Obama to sign hate crimes bill Wednesday afternoon, my clock to go up Wednesday night

Finally on Wednesday afternoon at 4:45 p.m., a bit of justice will prevail:

President Obama will sign lgbt inclusive hate crimes legislation into law

President Obama intends to sign into law Wednesday a long-sought hate crimes protection measure as part of a major defense bill, according to an administration source.

The president plans to pen his name to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, which includes a provision known as the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The measure would make illegal hate crimes based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, among other categories, and would allow the Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of such crimes.


And in related news, my online countdown clock will go up Wednesday night.

For those not in the know, allow me to explain.

Religious right groups and their cohorts have been spreading the lie that this new law attacks free speech. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they say it will lead to such things as pastors not being able to say that homosexuality is a sin for fear of being arrested for hate crimes violation.

My clock will serve as a reminder of just how inaccurate this claim is.

It will show how long it takes from Obama signing the legislation to a pastor getting arrested for merely preaching that homosexuality is a sin.

Of course no pastor will ever be arrested for simply preaching that homosexuality is a sin and that's the point of my clock - to show the inaccuracy of this claim.

And on a larger scale, I want to demonstrate just how ugly and empty the tactics religious right groups use to scare people of faith.

Lastly, I hope to challenge the lgbt community to be more assertive in refuting religious right lies.

Just think - if they are wrong about this claim (and they are), just what else are they wrong about? What lies are they getting away with because we haven't been aggressive enough in challenging them?

The only problem I've run into is trying to find an html program of an online clock. I used to have the sites saved but can't seem to find them now.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.