Thread: TED KENNEDY TRIES TO SLIP HATE CRIMES PAST THE PUBLIC

"Equal protection under the law. Beating people up should be a crime. Why is it the motive matters please?"

Beating people *is* a crime. Isn't the punishment for hate crimes harsher than a .. er.. regular beating though? If you beat someone you otherwise would not have beaten simply because he was a member of a certain community, your punishment should of course be worse.

neodyn55 wrote:

If you beat someone you otherwise would not have beaten simply because he was a member of a certain community, your punishment should of course be worse.

You're missing the boat here, neodyn. For example, let's assume you pick a fight with someone because they assualted your mother, and let's further assume that you beat this person senseless. Now, during an interview with the prosecuting attorney the individual you beat senseless tells the attorney that he is a homosexual and that's why you beat him. Bear in mind, you didn't even know the individual was gay, you were just defending your mothers honor. However, the prosecuting attorney doesn't see it that way and you're charged with a hate crime on top of an assualt charge.

Okay, pay attention here. Now, the individual can prove his gay, but can you prove that's why you didn't beat him? It's your word against his, and remember, you beat him senseless and photographs of his black and blue face are being passed among the jurist. Guess what, your chances aren't good, especially after the jury sees those photographs of the poor chap you beat the crap out of.

Bottom line, this bill advantages the minority and disadvantages the majority.

your punishment should of course be worse.

Hate crime legislation effectively creates a double standard in our legal system, which runs counter to the ideas this country was founded on. Equality before the law, in other words. It serves to cheapen the victims of white on white violence, black on black violence, etc. I'm also curious of the rationale that defines who and what exactly decides the 'protected classes'. Who is to say that one day your oppositional political party won't appoint themselves a 'protected class' as well.

Hate crime legislation is thoughtcrime legislation and will cause more inequality than it cures. The attacker is always acting hatefully toward his victim, whether it is robbery, rape, assault, etc. Hate crime law says one act of violence is worse than another. It is essentially unequal and it WILL generate civil unrest.

Eventually, it could very well be used to outlaw certain political parties, much like Hitler did in pre-WWII Germany. Maybe it wouldn't happen in the next ten years, but it would eventually happen. At that point, we'll only be allowed to say "Doubleplus good, comrade!"

Another question: if a Baptist attacks a Methodist for his or her religious beliefs, does that constitute a hate crime against Christianity? What is a Baptist attacks another Baptist for being lackadaisical about going to church? What if some gangbanger attacks Bill Cosby for his talks about the troubled black youth of today?

This law simply cannot be enforced uniformly for all people - that's a recipe for inequality if I've ever heard one.

Perhaps Kennedy just introduced this bill...albeit controversial...to deflect the fact that this is the 38th anniversary of Chappaquidick. Interesting that last night he pulled another allnighter...38 years later...only this time he wasn't swimming to another island.

Well, we might be veering away from the topic in the OP, but, what the heck - here's a couple more points to add:

[quote]a federal offense and it would add “sexual orientationâ€

Thanks for the information. It seems the issue is more complex than I had thought about. I'm going to need a little more reading up before I can continue commenting.

Just a thought though - if you eliminate hate crimes, then do all .. er.. regular crimes automatically get a punishment upgrade to hate crime level?

Please try to visualize this...

Illegal Alien: "This land was Mexico's, and will be again soon"

Illegal Alien: "Osama bin Laden is a great freedom fighter"

Illegal Alien: ::words muffled by PLO-style ski mask::

Illegal Alien: ::raises Mexican national flag on US soil::

Teddey Kennedy: "I won't let you down!"



You want to talk about "hate crimes"? How about, "if you hate America, and therefore commit treason you wouldn't otherwise have committed, your punishment should be more severe"....

You want to talk about "hate crimes"? How about, "if you hate America, and therefore commit treason you wouldn't otherwise have committed, your punishment should be more severe"....

Yippeee! I figured out how to comment.

Anyway, the punishment for treason, whether or not you hate America, is the death penalty. Hard to imagine how it can get more severe than that... No last meal?

Does race count in hate crimes? Because we have alot of races here to worry about I can't give an example for wouldn't want to offend anyone so use your imagination please!