Posted on 05/01/2009 8:35:55 AM PDT by NYer
A Senate hate crimes bill that would extend federal protection to gay and transgender victims is rousing the ire of social conservatives who say their right to free speech will be jeopardized if it becomes law.
"In and of itself this law can be applied to speech. The nature of assault -- putting someone in fear of their safety -- what will that mean for someone preaching against homosexuality?" said Mathew Staver, founder of the Liberty Council, a law firm that works on religious freedom cases.
"It elevates homosexuality to the same protective category as race. It's all part of the radical homosexual anarchist agenda," Staver said.
For much of the last decade gay rights activists have been fighting for inclusion within the federal hate crimes law, which places greater penalties on crimes that are committed based on race, ethnicity and religion. Social conservatives, including former President George W. Bush, have fought the legislation on the grounds it could be used to prosecute religious groups who say homosexuality is morally wrong.
But with Democrats now controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, gay rights activists are confident the law will pass and President Obama will sign it. The bill passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday, 249-175.
"This is one of the most supportive environments we've had," said Thomas Howard, Jr., programs director for the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an advocacy group named for the gay University of Wyoming student whose 1998 murder became a rallying point for homosexuals.
"The issue is when someone is targeted as a direct result of who they are. This isn't about telling people what they can and can not say."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ping!
Liberals, PC Nazis, and the Marxists who have recently come to power have as much respect for the First Amendment as they have for the Second, or, for that matter, the remainder of the Bill of Rights. Which is to say they have none at all - until it’s their prize ox being gored, and then listen to them howl!
Is this bill going to have the same concepts as Sexual Harrassement, where the victim just has to “perceive” harrassement? So, now if I have a bad day, and I pass a homo on the street and if I do not have a smile on my face, he can perceive that I was a threat or I displayed “hate” to him because of the look on my face?
I hope this is not the case, but if it is then this goes far beyond a hate crime bill.
Yeah, right.
A ruling elite that recognizes no limits on it’s power; no regard for the Rule of Law. No respect for the individual’s freedom of thought or expression. No recognition of the right to dissent. Most importantly, it stamps out the self-evident Judeo-Christian heritage which was the glue that held together a free society.
This is what happens when we move away from being a Christian nation. The Rule of Law is not based on enumeration of rights in the Constitution. The rights in the Constitution are based on a recognition that God gave men a soul, which separates them from the beasts of the field. With that soul comes the inalienable rights of the individual. Take away God, and you deny that men have souls. If the State does not recognize a soul, it does not see any distinction between a man and a cow being led to slaughter. Both are simply pieces of meat, to be disposed of as the state sees fit.
This should be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court as it is clearly unconstitutional. Hate speech is still speech and freedom of speech is guaranteed by the US Constitution. What the Constitution doesn’t say is the right of political correct speech is guaranteed; it just says SPEECH, period.
So, what will this POS rule do when the queen of bitches Randy Rhodes from Air America wishes a republican dead?
Hit the nail squarely on the head, henkster.
Under this proposal, if some guy decides to visit a church, and the pastor delivers a message regarding homosexuality as a sin, and this guy goes out and gets into a brawl with a man whom happens to be gay, that gay guy could not only file charges against they guy he fought with for “Hate” crimes, but he could also file charges against the pastor as an accomplice.
To all FReepers. Read the following, check off the goals, the act to stem this tide:
Communist Goals (1963)
Documention below
Congressional Record—Appendix, pp. A34-A35
January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goals
EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, January 10, 1963
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:
[From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]
CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [”]united force[”] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
This article implies that only social conservatives object to this bill. How about all conservatives? How about anyone with half a brain?
Is this HR1913 ? Is this the bill which limits religious groups using the old testament as one of its basis of faith from expressing distain to a life style ? Why hasn’t this been brought up by “conservative” talk show hosts ?
http://www.theusmat.com/
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