1.   Although raucous meetings are more the exception than the rule, even the most poorly managed, contentious meetings are better than no meeting at all.

2.   At the Supreme Court, Chief Justice William Rehnquist was presiding over what could have been a contentious meeting of the U.S. Judicial Conference.

3.   A contentious meeting of top-level officials from MCA Inc. and its Japanese owner has ended with the Japanese company saying it would not cede greater control to MCA executives.

4.   All of this could make for a far more contentious OPEC meeting than those seen in the recent past.

5.   Cheney has accepted invitations to join Senate Democrats for lunch this Tuesday, but his aides are bracing for a contentious meeting.

6.   Fear of embarrassment is so strong in Japanese culture that a contentious annual meeting can be a serious loss of face for management.

7.   In a contentious meeting at the Capitol, virtually every Democrat on the conference committee criticized several provisions in the bill that they said would hurt legal immigrants.

8.   In move that surprised many at the contentious meeting, board chairman John R. Silber cast the deciding vote to lower the standard.

9.   Last week, after a contentious meeting, board members called on the health and welfare committee to return Monday with answers to key questions about the proposal.

10.   Republican and Democratic lawyers squared off in an often contentious first meeting Wednesday to begin defining the contours of impeachment hearings.