| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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House Democrats Storm Out of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Calls Capitol Police to Restore Order By Juliette Eilperin and Albert B. Crenshaw Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, July 18, 2003; 4:06 PM Months of political tension in the House of Representatives erupted into open warfare today when Democrats stormed out of a Ways and Means Committee session and the panel's chairman called in the Capitol Police. The day began with a fairly ordinary procedural fight over an otherwise-innocuous pension bill. Committee Democrats complained that the Republican majority had not given them enough time to review a substitute bill that they had received shortly before midnight Thursday. Most of the Democrats then moved to a nearby library to plot strategy after they demanded that Republicans read the legislation line by line. Infuriated, Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) instructed the Capitol Police to remove the Democrats from the ornate library. Republicans said Democrats were being disorderly and did not have the right to occupy the libary. After the one remaining Ways and Means Democrat got in a spat with a GOP committee member, Thomas dispensed with the reading of the bill altogether and pushed through the legislation, without a single Democratic vote. The dispute highlights how rapidly relations between Democrats and Republicans have deteriorated in recent months. Virtually shut out from legislating and chafing over repeated procedural slights, House Democrats have adopted combative tactics to draw attention to what they see as Republican heavy-handedness. By any standards, today represented a low point in the history of congressional comity. Democrats accused the GOP of running a police state; Republicans recounted how one Democratic member of the panel called a Republican colleague "you little fruitcake" in the midst of the standoff. The blowup occurred as the panel began to mark up a wide-ranging pension bill sponsored by Reps. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.). The changes narrowed the original bill, but retained most of its key provisions. Ranking Democrat Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.) immediately complained about the timing, saying the measure was not on the House calendar for next week and there was no need to rush. But Thomas refused to put action off. At that point, the Democrats objected to a normally perfunctory motion to dispense with the reading of the 200-page original bill and the 91-page substitute. Thomas ruled that reading of the original could be dispensed with since it had been distributed weeks ago, but conceded that the Democrats could demand a line-by-line reading of the substitute. The reading began, with Thomas interrupting at one point to say loudly, "In the House, the minority can delay. They cannot deny." When the Democrats left for the library, Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.) stayed behind to prevent the Republicans from obtaining unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. After several minutes, Thomas again asked unanimous consent to dispense with the reading, and instantly brought down his gavel. Stark said later that he had objected, and Thomas had replied, "You're too late." Thomas then recognized Portman for an opening statement on the bill. Stark attempted to make a "parliamentary inquiry," and Thomas ignored him. Stark then joined the other Democrats in the nearby room. With no Democrats present, Thomas and the rest of the Republicans approved the substitute and then the final bill unanimously by voice vote and adjourned. Committee Democrats, meanwhile, held court with the press next door. Sitting under a gilded ceiling and surrounded by cases of tax books, more than a dozen members recounted how they had been slighted by the GOP. The lone Capitol Police officer dispatched to the scene surveyed the situation and consulted with his superior, who in turn appealed to the Sergeant at Arms office. Sergeant at Arms representative Don Kellaher slipped into the room less than 45 minutes later, saying his office decided "this is a committee matter" and would take no action. Rather than concluding the fracas, however, this simply emboldened House Democrats. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) used a point of personal privilege to introduce a resolution on the House floor protesting the incident. This set in motion a heated debate this afternoon, in which each side accused the other of debasing Congress as an institution. The measure before the committee would make a number of changes to the nation's pension and retirement-saving system, including acceleration of increases in various contribution limits enacted in 2001 and scheduled to be phased in over the next five years. Under it, individuals would be able to contribute an annual maximum to $15,000 to a 401(k) plan and $5,000 to an IRA, beginning next year. People aged 50 and over could contribute even more. Including these and other provisions, the bill would cost the government $10.3 billion over the next five years. |
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01. External Pinto fuel tank not properly retrofitted. 02. International Space Station's Russian Cosmonauts report Shuttle hydraulic fluid at least 90 proof. 03. Inflight feature, "Jackass: The Movie," did not have "Do not attempt stunt during re-entry" warning. 04. Nasa issued Shuttle crew SP 875 sunscreen "just in case." 05. Malfunction of Yemen's "Microgravitational effects on C4" science module. 06. Lockheed Fischer-Price merger not working out. 07. Excessive mold on tile grout caused heat shield failure. 08. Al Jazera: Israeli astronaut tried to call in sick morning of Shuttle return. 09. Freeze-dried Cherries Jubilee now officially off Nasa's space menu. 10. Revolutionary Flubber propulsion system still somewhat buggy. 11. Do not take Shuttle into "Mr. Heat Shield" for service if Earl is on duty. |
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Check it out, it's worth a look. |
Christian movie reviews with morality ratings! |
"Gigli -- Stale romantic comedy about a low-level leg-breaker (Ben Affleck) who falls for a beautiful lesbian mob enforcer (Jennifer Lopez) hired to assist him in kidnapping a federal prosecutor's mentally handicapped brother. Lopez and Affleck exhibit more fizzle than sizzle in this overhyped clunker written and directed by Martin Brest, full of forced lewd humor and fueled by a distorted suggestion that sexuality is a malleable social construct and a casual endorsement of homosexual activity. A sexual encounter, excessive sexually explicit and rough language, as well as profanity and brief strong violence. O -- morally offensive. (R) 2003" |
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Religion Andrei Rublev (1969) Babette's Feast (1988) Ben-Hur (1959) The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Francesco (1989) The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966) La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ (1905) A Man for All Seasons (1966) The Mission (1986) Monsieur Vincent (1947) Nazarin (1958) Ordet (1954) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) The Sacrifice (1986) Therese (1986) Values Au Revoir les Enfants (1988) The Bicycle Thief (1949) The Burmese Harp (1956) Chariots of Fire (1981) Decalogue (1988) Dersu Uzala (1978) Gandhi (1982) Intolerance (1916) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) On the Waterfront (1954) Open City (1945) Schindler's List (1993) The Seventh Seal (1956) The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) Wild Strawberries (1958) Art Citizen Kane (1941) 8 1/2 (1963) Fantasia (1940) Grand Illusion (1937) La Strada (1956) The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) The Leopard (1963) Little Women (1933) Metropolis (1926) Modern Times (1936) Napoleon (1927) Nosferatu (1922) Stagecoach (1939) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
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I really want to see this movie. |
I want to see it, and this is the sole reason: its all in Latin and Aramaic. I LOVE shit like that. I could care less about the content. Of course, there's all that concern about it being anti-semitic, and Gibson does belong to that radical wing of the Catholic church that rejects Vatican II and still thinks Jews as a whole are responsible for the death of jesus... |
I've been to a Latin mass of the kind that Gibson attends (he's got his own priest on his estate). In a normal, post-Vatican II mass, the priest faces you and prays out loud and you respond out loud and follow along with the ceremony nicely. In the Latin Tridentine rite, the priest has his back to you and most of the service is silent (what is spoken out loud, even the bible readings, is in Latin, naturally). I thought hearing the Latin was cool and all, but the congregation does nothing to participate so you feel left out. I didn't like it. When's the movie supposed to be released? I can keep an eye out for their review... |
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"The film has also been criticised by a group of Catholic scholars, who saw an early version of the script and complained it was anti-Catholic as well as anti-Semitic." Interesting. |
I'm pretty excited to see "Passion". Has it even found distribution yet, though? Christianity is anti-Semitic when you define anti-Semitism so loosely. An accurate portrayal of the Gospels is going to involve Jewish people condeming Jesus. That is the story as written and likely what happened regardless of how PC people became in Vatican II. But hey, an accurate portrayal is also going to have a Jewish person saving the whole fucking world. Did anyone cry foul when Schindler's list came out portraying German people committing atrocities? |
We need to see the movie before we can understand where the accusations of anti-semitism are coming from. Maybe there's an epilogue that says Jewish people need to pay for the death of Christ until the end of the world...who knows. |
What I've read from people who have seen the movie along with Gibson's goal in making the film, leaves me with the impression that movie is accurate to the story as presented in the four canon Gospels. I'm looking forward to it. I hope it gets theater distribution and doesn't go straight to DVD. |
The elves have left the north pole The reindeer all have fled Ink black coal in all your stockings Santa Claus is dead Undead Undead Undead A coroner says Claus died of an apparent heart attack. He was 59. |