« Oh sooooo close | Main | Happy Mother's Day »
May 12, 2007
Hate Crime Law - another attack on the Constitution
A lot has been said recently about the bill HR 1592 that passed the House of Representatives last week. Some are calling it a beacon of light in the darkness of hate speech... others are calling it another nail in the coffin of the Constitution. Unfortunately, even more have no idea was it is. Let's clear that part up at least... it is a law intended to make penalties for "hate crimes" stiffer than those for the same crime without "hatred." Are you kidding me?
The first problem is defining a "hate crime." It is defined as the commission of a crime because of the victim’s race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Seriously, if you murder someone without thinking bad thoughts about them, the penalty would be less that if you "hated" them first. Think about that... we are talking about "thinking." The proponents of the bill have admitted that "hate speech" could be criminalized after this bill passes.
The bill threatens not only the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech, but also the Tenth Amendment. Don't remember that one? It's the most abused and ignored of the original Bill of Rights. It's the one that states the ONLY three crimes under the pervue of the federal government are piracy, treason, and counterfeiting. That's it! The remainder of lawmaking duties and decisions are reserved for individual states.
This is dumb legislation that does nothing other than spend $300 million and chip away at the Bill of Rights.
I was thinking how much I hated weeds yesterday when I was killing some growing by my tomatoes - uh oh!
Posted by CDogg at May 12, 2007 09:08 PM