Read about the beginning of the end to democracy in georgia
here
A Committee on Assignments was set up to appoint the chairmen and members of the various House committees, but the new rules give the speaker the authority to veto any of those appointments he disagrees with. The speaker will also be able to appoint legislators, called "hawks," who will serve as temporary members of any committee and can vote on bills being marked up in that committee. This new rule effectively gives the speaker the power to pass or kill any bill he wants at the committee level simply by sending in his "hawks."
I heard about this on Air America today and this is the first time I heard about this story so please forgive me if this is a repeat posting. I looked but did not see any recent diaries on this. Apparently these "hawks" can, go into any commitee and vote in a block without ever participating in any debate or even hearing any debate on whatever the issue. I guess having a majority wasn't enough for them they STILL felt the need to stack the deck.
Is this what Republicans call representative democracy? It's a done deal as well.