Why is boehners gavel so big

From the halls of Congress to the campaign trail to the international stage, there's always something that gets a laugh or a second glance. During the ceremonial handing over of the Speaker of the House's gavel, Boehner's predecessor noted the larger size of the gavel that he was presented with. Sanburn agrees, saying that "Boehner's gavel is so big, it resembles a croquet mallet. The gavel became fodder for late-night comedians: "I think someone's compensating for his small government," Stephen Colbert quipped.

The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove reports that the race is on to uncover who is the author of a novel about the Obama administration. The last time a novel about an administration came out was with the release of "Primary Colors" by an anonymous author writing about President Clinton. That author later turned out to be Joe Klein, a current Time magazine writer.

Darell Issa, the new House Oversight Committee chair, has a problem on his hands -- or, rather, his feet. The Hill reports that the California Republican has "multiple" broken toes. A spokesman told the paper that he recently knocked into "a corner in the house he's lived in for more than two decades.

Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, has some friendly advice for his colleagues who want to forego living in an apartment and, instead, shack up inside their Capitol office. And watch out for rodents: "You need some d-Con and mousetraps. Overcompensating to the hilt, he held his surrogate penis aloft and made a speech that left the Rude Pundit wondering a few things. Boehner said, "The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is.

So here's the question: How will Republicans react when Democrats, in the Senate and, you know, the Presidency block them from enacting the very things they campaigned on? What if Democrats are able to create lies about any modest bill Republicans want to pass and thus get masses of people active in turning on Republicans because of those lies?

In other words, of course, what if Democrats acted like Republicans did during the last time the "people" voted for a monumental shift in power way back in, you know, ? Years later, Speaker Champ Clark broke two gavels during the opening session alone, and Speaker Nance Garner broke three of them during the first week of the congressional session.

It's said that Garner ordered an "unbreakable" gavel made of black walnut after that. The longest-serving Speaker, Sam Rayburn, was quoted equating the office of House Speaker with the gavel itself. He collected a number of the items, one of which was reportedly made of timber dating back to the burning of the White House in Over in the Senate, an ivory gavel that was given in as a gift by the Indian Vice President is still in use. That item shaped like a tiny hourglass that is held within the hand replaced the former gavel, which had been in use since at least the s.