Crime Expert BURL BARER. Edgar Award Winner and NYT Bestselling Author

Hate Crimes: What's Next? "Intense Dislike" Misdemeanors?

I've been attacked for being a Jew. I have been attacked for being a Baha'i.  I have been attacked for being an advocate of race unity. I have been attacked for the money in my wallet.  Getting beat up doesn't feel less painful if the motive is robbery. A crime is a crime.  A felony is a felony.  

The US History Encyclopedia states:  Hate crime statutes raise a number of serious policy and legal questions. Some critics believe that hate crime statutes pose serious First Amendment difficulties by distinguishing among criminals based on their beliefs. Other critics charge that the statutes are unconstitutionally vague or send the inappropriate message that crimes committed for reasons other than bias are not as serious. Supporters of hate crime statutes assert that the constitutional concerns can be surmounted and that the statutes are necessary to make clear society's strong belief that bias-motivated crimes are particularly detrimental to the social fabric.

ALL VIOLENCE is detrimental to the social fabric! Gee, in the Mafia movies, when they kill you they say "this is nothing personal. You understand, it is strictly business"

Maybe we need "business crimes of violence" legislation?

Prosecutors have never had to prove motive, only  guilt beyond reasonable doubt.  Now must they establish and prove hateful motive plus guilt?

I recall that after 9/11, some outraged idiot ran down to the local convenience store to extract vengance!! Yep, America is attacked by Saudi Arabians (their govt is our good friend) so this guy MURDERS a fellow American of the Sikh faith from India working at the mini-mart. Is that a hate crime? He didn't hate Sikhs. He didn't hate people from India. He hated the dead guys who killed themselves when they crashed those planes.  If there was Hate Crime legislation would the prosecutor argue that the murder of an American born in India who followed the Sikh religious heritage was a hate crime against Saudi Arabians gone wrong?  The whole concept is screwy to me.

Who are the big victims of "Hate Crimes" in the USA?  Well, guess what...it ain't Jews, Blacks, homosexuals, pentasexuals, midgets, mexicans or the disabled....it is....the homeless.

The Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino in conjunction with the NCH found that 155 homeless people were killed by non-homeless people in "hate killings", while 76 people were killed in all the other traditional hate crime homicidecategories such as race and religion, combined.^[43] The CSHE contends that negative and degrading portrayals of the homeless contribute to a climate where violence takes place.

With MILLIONS of Americans homeless, this may be a new sport.

As Bob Dylan said, "Some people don't hate nuthin' at all except hatred"  or maybe he said he was tired and was going to take a nap.

Burl

Thirty years of state sponsored repression in Iran for the Baha’i community.

(This was originally posted on 14 Feb 2009 at Antipodes Baha'i Studies) 

The Islamic revolution which installed Ayatollah Ruhullah Khomeini in power attains its 30 year anniversary this month. For much of that time the Iranian Baha’i community along with other ethnic and social minorities in that republic have suffered official opprobation, quasi judicial executions, systematic social exclusion and shunning, destruction of cemeteries and holy places, disenfranchisement from educational institutions, campaigns of propaganda and disinformation in what amounts to cultural genocide. This situation in Iran has been well documented through the efforts of the Baha’is themselves through their engagement with the United Nations system and a host of human rights agencies and activists as well as academics interested in documenting and researching the plight of the Bahai’is in Iran. The Baha’i community published several years ago a document and online resource called The Baha’i Question: Cultural Cleansing in Iran . This has been updated in late 2008 and is an excellent review of the range of deprivations and insecurities inflicted upon the Baha’i community of Iran since 1979. This document can be dowloaded well as read online.

One of the agencies which has been endeavouring to document the unfolding events in Iran is the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in New Haven Connecticut. This organisation has produced a new report in addition to two substantial prior reports. This legal report complements two earlier IHRDC publications documenting the Islamic Republic’s state-sponsored campaign of persecution against its Bahá’ís citizens: A Faith Denied The Persecution of the Bahá’ís of Iran (2006) and Community Under Siege: The Ordeal of the Bahá’ís of Shiraz . The two prior reports meticulously present facts surrounding the targeting, unlawful arrest, prolonged detention, torture and summary execution of nearly 207 Bahá’ís since 1979. The first report provides an overview of the abuses of the Bahá’ís in Iran both historically and since the founding of the Islamic Republic. The second report is an in-depth case study of one particularly notorious instance of persecution. The instant companion for the earlier reports provides a brief legal analysis of the abuses documented therein, and argues that the acts committed against Iran’s Bahá’ís conflict with the principles of common humanity under international criminal law and amount to crimes against humanity. Individual Iranian officials may be subject to liability, now or in the future, for crimes against humanity in various courts. The new report, Crimes Against Humanity: The Islamic Republic’s Attacks on the Bahá’ís (2008) is available online from the IHRDC.

The Human Rights Watch organization recently issued its World Report 2009. This almanac of the status of human rights in nation-states across the globe was issued on January 14, 2009. The Iran section of the report includes reference to the Baha’i situation. The United Nations Secretary General, reported on the general human rights situation in Iran to the General Assembly, Report of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran (October 2008), which brought to attention, once again, the long-standing issues affecting the Baha’is of Iran.

Meeting in the Ladies Room -- no homicides please!

You're listening to our interview with  Stacy Dittrich broadcast December 19th on OutlawRadio.tv

 <<< Yes, that's Stacy. She spilled more proverbial beans in her live interview than she perhaps originally intended. Listen and learn about killer cops and endemic corruption.

On a more inspiring note,

 "Meeting in the Ladies Room" is the perfect gift for any woman!    http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1044138

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~Alisa Burke, Artist and Author of Canvas Remix

Yes, Karen and Linda are sisters, and two of my sister's four literary off-spring. All four have new books out in time for holiday gift giving.  Lee Goldberg has a new Mr. Monk book, and Tod Goldberg has "Other Resort Cities."

As for me, MURDER IN THE FAMILY was recently re-released, and nothing says Happy Holidays like a MOM SAID KILL coffee mug!

THE ROAD OUT OF HELL -- Anthony Flacco LIVE Saturday 2pm pacific

 Anthony Flacco, author of the new bestseller,The Road out of Hell, joins us 2pm Pacific Time on Saturday Dec. 12th, along with famed comedian Ritch Shydman and "American Horrors" producer/director Hart D. Fisher, two famous men who, like the protagonist in Flacco's astonishing book about the Chicken Ranch murders (as in the movie Changeling,) overcame trauma and severe challenges on their road to success and happiness.  Scary, creepy but ultimately inspiring, this will be one of our best shows ever!!!

LISTEN LIVE SATURDAY 2pm Pacific, 4pm Central, 5pm Eastern and 10pm UK time! <<just click that link to listen live...or find us on Itunes.

Road Out of Hell

 Dec 19th,  Stacy Dittrich joins Burl, Don, Hart and Ritch to cheer us all up with her book about cops who kill!!  EEEEEEEEEEEEk

CAPTURE THE SAINT now in KINDLE EDITION!

 The first all new adventure of the famous Simon Templar since 1983's Salvage for the Saint finds our Robin Hood of Modern Crime pursuing dangerous criminals and beautiful women with equal passion.

Approved by the Estate of Leslie Charteris, CAPTURE THE SAINT has garnered rave reviews world wide -- and is now available in an exclusive KINDLE edition from Amazon.com for $1.99

If you have KINDLE, this is the perfect addition to your Kindle library...

"Sparkling wit, grand adventure, high style -- Burl Barer's Capture the Saint brings back Simon Templar in all his glory." -- Lee Goldberg, author of the MONK books.