- If freedom is to be preserved, we must have many more
victories such as we experienced last Thursday when, despite all odds,
the Senate Judiciary stripped the hate bill S.1145 from the Children's
Safety Act.
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- This was no fluke. It was the result of concentrated
pressure on Judiciary members. Such came, in my opinion, largely from the
most potent reservoir of concern in America: tens of thousands of die-hard
activists who listen to "far right" AM talk radio.
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- After the House of Representatives suddenly passed the
hate bill on September 14, 2005, I knew this Orwellian legislation would
race through the Senate Judiciary Committee and across the floor of the
Senate in fast track to almost certain signing by the President.
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- I therefore asked hundreds of thousands of listeners
via dozens of broadcasts on AM talk radio (primarily the Genesis and Republic
networks) to do the unprecedented: not just fulfill the usual "call
your members of Congress" obligation but also contact every crucial
Republican Senator in the Senate Judiciary Committee. About two weeks later,
I took to the airwaves again requesting that they protest to all 55 Republican
members of the Senate.
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- LIGHT ON CAPITOL HILL
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- Like sunlight focusing through a prism onto dry grass,
the heat on the Judiciary became intense. Finally, it broke into flame
as Senator Orrin Hatch compelled a voice vote of Senate Judiciary members
to declare against the hate bill. The Children's Safety Act, modified to
become the Sex Offenders Registration Act, S.1086, was then allowed to
proceed toward the Senate unencumbered by the hate bill.
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- Incidentally, for two and a half hours, the call-in lines
were jammed as, on two major broadcasts on big Salt Lake City talk radio,
I roused the people of Utah against the hate bill. Such heat was good for
Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch because three years ago he joined with Senator
Edward Kennedy and Senator Gordon Smith in support of a "modified"
hate bill, which was actually much more dangerous than the hate bill that
preceded it. Hatch said it was time for America "to grow up and pass
the hate bill." Since then, Hatch has come back to his former position
and opposed the hate bill. Last Thursday, with fires of a Mormon constituency
beneath him, Senator Hatch took leadership in refusing to add S.1145 to
the Sex Offenders Registration Act. He showed himself the champion of all
who love freedom.
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- JOINING FORCES FOR VICTORY
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- Over the past year, about 40 talk show hosts have been
working closely with me, warning of the hate bill's imminent passage. We
were vividly aware that on September 28, 2004, House members, by a symbolic
procedural motion, voted 233 to 186 in favor of the hate bill. Since then,
the House had been poised to pass it at the first opportunity.
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- After more than a year of preparation, vast audiences
of the far right were ready for action. This is a highly concerned audience,
most of whom have made the decision to get their news and views from shortwave
or the Internet. They are a concentrated pool of very focused activists
who showed themselves willing to phone, email, and phone again exactly
where and when it is needed.
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- After the hate bill was approved by the House on September
14th, national New Right Christian leaders, such as Dr. James Dobson and
Beverly LaHaye, sounded the alarm to their massive evangelical audiences.
Without doubt, the response they generated enormously contributed to the
victory last week.
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- Result: Victory in Congress, for a change. Hope for the
future.
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- BACK INTO BATTLE
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- But there is no time to bask in victory. Senator Edward
Kennedy is determined to reattach the hate bill, S.1145, unmodified, to
The Sex Offenders Registration Act, S.1088. If that fails, he may attach
it to the Streamlined Procedures Act. Kennedy's staffers told me they are
confident of victory, considering the Senate's 65-to-33 vote in favor of
the hate bill last year.
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- Since a Senate vote could occur very quickly, even within
a week, I encourage all patriots to go to their phones again. Keep up the
pressure on the 55 Republican Senators. Tell them: "Please do not
add any hate crimes bills to legislation before Congress."
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- Also, let's start protesting to Democrats in the Senate.
Dr. Dobson in a recent alert describes how Christian ex-homosexuals have
been walking the halls of the Senate office building, objecting to the
hate bill. They have been receiving a very courteous response from Democratic
Senators. Some Democrats, Dobson says, are beginning to question whether
special protection of homosexuals is really such a good idea after all.
Maybe our traditional justice system, they query, is adequate to punish
hate crimes.
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- At www.truthtellers.org I have listed the 44 Democrats
and one Independent. Call them. Fax them my powerful flyer and brief articles
which are posted online.
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- It is my fervent prayer that God will help us defeat
S.1145 in the Senate. I hope that all Christian/conservative leaders throughout
America will join me to educate the public about the recurring threat that
hate laws pose to freedom of speech and religion.
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- If we come before God in faith and humility, and also
fulfill our civic duty, God can give us many more " impossible"
victories.
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