[yatros from flatwater]

They know if you've been sleeping,
They know if you're awake,
They know if you've think "bad" or "good"
So think "good" for "goodness" sake!

[Killborn]

Sorry dude. Already posted.

[yatros from flatwater]

Make that:

They know if you've been sleeping,
They know if you're awake,
They know if you've thought "bad" or "good"
So think "good" for "goodness" sake!

[WOSG]

There is enough of this Junk passed at the state level.

Federal level? Feh!

[Bikers4Bush]

Hatch is not on our side.

[TexasGunLover]

This is so rediculous... like Bush said... hate crime laws are rediculous... all crimes are hate crimes...

[thoughtomator]

One small step for gays, one giant leap towards the elimination of Christianity in America.

[monkeywrench]

""It's an issue of basic decency and fundamental rights."

"Fundamental rights" ("civil rights", "human rights") are replacing our God given Constitutional rights.

[Roughneck]

First of all, Most of the Kennedy's ARE hate crimes in action. Secondly, Orrin Hatch is, in my opinion, an anti-constitution Idiot! (Hatch seeks to change the constitution so those not american-born can become President)

"Hate Crime" bills are redundant.

[Phantom Lord]

From Neal Boortz today...

FEDERAL "HATE CRIMES" LEGISLATION IS ON THE WAY

Now we have Republican Senator Orin Hatch joining with Teddy Kennedy in pushing yet another version of a federal hate crimes bill. This bill would allow federal prosecution for any crime motivated by prejudice based things like race, ethnicity and religion, but also on gender, sexual orientation or disability of the victim.

Come on, folks. Let's call this what it is. It's "thought crimes" legislation, not "hate crimes." It allows for the federal government to step in and prosecute someone for what they were thinking when they committed a crime. Let's say this crime became law. A white person commits a crime against a black person. The white person is prosecuted in a state court and is acquitted by a jury. Civil rights warlords would then be in a position to pressure the local federal prosecutor to bring a federal hate crimes charge against the white person. The federal government could then step in and prosecute the white person not for what that person did to his victim, but because of what that person may have been thinking when he did it.

There was a trial in Atlanta recently of a group of particularly noxious young whites who attacked a group of blacks in an area known as Little Five Points. The whites were yelling racial epithets. These whites were convicted and sentenced to jail. Some local race warlords immediately started screaming to high heaven because these idiot kids didn't receive 20-year sentences. If this federal law were in place the race warlords would be able to pressure the feds to bring the federal hate crimes charges to bear. Maybe they could get their precious 20-year sentences after all.

Another scenario. I'm waking down the street with a black friend. A gang of white skinheads comes up and pounds the stew out of both of us. The skinheads are charged with assault, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail. Then along comes the federal government to file hate crime charges against the skinheads. They are going to be charged with an extra crime because they attacked the black guy. The federal government will view the assault on my black friend as one worthy of federal prosecution ... simply because of what they feel skinheads were thinking at the time. The assault on me? Not worthy of federal attention. Tell me, is the law treating me equally in this scenario? Can you honestly say that I'm getting equal treatment?

Hate may be ugly, but it is not illegal. In a free society you should be free to engage the negative emotion of hate as you see fit. You cannot legislate loving or liking someone. Thought processes should not be crime. Actions should be crimes. This federal hate crime bill, as all hate crime bills, is a bad idea.

Not sure it can be said any better than that.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

I don't remember the novel, but I do remember a couple of jewels from it.

1) so many laws are being passed that we are all criminals, they may as well arrest those who have not been arrested, for indeed they all have to be abnormal perverts.

2) Show me a large police presence and I will show you rampant lawlessness, for they both go together. With one seen, the other not.

[jimt]

The Mormons need to excommunicate Hatch. Of course the Catholics need to excommunicate Kennedy as well.

Both of them violate fundamental principles of their religions.

[JoJo Gunn]

"Hate crimes" should never be entered into the lexicon from either side, especially in a country where there's the 1st Amendment.

Somebody please tell me why I should continue to vote Republican.

[Coleus]

Shouldn't the title read:
"Republican joins Kennedy to push hate-crimes bill"
I wonder how many "Republicans" will join in. Looks like there are RINO's everywhere


Critics fear law for gays will muzzle preachers
By Ellen Sorokin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker yesterday signed legislation that gives homosexuals statewide legal protection from verbal harassment and hate crimes — a move that critics argue targets church leaders who preach against the homosexual lifestyle. Top Stories
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Critics said that they fear the law could be enforced too liberally to include pastors, preachers and other church leaders who during their sermons often quote passages from the Bible that denounce homosexuality. As a result, the law would then violate the church leaders' free speech rights and religious liberties.
"Those especially at risk are conservative religious people who may very well find themselves hauled into court unless they keep their mouths shut for being politically incorrect," said Laurel Lynn Petolicchio, a constitutional activist from Columbia, Pa.
"This legislation basically sets up for a lawsuit against any minister or religious leader who publicly states that certain sexual behavior is immoral or improper. That is in direct violation of the state Constitution."
Many pastors in the state agree. "If the legislation hints in the slightest of grounds for a lawsuit against a preacher, we fear that it will be greatly taken advantage of, to the point of abuse," said Jerry O'Donnell, president of the "Thus Saith The Lord" Ministries in Harrisburg, Pa. Mr. O'Donnell said that he is looking into getting insured against any legal actions he may face.
The legislation adds the phrase "ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity" to the state's Ethnic Intimidation law. The existing law calls for longer jail terms and higher fines for crimes motivated by hatred against victims because of race, color, religion or national origin.
The additional language means that someone convicted of attacking a homosexual because of his sexual orientation would face a longer jail term and stiffer fines, just as a person does now for targeting a racial minority.
"By signing this legislation, I am joining the General Assembly in sending a strong, clear message that Pennsylvania will not tolerate violence against anyone — period," said Mr. Schweiker, a Republican.
The legislation was drafted by Philadelphia-based Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights (CLGCR) and supported by Republicans and Democrats alike. The state House last week passed the measure 118-79, and the state Senate passed it 32-15 last year.
Opponents argued that the measure violates the "equal justice for all" principle.
"We should be looking at the crime, not trying to decide what the thoughts were of the perpetrator," said state Rep. Allan Egolf, a Republican who voted against the measure. "What we're doing is stripping away the blindfold on Lady Justice who doesn't see the person who committed the crime but is only considering the facts."
Advocates of the measure said that Pennsylvania now has the most inclusive legislation of its kind in the country and hailed it as a "breakthrough for principles of tolerance and social justice."
"This is important to gays and lesbians because the state legislators who voted for this bill made a statement that they will not tolerate violence towards their most vulnerable constituents," said Stacey Sobel, CLGCR's executive director.
Supporters also said the measure in no way punishes religious leaders.
Kathleen Daugherty, director of Harrisburg-based Lutheran Advocacy Ministry, which supports the measure, said that the law is meant to give law-enforcement authorities extra tools to prosecute those who attack homosexuals, not to take away the free speech rights of preachers and church leaders.
"What a minister is doing is not a crime," she said. "This measure is about the people who go after persons like Matthew Shepard and harm them. Pennsylvania needs to make a statement that we will not tolerate hate."
Mr. Shepard was a homosexual college student killed by local men in Wyoming in October 1998.
But others argue that it's their values that are being trampled.
"Not only are you not allowed to speak it, you're now not allowed to think it, and that's dangerous," said the Rev. Frederick Bieber of the Hanoverdale Church of the Brethren near Hummelstown, Pa.
"My concern is that it brings about what Christ spoke about how Christians are going to be hauled off and slaughtered for their beliefs, and that's what the supporters of this measure are bringing on. That's the only way they're going to shut me up anyway."

[ladyinred]

Hatch is a closet liberal, always has been. Why does Utah keep that guy?

[scripter]

"It actually punishes someone for what he thinks," said one Senate staffer whose boss opposes any form of the legislation. "That's pretty scary."

That is scary, but it won't stop me from posting the truth behind homosexuality: that is, the major factor in determining homosexuality is environment. That and the severe health hazards of the lifestyle. Those are just facts.

Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Version 1.1),

[JesseHousman]

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican and member of the Judiciary Committee, has been a longtime supporter of tough "hate-crimes" legislation and complimented Mr. Hatch yesterday for trying to move the legislation.

I am sick and tired of the Hatch-Kennedy alliance! Now the RINO Specter gives the pencil-necked geek a compliment!

[John O]

"People have got to grow up and realize that that's an important issue to many, many people in our society and nobody should be discriminated against," Mr. Hatch said recently.

I agree . No one should be discriminated against. The orientation to murder is a very important issue to me and I'm being discriminated against because I can't do it legally. (Did I mention that God made me this way and I can't change ever.)< /extreme sarcasm>

I pray that God will save and change all those trapped in homosexual behavior and their sympathizers OR that He will remove them from this Earth before they drag any one else to hell with them. More and more I understand why this sin was instantly punishable by death. It's not to punish the offender, it's to protect the rest of us

[xdem]

This is all part of making non-liberal ideologies illegal and punishable by law.

In Britain, it is illegal to discuss some politically-incorrect ideas even in the privacy of one's own home.

I will not ignore the suppression of free speech merely for the sake of party loyalty.

[hattend]

Hatch, like McCain has been in the Senate way too long...they have gone soft in the head.

Utah! Arizona! Do your duty! Vote them out.