On 10/28/09 8:22 PM, elder wrote:
H the K wrote:
Obama signs hate-crimes law rooted in crimes of 1998


The year 1998 was dominated by the saga of Bill Clinton and Monica
Lewinsky, but it also saw two horrific killings that led to a new
federal law signed by President Obama.

On June 7, in Texas, three white men chained an African American named
James Byrd to a pickup truck and dragged him to his death; in the
early hours of Oct. 7, two men in Wyoming beat up gay teenager Matthew
Shepard and left him to die while tied to a fence.

These killings intensified pressure for tougher federal hate-crimes
legislation. Today, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd
Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

"After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we've passed
inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from
violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or
who they are," Obama said in signing the defense budget bill that
includes the new hate-crimes law.

The new law basically expands existing hate-crime protections to
outlaw attacks based on sexual orientation or gender, in addition to
race, color, religion or national origin.

In a later ceremony devoted to the new law, Obama told supporters, "No
one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding
the hand of the person they love." He cited statistics that in these
past 10 years, there have been more than 12,000 hate crimes based on
sexual orientation.

"We will never know how many incidents were never reported at all,"
Obama said.

Opponents called the hate-crimes bill unnecessary, noting that
Shepard's and Byrd's attackers were convicted in state criminal
courts. Some critics objected to the inclusion of hate-crimes
legislation in a defense budget bill.

"The president has used his position as commander in chief to advance
a radical social agenda, when he should have used it to advance
legislation that would unequivocally support our troops," said U.S.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Conference.

Pence also argued that the law could be used to curb free speech
rights, such as with religions that consider homosexuality a sin.

Gay rights groups hailed the law.

"President Obama and Congress have sent a message that violence
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is wrong and
that our community should not be excluded from the protections of our
nation's laws," said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation.

In signing the bill, Obama paid tribute to one of its sponsors, the
late Sen. Edward Kennedy. He also singled out another longtime
advocate: Judy Shepard, Matthew's mother, who personally lobbied the
president earlier this year.

"I promised Judy Shepard, when she saw me in the Oval Office, that
this day would come, and I'm glad that she and her husband, Dennis,
could join us for this event," Obama said.

In a statement, Mrs. Shepard -- who was at the White House again --
said she never dreamed it would take 10 years for the new law to
become a reality.

"We are incredibly grateful to Congress and the president for taking
this step forward on behalf of hate crime victims and their families,
especially given the continuing attacks on people simply for living
their lives openly and honestly," Shepard said.

The writer is obviously trying to fool everybody. He knows that this
Legislation sets a nasty portent of things to come. It is toehold
legislation to silence dissent to the prostelizing of the perverted
lifestyle, to our young and to force their way into decent society.
How long before we forced to endure San Francisco style sickening show
of perversion down our main streets?

Actually, it is the right wing that promotes a perverted lifestyle.