Don't Let Me Stop You: Crime and Punishment

We hear lots of talk about "Hate Speech" these days, with the Left eager to hang that label on anyone who disagrees with some aspect of the Sacred Dogma of Liberalism. You don't hear so much about "Thoughtcrime;" it got a bad reputation back in 1984. Still, the Hate Speech term has rehabilitated the Thoughtcrime concept nicely. As Mark Steyn explains:

So what is a "priority crime"? Well, the other day, the author Lynette Burrows went on a BBC Five Live show to talk about the government's new "civil partnerships" and expressed her opinion - politely, no intemperate words - that the adoption of children by homosexuals was "a risk". The following day, Fulham police contacted her to discuss the "homophobic incident". A Scotland Yard spokesperson told the Telegraph's Sally Pook that it's "standard policy" for "community safety units" to investigate "homophobic, racist and domestic incidents" because these are all "priority crimes" - even though, in the case of Mrs Burrows, there is (to be boringly legalistic about these things) no crime, as even the zealots of the Yard concede. "It is all about reassuring the community," said the very p.c. Plod to the Telegraph. "All parties have been spoken to by the police. No allegation of crime has been made. A report has been taken but is now closed."

Oh, well, then nothing to worry about. No one was intimidated or threatened in any way for having a different opinion than the Liberal Orthodoxy. She was just questioned about "the incident" and a report about her is now in the government files. If this had happened to the Dixie Chicks, Amnesty International would have blown a gasket.

We happen to think that leaving a child unadopted, in perpetual foster care is also "a risk," possibly a greater risk than being adopted by a gay couple. Still, how can anyone think this kind of law is anything but outrageous?