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[10 Sep 2008|01:14am] |
Who: Jack
NPCs: flowers?
When: thursday
Where: xaviers - aeryn's greenhouse
What: eating aeryn's rare orchids
Rating & Warnings: " u "
( BURP )
[ Closed ]
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| New York Times, Page 3 |
[10 Sep 2008|09:37pm] |
MERA Stalls in House Amid Lackluster Support
Two Arrested in Attack on Anti-Mutant Legislator
While publicity and protest continues to build around the subject of the Mutant Equal Rights Act, action on the legislation has stalled in the House where procedural votes may delay the bill indefinitely. Today on the floor of the House a motion to move the act up on the procedural agenda failed to garner enough votes, meaning it could linger without discussion and possibly be bumped until next legislative session.
Political analyst Bill Windt says the act has many supporters in the House, but not enough to push it to the forefront of the legislative agenda. And he suggests that many representatives are happy to leave it on the backburner and keep themselves out of the limelight.
"Mutant rights is the type of issues politicians want to stay away from. Championing it gains them votes only among a small minority, may scare of mainstream voters, and gives their opponents political ammunition if the movement should backfire. Most politicians are going to stay quiet on the issue, in order to avoid coming out on a losing side. You will have a few vocal politicians who make it their pet issue one way or the other. But the recent incident with Representative Billingham shows that there is danger in sticking your neck out."
Windt references the recent attack on Alabama Representative, Axel Billingham. A vocal opponent of the equal rights act, he was recently attacked outside of his home in Mobile, and his car vandalized. The suspects are said to be mutants angry about his public statements, which included a suggestion that all mutants should be identified and labeled. Billingham has been released from the hospital and the suspects are under custody.
Supporters of the MERA say their fight is long from over, and that they hope to generate enough public support for the bill to encourage politicians to take up the cause. "Politicians follow where the people lead, and if they begin to feel the wind shift they'll start lining up to put their name on it," suggests a New York member of the Friends of Mutants. Sponsors of the bill in the House of Representatives say they will bring the topic back up for a vote next week.
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