House Proceeding 01-22-09 on Jan 22nd, 2009 :: 0:30:15 to 0:36:05
Total video length: 1 hours 48 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:141 Duration: 0:05:50 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

0:30:11 to 0:30:31( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: we have to be engaged in this and protect the people of thi untry from the drug and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields b balance of his time. ms. edwards of maryland. rp for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise.

0:30:15 to 0:36:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Adam B. Schiff

0:30:32 to 0:30:56( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: >> request consent to speak out of turn. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. schiff: mr. speaker, in 2006 i co-founded the congressional caucus for freedom of the press. since then this bipartisan, bicameral caucus has sought to highlight the importance of free expression around the world.

0:30:57 to 0:31:17( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: i rise today to honor a brave journalist who was gunned down while driving to the work in the sri lankan capital of colombo. threats and attacks of journalists are becoming all too often there. he knew the dangers now but courageously continued reporting. recognizing his work might cost him h life.

0:31:18 to 0:31:38( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: he wrote a letter to be published in the event of his assassination. today i'll read excerpts of his letter which was published by his paper, "the sunday leader" on january 11, three daysfter he was killed. mr. speaker, i ask the eire text of the letter be included in the record. he wrote, no other profession

0:31:39 to 0:32:01( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and in sri lanka, journalism. in the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. electronic and print media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed, and coerced. countless journalist vs. been

0:32:02 to 0:32:22( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: harassed, threatened and killed. it has been my honor to belong to all those categories, and now especially t last. why then do i do it? i often wonder that. after all, i, too, am a husband and the father of three wonderful children. i, too, have responsibilities and obligations that transcend

0:32:23 to 0:32:44( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: my profession, be it law or journalism. but there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, security it is the call of conscience. "sunday leader" has been a controversial newspaper because we say it like we see it whether it be a spade, thief, or murderer, we call it by that name. we do not hide behind yufemism.

0:32:45 to 0:33:05( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: the investigative articles we print are supported by documentary evidence thanks to the public spiritedness of citizens who at great risk to themselves pass on this material to us. we have exposed scandal after scandal and never once in these 15 years has anyone proved us wrong or successfully prosecuted us.

0:33:06 to 0:33:26( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: the free medium serve as the mirror in which the public can see itself, sounds mascara, and styling gel. from us you learn the state of your nation and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. sometimes the image that you see in that mir pleasant one. while you may grumble in the

0:33:27 to 0:33:47( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: prifesiff your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and a great risk to themselves. not shirk it. if i seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen and all of the government cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall. it is well-known that i was on two occasions brutally

0:33:48 to 0:34:08( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: assaulted while on my -- while on another my house was sprayed with machine-gun fire. despite the government's sanctimonious assurances there, was never a serious inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks and the attackers were never apprehended. in all these cases i have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. when finally i am quilled, it

0:34:09 to 0:34:29( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: will be the government that killed, it will be the government that kills me. as for me i have the satisfaction of knowing in a i have walked tall and bowed to no man and i have no traveled this journey alone. fellow journalists and other branches in the media walked with me. most of them are now dead, imprisoned, without trial or

0:34:30 to 0:34:50( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: exiled in far-off lands. as for the readers of the sunday leader, what can i say but thank you for supporting our mission. we have espoused unpopular causes, stood up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves, locked horns with the high and mighty so swollen with power that they have forgotten their roots, exposed corruption and waste of your

0:34:51 to 0:35:11( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: hard-earned tax rupiesie, and make sure whatever propaganda of the day you were allowed to hear a contrary view. for this i and my family have w paid the pricehat i have long known i will one day day have to pay. i am and have always been ready for that. i have done nothing to prevent this outcome, no security, no precautions.

0:35:12 to 0:35:32( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: i want my murderer to know that i am no coward like he is. hiding behind human shields while condemning thousands of innocent to death. that the sunday leader will continue fighting the good fight, too, is written for i did not fight this alone. many more of us have to be and will be killed before the leader is laid to rest.

0:35:33 to 0:35:53( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: i hope my assassination will be seen not as a defeat for freedom but inspiration for those who survived to step up their efforts. indeed i hope it will galvanize forces that will usher in a new era of human liberty in our beloved motherland. i also hope it will open the eyes of your president to the fact that however many are slaughtered in the name of

0:35:54 to 0:36:06( Edit History Discussion )

Adam B. Schiff: patriotism, the human spirit will endure and flourish. not all the radja combined can kill that. people often ask me why i take such risks and tell me it's