1. Among the dead are casino gambling, home equity lending, a tougher hate crimes bill and looser no-smoking rules. 2. Benjamin Smith serves as the posthumous poster boy of the hate crimes bill. 3. Breaking an often-bitter, partisan impasse, the Senate on Monday approved a hate crimes bill that includes homosexuals among its protected groups. 4. A hate crimes bill suffered a setback in the Senate Tuesday as its supporters fell six votes short of defeating a move to stall it. 5. Bush has not said whether he would support a hate crimes bill, saying he views all violent crime as acts of hate. 6. Bush also opposes including sexual orientation, along with race and gender, as categories in a hate crimes bill that could be targeted for stiffer penalties. 7. Bush has been criticized by Democrats and activist groups for remaining on the sidelines during the weeklong debate of the hate crimes bill. 8. But efforts to agree on a hate crimes bill have had less success. 9. But the House voted down a hate crimes bill of its own last spring, and the Senate measures never survived a conference with the House. 10. Democrats maintained the Republican leadership simply had no appetite for a hate crimes bill and were threatening to attach dozens of controversial amendments on such issues as abortion. |