I am sure, however, that Commissioner Corbin did not mean to imply that the murder of a straight white man should not be investigated, although I guess I can see why, if you read his sentence totally literally, you might think so.

What I believe Commissioner Corbin meant is that the murder of Mr. Provost should be investigated with a much-heightened awareness that this murder could have been motivated by bigotry. If Mr. Provost had been white and straight, the possibility that his murder would have been motivated by bigotry would be much smaller, and so the investigators would conduct the investigation with a different consciousness.

Commissioner Corbin is probably worried, as am I, that the military might ignore or even suppress any evidence that the murder of Mr. Provost was a hate crime.

Your right I am not African American, nor am I gay. I have however served in combat with and remain very close friends to several black men as well as gay men, and my own brother, also a veteran is homosexual.

My point is simple that regardless of color, gender, sexual preference the crime should and will be investigated so the statement:

“The fact that Provost is an African American and gay simply means that a full investigation into the motive of this crime is mandatory.”

In my opinion implies that it should only be fully investigated because the victim was black, when it should be investigated the exact same way regardless of the race involved. Ask yourself this, would this be such a hot subject if the race and sexual orientation been omitted from the article? Maybe, maybe not, but it does add a sense of outrage, and I am fully behind executing the person or persons involved, its a horrible crime.

Never once did I rule out that it was most likely hate driven, yet I simply wanted to point out how the media, instantly plants the “hate crime” seed, before any facts come out.

About 2 years ago a similar white on white crime was commented in San Clemente and it involved drugs, not race or hate, so let the investigators do their job before jumping the gun so to speak.

Everyone should send an email via the REAL White House web site, and demand an investigation.

And looking ahead to the next election: Bilbray needs to be voted out of office.

As stated before, a simple robbery or such would maybe an fight, shot, or simple battery. There was too many levels of violence. Whomever did this wanted Provost to suffer. Any crime profiler could tell you this.

Regardless of what one person wrote above, a politician can indeed go to the family of a murdered military person and at least offer their condolences to someone in their district.

I have to conclude, John, that you are neither black nor gay, because there are very few black people, gay or straight, and even fewer gay people, black or white, who would ever say such a thing. We know better, having witnessed the opposite of what you claim too many times to count.

John also said: “Outside involvement and assumption that it was a hate crime distort facts and can lead to the truth never being known.”

If you read Mr. Corbin’s column, you will see that he is at pains to state that we DON’T know whether or not August Provost’s murder was a hate crime. However, he most reasonable says, “The fact that Provost is an African American and gay simply means that a full investigation into the motive of this crime is mandatory.”

When someone is shot, bound, gagged, and repeatedly burned, we can be certain this is not a routine robbery. Powerful emotions are involved. Given the anti-gay bigotry allowed to flourish in the military and encouraged by many of our churches, and given the anti-black bigotry still encouraged by certain elements of our society, it is most reasonable to wonder if the emotions involved in this murder were fear and hatred.

Outside involvement and assumption that it was a hate crime distort facts and can lead to the truth never being known. As a veteran I can assure you that the persons responsible will be brought to justice, however in this country we fully investigate crimes and the accused has the right to a fair trail, however the only reason the media is dubbing this a “hate crime” is because it’s a better story and draws more attention than just “Sailior Killed”.

For example look at cnn and other sources current events, the funeral of Micheal Jackson is the headline story everyday, and buried in the news are storys like “1 Marine Killed in combat operations” or “Soldier still missing in afganistan”