New Jersey makes the news

But, it's not in a way that one would hope. A state trooper on a regular maintenance flight discovered a swastika cut into a field: http://www.nbc10.com/news/14193066/detail.html.

If you look at the photo, this thing is cut fairly precisely. I have to wonder who would do something like this, and why. What motivates a person to cut an unquestioned symbol of hate (at least since WWII) into a field? I just don't get it.

YouTube

A twerp who posted a rant against French Canadians has had his video taken down by YouTube: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/05/31/qc-youtube.html. More ominously, he has been charged with committing a hate crime, despite not having actually done anything other than whine on his video.

I'd be willing to bet that if he had trashed some other group--let's call them ISRAELIS--nothing at all would have happened to him.

Beware Thought Crimes Legislation

Congress is all set to pass legislation which will extend federal protection to people who are victims of crimes based on their "race, religion, ethnicity", etc., etc.: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h1592eh.txt.pdf. Is anyone else out there as nervous about this as I am? Look, if someone goes out there and murders someone because the victim is Black or Jewish or female, does that make it any worse than if the crime was committed over money or a property dispute? Crimes are crimes, and crimes which the government classifies as "hate crimes" are a fraction of a percentage of criminal acts.

As well, how long do you think it will take before pressure groups (CAIR jumps immediately to mind) start using legislation such as this to silence those who are critical of them? "Don't like what I'm saying? You're a racist/homophobe/sexist!" If this bill gets passed, that's where we're heading. George Will has an excellent column on this bill which can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/11/AR2007051102133.html.

YouTube

YouTube can be an extremely fun tool for finding obscure videos or footage of things that we want to see. However, it can also be a powerful tool for disseminating hatred. Don't believe me? Check THIS out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPd3TxCNjPQ

Hate Crime?

Montreal police are loathe to call this one, but I have little doubt that that will turn out to be the case with this incident:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/04/04/qc-benweider20070404.html