Why is it that liberals, self-proclaimed proponents of free speech (that’s what I like about them the most!) refuse to even mention Stanislav Shmulevich at Pace University in New York? In case you haven’t heard, this is what happened (to the best of my knowledge):
On October 13 and again on November 21, 2006, a Koran was found in a toilet at Pace’s lower Manhattan campus. These Korans were apparently taken out of Pace’s meditation room by Shmulevich, and chucked into the toilets. It is not clear whether these were given to him or whether he stole them. He’s currently facing charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes.
For an in-depth analysis of the charges, go here. Here’s a short summary:
For the charge of felony criminal mischief (third degree or higher), Schmulevich must have “damage[d] property of another person in an amount exceeding two hundred fifty dollars.” That’s one expensive Koran! For felony aggravated harassment (first degree), he must have damaged religious premises, or committed a second-degree aggravated harassment, with the added hate crime bonus based on intent. Maybe there was a holy shit in the holy toilet, but it seems to me the charges are ridiculous.
The problem is we have a lot of “thought police” running around these days. Check this out.
http://hatewatchhallofshame.blogspot.com/2007/07/more-lies-from-defenders-of-hate-crimes.html
The phony “Rev.” is bloviating about people who are exercising their first amendment rights to express political opinions; he thinks such expressions may be criminal.
His current blog entry suggests that those who contact Pace to register outrage that flushing a Koran is not a different crime from flushing a Harlequin Romance, are guilty of “Obstruction of Justice, Interfering with a Witness, Witness Intimidation, Harassment, Telephone Harassment, Tampering with Evidence”.
That’s right. If you protest that putting a Qur’an in the toilet is vandalism, but not a hate crime, in the phony Rev.’s world, you are a criminal.
What a good fascist he is.