Sunday, July 08, 2007

AFA of PA ACTION ALERT: Hate Crimes Vote Coming Soon

AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA

ACTION ALERT

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P.O. Box 1048

149 Summit Drive

Franklin, PA   16323

Phone:  1.814.271.9078   FAX:  1.814.437-5432

http://www.afaofpa.org

 

AFA of PA ACTION ALERT    

 

July 9, 2007

 

Vote on Hate Crimes Bill Very Soon!

 

The vote on S1105 is anticipated to be next week – (July 16-20).  It currently sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee which is expected to vote sometime this week.  Senator Arlen Specter is a Ranking Member in this Committee – unfortunately he is also listed as a co-sponsor of S 1105 (along with Senator Bob Casey, Jr.) . . .  but that does not mean we shouldn’t continue contacting them about changing their anticipated ‘yea’ vote to a ‘no’ vote.   They need to hear from concerned constituents!

 

Please consider doing as many of the following suggestions as possible:

 

1.)    e-mail Senator Casey and Senator Specter

2.)    Call their Washington, D.C. offices

3.)    Call their District Office nearest you.   Click here for Senator Specter’s contact information

Click here for Senator Casey’s contact information.  

 

Message to Senator Specter:  Vote ‘no’ on S 1105 in the Senate Judiciary

Committee and vote ‘no’ on S 1105 on the floor of the Senate.

 

Message to Senator Casey:  Vote ‘no’ on S 1105.


4.)    Write a letter to the editor expressing concern over the hate crimes bill – S1105.  Letters to the editor do not need to be that long.  Most newspapers have a maximum of 200 or 250 words, but letters to the editor can only be a few sentences long.  Click here for information on most newspapers in Pennsylvania.  The letters to the editor should be sent in ASAP (e-mailed if possible) to give the paper a chance to get them published.   Following are some talking points that can be used in corresponding with the Senators and in your letter to the editor.

 

This Hate Crimes bill:

q      Federalizes each and every State and local crime

q     Threatens religious leaders and groups with criminal prosecution and investigations into a suspect’s thoughts, beliefs and statements.

q     Requires criminal investigations to probe if a crime occurred “because of” bias towards a protected group, and opens the door to criminal investigations of a suspect’s philosophical beliefs, politics, biases, religion, activities, and past statements.

q      Creates unequal treatment of victims by treating crimes against protected groups more seriously than non-protected groups (e.g. the murder of a homosexual victim will be treated more seriously than a heterosexual victim.)

q      Violates the Commerce Clause, the Thirteenth, the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments.

The Hate Crimes bill is unnecessary: the underlying offense is already fully and aggressively prosecuted in all 50 States. FBI statistics show that the incidence of hate crimes has actually declined over the last ten years.

ACTION NEEDED: 

 

1.)  Pray for our nation as the hate crimes vote in the Senate is pending. 

 

2.)  Consider contacting Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and Senator Arlen Specter asking them to vote ‘No’ on S 1105.

  

 

3.)  Consider writing a letter to the editor expressing concern about the hate crimes bill. 

 

4.)   Feel free to forward this alert to other concerned Pennsylvanians.  If this alert is being forwarded to you by a friend, please feel free to sign up by sending an e-mail to info@afaofpa.org 

 

5.)  Please consider supporting the ongoing work of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania.  Make an online donation.

 

In His service,

 

Diane Gramley

President

American Family Association of PA

 

 

AFA of PA encourages Christians, through education, to become involved in pro-family issues in their community, state and the nation.

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