I Paid for this Microphone, Mr. Chairman

If you're the chairman of a congressional committee and you don't like what you're hearing, what do you do? If you're Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis), you just shut off the microphones and leave with the gavel in hand.

(AP) WASHINGTON Jun 10, 2005 — The Republican chairman walked off with the gavel, leaving Democrats shouting into turned-off microphones at a raucous hearing Friday on the Patriot Act.

That's right, it was a hearing on the Patriot Act.

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.