The House of Representatives failed to pass the wilderness bill which has widespread support in Congress, but failed to muster 2 votes to reach the two-thirds majority required under the rules. The bill has already passed the Senate. Its defeat in the House should be laid at the feet of the Democratic leadership which subjected it to the two-thirds requirement by not allowing the measure to be amended on the floor. Repugnants were ready to load it with poison pill provisions on which Democrats in marginal districts did not want to record a vote. One dubious provision is a law allowing the carrying of concealed weapons in national parks. Once again good legislation is lost in the endless game of "chicken" played by self-interested politicians. As it turned out this particular amendment made it into the bill to appease whingeing Repugnants (their fetish for carrying weapons is apparently limitless), but the bill went down to defeat anyway. House Democrats should gird their loins and try again without subjecting the bill to such an unfair legislative hurdle. [photo: USGS, Mt. Hood, OR]