Try, try again - NOT

[andrewlittle]

From a posting at FirstLight by Donna, we have the news story that follows these comments.

In commenting on the story, Donna said:

"But that trick NEVER works!" ~ Rocky J. Squirrel

My best friend used to say, "You can bang your head against a brick wall only so many times before it begins to hurt." And we've all heard the motto, "Fool me once shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me." My personal philosophy is to "not make the same mistakes twice - though I seem hell-bent on making ALL of them once!"

With that backdrop, word today that the Matthew Shepard Act will be reintroduced into the Senate soon. The bill passed the Senate as a part of the Defense Authorization bill - but the House dropped it out of that bill because they didn't want to have to vote "for the war" to pass the Shepard Act. Then they voted for the war anyway.

So if at first you don't succeed...fail again! The plan is to once again put it into the 2009 Defense Authorization Bill. Sigh.

To which, Lawrence replied:

"Insanity is repeating the same behavior, convinced that it will turn out differently this time around."

Andy (the cynic) says: When you're interested in the appearance of being a change-maker, but don't actually want change to happen, you practice plausible deniability. You say, "Look at me! Look at me! I'm all about social justice! I am championing the Hate Crimes bill." And, then, you do something that will guarantee change WON'T HAPPEN, like doing the same thing that made it NOT happen the last time.

Of course, like I said, I am a cynic.

The Story:

Washington Blade - DC, USA

Levin to introduce hate crimes measure

Mich. senator to attach amendment to defense bill

By LOU CHIBBARO JR., Washington Blade | Apr 23, 3:48 PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chair of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee, said he plans to introduce the hate crimes bill as an amendment to the fiscal year 2009 Defense Authorization Act, either in committee next week or on the Senate floor in late May.

Levin's proposal is likely to trigger opposition in the House of Representatives from the same odd coalition of lawmakers — liberal, anti-war Democrats and anti-gay Republicans — that killed the hate crimes bill last year by refusing to agree to attach it to the 2008 defense authorization measure.

The hate crimes bill, known officially as the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, calls for authorizing the federal government to prosecute hate crimes targeting gays and transgender persons.

Levin and other Senate supporters of the bill said attaching it to the defense measure would be the best way of discouraging President Bush from vetoing the bill. The White House announced last year that the president would likely veto the hate crimes measure on grounds that enforcement against such crimes should be left to local authorities rather than the federal government.

Levin said on Tuesday that adding language protecting against hate crimes to the annual defense bill is "very appropriate" because it represents "one of the values of this country" that the military is charged with protecting, according to Congress Daily, which broke the story about Levin's plans for the bill.

Dave Pollock, a spokesperson for Levin, said Levin disclosed his plans for the hate crimes bill in an interview with Congress Daily at the Capitol on Tuesday. Pollock said Levin has not released an official statement on his plans.

Pollock said Levin indicated he would either introduce the hate crimes language to the fiscal 2009 defense authorization measure during a committee mark-up hearing next week, which is closed to the press and public due to security issues, or on the Senate floor. The defense measure is expected to reach the Senate floor in late May.

...

http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/t...?blog_id=17881

This is posted courtesy of FirstLight http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstLight/

"First Light is a community sharing concern, struggle, experience and opinion on integrating healthy LGBTQuestioning sexual identity and practice and sincere faith identity, believing they are compatible and that sexual and spiritual integration is God's will for all."