A Republican senator introduced a "talking stick" into government shutdown negotiations to try to keep the peace, but it ended up nearly shattering one of her figurines, according to several reports.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine hosted a bipartisan group of senators in her office to discuss how to put an end to the government shutdown.

She reportedly made fellow legislators use a ceremonial Native American "talking stick" when they wanted to speak - in order to quell possible disruptions.

Senators could only speak if they were in possession of the "talking stick."

However, things went slightly awry when a top Democrat interrupted a Republican, who then tossed the stick in the liberal's direction in jest, causing damage to one of Collins' decorations.


Virginia Senator Mark Warner allegedly interrupted Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who was talking while in possession of the stick.

Upon the outburst, Alexander reportedly tossed the stick "forcefully" in Warner's direction clipping and chipping Collins' glass elephant.

Those in the room reportedly laughed off the incident, and Collins replaced the "talking stick" with a rubber ball to prevent any further damage to her office.

Link

Jesus H. Christ

This is what the leadership of our country has devolved into. Grown-ass adults who require a totem to force them to be civil and not interrupt each other.

Next they'll all have to hold hands and sing "Sharing is Caring", before they're allowed to eat some cookies and milk and settle in for their nap.

Big. Floppy. Clown. Shoes.

Talking Stick- counterpart to the Silence Cattle Prod

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
... eat some cookies and milk and settle in for their nap.

I'm down.

I was in a local public meeting where there was a talking stick.

I saw a person holding the stick get interrupted by the same jackass a half dozen times, turn and tell the jackass they were going to get their ass beaten with the stick if they interrupted again.

Everyone else started chanting "Do it! Do it!" Jackass got up and left in a huff.

I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair.

But was Fauxcohontas there to use that native American talking stick????

Chiefs of great land smoke more peace pipe, take less wampum from braves of great land.

I'd rather see someone use a shusher. More specifically, the next time shumer or graham open their yaps a good wack with a shusher would bring me great joy.

Ken

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Jesus H. Christ

This is what the leadership of our country has devolved into. Grown-ass adults who require a totem to force them to be civil and not interrupt each other.

Next they'll all have to hold hands and sing "Sharing is Caring", before they're allowed to eat some cookies and milk and settle in for their nap.

Big. Floppy. Clown. Shoes.

NO, what they need is a good old fashion beating.

He threw a fucking stick at him. Holy Christ that's great

I say they use a heated sauna rock instead it would shorten their statements, create blisters so their palms can no longer support grease.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Decker:
He threw a fucking stick at him. Holy Christ that's great

Well, it was Warner, who seems uncommonly obnoxious.

Why do they they use the "Shut the fuck up, I'm talking" Tazer if someone interrupts?

Oh. How. Girl Scout. Do you suppose everyone sang a song together when they were done and then had cookies and KoolAid?

Sounds like cultural appropriation to me.

Where is the outrage?

Sure it was an elephant and not a rhino?

Back in the early 1970s I worked on a project where we would have weekly meetings with design engineers from the systems, hardware, and software groups. As in any design, there were conflicts. Such as the hardware guys wanting to do things the easy way, the systems guys telling the hardware guys that it was not the right way to do it, and the hardware guys saying "let the software fix it."

These meetings usually turned into shouting matches, with people trying to talk over each other.

One of the systems guys introduced the notion of the talking stick. Other people resisted the idea but the systems guy was a physically impressive guy and he intimidated the group into accepting the notion. He was also the enforcer; if somebody tried to interrupt he would just growl, "wait until you get the talking stick. You'll have your turn, to try to make your point."

The project still turned out to be a mess, but with less chaos at the weekly meetings at least is was an orderly mess.

I left that company to join a consulting group, where people were polite.

What would have made this story awesome ?

If Elizabeth Warren had brought the ceremonial Native American "talking stick" to the meeting.

(rather than some REP senator)

I might write Warner and ask him if she did.

If she would have checked with some of the more recent users of that conversation crutch, you know, Cub Scouts and Brownies, she would have been forewarned that it routinely ends up with wrestling on the living room floor.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Decker:
He threw a fucking stick at him. Holy Christ that's great

No no no. It's a 'Talking' Stick. The fucking stick is kept in the Dem caucus room unless Franken took it home with him hoping to get lucky.

Beating up each other with sticks has a long history in the US Senate:

https://www.senate.gov/artandh...r_Charles_Sumner.htm