DipshitConservatives.com

Archive for March, 2010

In October, President Obama signed The Matthew Shepard Act, expanding the reach of the 1969 hate crimes law to “authorize the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute certain bias-motivated crimes based on the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.” Previously, the law only allowed for the federal prosecution of anyone who “willingly injures, intimidates or interferes with another person, or attempts to do so, by force because of the other person’s race, color, religion or national origin.”

State lawmakers in Oklahoma argued that the Shepard Act would trample on the free speech rights of religious leaders “who preached out against the lifestyle of the victim who was attacked.” On March 10, the Oklahoma state Senate thought it was passing a bill prohibiting “local and state law enforcement agencies from sharing information about hate crimes with federal authorities if the state of Oklahoma did not recognize the crime as a hate crime by its own statutes.” Oklahoma state law does not recognize “sexual orientation or gender identity” as a special class and fails to provide gay and lesbians with hate crimes protections.

But in trying to strip gays and lesbians of protection, the Oklahoma State Senate inadvertently cited the wrong section of the U.S. code. The bill stripped rights under Title 18 U.S. Code Section 245, but protections for sexual orientation and gender identity is actually under Section 249. From the bill:
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The incident took place on 3-20-10 while Congress staff were heading inside to vote on the health care bill Congressman Emmanual Cleaver claimed that a protester spit on him. Most right wing media reported it as a false claim but this video shows otherwise. At around the 1:25 mark you can see the incident happen with a man in a black shirt and white hat standing on the stairs. He has his hands cupped shouting but reals back slightly and full out spits on Congressman Cleaver’s face. Interesting side note, as Congressman Cleaver comes back out with Capitol Police, the man tries to hide his face in the crowd (not like a coward but like a real man who is standing up for himself would, right?). Then you can see the man turn to the others and laugh about how he didn’t get spotted. In this video it does not show them IDing the man because, let’s face it, old white bigots all look alike in a crowd like that.

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And as an added bonus to this video. Toward the end of this video you can see someone carrying a red flag with a white circle in the middle of it. We here at DSC couldn’t quite place it at first but after careful review we discovered it is actually a Triskelion, used as part of the logo of the international racist skinhead group, Blood & Honour. But remember, these protests aren’t about race.

Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) ventures into the Tea Party Rally and manages to find an opponent that is not only willing to talk like an adult, but actually is pretty informed on some of the issues. Both parties were respectful and discussed actual concerns rather than just plain shouting out lies and idiocy.

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A few days ago we posted THIS VIDEO showing a group of teabaggers making fun of a man with Parkinson’s. Now the guy in the video who was wearing the shirt and tie is saying that he’s sorry and scared. You can tell by his wording in this article that he isn’t sorry for his actions, just sorry that he got caught. It’s easy to pick on a disabled man when you are in a crowd of people but when you are by yourself it’s a different story.

The man who berated and tossed dollar bills at a man with Parkinson’s disease during a health care protest last week says he is remorseful and scared.

“I snapped. I absolutely snapped and I can’t explain it any other way,” said Chris Reichert of Victorian Village, in a Dispatch interview. *I can explain it, it’s called you’re a dick*

In his first comments on an incident that went viral across the Internet and was repeatedly played on cable television news shows, Reichert said he is sorry about his confrontation with Robert A. Letcher, 60, of the North Side. Letcher, a former nuclear engineer who suffers from Parkinson’s, was verbally attacked as he sat before anti-health care demonstrators in front of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy’s district office last week.
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Abusive, derogatory and even racist behavior directed at House Democrats by Tea Party protesters on Saturday left several lawmakers in shock.

Preceding the president’s speech to a gathering of House Democrats, thousands of protesters descended around the Capitol to protest the passage of health care reform. The gathering quickly turned into abusive heckling, as members of Congress passing through Longworth House office building were subjected to epithets and even mild physical abuse.

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a ‘ni–er.’ And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a “faggot,” as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president’s speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

“It was absolutely shocking to me,” Clyburn said, in response to a question from the Huffington Post. “Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday… I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins… And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus.”
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