| Joe vs. Lisa: Hate Crimes |
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Senator Murkowski – Hate Crimes
Note: It should be duly observed that the following bills were airdropped into Defense Authorizations to fund our troops in the field. It is telling that Senator Murkowski would participate in holding our service men and women hostage to the Left's radical social agenda.
July 16, 2009: On the Cloture Motion, S.Amdt. 1511 to S. 1390 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010) “To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.” Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Number of hate crimes recorded by the FBI in Alaska relating to sexual orientation in 2008: http://fbi.gov/ucr/hc2008/data/table_13ak.html
June 15, 2004: S.Amdt. 3183 to S. 2400 (Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005) “To provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdictions to prosecute hate crimes.” Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
John Whitehead, The Huffington Post: “The problem, which few want to acknowledge for fear of being labeled politically incorrect, or worse homophobic, is that in order to crack down on hateful behavior, hateful thoughts and expression must also be targeted -- which runs diametrically counter to the First Amendment's protections for free speech and expression.” “The ramifications go far beyond the intended purpose of dissuading acts of violence against a protected class to actually chilling free speech. On the whole, hate crime laws unnecessarily blur the distinction between what might be constitutionally protected, albeit deplorable, speech and criminal behavior. Eventually, this will spill over into criminalizing any kind of speech that any official in the echelons of government deems to be hateful or distasteful. Thus, hate crime laws, well-meaning though they may seem, punish not just the act but the motive and open the door for a whole new realm of prosecutions, namely thought crimes.” “The bottom line is simply that you cannot legislate an end to ignorance, prejudice and bigotry, and that's the problem with the Hate Crimes Act. All legislation will do is punish actions and sweep in more innocent people. But it won't change hearts and minds--and that's where you have to start in combating hatred and bigotry.” Read full article: http://huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/what-is-wrong-with-the-fe_b_190002.html
Matt Barber, Townhall.com: “This entire concept flies in the face of the 14th Amendment. It inarguably codifies unequal protection under the law, creating a two-tiered justice system made up of first-class victims such as those who self-identify as homosexual or “transgender” and second-class victims such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, veterans, the homeless and others who choose not to engage in homosexual or cross-dressing behaviors.” Read article: http://tour.townhall.com/columnists/MattBarber/2009/04/21/separate_but_unequal_protection
Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic “I'm for getting rid of all of these laws, as attacks on freedom of thought. I also think the current proposal is a bit of flim-flam that will likely make no difference in the real world.”
The Washington Times Editorial “The motivation isn't about punishing crime as much as it is about controlling certain thoughts and views.” Read article: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/30/thought-crimes/
Jacob Sullum, Reason.com: “It's not a stretch to say that hate crime laws, by their very nature, punish people for their opinions . . . Even if states were justified in punishing bigoted criminals more severely than merely vicious ones (as all but a handful currently do), the case for federal action would be weak.” Read article: http://reason.com/archives/2007/05/09/looking-for-hate-in-all-the-wr
More: http://nytimes.com/2008/06/12/us/12hate.html http://cbc.ca/world/story/2008/06/13/f-rfa-macdonald.html http://brusselsjournal.com/node/538 http://ignatiusinsight.org/features/mobrien_thoughtcrime_sept04.asp |
