Does Anybody See the Bias?

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oldfart

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In The Oregonian for Saturday, June 26, there was an article about the use of "an obscenity" by the Vice President in an incident at the Senate. As a sidebar to the main story, to show that such behavior isn't unheard of, there was a list of previous incidents within the halls of Congress. This list started with a duel in 1793 where one congressman killed another. Further down, there was this tidbit:

1850s: A pistol in a house member's desk accidentally went off, and instantly "there were 30 or 40 pistols in the air," recalled a member who was present.

I hate it when that happens. Pistols should have more sense than to operate in an unsafe manner. It had obviously stored itself improperly. Fortunately, even though all those other "30 or 40 pistols" were frightened, cooler heads prevailed and senseless bloodshed was avoided.
 
Our governmental officials have gotten somewhat wussified from the Old Days. There used to be an armed Sergeant on the floor of the House and the Senate (there might still be). In the old days, one of his duties was breaking up fights that broke out.

Imagine that, though. Legislators carrying personal weapons during a session of Congress. If only our country were such that such behavior wasn't considered strange...

It certainly set the US apart from the Parliaments of Europe, I'll tell you...
 
In the old days, one of his duties was breaking up fights that broke out.
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That sounds like the British House of Commons. Every time I hear something from there on the nooz (usually NPR) it sounds pretty raucous.
 
Given that the pistols in question used percussion caps, it seems to me that an actual accidental discharge isn't beyond the scope of possibility.
 
lee n. field
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Location: Peoples Republic of Illinois
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quote: In the old days, one of his duties was breaking up fights that broke out.



That sounds like the British House of Commons. Every time I hear something from there on the nooz (usually NPR) it sounds pretty raucous.
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The Government and Opposition benches are two sword-lengths apart, specifically to stop them fighting each other :D
 
Fisticuffs at Congress - legislators worth watching.

Too bad there wasn't any TV back in the 1800s when a Southern Gentlemen caned his Northern counterpart.
 
That sounds like the British House of Commons. Every time I hear something from there on the nooz (usually NPR) it sounds pretty raucous.
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Prime Minister's Question Time on C-SPAN. It's quite a show. The Prime Minister stands before parliament while MPs throw some very tough questions at him. Sometimes I think there might actually be a fist fight. Mostly he answers on the fly, sometime he consults a big three ring binder with some notes in it. Domestic British politics aside, it will give you a whole new respect for Tony Blair. I recommend everyone check it out at least once, usually Sunday evenings, but the C-SPAN website will have a schedule.
 
Black Powder sometimes went unstable if stored improperly...as in, for too long in the gun. A primer could have been mixed wrong and be more unstable than usual.

Then bang the desk some...boom...
 
"Too bad there wasn't any TV back in the 1800s when a Southern Gentlemen caned his Northern counterpart"

I may be wrong but I think the "Northern counterpart" was crippled as a result of that attack. IIRC, He also later became one of the architects of Reconstruction.

By the way, is it Taiwan where the Parliament seems to have a regularly scheduled brawl?
 
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