I Believe!!!
September 12th, 2007, 01:24 PM
While California hate-crimes laws are being used to target "pure speech," a federal plan that would impose similar speech restrictions on Christians "is still lurking in the shadows" in the U.S. Senate, warns a team of civil rights advocates.
The warning comes from the Pacific Justice Institute, which is running an online petition campaign to alert people to the dangers the pending legislation poses.
As WND reported, the federal plan, H.R. 1592, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, but when it reached the U.S. Senate, instead of holding hearings and a vote, senators tried to attach it to another bill as an amendment. The maneuver would have prevented any public input on the plan.
That effort failed, but that doesn't mean the American public is safe from the dangers the federal legislation poses, according to Matt McReynolds, a staff attorney for Pacific Justice.
The full title of the legislation is "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007," and it provides federal help to local agencies dealing with "hate crimes." It also separately creates new federal offenses for "hate crimes," including the addition of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" for inclusion as protected characteristics.
"It hasn't gone away, it's still lurking in the shadows," he told WND. "And not just that. The U.S. House version has passed, so they can slap it on as an amendment to something else."
McReynolds said the dangers are real.
"When you start down the list of Western countries, Australia, Canada, Britain, France. Everywhere hate crimes plans have been adopted there are examples of problems. It's gotten to the point even pure speech is being criminalized, with no actions or violence," he said.
"That's where hate crimes legislation inevitably has led in other Western societies," McReynolds said. His organization has worked on a number of such cases already involving California's own version of a "hate crimes" plan.
Much more here....... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57583
Here's where a petition against this can be signed...
http://www.pacificjustice.org/
The warning comes from the Pacific Justice Institute, which is running an online petition campaign to alert people to the dangers the pending legislation poses.
As WND reported, the federal plan, H.R. 1592, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, but when it reached the U.S. Senate, instead of holding hearings and a vote, senators tried to attach it to another bill as an amendment. The maneuver would have prevented any public input on the plan.
That effort failed, but that doesn't mean the American public is safe from the dangers the federal legislation poses, according to Matt McReynolds, a staff attorney for Pacific Justice.
The full title of the legislation is "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007," and it provides federal help to local agencies dealing with "hate crimes." It also separately creates new federal offenses for "hate crimes," including the addition of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" for inclusion as protected characteristics.
"It hasn't gone away, it's still lurking in the shadows," he told WND. "And not just that. The U.S. House version has passed, so they can slap it on as an amendment to something else."
McReynolds said the dangers are real.
"When you start down the list of Western countries, Australia, Canada, Britain, France. Everywhere hate crimes plans have been adopted there are examples of problems. It's gotten to the point even pure speech is being criminalized, with no actions or violence," he said.
"That's where hate crimes legislation inevitably has led in other Western societies," McReynolds said. His organization has worked on a number of such cases already involving California's own version of a "hate crimes" plan.
Much more here....... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57583
Here's where a petition against this can be signed...
http://www.pacificjustice.org/