New Federal Hate Bill Means Funeral of Free Speech
New Federal Hate Bill Means Funeral of Free Speech
Rev. Ted Pike | September 28 2005
On Sept. 14, the US House of Representatives passed, 223-199, the ominous federal ??anti-hate? bill, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005. It was inserted as AMDT.2662 into the Children??s Safety Act. If approved unaltered by the senate judiciary, this legislation is ready for the President to sign into law.
Here is a summary of what the bill would make law:
Although AMDT.2662 ostensibly empowers the government to assist states in prosecution of violent hate crimes, its actual effect will be much more far-reaching. AMDT.2662 will lead to enforcement of the working definitions of ??hate? and ??hate crimes? which are enforced by the many ??anti-hate? bureaucracies in countries throughout the western industrialized world. In such countries, it is now a ??hate crime? to criticize members of federally protected groups such as Jews and homosexuals. Utilizing such definitions, ??hate crime? indictments have been made or are currently being pursued by Canada, England, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. AMDT.2662 builds a foundation for a ??hate crimes? bureaucracy in America, also ending free speech.
Here are some of the specially protected groups which AMDT.2662 defends:
Homosexuals. Any public criticism of homosexuals will soon be considered a hate crime, just as it was for 11 Christians under the Pennsylvania hate crime law on Oct. 10, 2004. These Christians were arrested as ??hate criminals? for preaching during a huge ??gay pride? rally and faced 47 years in prison and $80,000 fines each.
Women. A woman who claims her boyfriend used a sexist word against her and raped her the last time they had sex, can press charges for a ??hate crime? of rape. Punishment will triple the usual penalty, about 30 years in prison.
Jews. Already the Dept. of Global Anti-semitism, being established in the US State Dept., makes it ??anti-semitic? to express ??strong anti-Israel sentiment? against Israel or its leaders. It also says upholding the New Testament charge that Jews killed Christ is ??anti-semitic.? Under ??anti-hate? laws in Canada and Europe, such statements are ??hate crimes? punishable by harsh fines and imprisonment.
AMDT.2662 will hasten such anti-Christianity in America as well.
ENDING FREE SPEECH RADIO
If this amendment is approved, FCC restrictions will soon descend on American talk show hosts, with lists of banned topics. Hosts will be fined or imprisoned and stations will lose their broadcast licenses, just as in Canada, if they violate these restrictions.
In Canada in Aug. 2004, ??CHOI FM,? Quebec City??s most popular talk show station, was dissolved by the Canadian government. Its 33 employees were put out of work. Its offense? One of its talk show hosts criticized African dictators whose children were educated in Canadian universities. This was considered a ??hate crime? against blacks.
If AMDT.2662 is passed, exactly the same will soon happen to broadcasters who stray from the new ??politically correct? FCC guidelines. AMDT.2662 will also invite pedophiles, witches, warlocks, Satanists and even ??sinners? to acquire special federal protection from those who criticize them, including pastors. In England especially, Satanists and witches are included under Britain??s new, stiffer ??anti-hate? law.
If passed, AMDT.2662 will provide immediate special FBI, Justice Dept. and local police assistance to protected groups that claim to have been offended. As the nation saw last October in Philadelphia, on the slightest evidence of bias, police will descend on Christians, pastors, talk show hosts and station managers, indicting them with trumped-up ??hate crime? charges and exorbitant penalties.
FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
The sovereign rights of states to enforce the law as they see fit has posed a huge barrier to establishment of a federal ??anti-hate? bureaucracy. Until now, the government has had to prove that such abuses as jury tampering, voter fraud, slavery, or crimes involving interstate commerce existed in states before they could meddle in state law enforcement. AMDT.2662 would legitimize as law several devious strategies to break down all barriers to federal intrusion.
AMDT.2662 asserts that if a violent bias crime within a state in any way affects interstate commerce, the federal government has the right to invade state law enforcement. This means that if a homosexual has been called a ??faggot? and threatened to have his butt kicked by a gas station attendant, and as a result does not patronize that gas station whose products have come from across the state line, the federal government can intervene. Or if the homosexual buys a Greyhound ticket (vehicle of interstate commerce) to resettle in San Fransisco as a result of such threatened ??violence,? the federal government has a green light to take over state hate crime law enforcement in that state.
AMDT.2662 asserts that bias in states is a ??relic? of slavery. This bill contends that the presence of bias-motivated violent crime within a state is proof that slavery still exists in that state. This provides the same justification for intervention that the federal government had in putting down slavery during the Civil War!
Under AMDT.2662, the government can take over local law enforcement if:
States do not have ??anti-hate? laws. Sec. B (b)(2A)
States are not enforcing state and federal hate laws as zealously as the federal government wishes. Sec. B (b)(2A)
States do not produce the kind of verdicts in hate crimes trials that the federal government wants. Sec. B (b)(2D)
VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION
AMDT.2662 flatly violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits government from favoring any particular group.
AMDT.2662 will give hate crimes bureaucrats control of the federal anti-hate agenda. Very quickly, via enabling legislation and judicial precedent, any pretext of respect for the rights of Christians or dissenters will dissolve, as has happened under anti-hate laws in Canada, and under Pennsylvania??s ADL hate law in Philadelphia on Oct 10.
All criticism of protected groups via politically incorrect terms, such as ??homosexual? or ??sodomite,? will become a hate crime, just as it is under British hate law. A huge number of legal precedents will continuously widen hate law jurisdiction. Courts will quickly clog with federal indictments. Staggering backups of unresolved cases will make the federal hate law, like Roe vs. Wade, virtually impossible to repeal.
Canada provides a telescope to American legislators, warning them of the legal confusion and financial exhaustion which comes to those who run afoul of hate crimes bureaucracies. Members of the senate judiciary committee are in a position now to insist that our time-tested legal system be allowed to continue to do what it has done so well for centuries: punish all crime, including ??hate crime,? according to physical evidence--- not according to the vagaries of ??bias motivation.?
New Federal Hate Bill Means Funeral of Free Speech
Internet Thought Police
USA Today | September 28 2005
Transport George Orwell's novel 1984- in which a totalitarian Big Brother government tries to rule citizens' lives and control their thoughts - into the 21st century, and it would look a lot like China today.
Consider what happened this week. Continuing a long battle to curb what it considers a subversive information source - the Internet - China tightened its censorship of online news services and bulletin boards.
Major search engines and portals have been ordered to stop posting unauthorized commentary. Only opinion pieces from government-controlled sources are allowed. Private individuals and groups must register as "news organizations" before operating e-mail distribution lists. Anyone who violates the rules faces prison. Already, China has jailed a journalist for sending text of a Communist Party memo to foreign websites.
Distressingly, Western companies, notably Yahoo, have cooperated with the authorities as a price of being allowed to do business in China. In doing so, they become partners of the totalitarian state. The specter arises that the Internet, usually assumed to be a catalyst for free speech and democracy, is becoming a tool for repression. If China is successful, other regimes no doubt would follow.
China, of course, can't possibly stamp out all material it doesn't want its citizens to see. Internet use in China is soaring, along with cellphone use and text messaging. About 8% of China's 1.3 billion people are now Internet users. Many have proven adept at skirting the most advanced censorship methods in the world.
At this point, it's anyone's guess how many Chinese will succeed in getting a free flow of information, and how many will be scared off by government intimidation or manipulated by censorship and propaganda.
What's more clear is that democratic nations and their companies should not help China's Thought Police turn the Internet into a platform for Orwellian Newspeak and Doublethink. However appealing collaboration might seem, they would eventually find that the world of 1984 was not a pleasant place.
New Federal Hate Bill Means Funeral of Free Speech
This place is becoming more scarry to live in day by day. :eek:
