P.C. Hate Crimes Bill Signed Into Law 11 Years After Matthew Shepard's Death

President Obama has signed major civil rights legislation, making it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity. The new measure expands the the scope of a 1968 law that applies to people attacked because of their race, religion or national origin. The U.S. Justice Department will have expanded authority to prosecute such crimes when local authorities don't.

The provision, called the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was attached to a defense authorization bill. If you voted against this provision some candidate could accuse you of "voting against our troops."

(I hate te use of the word "troops." It conveys an image of horses and cavalry, not amputees and suicides. They are "soldiers", not parade-prancing props.)

The AP theorizes:

"The legislation allows federal authorities to pursue charges in violent crimes motivated by the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability, in cases where local authorities cannot or will not secure appropriate convictions. It also opens up federal aid to local law enforcement for training, prevention and investigation."

What about other cases "where local authorities cannot or will not..."? What about people who lie about how an argument starts and a fight ensues? What about equal treatment under the law, not treatment preferential to those designated special?

This is just more national police authority answerable to an often corrupt executive branch. The real crime is promoting violence against anyone, and if you watch talk radio, you know that's not enforced.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

ABC News interviewed the murderers of Shepard and tossed cold water on the hot issue of hate crime in this case:

"Six years ago, on a cold October night on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyo., 21-year-old gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead. He was found 18 hours later and rushed to the hospital, where he lingered on the edge of death for nearly five days before succumbing to his injuries.

"The story garnered national attention when the attack was characterized as a hate crime. But Shepard's killers, in their first interview since their convictions, tell "20/20's" Elizabeth Vargas that money and drugs motivated their actions that night, not hatred of gays."

Not a hate crime?