Pastors Test Expanded Hate Crimes Law

Conservative pastors rallied outside the Justice Department on Monday to test the limits of the newly expanded hate crimes law.

Calling the new law – which broadens the definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks based on sexual orientation and gender identity – a clear threat to religious liberty, the group sought to defend their freedom to proclaim biblical truths.

“You may choose to disbelieve or disagree with us but you have no right to seek to silence us,” said Dr. Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America Action, as pro-gay clergy and some from the gay and lesbian community gathered with signs reading “My love is legit.”

“If this law is used to silence me or any of these preachers for speaking the truth, then we will be forced to conscientiously defy it,” Scarborough declared. “That is my calling as a Christian and my right as an American citizen.”

After a decade-long dispute, the hate crimes legislation was tacked on to a must-pass defense appropriations bill this year and passed by the House and Senate. President Barack Obama signed the bill last month.

Clergy, religious broadcasters and conservative groups fear the legislation will subject them to prosecution for preaching what they believe the Bible says – that homosexual behavior is sin. While some believe they are exaggerating the effects of the expanded hate crimes law, the group on Monday was convinced they could be targeted for their speech and beliefs.

Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action and author of The Criminalization of Christianity, cited Title 18 of the United States Code regarding accessories to crime. It states: “Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal.”

“That’s how they go after speech,” Porter explained at the rally.

The group also pointed to cases in Canada and the United Kingdom where Christians have already been feeling the negative effects of similar hate-crimes legislations.

Paul Diamond, a barrister from Great Britain, said people are scared to exercise their rights as a number of preachers, including Aake Green from Sweden, and other individuals have been threatened with imprisonment for preaching against homosexuality or for speaking out against its promotion.

“Our freedoms are very much inhibited in the last few years as Judeo-Christian values are driven from the public square,” he said. “We’ve been there. … We have lessons to tell you. And this is a road you don’t want to go down.”

Amid the arguments, a couple of ministers preached short sermons in hopes of sharing the Gospel with the homosexual community.

“God loves the homosexual,” the Rev. Grace Harley of Jesus Is the Answer Ministries in Silver Spring, Md., declared.

As someone who previously lived as a transgender (as a man) for 18 years, Harley testified that God set her free and can set others free from all kinds of sexual immorality, not just homosexuality. Jesus died on the cross so that you may be saved, she preached.

Offering a personalized version of the biblical passage Luke 13:13, she said, “Immediately she was made straight and glorified God.”

“I don’t just walk as a woman,” she noted, “but now I know the truth.”

ChristianPost.com

Is FCC Declaring ‘Open Season’ on Internet Freedom?

How can we ever hope to influence China, Iran and other undemocratic regimes to provide more Internet access and freedom to their citizens and businesses when our FCC is proposing a radical take back of existing Internet freedoms without legitimate authority or justification?

The FCC, in proposing to change the definition of an “open Internet” from competition-driven to government-driven is setting a very dangerous precedent; that it is acceptable for countries to preemptively regulate the Internet for what might happen in the future, even if they lack the legitimacy of constitutional or legal authority to do so, or even if there is thinnest of justification or evidence to support it.

How can we ever hope to influence China, Iran and other undemocratic regimes to provide more Internet access and freedom to their citizens and businesses when our FCC is proposing a radical take back of existing Internet freedoms without legitimate authority or justification?

The grave mistake the FCC is making in the broader international context is claiming that private companies are the primary threat to Internet freedom and free speech, and not governments. History and common sense tell us only Governments have the effective coercive power to dictate real censorship.

The FCC is effectively declaring “open season” on well-established Internet freedoms.

It is perversely providing legitimacy, justification and political cover for undemocratic countries like China and Iran to hunt down dissidents online and censor free speech while using the Orwellian doublespeak of regulating to “preserve an open Internet.” Undemocratic regimes are always looking for “openings” and excuses to further crack down on their people’s freedom of speech and assembly. Surely, the FCC must appreciate that internationally, actions speak louder than words.

The FCC’s proposed “Open Internet” regulations are illegitimate. First, they offend constitutional due process in that they assume companies are guilty of anticompetitive behavior until proven innocent; the FCC would regulate roughly 2,000 companies, for what one has admitted it did, and for what the FCC alleges another has done. Second, they offend constitutional equal protection in that they treat similar companies very unequally. Third, they offend constitutional protection against Government takings because they ban competitive companies from pursuing business models that are legal today. Fourth, they offend constitutional free speech because the FCC apparently does not agree with the Supreme Court that companies have constitutionally-protected freedom of speech.

The FCC’s proposed rules also overstep the FCC’s legal authority. Without congressional authorization of net neutrality legislation, the FCC is granting itself near limitless jurisdiction over the Internet. Moreover, the FCC’s proposed rules are arbitrary and capricious. They would arbitrarily reverse FCC precedent and factual determinations; arbitrarily move the competitive goalposts mid-game; and regulate competitive companies’ business practices more strictly than any monopoly in the last 75 years.

Further undermining America’s credibility to lead on the Internet policy going forward is that the proposed Internet regulations are not justified. They are a solution in search of a problem. The near perfect voluntary industry compliance over the last several years simply does not warrant a permanent ban on legal business behavior. To top all this off, the FCC has offered no evidence of market failure to justify regulating this competitive marketplace.

In sum, America risks both Internet freedoms and its Internet policy leadership when it proposes such a radical policy change without the legitimacy of constitutional or legal authority or the justification of facts. International Credibility 101 says: if you want others to follow your lead, be worthy of following.

BigGovernment.com

A hateful hate-crimes law

This bill whether attached to the Defense Appropriations Bill or a stand alone bill violates the 1st (free speech),5th (double jeopardy)  and 14th (equal protection) amendments and is unconstitutional.

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President Obama has signed into law the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Actually, he signed into law the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act tacked onto which was the hate-crimes legislation.

Sen. Harry Reid, our brave Democratic majority leader, slipped the hate-crimes bill into the defense authorization bill to avoid having to have our senators consider the controversial hate-crimes legislation on its own.

It’s for good reason that our Democratic legislators wanted to hide under a rock while passing this terrible piece of legislation. It may help them with the far-left wing of their party. But weakening and damaging our country is not something to be proud of. And that is exactly what this new hate-crimes law does.

The bill adds on extra penalties to violent crimes when it is deemed they were motivated by gender, sexual orientation or disabilities. It’s the first major expansion of hate-crimes legislation originally passed in 1968, targeted then to crimes aimed at race, color, religion and national origin.

After signing this new law, President Obama celebrated it by saying that in this nation we should “embrace our differences.”

But law isn’t about embracing our differences. It is about providing equal and non-arbitrary protection to all citizens.

Equal protection for every individual American under the law is what the 14th Amendment to our Constitution, passed after the Civil War, guarantees. That this nation takes this guarantee seriously – that there are no classes of individuals that are treated differently under the law – has been a justifiable obsession of blacks.

A society in which all life is not valued the same, where murder of one citizen is not the same as murder of another citizen, is a horror which black Americans have known too well.

So it is a particular irony that this major expansion of the politicization of our law has been signed by our first black president.

What could it possibly mean that the penalty for the same act of violence – for murder – may be different depending on what might be deemed to be the motivation?

Can you imagine a football game where the penalty for roughing the passer is 20 yards rather than 15 if the referee concludes that the violence perpetrated was motivated because the quarterback was homosexual?

Is it not a sign of our own pathology that we now have codified that it is worse to murder a homosexual than someone who has committed adultery, even with your husband or wife, or who has slandered or robbed? Isn’t the point murder?

Can we really believe that someone capable of murder is less likely to do so if the victim is a homosexual and the penalties are greater than for the reasons above?

It should be clear that hate-crime law has nothing to do with improving our law but rather with creating favored political classes – something that should be hateful to everyone who cares about a free society, and particularly hateful to those, such as blacks, who have been so victimized by politicization of law.

WorldnetDaily.com

No more Free Internet?

From The Hill…it looks like they’re after the last bastion of free speech!

Blackburn: Net neutrality is ‘fairness doctrine for the Internet’

By Kim Hart - 10/20/09 12:07 PM ET

Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) spoke against net neutrality regulations today at an event put on by the Safe Internet Alliance. Representing the songwriters, singers, actors, producers and other entertainers in Memphis and Nashville, she said the creative community does not want the federal government to interfere with how they are able to get content to consumers via the Internet.

“Net neutrality, as I see it, is the fairness doctrine for the Internet,” she said. The creators “fully understand what the fairness doctrine would be when it applies to TV or radio. What they do not want is the federal government policing how they deploy their content over the Internet and they want the ISPs to manage their networks and deploy the content however they have agreed on with ISP. They do not want a czar of the Internet to determine when they can deploy their creativity over the Internet. “They do not want a czar to determine what speeds will be available….We are watching the FCC very closely as it relates to that issue.”

When it comes to broadband expansion, she said, she wants to make sure “all individuals’ rights are respected and that we look at the freedom of all broadband participants.” She said Congress needs to make sure the groups receiving stimulus funds for broadband expansion are able to deploy reasonable and effective network management tools so they can be helpful in tracking down illegal activity.”

“We shouldn’t look at technology as how do we punish and impede, but how do we encourage innovation,” she said.  “That needs to be a key thought as we move forward… How do we encourage that innvoation and not impede it?”

New Rules for House Members…hey, We dun need no stinkin Free Speech!

From Glenn Thrush on the Politico…new rules for House Members.  Hahaha, from the halls of “Freedom”.

House guidelines for presidential put-downs

 

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has released a helpful, updated primer for members regarding their conduct on the floor and in committees.

[Just to clarify: Even though I clearly wrote that it was the committee "primer' -- and not the rules themselves -- that were updated, I've gotten a bunch of emails from readers who think Slaughter and Co. actually revised the underlying regs. Not so. The document produced was merely a new guide of existing rules.]

Especially useful: The section on how to properly insult the executive branch in the in the chamber.

“Disgrace” and “nitwits” — okay.

“Liar” or “sexual misconduct” — ixnay.

Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:

• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”

Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:

• call the president a “liar.”
• call the president a “hypocrite.”
• describe the president’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the president has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the president as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the president’s part.”

Hahahaha, at least the Canadians get it!

Wonderful, great article to follow my last one with…I’m still laughing so hard, I’m crying…I just hope this country is resilient enough to fight back and fix itself…let us move the socialists out and put some folks back in there with some sense.  I believe if the folks from Canada could vote, they’d get rid of him!

Canadian Editorial Comments

Barack Obama: By Howard Galganov

 

When Obama won the Presidency with the help of the LEFTIST Media, Hollywood and Entertainment Liberals, Ethnic Socialists (ACORN), Stupid Non-Business Professionals and Bush Haters, I wrote:

 

It won’t take 6 months until the people figure this guy out and realize how horrible a mistake they’ve made. And when they come to that realization, the damage to the United States of America will be so great, that it will take a generation or more to repair – IF EVER.

 

The IDIOTS who not only voted for the Messiah, but also worked [hard] to promote his Lordship, are now left holding the bag.

Here are two things they will NEVER do:

 

1 – They will NEVER admit to making a blunder out of all proportion by electing a “snake-oil salesman” with no positive social history or management experience of any kind.

 

2 – They will NEVER take responsibility for the curse they’ve imposed upon the immediate and long-term future of their country.

In essence, the people responsible for putting this horror-show in power are themselves responsible for every cataclysmic decision he makes and the consequences thereof.

 

In just 6 (SIX) months, the Messiah’s polls are showing the following:

 

On Healthcare Reform – He’s going under for the third time with polling well under 50%, even within his own Party.

 

Even though he might be able to muscle a Healthcare Reform Bill by using Chicago BULLY tactics against his fellow Democrats, it will just make things worse.

 

On Cap And Trade (Cap & Tax) – The Fat-Lady is already singing.

 

On the Stimulus Package (Tax and Spend) – His popularity is in FREE-FALL.

 

On the TARP package he took and ran with from President Bush – It’s all but Good-Night Irene.

 

On the closing of GITMO and “HIS” war on what he no longer wants called the War On Terrorism – He’s standing in quicksand with his head just about to go under.

 

On a comparison between himself and George W. Bush at the same 6 months into their respective first term Presidencies – Bush is ahead of him in the Polls.

 

On a comparison between He Who Walks On Water and the 12 preceding Presidents between WW II and now – Obama ranks 10th.

 

On a Poll just conducted, that asks who would you vote for today between Obama and Mitt Romney – It’s a dead heat.

 

Between Obama and Palin – Obama’s ONLY ahead by 8 points and she hasn’t even begun to campaign.

 

It seems to me that Obama wants to be everywhere where he shouldn’t be.

 

He’s personally invested in [totally insulting] America ’s ONLY REAL Middle Eastern ally ( Israel ) in favor of Palestinian Despots and Murderers.

 

He’s traveling the world apologizing for the USA while lecturing others on how to do it right, when in fact and truth, he has no experience at doing anything other than getting elected.

 

He went to the Moslem world in Egypt to declare that America IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION while he heaped praises on Islam, where he compared the “plight” of the Palestinians to the Holocaust.

 

The Russians think he’s a Putz. The French think he’s rude. The Germans want him to stop spending. The Indians want him to mix his nose out of their environmental business. The North Koreans think he’s a joke. The Iranians won’t acknowledge his calls. And the British can’t even come up with a comprehensive opinion of him.

 

As for the Chinese, he’s too frightened to even glance their way.  [After all, China now owns a large portion of the United States ..]

 

Maybe, if America’s first Emperor would stay home more and travel less, and work a little bit instead of being on television just about everyday, or forget about his Wednesday Date Nights with his Amazon Wife, or stop running to “papered” Town Hall Meetings, perhaps he would have a little bit of time to do the work of the nation.

 

In all fairness, it wasn’t HARD to be RIGHT in my prediction concerning Obama’s Presidency, even in its first 6 months, so I’m going to make yet another prediction:

 

OBAMA WILL PROBABLY NOT FINISH HIS 4-YEAR TERM, at least not in a conventional way.

 

He is such a political HORROR-SHOW, and so detrimental to the USA and his own Democratic Party, that the Democrats themselves will either FORCE him to resign or figure out a way to have him thrown out.

 

Who knows, maybe he really isn’t a BORN US Citizen and that’s a way the Democrats will be able to get rid of him.  [He is a citizen, but not a naturalized citizen with both mother and father being U.S. citizens.]

 

Or – MORE LIKELY THAN NOT, the Democrats will make Obama THEIR OWN LAME DUCK PRESIDENT.

 

I don’t believe the Democrats have nearly as much love for their country as they do for their own political fortunes. And with Obama, their fortunes are rapidly becoming toast.

 

The Democrats can keep on blaming Bush for EVERYTHING. But, that game is already begun to wear real thin.

 

Their mantra was “WE DON’T WANT 4 MORE YEARS”, which the STUPID people bought, since McCain was nothing at all like George W Bush.

 

The new mantra will soon become: WE DON’T WANT 6 MORE MONTHS!

GOOD FOR THEM: Graduating students defy ACLU

Good for them……excercising their 1st amendment rights against the bullies at the ACLU, because there is no “separation of church and state” clause in the Constitution.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,……”

George Washington, “What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]

Justice William O. Douglas, once wrote that forbidding public worship discriminates in favor of “those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.”

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FAITH UNDER FIRE

Graduating students defy ACLU

Seniors stand and recite Lord’s Prayer

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Posted: June 05, 2009
10:45 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Principal Frank Lay

Members of the graduating class of 2009 at Florida’s Pace High School have expressed their objections to ACLU restrictions on statements of religious faith at their school by rising up en masse at their ceremony and reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

The incident happened just days ago, but has been virtually ignored by media outlets throughout the region, according to officials with Liberty Counsel, a legal team representing Principal Frank Lay and teacher Michelle Winkler in their battle with the ACLU, which had complained that faculty and teachers were talking about their beliefs.

Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace, a Santa Rosa County school, stood up at their graduation, according to Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel.

Parents, family and friends joined in the recitation, and applauded the students when they were finished, Staver told WND.

“Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith,” the organization reported.

“Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate,” said Staver, who also is dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The students at Pace High School refused to remain silent and were not about to be bullied by the ACLU.

“Schools are not religion-free zones, and any attempt to make them so is unconstitutional,” he said.

Liberty Counsel has been representing Lay and Winkler against ACLU demands that all statements of faith be censored. The law firm also had volunteered to represent the school board in the dispute, but board members chose their own outside counsel.

The ACLU had sued the school six months earlier and as part of the discussions over that dispute, the school’s separate counsel had agreed to a consent decree that “essentially bans all Santa Rose County School District employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities,” Liberty Counsel’s report said.

The ACLU had alleged that during a dinner event at the school, Lay had asked the athletic director to bless the meal. In a second incident, the ACLU claimed Winkler’s husband, who is not a school board employee, offered a prayer at an awards ceremony.

As preparations were being made for the 2009 graduation, the ACLU demanded the school censor students from offering prayers or saying anything religious. As a result, two student leaders traditionally allowed by the school to address their graduation were banned from doing so.

Staver said class members, furious with the ACLU for hijacking their free speech rights, assembled the plan on their own. As soon as Lay asked everyone to be seated for the ceremony, the graduating seniors remained standing and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

A local Fox station had reported that students enjoyed a baccalaureate at a nearby church before the graduation. Class President Kaitlynn Floyd said then class members were grateful for the opportunity to attend that event.

Staver reported concerns over the application of an agreement reached by the school board to students’ rights remains an unresolved issue.

WorldNetDaily.com

From Pravda…News for the New Comrades!

We’re not smart enough to figure it out, our news broadcasters and writers are not telling it, and they wonder why folks are seeking out the truth on the internet while it lasts.

Steve

American capitalism gone with a whimper
27.04.2009
Source: Pravda.Ru

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds were conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

 

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather than the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonald’s burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blinds the foolish.

 

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more than Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more than happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

 

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

 

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more than ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beaten our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

 

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more than a whimper to their masters.

 

Then came Barack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of “pure” free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

 

So it should be no surprise that the American president has followed this up with a “bold” move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less than two months ago, warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our “wise” Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

 

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper…but a “freeman” whimper.

 

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democrat controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

 

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

 

The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

 

Stanislav Mishin

OK, I’ve heard enough, gimme my microphone!

Folks,

Just the other day I saw a blog and got an email about how the legislators in Oklahoma had stood up for once and passed several distasteful conservative values. They voted for a monument to the 10 commandments, verified gun carry rights, and banned the marriage of homosexuals. Now, they are under attack by the left, the ACLU, and others saying that Muslims need equality, anti-Christians, perverts and so forth. Let me very simply fix this. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else that your hokey vision of rights is acceptable. See, the founders wrote our laws based on Christianity, and said we should be tolerable of other religions, not acceptable. Rights were unalienable, of God, not of law. We had the right of free speech, the ability to call a spade a spade, and the ability to do it under the protection of American law that no one seems to understand – most of all, our own government.

The Oklahoma legislature must have studied the Constitution and figured out they had the right to make law that trumped federal law. By the way, for all morons that disagree with that, you might read the 10th amendment. The feds have no right to peek at me, gps me, take my guns, keep me from talking about them, invade my privacy, or take my property. None, nada, nil, any. Read the Constitution. The 5th says they may offer just compensation, not take, and even then the right of due process is owed. They forget that part, because they know you can’t afford the fight. So, when will we wake up? When will something knock us out of “our own little world” bubble enough that we finally challenge the authority of the government against the Constitution? Our founders guaranteed it, they fought for it, and they died for it.

Are we willing to do the same, or are we going to watch each other roll over and show the whites of our soft bellies? I keep watching all the Dems defend Obama. Give him a chance they say. Let me set another scenario for you. If Al Franken is appointed the winner in Wisconsin, the state that elected Jessie Ventura governor, so be ready, Obama has the White House, Congress, and with a swift appointment or two, the Supreme Court. That is NOT balance of power, that is an instant ticket to socialism. It is dangerous for either side to wield that kind of power.

Attend the tea parties; speak out about all this unfair spending, high taxes and crooked government. Our children are counting on us for their future, God expects that of you, and remember, WE, AMERICANS, were guaranteed our rights by the Constitution, not by barter, not by attrition, and not by threat. Other religions are welcome, but are not to be forced upon us, nor used against us. Liberalism is good in balance, but not as the rule, it will in its current form, make America a third world country.

I am not ready for that, I don’t wish it on your children or mine, and I will fight for balance and the Constitution as long as I have breath. I hope you will also do the same in every way that you can. You owe it to the founders who gave you the freedom to read and understand that you can. You have the obligation to answer the call.

Steve

Hate-crimes’ bill to muzzle Christians?

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ON CAPITOL HILL

House urges committee to include ’sexual orientation’ in federal law

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© 2009 WorldNetDaily.com

The House of Representatives has voted to urge a conference committee to add “sexual orientation, gender and disability” to federal hate-crimes law, a development some observers say would muzzle Christians who speak out against homosexuality.

On Sept. 28, the House voted 213-186 to pass a procedural motion encouraging a conference committee to include the hate-crimes legislation in the final version of the Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4200).

In June, Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced the new language meant to protect homosexuals as an amendment to the Senate’s version of the Defense Authorization Act. The Senate measured passed by a vote of 65-33.

The bill imposes special fines for those who commit a “hate crime” against a protected class and provides federal assistance to those prosecuting such crimes. Existing hate-crimes law provides federal help to states and localities in prosecuting crimes based only on the victim’s race, religion or national origin.

Christian activists believe that if passed and signed into law, the legislation could be used to target Americans who voice their opposition to the homosexual lifestyle – including pastors preaching and reading the Bible.

“Passage would literally throw open the door to attacks against people of faith, who could be prosecuted with federal monies for expressing their views on homosexuality!” warns Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America.

Bob Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, says if it becomes law the legislation could be used to “muzzle public discussion of homosexuality and even someday silence pastors.”

Knight commented, “It’s a very dangerous bill, because it adds ’sexual orientation’ to hate-crimes law, and it greatly expands federal jurisdiction.

“If your grandmother is mugged, it won’t be a big deal [unless she is a lesbian],” Knight said. “And the law-enforcement authorities may have to put more of their revenues toward the mugging, say, of a homosexual guy walking down the street. Both deserve protection, but certainly the gay guy doesn’t deserve more than your grandmother.”

Wrote Knight in a WorldNetDaily column: “Homosexual activists have redefined any opposition to homosexuality as ‘hate speech.’ Laws already criminalize speech that incites violence. It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which any incident involving a homosexual can be blamed on people who have publicly opposed homosexual activism.”

Because it offers special protection to specific class of people, the legislation “violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” Cass stated.

The Human Rights Campaign hailed last week’s House vote.

“Congress should work to protect Americans, not discriminate against them,” said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. “We laud Congress for this vote, especially Minority Leader Pelosi for offering this motion and working to get the overwhelming support of her peers. We urge conference committee members to take it to heart – keep the federal hate-crimes bill in conference committee.”

According to HRC, the House passed a similar motion in September 2000 by a 232-192 vote, but that amendment was removed in conference committee. The homosexual-advocacy group claims the new hate-crimes language has been endorsed by more than 175 law-enforcement, civil-rights, civic and religious organizations.

As WorldNetDaily reported, a new law was passed in Canada that adds sexual orientation as a protected category in the nation’s genocide and hate-crimes legislation, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Opponents of the new law fear the Bible will be deemed “hate literature” under the criminal code in certain instances, as evidenced by the case of a Saskatchewan man fined by a provincial human-rights tribunal for taking out a newspaper ad with Scripture references to verses about homosexuality.

Earlier this year in Sweden, which also has strict hate-crimes laws, a pastor was arrested at his church after he began reading Bible verses condemning homosexuality.

Some states have included sexual orientation in their state hate-crimes laws. Last month, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill expanding that state’s statute to include not only homosexuals and transgendered people but also people who merely associate with those who are part of a protected class.

“While every hate crime represents a personal tragedy for the victim, hate crimes also are an attempt to intimidate a larger group or community of people,” the bills’ author, Senator Sheila Kuehl, told 365gay.com. “Hate crimes tear at the fabric of our society and it is important that we have a strong and effective response to them.”

In Pennsyvlania, pastors are concerned they could be targeted under that state’s new hate-crimes law, which added “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as motives that trigger heavier penalties for the crime of “harassment.”

The Center for Reclaiming America is urging citizens to contact the House members and senators who are on the conference committee to ask them to remove the hate-crimes language from the final bill.

Worldnetdaily.com