Posted on 07/13/2007 9:54:23 PM PDT by monomaniac
Would hold US troops fighting "War on Terror" as hostages in exchange for sweeping "hate crimes" legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Senate Democrats will hold US troops fighting the "War on Terror" as hostages in exchange for sweeping "hate crimes" legislation if the Senate votes this week, perhaps as early as Monday, to include it in the defense spending bill.
Instead of introducing the legislation giving sexual orientation "hate crimes" protection as a separate bill, Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) opted to introduce the "Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" as one of hundreds of amendments to the Defense Reauthorization bill requested by President Bush.
"There's no question this is an attempt to sneak the bill in under the most shameful circumstances because they are attaching it to the defense of our military troops," Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel told LifeSiteNews.com.
Sens. Kennedy and Smith's strategy, Staver said, forces the President into a terrible dilemma: President Bush must either approve "hate crimes" legislation or veto the entire spending bill thus leaving US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan without new support and dwindling resources. Since the President has no line-item veto, approval of the defense bill is an all or nothing deal.
"This is an underhanded ploy by liberals in the Senate to try to force Bush to sign dangerous hate crimes legislation into law," said Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America (CWA). "I would suspect that [Bush] would send this back to the Senate and say 'quit playing games with the lives of our troops' and have them send a clean bill to his desk to get these troops taken care of."
In May, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 1592 the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill similar to the Senate version proposed by Sens. Kennedy and Smith, that would insert "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" into existing hate crimes provisions, and give the federal government unprecedented involvement in local law enforcement.
The President had promised to veto any "hate crimes" legislation, calling the bill "constitutionally questionable." A statement from the White House said, "There has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement." http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07050302.html
Conservative groups have charged that "hate crimes" equals "thought crimes" and carries major implications for the religious freedom of Christians and other religious groups who preach homosexual behavior is intrinsically disordered and immoral. Such fears were confirmed when Rep. Artur Davis, a supporter of the bill, admitted that under this law a pastor could be charged with the crime of incitement if the he preached against homosexuality and a person in the congregation left church and committed a crime against a homosexual. http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07042601.html
CWA's Barber told LifeSiteNews.com that pro-family advocates must tell their respective senators to vote against the "hate crimes" amendment. "The grassroots, people of faith, people of conservative values and principles must be contacting their senators and let them know that any hate crimes legislation is unacceptable and they need to do whatever they can to fight this legislation," he said.
CitizenLink provides a page to find contact information for elected officials:
http://vocusgr.vocus.com/GRSPACE2/WebPublish/controller.aspx?SiteName=FOTF&Definition=Home&XSL=Home&SV_Section=Home
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Democrats Refuse Religious Freedom Amendment to Hate Crimes Bill
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07042601.html
CWA Claims Fake "Hate Crimes" Being Used to Force Legislation through Congress
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07041107.html
US House Passes Gay Hate Crime Bill
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07050405.html
President Bush Promises to Veto Homosexual Hate Crime Bill if Passed
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07050302.html
You said it. The man is despicable. Now what in the world is President Bush supposed to do with this mess?
Is genocide a hate crime?
Veto the Defense Bill,Mr. President, until the ass clown Democrat Senators remove all the unrelated blood sucking dog tick baggage they have attached.
Is infanticide a hate crime?
Bush absolutely MUST call the scumbags out on this despicable ploy.
Gordon Smith’s political career, RIP.
Must Contact the White House as well as your reps and Senators over this: Traditional Values: PING!
Senate Democrats attach “Karl Marx income redistribution” and “Cthulhu holiday season” to crucial defense bill. Reid, Pelosi cannot be reached for comment.
I don’t trust Bush as far as I can throw him on this one. He also thought McPain-Feingold was constitutionally questionable, and he signed it anyway.
WE MUST DEMAND A VETO. AND CALL THE SENATORS WHO MIGHT BE UNDECIDED ABOUT THIS PIECE OF PSCHITT. WE ALL KNOW WHO THEY ARE.
Spirit, have you seen this?!
Yes. Even considering this maneuver, let alone actually doing it, is enough — as far as I’m concerned — to actively work for Smith’s defeat in the ‘08 general election. Scumbag.
No use talking sense into these zealots.
These people are evil scum.
PING for the troops!
Did Chairman Mao throw Spitwads at Gulliver?
http://www.thearticlesofimpeachment.com/?p=7
PING!
The Senate phone system is overwhelmed? Wrong number!
Don’t BOTHER phoning the Congressional hotlines. The effective pressure points are in other places. End Runs are needed around the Maginot Lines…. Over, Under, around and through….
Faxes, emails and phone calls to the offices themselves are mere spitwads against a hardened and well-funded bureaucratic infrastructure. What is not hardened is the extended relationship of family and friends who are not directly shielded by government employment and who rely on public goodwill to continue their lifestyle. When THEY start getting heat, they will take it home behind the electronic Iron Curtain. Think: ant control products where ants take the insecticide into the belly of the beast, the heart of the colony, to the queen…
http://www.thearticlesofimpeachment.com/?p=6
Just so we are clear on the matter I am against abortion. But I would never call it genocide. At least not how it is practiced in this country. It is a way to dodge responsibility for a bullit that should not have fired in the first place if you take my meaning.
I think he did, but the Lilliputians got in the way. ::grin:: Great piece! Thanks for the LINK!
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