Something about hate crime legislation seems shady to me... I'm not sure what it is, but there's SOMETHING.

I guess it's because you begin to probe the intent of the accused, and punish him based on what he was thinking. That seems a bit off to me.

For instance, on the mtv thing, they had several occasions where the crime was against a minority or a gay person, but there was no indication that it was due to their race or sexual orientation. To me, hate crimes legislation is heading into dangerous territory - when the government starts to try and figure out what people are thinking, and judge them on their thoughts. The crime, to me, should be enough on its own...

-thebigfunk