The Senate's 68-29 vote in favor of Pentagon defense spending bill, which includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, came after the House approved the bill earlier this month.
The measure was approved with a majority of Republicans voting against it. The House passed the same bill Oct. 8, also with most Republicans opposed.
The measure would extend the current definition of federal hate crimes -- which covers attacks motivated by race, color, religion or national origin -- to include those based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It also would make it a federal crime to attack U.S. military personnel because of their service.
Republicans contend that an expansion of the hate crimes definition should not be included in a defense spending bill. The bill allocates $130 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for the fiscal year 2010, which began Oct. 1.
Now here is one of the few times that I can totally agree with Republicans on this matter.
A hate crimes bill should not be passed along with a bill which would allow the Pentagon to spend $130 billion to kill Iraqis and Afghans. That’s a hate crime in itself. In fact the Pentagon should not get $1 to wage war on any sovereign nation.
Here’s what one Rep. Senator has to say on the matter:
"Democrats have done a great disservice to the brave men and women of our Armed Forces today by using them as leverage to pass radical social policy," said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio after the House passed the bill.
Did he miss the part of the hate crime bill that said it also would make it a federal crime to attack U.S. military personnel because of their service? Radical social policy?
"They engineered this abuse of the legislative process because they had no other way to pass legislation that is unconstitutional and just plain wrong," he said. "Our troops, and their families, deserve better."
But our troops and their families don’t deserve to have the rest of the military discriminate against them.
Can someone help me explain this one?
The questions have been painstakingly researched. The answers, however, have not.
2 comments:
On a related note, it's funny that these two unrelated issues were grouped together considering there are NO gay soldiers.
What about David Letterman? His hatred shines through in a Google bit titled "David Lettermans's Hate, Etc." Mary Jane
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