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          <title>WashingtonWatch.com - Comments for H.R. 254, The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007</title>
          <link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills</link>
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          <managingEditor>info@washingtonwatch.com</managingEditor>
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<title>Comment by Josh Taylor (June 2, 2008, 16:25:22)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#36198</link>
<description>Shut up, you church fanatics! I support this bill and I think that this country, the world, and myself had enough of your church freaks telling people what's right and what's wrong. There is no right or wrong. We do what we do best. It's in our blood. It's survival of the fittest. It's all part of Nature. Live with it and quit believing in your imaginary dead savior. Your savior was dead 2000 years ago, he's still dead today and he's not coming back. It's time for us athiests to take over this church fanatic country and turn it into an athiestic superstate. The penalty for those who believe in their imaginary dead savior is death....</description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:25:22 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Brian (April 3, 2008, 20:35:26)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#31930</link>
<description>Just one more step towards the establishment of socialism in America. Mark my words, within 50 years, we will no longer be the United States of America. We will be the Democratic People's Republic of America. Okay, laugh it up, you'll see!...</description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:35:26 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Ben Noyes (October 27, 2007, 12:22:27)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#22536</link>
<description>Ahh The simple question
Why do we need it?
The simple answer
We don't...</description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 27 Oct 2007 11:22:27 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by awwv (September 18, 2007, 10:55:39)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#21502</link>
<description>God has been taken out of our schools, out of our public places, out of our post offices and elsewhere, I exercise my right to free speech..GOD IS STILL ON THE THROWN..I agree with those here that want to keep this bill from passing.   God Bless America, keep us free!...</description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:55:39 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Virginia Caldwell in Thomaston, Ga (September 10, 2007, 09:49:41)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#21208</link>
<description>This is only an example of The Goverment interfering with the church. As a Christian I will not be silent while this attempt to violate all our rights is being made.  As Americans and Christians we need to WAKE UP!!!...</description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:49:41 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Disgusted, pt 2 (July 11, 2007, 10:59:27)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#17005</link>
<description>And for all you self professed lawyers, please note that there is a distinct difference between motive and intent, much as you would like to muddy those particular waters. 'Motive' is the reason why one MIGHT act in a certain way; 'intent' is their hopeful outcome from said act. Motive is oftentimes a factor in determining (though not proving) guilt; intent is usually considered when imposing punishment. And I'm not even a lawyer!...</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:59:27 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Disgusted, pt 1 (July 11, 2007, 10:59:07)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#17004</link>
<description>Every person who has posted here, regardless the point of view, has missed (or - worse - chosen to ignore) the three truly reprehensible words that appear throughout the bill: &quot;actual or perceived.&quot; They alone should cause any reasonable person to demand of their legislators that this bill die a rapid death. This opens the door for any victim of a crime to claim it was a hate crime in order to exact a more extensive sentence upon the criminal . . . most likely an act based, ironically, on their hatred of said criminal! (Which begs the question: Should criminals now be considered a protected class under this bill?)...</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:59:07 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by april finishes... (July 8, 2007, 22:38:05)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#16957</link>
<description>Homosexual people believe in what they believe and I got to watch them on TV., listen to them on the radio, watch their parades, their music-You are everywhere, you've got your rights, you screw who you wanna screw….and then publicly talk about it. Now you wanna take away mine. Well, some of us are not scared and we are not going to let you back us into a corner. If you come to my church then you are going to hear the pure word of God. If you don't like it then leave. If you like it stay, repent and get free. Besides, as much as homosexuals &amp; Christians would like to think the world does NOT revolve around any of us. God ain’t playing anymore with silly Christians or goofy homosexuals. Pass the bill; at least you’ll know who all the real Christians are….cuz we’ll all be in jail preaching that same gospel in Jail. Then all your prisoners are gonna get saved…you can’t cage the gospel. We're not going anywhere ya'll so BRING IT!...</description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:38:05 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by April (July 8, 2007, 22:37:19)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#16956</link>
<description>I think that if a homosexual man wants to have a sexual relationship with his homosexual partner in his own home, then by all means do so. How would a Christian- AND I AM A BIBLE THUMPING, HOLY ROLLIN JESUSFREAK CHRISTIAN- look like walking up in your house telling you to stop having sex and doing what you do in your house. But as a Christian I have a right to preach what I believe in my house, in my church, on the street corner, ANYWHERE in this country. Let me remind you that as a Christian my rights are forcibly violated as well. This bill violates them. How dare you ask me the Christian, the preacher to stop preaching what I believe in, because you don’t agree?...</description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:37:19 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Marc (July 6, 2007, 23:05:28)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#16941</link>
<description>Heterosexual foam-at-the-mouth Christians who rail and whine about &quot;free speech&quot; issues are nothing more than the tears of a crocodile - that crowd has been busy burning, torturing, and persecuting gays and other minorities for thousands of years.  Get some psychotherapy and toss the religious addiction, you hate-filled hypocrites!...</description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:05:28 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by RickyP (May 23, 2007, 13:54:43)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15871</link>
<description>While you may consider homosexuality to be a sin, that has absolutely no consequence in law.  Not all Christian morals appear in law, yet they exist anyway.  The purpose of government is not to legislate morality, but to enforce social contracts.  To deny social contracts to anyone because of their sexual orientation is to deny them a place in society.  You have no such right to do so.  You may as well exclude minorities also.

This bill will not make saying anti-gay comments any more illegal than racist comments.  It will, however, protect homosexuals from crazy Christian lynch mobs.  Perhaps you can understand how killing a person for their sexual preference is wrong....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 23 May 2007 12:54:43 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mireya (May 21, 2007, 18:12:31)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15824</link>
<description>Good points (last few), but I must be missing something. I don't see that this bill is trying to enforce MORE punishment to a crime than any other crime... Seems to me it's trying to equlize it, since sometimes crimes are overlooked a bit when it's to a black, a gay, a lower-class person... I could be wrong, but my interpretation after READING the bill in full was that it was merely including certain groups to have equal right to justice as everyone else...?...</description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 21 May 2007 17:12:31 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Jenn (May 10, 2007, 10:55:26)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15539</link>
<description>Respectfully, I disagree with this bill. Hating innocent people and committing a crime against them for any reason is reprehensible - but a crime is a crime is a crime. Decent people would agree that murdering someone because they are gay and murdering someone for money are both wrong - but how could you judge one as worse than the other?! Both deserve the stiffest penalties. 

Criminalizing certain crimes as worse than others due to personal belief leads down a slippery slope. We should not criminalize thought - it is just too Orwellian and is creepy....</description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2007 09:55:26 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Norrin (May 9, 2007, 14:08:20)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15501</link>
<description>There is no point to this legislation, any crime directed at an individual is either done by the perpetrator to gain something or is done out of hate.  Labeling something a &quot;hate crime&quot; just points out again our differences rather than underscoring that we are all human beings living in the same country....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 13:08:20 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mercator (May 9, 2007, 12:53:09)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15484</link>
<description>One more thing.  I do not agree with this legislation as culture determines what is acceptable little by little.  I don't think there should be MORE penalties to someone engaged in hate crimes. They are still crimes.  Does it make regular assaults any more acceptable? Punish for the crime, understand the reason and educate.  

Oh and some people are born Homosexual.  Ever seen Who's the Boss?  C'mon.. that kid was obviously gay at 6 years old.  No one can stop you from thinking what you want, but be prepared when you see how unacceptable it is to resort to violence to enforce your religion....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 11:53:09 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mercator (May 9, 2007, 12:43:06)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15481</link>
<description>This is not a Christian Nation.  It allows for tolerance of multiple religions. When your Religion actively campaigns to limit the freedoms of those who don't believe as you do then your are forcing your beliefs on others.  That is wrong.  I have no problem with you if you belief in the Bible, or the Koran, etc.  If it guides you, gives you hope, who has the right to tell you that you are wrong.  Keep it to yourself and realize that your almost as Atheist as I am, you just believe in one more God than me.  There is a difference between being tolerant of other peoples religions, and being indifferent....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 11:43:06 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Reverend Blowhard (May 9, 2007, 07:24:21)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15467</link>
<description>I don't believe the prosecution of a crime should be more severe because others assume they knew what you were thinking.

I’m not much interested in the spiritual entertainers (a.k.a. preachers) ability to leverage what feels odd to garner support.  Religion is a confidence scam, if people want to feed deadbeats like preachers, that’s fine.  You have to be pretty stupid to let someone con you into thinking they have special connections with gods anyway.  Somehow those all powerful supernatural creatures (a.k.a. gods) always need extra cash!

To police on the basis of your thoughts is thought police.  Everyone should be entitled to think and say what they like....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 06:24:21 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mireya (May 9, 2007, 03:58:20)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15466</link>
<description>Maybe the bill won't do much. Maybe it will. But to try to resist it ONLY because it is now INCLUDING gays in the list that was presented in a previously passed bill... Common people. This is about your dislike for GAYS and possibly your fear that it won't be easy to get off the hook if someone harrasses them, beats them or kills them for their sexuality. You don't have to like them. But they are human and deserve the same protection as any of you. Try to fight for your rights to practice your beliefs without inhibiting other's rights to live and love openly whom their hearts desire....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 02:58:20 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mireya (May 9, 2007, 03:52:47)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15465</link>
<description>Everyone who has posted a comment has every right to believe whatever they need to believe in order to sleep at night, so to speak... I think many of us get most frustrated when others contradict their own words and twist their own ideas and bend whatever facts are at hand, just to put themselves in a &quot;righter&quot; position to claim who should have human rights and who should not. This bill isn't isolating gays to have special treatment. It's clarifying that they are included rather than EXCLUDED from the same right to be free of harm as everyone else....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 02:52:47 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mireya (May 9, 2007, 03:49:15)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15464</link>
<description>To Steve... Not all Christians pick and choose from the Bible what they wish to read and believe. I'm glad there are still Christians like you who grasp more of the whole concept of the &quot;guidance&quot; of the Bible... The religion is a beautiful thing, until people use it to discriminate and bend the words to fit their personal feelings of confort and &quot;right&quot; and &quot;wrong&quot;....</description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 02:49:15 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Steve (May 8, 2007, 11:11:49)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15405</link>
<description>@ Sharper: Technically, being a caucasian male is a race or ethnicity, and if you caused said white male physical harm, this law DOES say just that.

As for the rest of you, I am sick at heart to call myself a Christian after seeing some of the comments on this site.

Yes, the Bible does say homosexuality is a sin. It also says gossip is a sin. It says that a slave rebelling against its master is a sin. It says that divorce for any reason other than marital infidelity is a sin. The point is simply that WE ARE ALL SINNERS, and will never be able to live without sin - hence Christ.

Claiming you are heaven-bound because your personal sins are perhaps more socially acceptable than a lesbian's is the height of hypocrisy. You are heaven-bound because of your faith in Christ, not because of your supposed lack of sin - just as a gay man who believes in Christ is.

Let he who hath no sin cast the first stone....</description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2007 10:11:49 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Sharper (May 7, 2007, 20:12:27)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15361</link>
<description>(Cont.)

How about if they gave the death penalty only to people who attacked asian women?

Can you see the ridiculous discrimination that is the point of this law?

This law also leads to prosecutors attempting to prove what a criminal was thinking when they committed the crime, just to get some more years added to the sentence.

It doesn't matter what they were thinking, it matters what actions they took.

State laws to punish violent crime are just fine. There is no need for the Feds to create new crimes in order to pander to special interest groups....</description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2007 19:12:27 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Sharper (May 7, 2007, 20:12:04)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15360</link>
<description>To be in favor of this bill is to say that certain groups of people deserve more protection than others.

It's a violation of the principle of equal treatment under the law.

The same crime should be punishable the same way, with no regard for the race, religion, or sexual preference of the victim.

What if they passed a law that stated that if you attacked a white male because he's a white male, you must serve extra prison time?...</description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2007 19:12:04 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by DAVIS (May 5, 2007, 14:30:51)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15310</link>
<description>I HEARD MOM,DAD WILL BE TAKEN OUT 
OF TEXT BOOKS BECAUSE IT OFFENDS
GAYS . GAYS OFFEND ME AND A LOT OF PEOPLE,NOTHING IS DONE TO STOP THEM FROM OFFENDING US THIER GOAL IS TO DESTROY CHRISTIANITY THAT'S HATE....</description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 05 May 2007 13:30:51 EDT</pubDate>
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<title>Comment by Mireya (May 5, 2007, 07:19:10)</title>
<link>http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_254.html#15308</link>
<description>...Ahhh, so nice to see a couple more people who are open-minded, realistic, and HUMANE.  Thanks to you who voice your disagreement with the sad/angry individuals who waste so much energy hating what they don't understand. :) It doesn't feel good to hate...too bad some people are so full of it....</description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 05 May 2007 06:19:10 EDT</pubDate>
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