[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 128 (Thursday, October 3, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S9867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            IRAQ RESOLUTION

  Mr. MILLER. Madam President, I have signed on as an original 
cosponsor of the Iraq resolution that our President has proposed, and I 
would like to tell you a story that I believe explains why I think that 
is the right path to take.
  A few weeks ago, we were doing some work on my back porch back home, 
tearing out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I 
uncovered a nest of copperhead snakes. I am not one to get alarmed at 
snakes. I know they perform some valuable functions, like eating rats.
  When I was a young lad, I kept snakes as pets. I had an indigo snake. 
I had a bull snake. I had a beautiful colored corn snake, and many 
others. I must have had a dozen king snakes at one time or another. 
They make great pets, and you only have to give them a little mouse 
every 30 days.
  I read all the books by Raymond C. Ditmars, who was before most 
herpetologists of the day--that is a person who is an expert on 
snakes--and for a while I wanted to be a herpetologist, but the pull of 
being a big league shortstop out ran that childhood dream.
  I reminisce this way to explain that snakes do not scare me like they 
do most people, and I guess the reason is that I know the difference 
between those snakes that are harmless and those that can kill you. In 
fact, I bet I may be the only Senator in this body who can look at the 
last 3 inches of a snake's tail and tell you whether it is poisonous. I 
can also tell the sex of a snake, but that is another story.
  A copperhead snake will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It 
could kill one of my grandchildren. It could kill any one of my four 
great-grandchildren. They play all the time where I found those 
killers.
  You know, when I discovered those copperheads, I did not call my wife 
Shirley for advice, as I usually do on most things. I did not go before 
the city council. I did not yell for help from my neighbors. I just 
took a hoe and knocked them in the head and killed them, dead as a 
doorknob.
  I guess you could call it unilateral action, a preemptive strike. 
Perhaps if you had been watching me, you could have even said it was 
bellicose and reactive. I took their poisonous heads off because they 
were a threat to me, they were a threat to my home, they were a threat 
to my family, and all I hold dear. And isn't that what this is all 
about?
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum, Madam 
President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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