not going to church. Isn't that great!!

On the other hand, the United States government, can never, ever bully there way into a place of worship, no matter what religion, and in a micro-managing way, tell them what they will and will not say.

If something makes me angry, I don't look generally look to the federal government to try to "fix" the focuses of my anger, I generally try to find my own solutions.

Government for a redress of grievances.

"I Agree with Jason, you stupid Christians should just let him go to Hell in PEACE!
you just Go Jason!

Peace
Posted by Vic April 29, 09 06:44 PM"

Does the law protect me from this kind of hate too? Or just whatever the political party of the day perceives as hate?

In response to Joe...Where have you been all of your life?? If I, a black man, sneezed on you, you would be protected.