- The federal "anti-hate" bill, HR 254, is stealth
legislation at its most devious. Its language deceives all but the most
suspicious and informed. Maybe this helps explain why evangelical watchdog
organizations do little or nothing to sound the alarm, even though the
hate bill has been in the House of Representatives for six weeks!
-
- On ten top conservative websites, I found no mention
of the David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HR 254). I found just one
alert on the citizen link page of Dr. Dobson's Focus on the Family website.
When several friends and I called D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries,
American Family Association, and Jerry Falwell Ministries, they promised
to research the hate bill immediately.
-
- But this legislation is so disarmingly worded that even
Christians and conservatives contact me to ask, "This bill just wants
federal power to prosecute bias-motivated violent crimes in the states-what's
wrong with that?"
-
- There's plenty wrong with that!
-
- What's the Threat?
-
- The Constitution does not grant federal government the
police state privilege of intervention in local law enforcement. Unless
the government finds evidence of slavery in the states, jury tampering,
voter fraud, or crimes involving interstate commerce (where jurisdiction
is unclear), the Constitution's message to the federal government is blunt
and emphatic: "Butt out of local law enforcement!"
-
- But HR 254 gives the government the right to do what
the Constitution forbids. Because five states do not have hate laws, this
bill says the government has no choice but to "enhance federal enforcement
of hate crimes" and "increase the number of [federal] personnel
to prevent and respond to alleged violations [of hate crimes in the states]"
(Introductory Statement of Purpose and Sec. 7). HR 254 asserts hate crimes
and lack of effective countermeasures on the state level is a "serious
national problem" necessitating federal intervention (Sec. 2[1])
-
- The hate bill strains to find any pretext whereby a federal
hate crimes bureaucracy can take over local law enforcement. Its arguments
toward this end are so absurd they insult the reader's intelligence.
-
- Sneaking Around the Constitution
-
- In order to evade the Constitution's clear limitations
on federal intervention in law enforcement, HR 254 alleges that hate crimes
are actuallyslavery! "Violence motivated by bias is a relic of slavery
that can constitute badges and incidents of slavery." (Sec. 2, 8)
-
- HR 254's second absurd ruse is that hate criminals affect
interstate commerce, by terrorizing their victims into traveling across
state lines - or not. In the latter case such victims may be impeded in
purchasing many products imported or exported across state lines, which
adversely affects state economies. Also, since weapons of hate violence
may have been imported from out of state or traveled across state boundaries,
the government is entitled to intervene in "crimes involving interstate
commerce."
-
- Considering the pervasive influence of interstate commerce
upon our lives, how often can the government meddle in local hate crimes
enforcement? Any time. In fact, this ridiculous argument could be used
to justify federal intervention in a crime of any kind, since any crime
victim might be scared into different spending or traveling choices.
-
- Frighteningly, HR 254 says its goal is to "prevent
and respond to alleged violations" of federal hate crimes laws. This
means the government does not even have to wait until a hate crime has
been committed but may act preemptively to "prevent" crime.
-
- Further, penalties for violation of federal anti-hate
law can be extremely severe, even tripling the normal penalties. 1 For
example, what if a man calls a woman "bitch" (evidence of bias
motivation against woman, a federally protected group under HR 254) and
attempts to rape her, but fails. If convicted of this assault, he could
be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. (Sec. 4[B][B,ii]).
-
- HR 254 Shatters Civil Rights
-
- America's justice system requires proof of physical tangible
damage before an arrest can be made. Our English system of law evolved
over at least 3500 years from both biblical and Roman legal precedent.
-
- HR 254 is not based on this foundation. It seeks to establish
a different "bias motivation" justice system, which will be defined
in courts by judges, as has happened in Canada over the past 36 years.
Closely advised and pressured by ADL, 2 these federal and local (and
mostly liberal) judges will establish legal precedents-precedents that
protect groups such as homosexuals not only from physical bias-motivated
violence but also from "verbal violence." This will include the
"hate speech" of Bible-believing evangelical Christians. This
is exactly what has occurred in Canada and the many European nations who
accepted hate laws' Orwellian chains.
-
- HR 254 thus does more than violate states' rights in
law enforcement. It also leads inexorably to an end of free speech!
-
- We Need You Now
-
- The powerful Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith is
determined to pass the hate bill in their Democrat-controlled Congress.
ADL has vowed it will never give up until a federal hate crimes bureaucracy,
like it established in Canada, shackles the United States. ADL has weathered
six rejections of their hate bill by Congress since 1998. Their tenacity
doesn't come from concern for the emotions or safety of homosexuals. ADL
is using the powerful homosexual lobby as a tool to pass a law that will
ultimately make it a hate crime, punishable by prison or deportation to
Israel, to criticize Zionism or matters Jewish. (See, <http://truthtellers.org/alerts/irvinginquisition.html>David
Irving, like Galileo, Victim of 'Thought Crimes' Inquisition)
-
- I never thought I would see the day when legislation
so enormously destructive to freedom would be virtually unopposed by the
religious right. 3 Incredibly, the many thousands of participants with
the National Prayer Network (<http://www.truthtellers.org/>www.truthtellers.org),
through massive calling and mailing of my hate crime flyer to Congress, have
delivered the primary protest against imminent passage of HR 254.
-
- Yet, we desperately need assistance from the vast constituencies
of conservative evangelical organizations. These groups claim to protect
America and our freedom. Yet they have been virtually oblivious to a very
present danger that threatens to wipe away our freedom to fight all other
battles. If we allow the hate bill to pass, we will soon have no free speech
left with which to protest evils like abortion or the redefinition of marriage.
The present silence of Christian/conservative organizations is ensuring
their future death.
-
- National Prayer Network can't win alone. Freedom of speech
is America's lifeblood. It is the precious birthright of all Americans.
Many, many more individuals-liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican,
Christian and non-Christian-must help us save this freedom now.
-
-
- Endnotes:
-
- 1 This is mandated by ADL's Violent Crime and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994.
- 2 ADL obtained such a mandate through passage of their
Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990. It gave them power to teach U.S.
Justice Department, FBI, and local police their twisted definitions of
hate crimes and how to report them. It is out of 25 years of such
indoctrination that ADL intends to create its national hate laws gestapo
and police state.
- 3 As of Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007, important conservative
websites where we could find no mention of the David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention
Act, HR 254, include:
-
- American Family Association
- Coral Ridge Ministries
- Renew America
- WorldNetDaily
- Jerry Falwell Ministries
- Christian Coalition of America
- Family Research Council
- Gary Bauer's American Values
- Concerned Women for America (which has re-posted an excellent
article from 2005 but makes no mention of the current threat in Congress)
- Traditional Values Coalition, while containing nothing
about HR 254 on its website, has emailed alerts concerning the bill.
-
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- HR 254 is presently assigned to the House Judiciary Committee,
but as a streamlined version of a bill that previously passed in the House,
it could race forward to passage very quickly. Call all 40 members, available
at <http://www.truthtellers.org/>www.truthtellers.org and protest.
-
- Also call your House member and two state senators at
1-877-851-6437. Send them and their influential legislative aides Rev.
Ted Pike's flyer, "Anti-Hate Laws Will Make You a Criminal."
All this information is available at <http://www.truthtellers.org/>www.truthtellers.org.
-
- TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Pike! Call 503-631-3808.
-
-
-
-
- NATIONAL PRAYER NETWORK, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas, OR
97015
- www.truthtellers.org
-
-
- ~~~~~
-
- This is the primary text of HR 254, the David Ray Hate
Crimes Prevention Act of 2007. This is a much shorter version of S 1145
which failed passage in the Senate last year. ADL, desperate to pass their
hate bill, has deleted many items and is concentrating in this new streamlined
version on getting what they want most: establishment of a bias-oriented
justice system in American and union of federal and local police powers
(creating a police state). With this foundation, ADL can then rely
on federal and local judges to expand jurisdiction from violent physical
crimes to verbal violence against protected groups.
-
-
- 110th CONGRESS
-
- 1st Session
-
- H. R. 254
-
-
- To enhance Federal enforcement of hate crimes, and for
other purposes.
-
-
- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- January 5, 2007
-
- Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
-
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- A BILL
-
- To enhance Federal enforcement of hate crimes, and for
other purposes.
-
-
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
-
-
- SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
-
-
- This Act may be cited as the `David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention
Act of 2007' or `David's Law'.
-
-
- SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
-
-
- Congress finds that--
-
-
- (1) the incidence of violence motivated by the actual
or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation,
gender, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem;
-
-
- (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and safety
of communities and is deeply divisive;
-
-
- (3) existing Federal law is inadequate to address this
problem;
-
-
- (4) such violence affects interstate commerce in many
ways, including--
-
-
- (A) by impeding the movement of members of targeted groups
and forcing such members to move across State lines to escape the incidence
or risk of such violence; and
-
-
- (B) by preventing members of targeted groups from purchasing
goods and services, obtaining or sustaining employment or participating
in other commercial activity;
-
-
- (5) perpetrators cross State lines to commit such violence;
-
-
- (6) instrumentalities of interstate commerce are used
to facilitate the commission of such violence;
-
-
- (7) such violence is committed using articles that have
traveled in interstate commerce;
-
-
- (8) violence motivated by bias that is a relic of slavery
can constitute badges and incidents of slavery;
-
-
- (9) although many local jurisdictions have attempted
to respond to the challenges posed by such violence, the problem is sufficiently
serious, widespread, and interstate in scope to warrant Federal intervention
to assist such jurisdictions; and
-
-
- (10) many States have no laws addressing violence based
on the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual
orientation, gender, or disability, of the victim, while other States have
laws that provide only limited protection.
-
-
- SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME.
-
-
- In this Act, the term `hate crime' has the same meaning
as in section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement
Act of 1994 (28 U.S.C. 994 note).
-
-
- SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTS OF VIOLENCE.
-
-
- Section 245 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
-
-
- (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections
(d) and (e), respectively; and
-
-
- (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
-
-
- `(c)(1) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of
law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of
fire, a firearm, or an explosive device, attempts to cause bodily injury
to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion,
or national origin of any person--
-
-
- `(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined
in accordance with this title, or both; and
-
-
- `(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for
life, or fined in accordance with this title, or both if--
-
-
- `(i) death results from the acts committed in violation
of this paragraph; or
-
-
- `(ii) the acts committed in violation of this paragraph
include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or
an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.
-
-
- `(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of
law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes
bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or
an explosive device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because
of the actual or perceived religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability
of any person--
-
-
- `(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined
in accordance with this title, or both; and
-
-
- `(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for
life, or fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--
-
-
- `(I) death results from the acts committed in violation
of this paragraph; or
-
-
- `(II) the acts committed in violation of this paragraph
include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or
an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.
-
-
- `(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances
described in this subparagraph are that--
-
-
- `(i) in connection with the offense, the defendant or
the victim travels in interstate or foreign commerce, uses a facility or
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, or engages in any activity
affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or
-
-
- `(ii) the offense is in or affects interstate or foreign
commerce.'.
-
-
- SEC. 5. DUTIES OF FEDERAL SENTENCING COMMISSION.
-
-
- (a) Amendment of Federal Sentencing Guidelines- Pursuant
to its authority under section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the
United States Sentencing Commission shall study the issue of adult recruitment
of juveniles to commit hate crimes and shall, if appropriate, amend the
Federal sentencing guidelines to provide sentencing enhancements (in addition
to the sentencing enhancement provided for the use of a minor during the
commission of an offense) for adult defendants who recruit juveniles to
assist in the commission of hate crimes.
-
-
- (b) Consistency With Other Guidelines- In carrying out
this section, the United States Sentencing Commission shall--
-
-
- (1) ensure that there is reasonable consistency with
other Federal sentencing guidelines; and
-
-
- (2) avoid duplicative punishments for substantially the
same offense.
-
-
- SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM.
-
-
- (a) Authority To Make Grants- The Administrator of the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Department
of Justice shall make grants, in accordance with such regulations as the
Attorney General may prescribe, to State and local programs designed to
combat hate crimes committed by juveniles.
-
-
- (b) Authorization of Appropriations- There are authorized
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
-
-
- SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO ASSIST
STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.
-
-
- There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department
of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, including the Community
Relations Service, for fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 2009 such sums as are
necessary to increase the number of personnel to prevent and respond to
alleged violations of section 245 of title 18, United States Code (as amended
by this Act).
-
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