Congressional Snafu Snarls Hate Crimes Bill

Any ordinary person can tell you that the way Congress works is confusing as f%@k. That little cartoon about how a bill becomes law that I saw when I was small is complete crap. Things do not work that simply. Due to the messy Congressional conflagration, there will be no Matthew Shepard Act this year which means that the public will get the message that Congress does not want hate crimes legislation extended to the GLBT community.

From RawStory:

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was widely supported by Democrats and some moderate Senate Republicans. But because it was attached to a major defense policy bill that would have authorized more money for the Iraq war, many anti-war Democrats said they would oppose it.

"We don't have the votes," said one House Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because conference negotiations on the defense bill were ongoing. "We're about 40 votes short, not four or six."

The development is a blow to civil rights groups which say that broadening federal laws are necessary to address a rise in crimes motivated by hate and based upon a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

So the bill had widespread approval, yet it failed. It failed because it was attached to a military spending bill and therefore it would be denied ironically by hardcore conservatives and anti-war Democrats alike. Conservatives (at least those ones) do not think gay people deserve to be protected from hate crimes....and while anti-war Democrats are in support of the Matthew Shepard Act, they do not care to fund more missile programs.

So if you want to blame someone, blame Pelosi for not sending the legislation to the floor for a vote. She says she won't give up on it, but in her mind, this isn't the right time. For now though, this is one more hurdle for victims of these hate crimes to get appropriate justice and also keeping the funds out of law agencies hands to prosecute the crimes.

Craig Votes For Hate Crimes

Believing Larry Craig's assertion that he isn't gay is like talking to a cow that says she doesn't have udders. He can say whatever he wants, but you know, actions speak louder than words. In his delusional state he still clings to hating himself and other homosexuals that deserve equal rights and legislation that protects every minority from hate crimes. Today he proved that self-hate by voting against the Matthew Shepard Act.

From Pride Depot:

In a 60-39 vote the Senate today passed the Matthew Shepard Act as part of the appropriations bill to fund the Iraq war. Bush has threatened to veto the bill but now that it is tied to funding the Iraq war that remains to be seen. Sen. Lindsey Graham says, “The president is not going to agree to this social legislation on the defense authorization bill."

As predicted our toe-tapping senator carried a huge bucket load for the GOP and voted against the measure. Idaho Senator Larry Craig, who is using the ACLU to defend his right to free speech to withdraw is guilty plea for soliciting anonymous sex from an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport last June, apparently feels that he can say and do what he wants but LGBT people, according to Craig, apparently do not deserve to be protected by law from violence. This guy just gets slimier by the day.

Craig has been slime since the beginning. When a Republican makes a stand against equal rights and protection from violent forms of bigotry, they are too thick headed to step out of the hole they are digging for themselves. Bush may veto it anyway, but sometimes, no, you must vote for your principles all of the time.

Instead, Craig, Bush and thirty-eight other Republicans are going to vote for fear, hate and bigotry. They should all be ashamed of themselves.

GOP Hates Senior Citizens And The Troops Too

One reason that Republicans claimed that they did not like the Hate Crimes bill was that senior citizens and members of the Armed Forces were not added to the list. For two days they went on and on about the issue. So what did the Dems do? John Conyers led the way for the bill and responded to the GOP's demands. He said it wasn't a problem. So did the Republicans cheer for the bipartisan compromise?

From AmericaBlog:

The Republicans have been railing for days about how this legislation doesn't cover our Armed Forces and senior citizens, and now that the Dems offer to put our Armed Forces and seniors in this legislation, the Republicans said no and affirmatively stopped the Democrats from doing it anyway.

That means the Republicans had no intent on helping our Armed Forces and seniors, on protecting them. It was just a stunt. The GOP leaders in Congress just got up and used our Armed Forces and seniors as political fodder when they had no intent on actually doing anything to help our Armed Forces and seniors.

Well of course it didn't matter to them. Republicans don't actually care about helping the troops or our seniors. The reality is that to the right, using people for their own ideological ends is standard operating procedure. And sure enough, when the Democrats called them on it, Republicans showed their true colors. The bill passed anyways, with some Republican votes as well, 237 to 180. Yet the President will most likely veto this, as a nice little present to his extreme ideological base.