- In a major strategic shift, Senate Democratic leaders
will push the federal hate crimes bill to the floor of the Senate as another
amendment to a "must-pass" bill (Washington Blade, <http://www.washblade.com>www.washblade.com,
June 8, 2009, "<http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=25698>Senate
to Pass Hate Crimes Bill as Amendment"). Widespread Christian/conservative
protest has destroyed the bill's chances of going forward as standalone
legislation as happened on April 29 with passage in the House.
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- Democrats say there will be no hearings and no amendments
allowed. There will undoubtedly be a minimum of debate on the floor of
the Senate, probably no more than an hour. Clearly, they are in dread of
allowing the hate bill to be opened to public scrutiny and Republican attack
as the "Pedophile Protection Act." They will not allow Senate
Judiciary Democrats to be asked the same formidable question Republicans
put to Democrats six weeks ago in the House Judiciary: "Will you allow
an amendment expressly forbidding pedophiles special protection under the
hate bill?"
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- The only answer Democrats then or now can reply is, "No."
As pro-hate bill Democrat Rep. Alcee Hastings boldly asserted, all members
of 547 paraphilias (sexual deviancies) listed by the American Psychological
Association, including pedophiles, will be given special treatment under
the hate bill, "so that they will no longer have to live in fear because
of who they are."
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- Democrats have chosen to despise the intense concern
and hate bill protest from heartland America. Many concerned citizens assert
that S. 909 is very dangerous legislation, poorly understood by Congress;
it must be discussed in the open public forum of Senate Judiciary hearings!
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- Instead, since the Matthew Shepard Prevention Act is
so shaky, so unable to withstand scrutiny by the normal legislative process,
Democrats now resort to their habitual, under¬¬-the-table method
of passage: attaching it as "pork" to the underbelly of some
(probably unrelated) bill.
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- Last Congress, Sen. Edward Kennedy attached his hate
bill to the Defense Authorization Act. Yet, The Washington Blade tells
us Rep. Barney Frank has problems with repeating that scenario: "You
get kind of cognitive dissonance," he says, "when you put [a]
liberal amendment on a conservative bill" That "dissonance"
comes from the fact that one and a half years ago rebellious anti-war Democrats
and anti-hate bill Republicans refused to grant final passage to the hate
bill. Despite approval by both House and Senate, it was ultimately defeated.
Frank says memory of that humiliation precludes attaching the hate bill
to an arms bill again.
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- What other pending bill would Democrats consider to host
the hate bill? Democrats are not saying. Yet, with mid-term elections next
year, they want to pass the "Pedophile Protection Act," with
its nasty stigma of specially protecting rapists of little boys and girls,
as soon as possible.
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- How soon could Sen. Kennedy propose his new hate bill
amendment? As soon as Democrats decide on its host legislation. That could
happen anytime, with passage of the hate bill within a week.
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- Also, with today's shooting spree in the holocaust museum
by alleged "racist and anti-Semite" James Von Brunn, Democrats
could exploit this or some other horrendous hate crime to hasten passage.
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- Of one thing we are sure: Senate Democrats, especially
in the Senate Judiciary, are bone weary of hearing popular criticism of
their "pedophile-protecting hate bill." They are apprehensive
of the rising sophistication of criticism against it and possible declining
Senate support. If I were Sen. Patrick Leahy or Sen. Harry Reid, I would
try to move it through sooner rather than later. This means YOUR calling
of the Senate right now is crucial. Since calling has declined in the past
month as a result of Senate Judiciary indecision, it must resume with a
vengeance. We must head off the Democrats, moving more quickly than they,
prejudicing the entire Senate against this blatant disregard of the will
of the people.
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- Call your state's members of the Senate and all Senators
(<http://www.truthtellers.org/actionplan.html>names on the action
page at www.truthtellers.o<http://www.truthtellers.org/actionplan.html>rg),
1-877-851-6437 toll free and 1-202-225-3121 toll. Say, "I am calling
to protest refusal by Senate Democrats to hold hate bill hearings on S.
909. Instead, they are underhandedly attaching the hate bill as a rider.
This shows how weak the pedophile-protecting hate bill is. It can't withstand
normal legislative scrutiny. Please reject this end run around honest due
process. Vote NO on S. 909!"
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