Hate Crimes

Will the new hate crimes bill open the door for prosecuting religious ministers who preach that homosexuality is a sin? Will it allow transvestite teenagers to claim hate crimes when they aren't invited to a classmate's birthday party? Will it mean that you're committing a hate crime if you observe to a friend that the guy panhandling in his wheelchair smells like a big pile of unwashed socks?

People, please read the English language. In order for an action to be considered a "hate crime," it must first and foremost be a crime.

Preaching against sin (be it homosexuality, extramarital sex, hypocrisy, or bowling) is not a crime.

Not inviting someone to a private birthday party is not a crime.

Observing that someone smells like socks is not a crime.

That being said, the whole concept of "hate crimes" makes the Ivory Madonna more than a little uneasy. How do we know that a crime is a hate crime? Short of telepathically investigating a person's mind to determine their inner motives (a trick which few of you have mastered but, I assure you, the Ivory Madonna learned long ago), the only way is to examine what went along with the crime. Trouble is, too often those factors involve things that qualify under the First Amendment as "speech': Verbal speech, nonverbal behavior, signs, printed or written text, etc.

Yes, some types of speech are not protected. Among them are speech that directly incites violence. But it's a mighty thin line between speech that promotes violence, and speech that accompanies violence.

None of this means that the Ivory Madonna thinks the bastards who crucified Matthew Shepard shouldn't pay extra hard for their crime. But laws giving extra punishment for particularly heinous crimes are a different matter from laws giving extra punishment for hate crimes.

The Ivory Madonna guesses that what's she's saying is this: suppose the murderes of a future Matthew Shepard were mute, and never gave any indication of their motives -- shouldn't their crime be punished just as harshly as any hate crime?

But do you hear the religious nuts arguing for the abolishment of the class of "hate crimes"? No, of course not. Because they themselves are the beneficiaries of that class. Religion has been a protected class under hate crime laws for a long time.

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The Ivory Madonna's story is told in Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers.
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...Then They Came for the Interracial Couples...

From Yahoo News: Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in Louisiana

"First they denied marriage to gay couples, and I didn't speak up because being gay is an abomination before the Lord. Then they denied marriage to illegal immigrants, and I didn't speak up because we don't want their kind in our country. Then they denied marriage to interracial couples, and I didn't speak up because I was concerned about the children of such unions. Then they denied marriage to non-Christian couples, and I didn't speak up because marriage is a Christian sacrament. By the time they told my son he was not allowed to marry his girlfriend, there was no one left to speak up..."

You may think you're safe, as you help the haters enforce their hate on those you don't like anyway. But don't get too complacent. When haters finish with one target, they move on to the next. Sooner or later, one way or another, you're next.

None of us is safe until all of us are safe.

M

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The Ivory Madonna's story is told in Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers.
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The Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the United States is in an uproar. It seems like most people -- including many of Obama's supporters -- think the award was undeserved, or at least premature.

Two questions.

#1: Are prospects for world peace significantly improved with Obama in office? The answer would have to be yes. Considering that the previous President followed a policy of unilateral preemptive war (and actually launched two of those wars) and challenged the world with "If you're not with us, you're against us," the Ivory Madonna would say that prospects for world peace are definitely better.

On that criterion -- and you must admit, it's the most applicable to the Nobel Peace Prize -- Obama deserved the prize as soon as he took office.

#2: But what did Obama do? Let's see. He spent two or more years running for President. Against tremendous obstacles (the genius of Karl Rove, the power of the vast right-wing conspiracy, the perennial incompetence and death-wish of the Democratic Party) he inspired enough voters to win. That took tremendous effort and talent.

Obama worked hard to achieve election, and because of his hard work the prospects for world peace have improved. Exactly how does he not deserve a prize awarded for hard work that leads to improved prospect for world peace?

M

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The Ivory Madonna's story is told in Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers.
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Response to Rep. Alan Grayson (D, FL)

Representative Grayson, as a lifelong Democrat I am very disappointed in the tone of your remarks about the Republicans wanting sick people to die quickly.

I understand your point, and I know that it is tempting to respond to the Republicans' angry, irrational attacks in kind. But believe me, you do our cause no good when you yield to that temptation.

On your website you make your point very reasonably: that the result of Republican obstructionism is the premature deaths of thousands of Americans. It's something else entirely to say that they WANT people to die early. Such inflammatory rhetoric only ensures that people listening, even reasonable people, will not hear your message: they will hear the tone, and close their minds to the meaning.

You are a member of the House of Representatives, a proud position that is worthy of respect. Please treat your office and the offices of your colleagues with the respect they deserve.

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The Ivory Madonna's story is told in Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers.
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