http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2399
By Rev. Ted Pike
Sen. Kennedy’s hate crime amendment, approved by the U.S. House and Senate, was stripped from the National Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 1585, midday Thursday.
Congressional Quarterly reports that support for the arms/hate bill bureau had so eroded in the House that Democrats were forty votes short of passage.
This great victory confirms that massive last-minute opposition from the evangelical and far right may well have powerfully helped defeat it. Sens. Kennedy and Smith may attempt to revive it as stand-alone legislation after the first of the year. But its rejection by Conference greatly increases the likelihood that we can defeat it again – if lovers of freedom continue to protest loudly.Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watchdog organization.
http://www.truthtellers.org/alerts/hatebilldefeated2.htm