House passes "Hate Crimes" bill...AKA...to blog or not to blog a controversial topic...THAT is the question.

The world of blogging has been quite eye-opening for me this past year. I have followed several DIFFERENT types of bloggers...crafty, "religious", thrifty, sports orientated, homemakers, parents, political, horticultural, photographic...the list is endless.

My post tastes have likewise been varied. Sometimes I like to "forget about it all" and zone out with American Idol and/or the Bengals. Sometimes, I just can't. Sometimes I just have to "talk" about politics and/or religion. It is just in my makeup. I can't help it. This is one of those times.

Last week, Jim showed me a site he had found while perusing the net. Interestingly enough, the site is Canadian. The article starts out this way:

Hate Crimes bill, Worst Attack on First Amendment Freedoms of Speech, Religion in American History

Twisted H.R. 1913 Passes House Committee


"While America slept on Wednesday April 25 we woke up to find headlines about how Michelle Obama likes to sneak out and eat at fun restaurants. Not so well covered by the media was the passage of the Hate Crimes bill re-introduced and passed in committee by John Conyers. (D-MI) What does it mean?"

What does it mean...indeed. I guess it depends on which news outlet you choose to watch. The liberals all believe this is the GREATEST thing to happen since, well, I guess since Obama was elected. The conservatives, on the other hand, believe it is just one step closer to taking away our constitutional rights to free speech. (Oh, and the Fairness Doctrine hasn't even come up for vote yet. Wait till THAT happens!)

Quoting again from the Canada Free Press:

"The bill co-sponsored along with 42 other representatives and crafted by openly gay Congressmen Barney Frank is riddled with gay agenda politics and disregards the will of the people. It was introduced between sessions when little attention is being paid to discussions or votes in the house and is riddled with skullduggeries. Have legislators now come to the place where their own personal lifestyles can get some lawful credence if they think it deserves it? Let’s see.

Books have been written and a few movies made when ordinary citizens undertook to get a law enacted or changed in America. Years of legal battles, hearings, evidence and impassioned testimonies resulted in landmark legislation that changed the very civil landscape of the nation. In the end a ‘wrong was righted’ and America was made the better for it.

Today we may have come to the place where America is being asked to ‘wrong a right’ with Congressmen Barney Frank’s H.R. 1913. Similar bills such as H.R. 1592 were struck down by Presidential veto in 2007.

With much of the nation distracted by the financial crisis and the new almost patronizing concern for gays fostered by the Obama administration added to the latest trend of representatives voting for anything but the will of the people the stage may be set for the passage of this potentially dangerous bill.

The dangers of the bill are inherent in its very premise and it could serve to become the first bill in our history that guarantees freedoms to one group of citizens at the expense of freedoms to another.

For the best point by point breakdown of the problems with H.R 1913 I would refer anyone with nominal intelligence to the Tony Perkins’ article ‘Why Congress Should Reject Federal Hate Crimes Bill’ posted on the Christian Post April 21, 2009. Perkins shows how the bill comes into conflict with the 14th amendment which guarantees all Americans ‘equal justice under the law.

The ‘hate crimes bill’ is an affront to states sovereignty and if misinterpreted by any level of law enforcement will quickly become a ‘thought policing’ bill to wrest even more freedoms from the average citizen by essentially demanding that special groups get special justice."

Another good article I found concerning this (written with a Conservative slant)can be found here: Here is an excerpt:

"A federal hate crimes bill heavily criticized by religious liberty advocates moved a step closer to becoming law today after being approved on a vote of 15-12 by the House Judiciary Committee. The bill, H.R. 1913, will now be considered by the full House of Representatives.

The Judiciary Committee rejected a number of amendments offered by several congressman seeking to protect religious liberty, to protect the unborn, to protect against violence by illegal aliens, and to clarify the bill's meanings of "gender identity" and "sexual orientation." One of the rejected amendments, offered by Congressman Gohmert of Texas, sought to ensure that ministers could not be prosecuted for abetting a hate crime simply because they preach from the Bible or other holy book."

Hmmm...see where this could be heading?

You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Carrie Prejean (Miss California) and Perez Hilton's infamous "differences of opinion" at the Miss USA contest last month. Never have I heard such vitriol as came spewing out of Mr. Hilton's mouth after that. If the shoe had been on the other foot, and Ms. Prejean had used HER freedom of speech in such a way to lament the reason she lost the pageant, you had better believe the **** would have hit the fan! (I chose not to include the You Tube link where he made very crude remarks about her on his site. I am including a debate between Hilton and a right wing conservative radio talk show host which aired on Larry King. I saw it that night and LOVED the point Prager made at about 2:00...)



If this weren't such a serious time in the history of our nation, it would almost be laughable...

The liberals seem to hate our guts. Plain and simple. Right wing conservatives seem to have sunk to such a base degree as to warrant total and absolute disgust in the eyes of leftie liberals (I used to be a liberal, but never hated the "other side"...never thought they were stupid, "redneck, racist teabaggers" as Jeanane Garofalo recently stated...but THAT is another post for another day.) The eyes, in which "we" have sunk so low, are found in Hollywood, the bulk of main stream media, and unfortunately, the people wielding the power in this country right now. (Don't get it twisted, as my friend at work says. I don't for one minute believe McCain would have been much better....). But the fact is that this country is changing. Change I for one don't want to see. This isn't the first time change in the United States has occured and it won't be the last. THIS change, IMHO, is absolutely not for the better.

Since I have written this post from a conservative slant, let's get ready for the "Fairness Doctrine" and allow equal time to the left. But before I do, I want to state that I do not believe this law is needed. ANY act of violence is a "hate crime" and I don't believe one group of people should be protected any differently...over and above...any other group...REGARDLESS of the circumstances.

PAUSE PLAYLIST OVER ON THE "RIGHT" (ha ha...never thought of that before) FIRST













Which brings us to THIS SITE...the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation.

How about this site?

Parents/Guardians and Family Members
of Gender Variant / Trans-Identified and Questioning Youth,
and Gender Non-Conforming Young Children


God help us...

ETA Jim said jokingly after reading this, "if everybody listened to bluegrass gospel, we wouldn't have this problem." I know that there may be some who read this post who may not see all this change as a problem, but rather as progress. I am fully aware that someone who reads this post may "let me have it with both barrels", but hey, we still have freedom of speech in this country...at least for now.