A teen-aged lesbian couple living in a small Texas town were shot by an unknown assailant this past Friday. Mollie Olgin, 19, was dead at the scene, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, is in a local hospital in serious but stable condition.

Olgin's roommate told reporters the couple, who had been dating for about five months, hadn't received any threats or been harassed. (Portland, Texas Police) Chief (Randy) "Wright said that although the events did seem more like measured attacks than a random action, they were not currently investigating the murder as a hate crime."

Full story here.

Since Chief Wright has no suspects and the motive for this murder and attempted murder is thus not known for certain, his reticence to categorize it as a hate crime is understandable. However, Portland, Texas listeners can tune their radios to 88.5, KAYK, out of Victoria, Texas, Monday through Friday. One of the American Family Association's network of 200 stations in 35 states, KAYK features "Focal Point," a two-hour daily talk show hosted by Bryan Fischer, the AFA's "director of issue analysis" and one of the country's most strident opponents of what he calls "the homosexual-rights movement."

Fischer, profiled by Jane Mayer in the June 18 New Yorker, holds social and political positions Mayer describes as "far to the right of Fox News," and is dangerously obsessed with homosexuality. No one should be surprised if hate radio should bear, or has already borne, a bloody harvest. 

Well, sure, KBears, there's no legal grounds for suppressing this sort of thing. So I think the thing to do is simply call attention to where it can lead.

And has led. Do you remember that guy who got into a shootout with the cops on a freeway in Oakland, like a year or so back? He was on his way to San Francisco from the midwest somewhere, on a mission to shoot up the SF chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Tides Foundation. The only reason he didn't was because a cop tried to pull him over in Oaktown.

Later his mom told the police that he was obsessed with Glenn Beck, and hung on his every word. Beck, of course, was always ranting and chalkboarding about the ACLU and the Tides Foundation, and San Francisco.

Stuff like that should come with a health warning -- a mental health warning. Either that or we need to bring back the fairness doctrine, which would mean Bryan Fischer would have to have somebody like Dan Savage on his radio show as a guest some time.

The United States of America ranks as the world's 82nd most peaceful country. So I suggest migrating to a safer place. Canada ranks 8th. Cuba is 67th. Either of those would be an improvement for you. And they're close by.