Rep. Michelle Bachman
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Rep. Virginia Foxx
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The Matthew Shepard Foundation is dedicated to reducing hate crimes. The Matthew Shepard Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives today with a vote of 247 to 175, ushering in yet another sign of the changing face of American society, one that suggests hope for an inclusive future.
Those against this bill had some interesting things to say.
Addressing the House this very day, Republican Representitive Virginia Foxx claimed that the murder of Matthew Shepard, widely perceived to be the most famous gay bashing hate crime in recent American history, was in fact a "hoax," perpetrated by activists eager to pass "these bills."
In her words:
"I also would like to point out that there was a bill -- the hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This -- the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."
Now, the truth:
According to reports in the New York Times, the victim Matthew Shepard was lured from a bar in the early hours of October 7th 1998 on the pretext of a seduction, then kidnapped, tortured, burned, beaten, then tied to a fence for 18 hours in near-freezing temperatures utill a passing cyclist eventually spotted him. He died a lingering death a few days later on October 12th. His killers, Aaron J. McKinney and Russell A. Henderson, admitted that they targeted Shepard because was gay. At the trial, defendent Aaron McKinney's attempt to use the "homosexual panic" didn't fly with the judge. It went like this: Shepard's homosexuality so distressed and enraged his murderers that they had no choice but to kill him. It was thrown out by the judge.
The two were convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. No, it was not a hoax and noone sane knows where the "commitment of a robbery" comes from other than a right wing-nut blog.
"Smug Cruelty Masquerading As Christian Morality"
Michael Rowe who writes for The Huffington Post website put this disgraceful behavior in this context:
" --- it will only serve to make her and her party look malevolent, clueless, and inbred. It suggests the scraping of the very bottom of a moral slop bucket, politically and personally. It suggests the transient nature of "family values," and that perhaps dragging Matthew Shepard's memory through
the mud in front of his mother was somehow worth it in order to make sure that "immoral" people like Shepard and his kind don't receive posthumous
"special rights" due to their "lifestyle choices."
"And judging by the virulent opposition among the religious right to this expansion of the definition of a hate crime, it suggests, among other things, a by now sickeningly familiar potential for smug cruelty masquerading as Christian morality. "
How To Reach Congresswoman Foxx:
DC Address: The Honorable Virginia Foxx
United States House of Representatives
1230 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3305
DC Phone: 202-225-2071
DC Fax: 202-225-2995
The Hoot Smalley Act
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Michele Bachmann's Fabulous Intellect
Some weeks ago, Michele Bachmann worried outload on KTLK radio in Minnesota that President Obama would create "re-education camps for young people," saying that: "I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service."
Today she said this: "I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."
It seems not to matter to her that it was Rebublican President Gerald Ford who was in the Whitehouse in 1976 when the last time swine flu was in the news.
To make her day complete she was found telling the tale of the "Hoot-Smalley Act". I will let Keith Olbermann take this one:
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