Walking With Integrity: Sen. Saxby Chambliss On Hate Crimes

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Sen. Saxby Chambliss On Hate Crimes

Below is what Sen. Saxby Chambliss thinks about federal hate crime legislation. If you are in Georgia and are so inclined, I urge you to write Senator Chambliss your own thoughts on the matter. If you are not in Georgia, please consider writing your representative(s) to urge passage of federal hate crime legislation. For some background on this leglislation, check out http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Erase_Hate_Crimes_Legislation

Shalom,
Gretchen R. Chateau
Integrity Member
Member of GALAS Steering Committee (Gays and Lesbians at All Saints'), All Saints' Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia

From: saxby_chambliss@chambliss.senate.gov
To: jetteyeknight@hotmail.com
Subject: Responding to your message
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 09:26:49 -0400

Dear Ms. Chateau:

Thank you for contacting me regarding your thoughts on hate crime legislation. I appreciate hearing your concerns on this matter.

There is little evidence that indicates that violent crimes motivated by "hate" go unpunished in the United States. Most states already have criminal laws that prohibit the anti-social behavior addressed by hate crime legislation - including laws against murder, rape, arson, assault, and battery.

I oppose the creation of Federal hate crime legislation for a variety of reasons. First, I do not believe the Federal government should interfere with the criminal laws already on the books in our states. Second, many hate crime bills attempt to establish a "protected class" of crime victims who would receive special protection under the law. And finally, we already have laws to prosecute individuals who commit violent crimes. Those people guilty of violent crimes against anyone should be prosecuted under existing law.

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov . Please let me know whenever I may be of assistance.

Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail®. See how.

No comments:

Blog Faerie Commandments

Thou shalt be a current Integrity member; for as the
Psalmist says, “No good thing will YHWH withhold from those who walk with integrity.”
Thou shalt post legitimate news and public opinion
from recognized sources; for few blogs are fonts of true wisdom.
Thou shalt not post gossip; for it is serious sin that nobody preaches about anymore.
Thou shalt not include thine own opinions in posts; but thou mayest post thine own opinions using the comments feature.
Thou shalt not post hate speech nor engage in personal attacks against thy neighbor—neither in posts nor in comments. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Though shalt post items that emphasize the LGBT-positive side of issues whenever possible; for there are more than enough blogs devoted to denegrating us.
Though shalt mostly post items dealing with LGBT
equality in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion; but thou mayest post some LGBT secular news and LGBT news from other faith traditions.
Thou shalt not post copyrighted material in its
entirety; for it is abhorrent to the United States government. Rather, thou shalt post an excerpt or summary with a link to the original source.
Thou shalt cite the original source (author,
title, affiliation, publisher, date) of a post whenever possible; thus may readers direct their rants and raves in the right direction.
Thou shalt be wise with the quantity of material thou posteth to the blog; for the reader unsubscription rate is inversely proportional to the number of daily posts.
Thou shalt replace shaped quotation marks and
apostrophies (“ ” ’) with straight equivalents (" " ') whenever possible; for shaped characters are not supported by all e-mail servers.
Though mayest embed YouTube and Google video clips in a post but thou shalt also provide a hyperlink to the clip; for the clip itself may be stripped out of the e-mail version.
Thou shalt include graphics with thine posts when possible; for plain text is really boring.