Opinion Forum

Hate Crimes

October 20th, 2010

By Tom Carter I’ve always believed that hate crimes laws have no place in the American legal system. They punish people for what they think, say, and write and for their associations with others who agree with them. With rare exceptions, those are all protected by the Constitution. Moreover, hate crimes laws create a hierarchy [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Constitution, constitutional, deterence, discrimination, fairness, hate crimes
Categories: Law, Politics | Comments (6) | Home

Hate Criminals Not Intimidated

November 28th, 2009

Hate crimes are as old as the Bible and, when you boil it down, people who commit this type of crime are doing so because of their own insecurity and emotional instability. Laws and rules may have a small impact on a few of these people but they will not come near to solving the problem.

Articles written by Harvey Grund
Tags: double jeopardy, equal protection, hate crimes
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (12) | Home

Paglia on Obama, Law, Palin

October 14th, 2009

This month’s Camille Paglia column at Salon.com is, as usual, a delightful read. As a firm liberal Democrat with a very open mind, her views are unusually realistic and bluntly stated. In this column, she responds to letters from readers. The letters themselves are good, and Paglia’s responses are even better. Here are a few excerpts [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, hate crimes, Iraq, Obama, Paglia, Palin
Categories: Arts, Life, Media, Military, Politics | Comments (14) | Home

Paglia on Palin, Hate Crimes

July 9th, 2009

Camille Paglia answers questions submitted by readers in her monthly column at Slate.com. The questions and answers are on Sarah Palin, loose comments on assassinations of and attacks on political figures, President Obama’s apparent attitude toward women’s rights, the power and limits of language, hate crimes legislation, perceptions of art as pornography, and commentary on several issues [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: hate crimes, Paglia, Palin
Categories: Media, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

Those Hateful Hate Crimes

May 16th, 2009

A small article in a recent USA Today mentioned that, on the previous day, the State of Maryland added homeless people to their growing list of people who are protected under hate crimes legislation. What this means is, if you commit a crime against a homeless person because they are homeless or a crime against a [...]

Articles written by Harvey Grund
Tags: hate crimes, Law
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (11) | Home