Men of Honor

[Nostradamus]

The important business of state had to take a back seat the other day as members of the US Congress were too busy calling each other names and getting kicked out of the Capitol.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92667,00.html

The uproar has to do with the blowout on Friday in the House Ways and Means committee room. At issue were both the acerbic leadership style of Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (search) and inflammatory remarks made by California Democrat Pete Stark (search) to some of his Republican colleagues.

Democrats are fuming because Thomas ordered Capitol police to kick out Dems who had retired to a nearby library in protest of the bill approval proceedings. They were angry Thomas got verbal approval for a bill the Democrats said they hadn't even seen.

Republicans justified the police involvement by saying they felt physically threatened. And they remained furious over Stark's outburst in reaction to the meeting, during which he called Thomas a "****sucker" and Republican Scott McInnis (search) a "wimp" and a "fruitcake." Some characterized the slurs as "anti-gay," though McInnis is married and, by all accounts, not gay.

Personally, I am nostalgic for the days when open brawling was common on the floor of the Congress and duels were an acceptable method of dispute resolution. At least when politicians are fighting each other, it is harder for them to screw the taxpayers.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Personally, I am nostalgic for the days when open brawling was common on the floor of the Congress and duels were an acceptable method of dispute resolution. At least when politicians are fighting each other, it is harder for them to screw the taxpayers.

Kinda makes you yearn for the fisticuffs in the Taiwanese and Korean government, eh?

[Nostradamus]

Or the Paliamentary riots of India, yes. Nothing like a good riot to break up a boring filibuster.

[starbug]

In the House of Commons (I'm sure you've seen this on TV) the two opposing sides sit in rows facing each other, with the cabinet on the front bench of each side.

There are two lines drawn on the floor, which the politicians are not meant to cross. The distance from one line to the other? The length of two swords... it was impossible for them to stab each other with their swords while arguing.

The tradition endures (not the swords, the rule that you don't cross the line towards the other side during a debate).

[Nostradamus]

Heh, I can totally see swordfighting in the Commons! I've often enjoyed the debates on BBC. British politics seem a bit more lively than most other nations.



...Meanwhile, the fun continues, this time in Japan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 097947.stm

The story has a really cool picture, which almost looks like a scene out of a Kung Fu action movie!

[ducksqueak]

If you go visit Capitol Hill, there is actually a tile that has been preserved (I forget exactly where.) because someone was beaten with a cane. The blood is there and everything. The tour guides even move to let you take a good pic.

[Nothingman]

I remember seeing a fight in Japan where the guy takes off his shoe and hits another guy before an all out riot ensues. All I could think of when I watched it was the original Austin Powers.

"Ouch, that really hurt! Who throws a shoe? Honestly?"

[Nostradamus]

If you go visit Capitol Hill, there is actually a tile that has been preserved (I forget exactly where.) because someone was beaten with a cane. The blood is there and everything. The tour guides even move to let you take a good pic.

That sounded familiar, so I did a quick search, and found two canings:

http://womhist.binghamton.edu/mcw/doc11.htm

In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was severely beaten on the Senate floor with a cane by Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina, who had been offended by Sumner’s remarks during a debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

http://www.swt.edu/cpm/hobbyscorner/sam_houston.html

The defendant was Sam Houston. The President was Andrew Jackson. The lawyer was Francis Scott Key.

The episode began on March 31, 1832, when Congressman William Stanbery of Ohio asked on the floor of the House "Was not the late Secretary of War removed because of his attempt fraudulently to give Governor Houston the contract for Indian rations?"

On the evening of April 13 Houston beat Stanbery with a hickory cane on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Stanbery drew his pistol and tried to shoot Houston. The pistol misfired. Had Stanbery known how to use a gun we might be living in northern Coahuila.