Friday, May 04, 2007

Thought Crimes Legislation Sails Through the House

Yesterday, by a vote of 237-180, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 1592, the so-called “hate crimes” bill.

The Missouri delegation was split right down the middle with Democrats Carnahan, Clay, Cleaver and Skelton voted for the bill and Republicans Akin, Blunt, Emerson and Hulshof voting against the bill. Republican Sam Graves (6th District) did not vote.

Everyone knows this bill isn’t about real crime. Existing laws already cover assaults and injuries to the persons and properties of homosexuals, as they well should. Violence against homosexuals is to be deplored. The FBI has reported a dramatic and significant drop in crimes against homosexuals in recent years. This, in spite of fabricated and exaggerated reporting like this case at Minnesota State-Moorhead.

Chuck Colson, in an article dealing with the loss of free speech reported an FBI statistic that in 2005, out of 863,000 cases of aggravated assault, only 177 cases were crimes of bias against homosexuals—less than 0.03%.

Fortunately, the Bush Administration at long last broke its silence on the topic and issued this statement, part of which read: “If H.R. 1592 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

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