Next Item...

So, we've beaten the Limbaugh thing about to death, to the point almost of "wag the dog" (So what is going on with Iran and Israel, Syria, gas prices, the stock market, real unemployment, yada yada...) and it is time to see what the next controversy is. By the way, have you noticed in this day of the internet how quickly something can blow up to a size totally out of proportion to its importance?

The next thing is local, and it is a bit more important than Rush, but it is another lap around the same mountain--the mountain of race. I am, of course, referring to the story of the 13 year old boy that was burned when he was set on fire reportedly on Tuesday, February 28 as the victim was walking home from school in his northeast neighborhood. First reports of the incident came out over the weekend, and it has been linked on Drudge and picked up in the U.K.

There are still a lot of questions about the case and some are doubting the veracity of the victim's report. Apart from that aspect of simply investigating to see if a crime indeed did occur, a debate has come out about whether or not this is a "hate crime." Now, I really find the entire concept of "hate crime" sort of silly. If a crime was committed, it was committed. It is pretty hard to determine a suspect's state of mind when a crime was committed. Does a crime need the "hate" intensifier? Then we get all this BS that hate crimes can't be committed against the "majority race". Hate crime laws are one of those things that sound good at first, but when you apply logic, they rapidly stop making any sense.

Think about it: someone has to pick out what someone was thinking during the commission of a crime. If the victim is being truthful, a crime has been committed indeed. Attempted murder, assault, etc. are possible charges. If the victim is lying, and he made up the story to cover up something else, then he can be charged with making a false report. It is imperative that there be a thorough and impartial investigation into this incident and a search for the two other parties involved. Once all the facts are in, then prosecute the crime that happened. I am not trying to minimize the event--it is horrible enough as it stands on its own--regardless of which way it falls. How horrible is it to put fire on another, live human being? Or to be at a point where you would put fire to your own skin?

Not everything has to be about race all the time. That is the mountain we keep going around and around, like the people of Moses in the Old Testament. A lot of people filter a lot of life through the funnel of racial matters. The "hate crime" laws are just one example. Trick laws that look so good on a casual peek turn out just to be just another way to divide and separate us; just another way to pick at the scabs of all the hurts of acts of prejudice and racism over all the years. How in the world are we ever be able to come together if we erect all these laws that major in pointing out differences?

Find the crime, gather evidence, prosecute as indicated.