would write something similar to express my points of view.
Regarding the main story, I would say that "hate crimes" in general is a dangerous way to go in crafting laws.
Carving out specially protected classes and groups of people such that crimes against these people trigger an additional crime against the perpetrator that would not kick in if the same crime was committed against another person who wasn't in any of these special governmentally designated classes.
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=16656977