Senators push hate-crime legislation

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ^ | 06/18/03 | SAMANTHA SIEBER

[bedolido]

WASHINGTON - Amid people carrying "Stop the Hate," "Don't Hate! Legislate," and "Congress Must Act" signs, Republican and Democratic senators came together Tuesday to show their support for hate-crime legislation.

Standing with the senators were Judy Shepard, the mother of a University of Wyoming student who was murdered because of his sexual orientation, and Trev Broudy, who was severely beaten with a baseball bat after hugging a male friend.

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[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I hate any senator who would vote for a hate crime law.

[RAT Patrol]

So if we want to beat someone to death we can't discriminate? What are they gonna do, give two death penalties? Thoughts should never be crimes. Only actions. It's already illegal to beat anyone with a baseball bat, even a dog.

[JohnGalt]

Prescription drug benefits, hate crimes legislation, and all we got was a temporary tax cut that barely keeps pace with inflation?

The media is doing its job to crush conservative enthusiasm for the entire GOP.

[BerniesFriend]

Did I miss something..did Wyoming release Shephard's murderers? Did they get a ticket and a stern warning? How would hate legislation, or ANY legislation stop his killers from attacking him? Did his killers think murder was legal when they killed him? I am confused..can someone splain it to me please....

[stimpyone]

if I beat joe with a bat, it is one thing. If I beat joe with a bat because I want to send a message to other members of Joe's race, it is a hate crime.

One victim vs. many victims.

However, if I beat Joe with a bat because he threw me an inside fastball after I took him yard on my last at-bat, then I have a justifiable defense.

[TheWillardHotel]

Bush's pen is ready to sign it.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"Amid people carrying "Stop the Hate," "Don't Hate! Legislate," and "Congress Must Act" signs-"

I agree completely.
I think it is an outrage that Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, should threaten an act of cyber vandalism. Get the tar and feathers, though it won't take much to cover his bony little ass.

[RAT Patrol]

I find it curious that someone would want to define something obviously contrary to nature like homosexuality as "normal" and therefore somehow good, while "hate" (actually a quite normal human emotion in great need of control and personal responsibility) as bad. Heck, if normal is defined as "I want to" in the one case, why isn't it in the other? I'm sure you can more easily attribute hate to biology than sex between women with fake penises.

[bedolido]

What I don't understand is why isn't Islamic Extremism considered a hate crime?

[Van Jenerette]

"There is no excuse for discrimination in America in any form," Hatch said.

Hey Senator - why don't you just pass a bill that tells everyone to follow the 10-Commandments; wouldn't that and the 'Golden-rule' cover all 'hate-crimes?'

Opps, sorry - there goes that old bigoted religion stuff that protects ALL people. Almost forgot, this bill only covers a select few. My bad...

[KarlInOhio]

The only penalty which McKinney (Shepard's killer) could have gotten which was more severe than his multiple life sentances would have been the death penalty. Probably the only reason he was spared that was that Shepard's parents agreed to a plea bargain before the penalty phase of the trial.

Sorry Mrs. Shepard, you let your son's killer off with less than a just punishment. Don't tell me about how we need harsher penalties for hate crimes.

[RAT Patrol]

Many victims? Oh puh-leease. I can tell you, everytime a woman is raped, I feel violated. Does that make me a victim too? Legislate behavior, not thoughts.

[EdReform]

Bump & Ping

[johnb838]

I'm a Hater

[cryptical]

So how does "hate" affect interstate commerce, or under what other authority is Congress legislating?

[bedolido]

So how does "hate" affect interstate commerce, or under what other authority is Congress legislating?

Excellent point. What does make it federal?

[KarlInOhio]

Excellent point. What does make it federal?

Penumbral Emanations and such things.

[11Bush]

When I was growing up, my mother would admonish me when I would use the word hate; 'I hate Tommy.. or some such. She would point out that it is not a Christian feeling and that I may dislike something/one, but I should not hold hate in my heart.

I loved my mom, but, God I hate these people!

Molon Labe!

[banjo joe]

What does make it federal? This is exactly the point.

The ruling class gets a two-fer: name recognition from easily duped mow-rons, and the transfer of more power from the local/state to the fed level.

very smart, actually, kinda like Stalin might have done in the early days.