TOTAL EMERGENCY ALERT ! ! !
POSSIBLE HATE BILL VOTE ON MONDAY!
By Rev. Ted Pike
11 July 09
Last week the Washington Blade online newspaper, quoting
the Human Rights Campaign and a high-ranking staffer in Senate Majority
Leader Reid's office said Senate Democrats are planning to attach the
federal hate crimes bill, S. 909, as a rider to the 2010 Department
of Defense bill. The DOD bill is scheduled to begin Senate floor
action at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday. Since S. 909 is an "omnibus
bill," Sen. Reid or any cosponsor might introduce it as an amendment. Amendments
could be offered any time next week!
Nearly two years ago, Sen. Kennedy requested immediate vote on his hate bill
amendment at the very onset of Senate floor action on the DOD bill. He
wanted it approved as a "uniform consent agreement," bypassing debate. It
was blocked by an alert Sen. John McCain, but the same could happen Monday.
Over the past several decades, passing shaky or unpopular bills by quietly attaching
them as amendments to the underbelly of big "must pass" legislation
has become very popular, particularly with Congressional Democrats. But
this practice has become increasingly unpopular with the American people, who
view it as underhanded. Here's how the Democrats keep getting away with
it: If the bill to be added has no relevance to the host bill, every effort
is made to contrive some thread of relationship. If that can't be done,
the incongruous package must be passed very quietly.
Several weeks ago, the Democrats scheduled a news conference to announce attachment
of their hate bill amendment to the travel promotional bill. Yet, at the
last minute, they changed their minds. Why? Probably because violent
hate crimes and travel are about as unrelated as can be imagined. Already
under intense fire by bad publicity and public protest (primarily instigated
by the National Prayer Network), Reid feared withering scorn from Senate Republicans,
with possible agreement and defection of Democrats. As a result, the travel/hate
bill could neither be legitimized nor passed quietly.
Two years ago, Senate Democrats, such as Kennedy and Republican Gordon Smith,
passionately argued for the relevance of a hate crimes amendment attached to
that year's military appropriations bill. They said that, especially with
advent of unpopular wars, our servicemen and women have become vulnerable to
hate crimes. After Vietnam, many returning service personnel endured insults
and even bias-motivated assaults for wearing the American uniform. Passage
of a federal hate bill, they argued, ensured military personnel would receive
the same federal hate crimes protection granted other beleaguered groups.
Now fast forward to the testimony of Attorney General Holder in the Senate Judiciary
Committee hearings on June 25, 2009. Holder boldly contradicted the claim
that our military need special protection under S. 909. He said an American
serviceman, recently killed by a Muslim terrorist motivated by hatred and bias
against the American military, was not the victim of a hate crime! The
soldier's Islamic assailant, according to Holder, will not be tried
as a hate criminal if the federal hate bill is passed. Only historic civilian
members of oppressed groups, such as homosexuals, blacks, Native Americans, Jews
and women, will be protected.
Holder, as the nation's top law enforcement authority, says the federal hate
crimes bill has absolutely no relevance to a military appropriations bill! No
American service personnel will in any way benefit from it.
Clearly, Reid and Senate Democrats are presently failing to satisfy the two essential
criteria for successfully attaching a controversial, unrelated bill to one sure
to pass. They have not the thinnest thread of relevance between the two,
and passage would have to occur under the intense floodlights of public scrutiny
and criticism -- the worst possible environment for shaky legislation.
We Can Back Down a Hate Bill Amendment!
At 6 a.m. PST on Monday, when Senate offices open, we must put overwhelming
pressure on the Democrats to back off with their hate bill amendment. We
shouldn't wait even until later in the day. Call toll-free 1-877-851-6437 or
toll 1-202-225-3121 ( names
available HERE at www.truthtellers.org).
Tell Senators: "Attorney General Holder says the federal hate
bill, S. 909, will not protect members of America's military. Yet Democrats
may attach a hate bill amendment to the arms bill this week. This is
dishonest. The hate bill has nothing to do with the military." You
can add: "Have you watched the video at www.truthtellers.org in which
Holder says soldiers are not protected under the hate bill?"
Republican Senators also need to be notified that they may have to rise to
debate the hate bill early next week. (Most didn't two years ago, and the hate
bill passed.) My calls to some of their offices, including Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell, reveal they seem quite unaware that Reid may launch a "sneak
attack," bypassing the usual amenity of significant advance notice.
Don't Listen to Dobson's Defeatism
In contrast to this workable plan to restrain hate bill passage,
on Thursday, Focus on the Family's James Dobson and Tom Minnery along
with Family Research Council's Tony Perkins covered themselves with
shame by announcing to Dobson's vast audience that it is now impossible
to defeat the hate bill. Everyone, they agreed, will just have
to endure the swing of a far left pendulum, which will involve persecution
of Christians. Eventually, social/religious pressures will swing
the pendulum back to the right. Meanwhile, prayer is our only recourse. (Listen
to the Dr. Dobson Thursday broadcast at the bottom of the page.)
Focus on the Family and FRC, perhaps the two most powerful evangelical "watchdog" groups,
have done virtually nothing of real significance to fight the hate bill since
January. Dobson finally came out with an alert three days before the
hate bill passed the House on April 29, 2009. FRC overflowed with at
least biweekly alerts through the winter and spring on every conceivable piece
of legislative mischief in Congress. But it almost entirely failed to effectively
warn its constituents of the hate bill threat, by far the greatest danger! At
last, the reason for this silence is clear: They gave up long ago!
These derelict watchmen precisely correspond to the ten spies who searched
out the land of Canaan and came back with their discouraging report. They
said that because the Hebrews were outnumbered it was impossible to conquer
the Canaanites and occupy God's promised land. Seeing only horizontally
and with fleshly eyes, Dobson, Minnery, and Perkins likewise compute that because
the Democrats in the Senate outnumber conservatives by a handful of votes it
is now impossible for Almighty God to intervene, as He has done five times
since 1998, confounding the Democrats and defeating the hate bill.
What blasphemy against God and His Son Who said, "If you believe, all
things are possible!" (Matt. 17:20) Jesus said that if we have faith as
a grain of mustard seed and it corresponds with God's will, this "mountain" (the
hate bill) will slide into the sea (the Potomac)!
How different from the young Jonathan and his plucky armor bearer as they scaled
a Philistine rampart against all odds, saying that with God there is no restraint
to save by many or by few. (I Sam. 14:5) These evangelical leaders are
exactly like the elders of Israel in the time of Samson when they came to bind
him, saying, "Don't you know that the Philistines are rulers over us!" (Judges
15:11)
The truth is, we are not hopelessly outnumbered in the Senate. Even
the top aide to Sen. Reid conceded to the Washington Blade, "It's
going to be very, very close….as it has been in the past."
Two years ago, doomsayer Dobson also said all was lost. Because of the
irrefutable fact of numerical superiority of the Democrats, he said the hate
bill would surely pass. Yet, even after he was proven wrong and the hate bill
defeated, he seems to have learned nothing about God's power to save.
Are we a minority? Are we in the midst of crisis -- just as the Hebrews
were on the shores of the Red Sea with the armies of pharaoh bearing down on
them? Yes, we are, yet God flourishes in times of our weakness and extremity. He
actually prefers such seeming hopelessness so that when His people finally
believe in His awesome power to save and take action, and He makes the way
of escape, no man will be able to claim credit. All the glory must properly
go to Christ, our only Savior.
Unlike the dismal report of "Dr. Do Nothing" and his cohorts, I hope
that my words and yours embody the spirit of faithful Joshua and Caleb who
said, "Let us go up at once…for we are well able to overcome." (Num.
13:30)
**Listen to Focus on the Family's James Dobson betray
efforts to fight the Hate Bill with action:
Click
Here to LISTEN
Click
Here to DOWNLOAD (6 min., 4.2 MB, right click and save target
as.)
Let the Anti-Defamation League teach you how they have saddled 45 states with
hate laws capable of persecuting Christians, and spearhead attempts to pass the
federal hate crimes bill: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Ted Pike on this subject.
Call (503) 631-3808.
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