Beck, Napolitano push for hate crime charges in Gladney case
November 30, 2009 6:50 pm ET
From the November 30 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:
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They also used to always say that they hated "identity politics" but they've gotten pretty good at playing those too. Watch for them to become faux peaceniks now that Obama is committed to Afghanistan.
If Mr. Gladney was beaten and called ugly racial names, then I have the lease to the moon to sell ya! It is obvious that the video camera, with its microphone (which pretty much picked up just about every sound in the area) must have been set not to pick up racially motivated words... because I did not hear any.
But since conservative/right-wings/Republicans are notorious for being racially sensitive... oh never mind
The Young Turks did a fine job of describing this 'vicious attack" brilliantly...
The fight actually was winding down when the video started. The major battle had already happened at that point, so it's not wonder that the tail end of the fight didn't show the things that happened earlier.
It's well known now that the video only captured the very end of the fight. Maybe it wasn't known when Cenk made this 10 minute clip. I don't know. But in any case, you shouldn't give this link much weight at all.
Based upon interviews with many people AND Gladney's hospital records, he was hurt. Not very badly, clearly - he was walking around fine when his adrenaline was still coursing through him, but later, he was taken to the hospital, and there are records.
Now, don't get me wrong - I think that Gladney is a fool and that it's quite possible that he started the fight, and I know for sure that it's not some grand conspiracy, nor was it a hate crime. But you shouldn't pooh-pooh it just because of this video, because the video didn't capture the real meat of the fight.
First he sets out be the next Martin Luther king Jr by giving a speech at the same exact location on the anniverary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.
NOW he is taking the place of Al Sharpton as the defender of black folks who get their a$$es whupped in public.
As a black woman I mut be honest here: Beck is starting to remind me of Jim Jones. Between his Tea Bagging 912ing followers and the black conservatives who do indeed buy into his bs Beck is leading them all down a dangerous path- he may not give them poisoned Kool Aide but what he is poisoning their minds with is just as dangerous
And Gladney was hurt, and at one point in time was apparently on the ground. He wasn't hurt badly enough to have an ambulance be called, but he was taken by someone to the hospital and showed up at a later event in a wheelchair with an ace bandage around his knee if I recall correctly.
We don't know how badly he was hurt, but it wasn't too bad - but you don't have to hurt anyone at all to be accused of assault.
The charges against these two are very limited - they're lesser than misdemeanor charges, and based upon the testimony of Gladney and some of his friends.
Elston McCowan, 47, of St. Louis, and Perry Molens, 50, of De Soto, each were charged with assaulting a person and interfering with police. They are accused of scuffling with and injuring Kenneth Gladney in a clash of opinions over the Democrats’ universal health care proposals.
Reached about his own case, Molens said, "These charges are ridiculous." He added, "All I was doing was coming to the help of a friend. I don’t know what evidence they’re basing this on."
Molens said McCowan, who could not be reached for comment, was defending himself and he was defending McCowan.
"I’ll plead not guilty," Molens said. "I didn’t do anything."
I know that this will shock all of you, but Judge Napolitano doesn't know what he's talking about WRT federal hate crimes legislation. He said "if you assault someone and express hatred for their race at the same time you assault them, you can be indicted for a felony {hate crime}...."
The FBI says a hate crime is "a criminal offense committed against a person, property or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin."
The 1994 law says a hate crime is "a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person."
There's a difference between hating someone and attacking him because you hate him for things he can't control, like his national origin or his sexual preference, and attacking someone and then, while you're physically attacking them, throwing out some verbal attacks on their national origin or their sexual preferences. The first is a hate crime. The second is just an assault.
THe motivation of the attacker is important here. I've made a similar point before - intent is important when looking at someone's actions!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBdbTVUeay8
Also, Fairliberal, can we now put you down as being in favor of hate crimes legislation?
I'm assuming that you didn't know that it wasn't even the major part of the fight, and I'm not assuming that you're lying, but please don't continue to push this false story that this video shows the whole fight. It doesn't.
However, what it shows of the aftermath is relevant. If it was the vicious beating that some on the right are portraying it as, then Gladney would not have been bouncing around after like he clearly was in the tape ("adrenaline" or no). Any injuries he may have sustained were clearly, at worst, superficial. Thanks for not assuming that I am "lying."
There, Faily, I fixed it to say what you really meant.
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/faking-victimhood-just-how-hurt-was
If he gets beat down then why was he a wheelchair the next time we see this man?? LOL! Good luck Becky and Napo! LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROn_9302UHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBdbTVUeay8
Please compare the brutality of the King tape to the at best scuffle in the Gladney tape.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Bailo_Diallo
Hell, Abner Louima -- who was brutally sodomized, beaten and threatened with murder by policeman Justin Volpe (who confessed his crimes) -- also got to be mocked by Sean Hannity.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200406280003?f=s_search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima#Criminal_trials
There was an incident just a few miles from me recently where some Nazi skinheads went into a mostly Latino neighborhood to beat up some Mexicans. It didn't work out that way, the racist crusaders got their butts kicked and are being charged with hate crimes.
One piece of evidence used in the trial was from one of the defendants appearing on a racist internet radio show (yeah, I didn't know there was such a thing either), and his quote was, I believe;
"How can it be a hate crime when you love doing it so much ?"
I give him points for at least being more honest than most of these right wing closet racists.
In this case, Why are scientists trying to fool the world into believing global warming thereby risking their careers and reputations in the process? And if this is all a hoax, how did the scientific community achieve the state of appearing in strong consensus that global warming is real and man-made? Im sorry but these two questions must be answered and answered satisfactorily before anyone should ever believe would FOX news is trying to sell its viewers. Not only have neither question been answered but such answers have completely eluded the FOX pundits.
It doesn't make any sense, of course. "Government control" generally translates to "Wingnuts fear taking responsibility". And there's already big money to be made in oil / energy, and any credible scientist who had real research refuting Climate Change would be sitting on a gold mine.