Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Another Day

Man...I wish I could have attended Bob Graham's presentation. Normally I don't get all jittery to hear another member of Florida Blue Key babble about making society more egalitarian, but Graham was a political legend every Gator should be proud of. From Workdays to his love of Florida to the fact he never lost an election. Hold on guys, this isn't a eulogy, this is a credibility build-up.

Not sure if any of you care, but there is a disease in elementary and secondary education going on right now. It's called the FCAT. Yes, the FCAT is another one in a long line of standardized tests that determine funding for schools and prevent teachers from teaching. They have made schools into factories, children into robots. Social studies and history are usually excluded from the curriculum until March-May once FCAT's have been completed. And the State rarely recognizes outside factors such as socio-economics or parental involvement in tabulating scores and grades.

"The average elementary student gets less than two hours a week of exposure to any of the social sciences in school," Bob Graham (Today's Alligator)


Kudos to the fmr. Senator!

Gator's Platform
It's ok...Create Opportunities for Greater Student Participation in the Gainesville Community... CLASSIC! This coming from a camp trying to elect a SBP on whose watch as SBT Chomp The Vote bit the proverbial bullet. I'd imagine the lame duck executive will be blamed for this as well as any number of other Swamp failures, but CTV was in large part a fiscal disaster.

Let Students Choose the Accent and SGP Talent. Yes, indeed! The students pick the shows, meanwhile SG will perpetuate the AEPi/TC legacies one more year.

Investigate Costly CD Course Packs. What is this Kojak, Monk, I'd hate to find out who the Gator Party's version of Andy Sipowicz is. What hogwash... does lobbying take place in student government? Who knows.

Improve the IBC / La Casita facilities through Corporate Sponsorships. Clearly you want those Sam Green AA and Pedro Morales H/L votes and mentioning the two houses are a great foot in the door, but what exactly are we talkin' here? Are you going to put five new computers in there? Are you going to re-do the carpets? Are you going to build a mult-media-ready conference hall in each so they can have better presentations? Or...are you just going to name-drop and if you win, you'll give them a new Gator Growl doormat?

I hate these broad, generic initiatives that don't commit the parties to absolutely anything. Increase SGP Partnerships with Campus Organizations, what again with SGP? Holy shit man, it's obvious you're grateful to Theta Chi, but don't give the house away. Sheesh!


THINK!


Imagine...imagine what SG would be like this very day without a PANTS PARTY. Imagine the two days of elections, probably the lowest voter turnout in decades, debates would be canceled, tabling would have no meaning, there would be no suspense in the O&B, the value of the office would plummet, the little student body respect for SG would completely wither away, the administration would finally be able to sell SG to the Board of Trustees & Tally as so powerless they can't even find two students willing to lead the Gator Nation....you have no idea how absolutely pathetic UF would have been, had it not been for Bruce Haupt & the heroic PANTS Party.


Mail-Bag
From Fmr. Sen. Pedro Morales:

Hey Christian,

Thanks for the offer. I was taken aback by the opening, I was a bit irritated that you didn't even ask for my opinion before sending me your one-line comment. So that prompted my not so thoughtful reply.

I'll take some time to write, but I will send you my comments. I'll send you a sanitized, publishable version also, but please don't post the unedited version on the blog.

Now have to combat my own inner desire to procrastinate, and read a bunch of very interesting but dull readings for my Latin American Politics seminar (CPO 6307), and I have a bunch of papers due for that class soon.

This has not been a simple decision, and I had many other choices, one of them being, simply not participating at all, and graduating peacefully. It has been quite liberating to have Tuesday nights back again. But I care too much about the institution to just let it go. You could say my world flipped upside down that night (Spring '05) in the Orange and Brew, when my name was pronounced amidst the shouts of "I said it's great to vote the Gator Party". I do mean it when I say that "There ain't no party like the Impact Party 'cause the Impact Party don't stop!", it was simply amazing.

I respect your continued interest in student government, while I simultaneously disagree with it. I have been given permission (long story) to graduate with my M.S. degree, so I have "tabled" the Ph.D. for the not-so-near (if ever) future, and I am ready to make the next steps in my life, outside of UF. Heck, maybe if you come to the elections validation & double Senate meeting you can hear my final speech, and potentially see my Gandalf costume!


TR here, just to give some reactions. Not sure how Sen. Morales can disagree with my interest in covering SG being that he's one of my regular contributors and remains one of my favorites in today's SG, but ok. Also do want to make the point that as of a February 3rd email I've been waiting for Sen. Morales, who in that email wrote: "I'll need some time to write the long answer to that question. Part of that answer is somewhat embedded in your previous writing, but for now, the short answer: bring on the Gator Party t-shirts and stickers."

Note To Indies: As of yet, with the exception of Tommy Jardon (& sadly most of these comments cannot be published), very few former Indies or Indie's incognito have actually delivered on why they left. I thank Pedro for allowing me to publish this portion of his email (the second part of the email has not been published at the author's request).




ACCESS The PANTS Page


24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christian, when will you start putting Pd. Pol. Ad. on this site?

Christian Duque said...

LMAO. I mentioned that to someone and was waiting for the day. Never. This blog has been around for long before the parties and is opinion-based. Most importantly though, it does not belong to nor is it under the control of any political party.

Anonymous said...

Actually, Sen. Graham did lose an election -- remember when he ran for president?

Also, I'm pretty sure he lost an election to SG at UF, but I could be confusing him with someone else.

Anonymous said...

When you start campainging for and working for a party, you are a party member.

Anonymous said...

By disagreeing, I meant, that once I graduate, I will most probably drop from SG interactions for what I think will be a very long time. I might check the blog, or send SG-ers of my time a facebook message or two, but I wish to spend my time proving P equals NP, and getting a prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute.

I might return to UF and SG when my cousins grow up. They are already fascinated by UF, they have the championship game recorded in hi-def in their DVR, where my uncle is absolutely forbidden to delete it! When they arrive at UF, then I will be happy to lead the new Senator Morales (maybe more than one, I have 4 cousins) to room 282 of the Reitz Union. Now, I may think about what sort of clique they will fall into: indie, MGC, IFC/PC, apathetic, student athlete, etc.

If I had a crystal ball and I could look at the future, I see one of my cousins being Senate President. Under what banner, who knows?

PRIVILEGE... COJUDOS!!!

Pedro

Anonymous said...

You may be confusing him with Ruebin Askew who lost for Vice-President when he was a law student at UF.

Anonymous said...

No need for paid pol ad on this site Christian. Your legal analysis on this issue is flawless.

Anonymous said...

Gavin you might be thinking of Bill McBride who ran for SB prez and won, then had the result overturned and ran again and lost. At least our elections run a little better than that.

WIll said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
WIll said...

Gavin: Sen. Graham never really ran for president. His Bobcat fundraising machine was just getting off the ground. Yes he was in the race from around Feb to Nov but if you know anyone who has ever undergone heart surgery you'd understand why that hardly counts. He was beaten by his heart.

BTW: I hate blogger's comment system. Have i said that before?

WIll said...

On another note: Didn't Ben G get the memo? I think not, he still slams the Speaker in the Alligator. Ben: Even the Republican house members have shut up b/c Murtha requested records of all travel on military jets in the last 6 years. Get with the program and don't embarrass your party further.

Anonymous said...

Christian just wondering. If Gator has most of the organized support. Black community, H/L community, AA community, IHRA, Greeks. Where does Pants hope to get their's?

What are they doing different this year to actually mobilize the silent majority who doesn't really care. There doesn't seem to be a major issue in this election to piss off enough people to vote.
Also no offense to Bruce but he isn't as well known or as charismatic as Jamal. And his ticket is not as good as the Pucket/Dennis Combo.

They all look like rich white kids who were rejected by the system to me. Not the actual freedom fighters that were SAP and Access. In fact didn't Bruce apply for FBK last semester and not get it?

not very indie behavior in my book.

Not that gator is any better but I'm just wondering

Anonymous said...

Well Pants has taken on the traditional "If you can't win on the issues start attacking the other side with lies" theory that perpetuates a lot of David Meyrowitz' campaigns.

If you look at their press release from yesterday you'll notice things like supposedly Gator or Swamp changed the 700 codes so you could no longer bring complaints against the SoE. This is a blatant lie and misrepresentation of the truth. This change was brought about by the ELECTION COMMISSION a non-partisan group and is not even subject to senate approval/denial.

Its funny that in a press release decrying the other party for committing supposed election violations Pants would committ an election violation.

Anonymous said...

1:40 PM:

The group that used to be made up of law students but is now made up of sycophantic undergrads? Non-partisan my ass.

Anonymous said...

3:57: It is as nonpartisan as the supervisor of elections. That little boy thinks he is hot shit because his dad became buddy buddy with Miscavige and the Scientologists.

Anonymous said...

That makes no sense. Bruce is a Scientlogist.

WIll said...

Religion has nothing to do with SG. Keep it out of this forum.

Anonymous said...

Keep profanity out of this forum too 5:08. You talk real tough but you hide behind anonymity. What a pathetic joke. Your almost as pathetic as Pants. Have fun getting crushed again.

Anonymous said...

I invite Pants and the author of their press release to go to Student Judicial Affairs, UPD and GPD with the evidence of "pressuring and bribery" by the Gator Party. At this point, the only guilty party is Pants. Let's remember libel is a crime. David, especially, should remember.

WIll said...

At least David used his name Anon (6:51)

Bruce Haupt, Pants Party presidential candidate said...

I wrote the press release. I didn't lie about anything. =)

Bruce

Anonymous said...

Forgive me for going off subject... but whatever happened to Josh Weiss? No presidential campaign for that one? Nothing?

francisco said...

Anon 11:35 AM, If you makes you feel any better I am not rich...heck my family and I are far from it :). I am also often times confused with being Hispanic and not white :lol:.

In all seriousness, what is with the name calling; doesn't really reflect well on people who are suppose to be leaders and intellectuals :/

Christian Duque said...

anon 11:35 AM

Good post, sorry it's taken me so long reply and hopefully you'll check this, but the Battle for the Independent Community is far from over, you just give TR a little more time.