Senate passes expanded hate crimes bill

[_Paul Osborne]

Wow!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/22/ ... index.html

I hope Gaz doesn't throw a fag into the river because if he does he will pay the price.

Paul O

[_EAllusion]

I'm sure this thread will go political quickly, so I might as well say that I'm strongly opposed to hate crime legislation in all forms. I'm opposed to people being punished for beliefs, which is what this is a form of.

The Mormon Discussions angle here is whether this will affect the LDS Church. I don't think so. Maybe, maybe down the road when discrimination against gays is further looked down upon by society the hate crime status might be used as part of a case for stripping the Church of its tax exempt status/government privilege due to its treatment of gays. But I'm not sure the crystal ball is clear enough to discuss that in much detail.

[_Gazelam]

Is there a website I can visit with real estate prices for the state of Wyoming?

[_asbestosman]

If it makes people feel safer, validated, or whatver, fine. I wouldn't feel any safer with similar extra legislation protecting Mormons mostly because I think hate crimes are by definition crimes of passion. Generally you're not wondering whether you'll get 20 years or 50 years when you commit one of those.

[_Ray A]

Obama is doing great things for your country.

[_EAllusion]

I don't think hate crimes are by definition crimes of passion. Or, rather, thinking that relies on confusing some connotations of the word. Hate crimes are just crimes targeted due to prejudice against some protected class of people. They need not be passionate in the sense of being done in a fit of emotional impulse. A conspiracy to burn down a black Church is a hate crime, but it isn't necessarily a crime of passion in the sense that term is normally understood.

[_JohnStuartMill]

I think hate crimes are a bad idea, but I don't think that treating crimes motivated by bigotry should only be prosecuted under whatever statute they'd be prosecuted under if they weren't motivated by bigotry. Nearly all "hate crimes" are executed with the intent to "send a message" to a group of people; as such, there should be some extra prosecutorial juice in punishing these offenders. In California, there's a "Making Terrorist Threats" cause of action that I think should be used in lieu of the hate crimes statute.

[_Jersey Girl]

I don't see a need for a hate crimes bill. At all.

Can someone explain to me why they think this is needed?

[_asbestosman]

Obama is doing great things for your country.

After all, he won the Nobel Peace Prize

. . . for his skill at reading the teleprompter.


Yeah, I voted for him. I voted for him because I need someone that will actually work with the rest of the world instead of creating enemies out of old friends. He is doing very well in that regard.

Still, I can't help but wonder whether I should move Old Testament Canada where the rest of the world doesn't bother to hate them and they have what appears to be a sustainable government budget relative to the US.

[_asbestosman]

A conspiracy to burn down a black Church is a hate crime, but it isn't necessarily a crime of passion in the sense that term is normally understood.

I suppose that's true.

Still, I have my doubts as to whether making the penalties more severe would impact whether the KKK decides to burn down a black church, or simply roast marshmallows instead.