Selected Remarks from the House of Representatives

By Paul Ford

Repeal the Cork Tariff!; Visa the beloved snoop; the Museum of Dentistry heals America; Palestinians should be nonviolent.

Rob Simmons (R, CT), 12 April 2003

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to introduce my “Stick A Cork In The Cork Tariff Act of 2003,” a bill that will assist small business and sportsmen by reducing the unfairly high import duty on cork.

Mr. Speaker, it has always been my understanding that Customs duties were established to protect American industry. If cork is not available in the United States and it is the only product that can be used to manufacture the grips on fly fishing rods, I fail to see why we are charging such a duty.

Hon. Mark Foley, (R, FL), 20 March, 2003.

Using sophisticated technical and forensic software tools, they identify sites that advertise that they accept Visa for payment. In fact, Visa's system monitors up to one million Web pages every day...Tests are conducted to determine who the merchant is and who owns the website and to trace the transaction trail. What this means is that child pornographers will no longer be able to hide by moving from site to site, because they will be found if they post Visa as their payment method...and I like this part the best—Visa and law enforcement officials throughout the world work together to either establish or support criminal investigations.

Elijah E. Cummings (D, MD), 12 April 2003

Unfortunately, states are facing extremely tight budgets, and have been forced to implement difficult cost containment measures and unpopular proposals to generate revenue savings--tax increases, cuts in education and cuts/elimination of Medicaid services. As a result, Medicaid programs have taken a direct hit, and dentistry has already become a target for program cuts--17 states reducing or eliminating adult dental services between 2002-2003. As a result, medically needy groups, including the frail elderly, will no longer have access to necessary dental treatment.

Passage of my resolution to make the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry the official national museum of dentistry in the United States will shine a bright light on the problem some Americans face in accessing dental care.

Major Owens (D, NY), 12 April 2003

Israel is presently in the midst of an intense violent struggle which has led to the accumulation of many progressive critics. While I sympathize with the plight of the Palestinian people, I am also convinced that they are primarily the victims of their own leaders—and the jihad fanatics around the world who insist on the use of savage violence to achieve their goals. Israel has no choice but to meet the fanatic violence with violence. Arafat and the Palestinian leadership have set the stage and made the rules for this ongoing destructive engagement. Even if you accept the assumption that the Palestinian people have some legitimate grievances, one can still not condone the method they have chosen to seek solutions. For any group confronted by an overwhelming governing power, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela have shown the way. The use of nonviolence to petition for the redress of assumed grievances was and still is a choice for the constructive forces among the Palestinians.