Posted on 06/10/2005 5:06:48 PM PDT by Pikamax
c By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago
The Republican chairman walked off with the gavel, leaving Democrats shouting into turned-off microphones at a raucous hearing Friday on the Patriot Act.
The House Judiciary Committee hearing, with the two sides accusing each other of being irresponsible and undemocratic, came as President Bush was urging Congress to renew those sections of the post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism law set to expire in September.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the panel, abruptly gaveled the meeting to an end and walked out, followed by other Republicans. Sensenbrenner declared that much of the testimony, which veered into debate over the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, was irrelevant.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., protested, raising his voice as his microphone went off, came back on, and went off again.
"We are not besmirching the honor of the United States, we are trying to uphold it," he said.
Democrats asked for the hearing, the 11th the committee has held on the act since April, saying past hearings had been too slanted toward witnesses who supported the law. The four witnesses were from groups, including Amnesty International USA and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, that have questioned the constitutionality of some aspects of the act, which allows law enforcement greater authority to investigate suspected terrorists.
Nadler said Sensenbrenner, one of the authors of the Patriot Act, was "rather rude, cutting everybody off in mid-sentence with an attitude of total hostility."
Tempers flared when Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind., accused Amnesty International of endangering the lives of Americans in uniform by referring to the prison at Guantanamo Bay as a "gulag." Sensenbrenner didn't allow the Amnesty representative, Chip Pitts, to respond until Nadler raised a "point of decency."
Sensenbrenner's spokesman, Jeff Lungren, said the hearing had lasted two hours and "the chairman was very accommodating, giving members extra time."
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, speaking immediately after Sensenbrenner left, voiced dismay over the proceedings. "I'm troubled about what kind of lesson this gives" to the rest of the world, he told the Democrats remaining in the room.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, in a statement, said the hearing was an example of Republican abuse of power and she would ask House Speaker Dennis Hastert to order an apology from Sensenbrenner.
___
No luck, just God's grace.
Yeah, I saw it .. it was great.
The light just went on in my head as to why you want to bring up the SCOTUS ruling and pot stuff into this thread... MIGHT you be suggesting.. the Dems are on drugs? Went into the meeting high on pot? And that's why they couldn't focus on THE ISSUE TO BE discussed; but only those issues surrounding their current "focus"? Like, you are showing us through posting, without directly expressing what you are really trying to say?
Rude? This, coming from a member of the party of obstruction?"
These idiots do not see any thing wrong with their actions.
They actually think they're right and 80% of Americans are wrong.
FLASH ALERT: Patriot Act is directly tied specifically to this WOT.
OOOPSY---Her Majesty, Queen Lee!!!
I just want to smack her .. she is so rude and arrogant.
What an idiot she is
Race care alert---race card alert!
Here's more...
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.
"One of the things that our agency's responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation's financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications," she said.
Looks pretty official to me.
But go ahead and pretend that these types of abuses don't occur, if it makes you feel safer...that's all that really matters anyways....you "feel" safer.
Grace and lots of efforts by people working tp protect us.
I got an e-mail from Senator Frist's office today shall I send it to you?
Where did I bring up the SCOTUS ruling.
Are you on drugs, or just naturally ignorant?
There have been stories in the local newspapers in the past about how much the airlines HATE to have her on their flights...
She acts like she doesn't have to go through normal checkpoints, which I am sure she thinks are beneath her..
and she is totally rude to the flight attendents..
The old, "Do you know who I am", type treatment!
I would love it!!!! thanks!
I object to Lee being refered to as the "Gentlwoman" from Texas.
I sent it private!
My daughter works for a New York law firm dealing exclusively with copyright infringement and how the money is funneled to terrorists. Some of the facts would astound you.
Oh, boy, here it comes---Sensenbrenner's last statement!!!
If that requires a second, then I second the objection!
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