June 26,
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act which
has passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin is
now facing hearings in the Senate. There are already similar hate
crime laws in place, however, this bill imposes much
stronger federal enforcement, which is a clear violation of the Tenth Amendment. It grants greater power
to federal prosecutors to prosecute hate crime laws by
prosecuting those who have been found innocent by local or state courts.
The current bill will extend special privileges to gays and transgender
individuals that are currently only granted to ethnic and religious
minorities. The most dangerous part of the Bill which is a direct assault
against the First Amendment is that it allows for the prosecution as
accomplices in a hate crime for talk show pundits that the person who commits
the alleged crime claims to influence their actions.
Here is the essential text:
Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce [radio, TV, internet]
any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause
substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support
severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than two years, or both. (HR 1966, SEC 3, Sec. 881a)
Reverend Ted Pike of the National Prayer Network says that
"this means that if any pastor, talk show host or guest, or anyone
communicating on radio or the internet is repeatedly “hostile” to the practice
of homosexuality and “intends” to cause “substantial emotional distress” in
homosexuals, leading to repentance, he is guilty. The speaker doesn’t even have
to succeed in causing such conviction for sin, even though he will be
especially guilty if he does. In either case, the federal government is
empowered under this bill to invade any state to prosecute the “bully” of the
airwaves."
This Bill is the first major step to stripping away our rights to
freedom of speech in the 1st amendment. Recently the
Though we still have the First Amendment we are headed in that direction of
In testimony
before the Senate Judiciary Committee, ADL Washington counsel Michael
Lieberman spoke in support of the Hate Crimes Bill. "We have no illusions
about this legislation," Lieberman testified. "We know that bigotry,
racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism cannot be legislated out of existence. A
new federal law that finally addresses all victims of hate crimes will not
eliminate them."
http://www.examiner.com/x-9462-LA-Nonpartisan-Examiner