DON’T BE HOODWINKED BY “ANTI-HATE” BILL S. 1145!

By Rev. Ted Pike

As I spearhead national opposition to “anti-hate” bill S.1145 (The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005), I receive input such as this: “I have read S.1145 and don’t find any great conspiracy against free speech.” Or, “My member of Congress says S.1145 merely provides federal assistance to state and Indian tribes in their fight against violent hate crimes.”

Here is a brief guide to understanding S.1145’s hidden yet supremely dangerous agenda.

This bill empowers the federal government to assume control of local hate crimes law enforcement. It establishes unity between federal and local law enforcement, thus creating the beginnings of a “police state.” This enables the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, creator of this legislation, to enforce nationally the kind of persecution against Christians which their national executive board member, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, enforced locally against 11 Christians on October 10, 2004. Preaching at a gay pride rally, they were arrested for violation of ADL’s Pennsylvania hate law. Possible penalties: 47 years in prison and $90,000 fines each. Mercifully, the case against them was thrown out by a higher court.

Lynne Abraham had unrestrained power to command her police underlings to arrest the Philadelphia Christians. ADL wants the same federal power to enforce its federal hate crimes agenda against Christians, right-wing talk show hosts, critics of Israel, pro-lifers, anti-war activists, etc., in every town in America.

Federal Takeover of Law Enforcement

Instead of telling us how S.1145 threatens our liberties, the ADL deceptively portrays this bill as a sincere effort by the federal government to respond to a “serious national problem:” violent hate crimes in the states and on Indian reservations.

The real goal of S.1145 is to grant permission to the federal government to control local civil rights law enforcement.

1. Sec.2,4-13 clearly and repeatedly states that occurrence of bias-motivated violence in a state entitles the federal government to override states’ rights in law enforcement, establishing “federal jurisdiction over certain violent crimes motivated by bias.” (12)

2. Sec.7(b)(2)(A), strategically positioned near the end of the bill (just when most readers and members of Congress are yawning) is a tangle of deliberately confusing grammar and legalese terminology. Yet its implications are deadly to the future of states’ rights. It says that the U.S. Attorney General, or his underlings, may pursue hate crimes indictments within states if:

A. States do “not intend to exercise jurisdiction” in prosecuting hate crimes in the way the federal government wants them to. In other words, if a state wants to prosecute all crime according to physical evidence, not “bias motivation,” and reject a federal ADL hate law for their state, then the federal government has the right to swoop in and enforce the federal hate law and its “bias motivation” legal philosophy, whether that state likes it or not. Sec.7(b)(2)(A)

B. If states do not obtain the kind of verdict the federal government wishes in a hate crimes trial, the government also has the right to intervene and violate states’ rights, presumably retrying the case to their satisfaction. Sec.7(b)(2)(D)

This legislation establishes the premise that there exists something called “the federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence” -- an interest the government expects to be “vindicated” by the states. Section 7(b)(1)(D). This means that the traditional “ineffective” approach to eliminating hate crimes by prosecuting them according to physical evidence, rather than motivation, no longer satisfies “the federal interest.” Instead, the ADL/federal program to “eradicate hate crimes” means that states must ferret out the “motivation” behind certain crimes and punish it severely with triple penalties. Otherwise, the government implies, “hate” is not eradicated at its most fundamental origins: in the thoughts of violent hate crimes offenders. Thus, the government is inventing a whole new species of criminal prosecution, dedicated to quantifying the “bias” that drives “hate crimes.” This is a task our government has never attempted. A state's lack of cooperation will result in federal invasion.

At present, takeover by S.1145 is in response to violent bias crimes in the states. Yet tomorrow, via enabling legislation and judicial precedents, S.1145’s jurisdiction will be extended to prosecute “verbal violence,” i.e., Biblical condemnation of homosexuality or blame against the Jews for the crucifixion. Such broadening of powers and jurisdiction has always occurred in countries such as Canada who naïvely let hate laws get their foot in the door.

Slippery Legislation

By its obscurity and deceptiveness, ADL has crafted S.1145 to slip like an eel through Congress. This literally happened September 14, 2005 when Amendment 2662 slithered through the House of Representatives in only 45 minutes! But, this eel has fangs. It squirms toward one dark objective: Creation of a vast Orwellian anti-hate bureaucracy and police state with ADL lurking behind the scenes – to seize and silence the politically incorrect anywhere in America.

From a supreme position of power over all federal and local law enforcement, the ADL will be able to enforce its twisted definition that “hate” means bias against federally protected groups, particularly Jews and homosexuals. All Bible-believing Christians will become “haters,” just as D.A. Lynne Abraham viewed them as they preached in the Philadelphia public square last year.

Take a Second Look

So, to all who haven’t seen a conspiracy in S.1145, even after reading it, I say: Read it again more deeply. Consider how that similar ADL/B’nai B’rith legislation has ended free speech in Canada, and European countries. You must see S.1145 for what it is: possibly the most dangerous threat to states’ rights, evangelical Christianity, free speech, and freedom itself which has ever been proposed to Congress.

---

WHAT WE CAN DO

PROTEST S.1145 TO ALL 55 REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE SENATE! These senators are listed at www.truthtellers.org. Call toll free 1-888-355-3588 or toll 1-202-225-3121. With only one phone call, you can be transferred from one office to the other upon your request, calling all 55 in about 20 minutes. Tell them “I want to express my disapproval of the hate bill S.1145!”

The members of the Senate Judiciary Committee may soon approve S.1145 as part of the Children’s Safety Act of 2005, H.R.3132. If so S.1145 will almost certainly pass on the floor of the Senate. Although later defeated in conference it passed the Senate on June 15, 2004, 65-33. As happened in the House of Representatives on September 14th, this bill could move through the Senate very rapidly. All members of the Senate, especially Republicans, must hear from you NOW!!!

Email this article to all Republican members of the Senate. Click on their names at www.truthtellers.org to visit their website and paste this article into their online email contact form.

Confused about S.1145? Ted Pike’s gripping 80-minute video, in VHS or DVD, “Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians,” completely explains the history and objectives of S.1145. Order it for $24.90 at www.truthtellers.org. or call 503-631-3808.

TALK SHOW HOSTS: Invite Rev. Ted Pike back on the air to generate a tidal wave of communications to Senate members. Call Rev. Pike at 503-631-3808.

National Prayer Network, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas, OR 97015