Posted on 07/30/2009 7:55:22 AM PDT by SmithL
When the Senate passed a federal hate-crimes measure by a 63-28 earlier this month, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, proclaimed, "This legislation will help to address the serious and growing problem of hate crimes."
I'm baffled. Washington passed the first federal hate-crimes bill in 1968 and 45 states have enacted hate-crime laws. This latest bill, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expanded the list of hate crimes - which originally focused on attacks based on the victims' race, color, religion or national origin - to include those targeted because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
If hate-crime laws prevent hate crimes, shouldn't hate crimes be shrinking, not growing?
Forgive the question, because there's nothing glib about any crime of violence. The 1998 torture-murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard - who was found tied to a fence, battered and shoeless in the cold - was so cruel that it took Shepard three days to die.
Attorneys for one of Shepard's killers, Aaron McKinney, tried to introduce a "gay panic" defense, to explain why a crime that started as a robbery ended in death. The judge refused to allow the bogus defense and a jury found McKinney guilty of felony murder. To avoid the death penalty, his accomplice had pleaded guilty to the killing. Both are serving double life sentences.
It's hard to understand how a federal hate-crimes law could send a stronger message than life in prison. Or a stronger message than the response of security guards at the Holocaust Museum, who, after white supremacist James Von Brunn allegedly fatally shot guard Stephen T. Johns in June, shot Von Brunn in the face. With or without the Shepard act, Von Brunn could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I can just imaging asking the question "What? Are you some kind of queer or somethng?"
That's sure gonna' make some friends.
Leighey is a nut case fur shur.
It isnt what is obvious or advertized in these bills, it is what is hidden,,why did they need another bill like this? Has anyone gone through it with a fine toothed comb? What is hidden in that bill that makes it so important?
Like this so called Health bill, it isnt all about health, if you study it, it is about vastly expanding the powers of the IRS. Why else would it take 1000 pages that no one has read? Those who are able to read and understand it are finding that out.
hahahaha this is too true!!!
In other words, White Straight Males are Politically acceptable targets.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.