Sunday, December 14, 2008

Duque's Own, Wiggio Reviews

BREAKING NEWS!!!!::::::::Tyler Antar wins a MAL seat! It's a close one... 14 to 0::::Frank Bracco's in a MAL nailbiter...he wins 14 to 0:::::Graham Clark is on edge, he too wins! 14 to 0!

Frank Bracco is read stating (yesterday at 10:17p) that he was one of the ones 'protesting the meeting, but yet in the same message upholds the validity of the MAL-elections because 'everyone that was in the room voted.' How does that amount to protesting a meeting?

Duque's take: Frank, you've been able to side-hop for most of your SG career and - without ever being thought of as a turncoat. This is truly an art at this point. But I can't allow you to get away doubletalk on my blog. I'm going to call you on it buddy.


Dylan Billiodeaux cites a similar weasel issue as another top level Official - party meetings fall outside of the Sunshine Laws and thus there SUBSTANTIAL notice was given. That's totally MPC lingo right there....does anyone on this blog or the civilized world know what the fuck the word SUBSTANTIALLY actually means?

Duque's Take: this is definitely very interesting, considering your facebook message to me last night. Are you really concerned with party unity, b/c this reads like you're just out to serve the interests of The Officials with particular emphasis on making everything look, well pardon the pun, official.


Duque Speaks: Apparently Stacey Gray thinks a Party president that cancels a meeting and changes his mind 20 minutes later and does not object (for whatever the reason) to a huge faction being present for a very partisan vote - as totalling 'a fantastic job.' Fantastic? Not just good? Not great? But, fantastic?

I'm glad the meeting was videotaped, so was the footage at the Nazi death camps. Since when are VIDEO & BLOGS substitutes for Public Notice & Party Cooperation?



Duque Speaks: Gary Benedix congratulated Donte Hargrove for 'showing great leadership and decisiveness during his first 3 days as Orange & Blue President.' Great leadership?


Duque Speaks: Cavatero states there was 70% quorum of voting members and everything was done by unanimous consent. Does that make it ok Sen. Cavatero? Correct me if I'm wrong, but O&B has even less than The Progs 30% of voting members in the UF Senate. Would you be ok with the Gator Party saying...'well we have 80% of voting members, we don't need to hear the minority.' In fact isn't that EXACTLY what happened, isn't that what O&B filibustered for five hours to stop?

Why fight that kind of despotism in chambers, only to apply it to the minority within your own party? Could you please address this issue Senator?




Duque's Favorite Quote: "There is a huge difference between 100% and 59% majority." Excellent statement by the not-so-polite Stephen Fitzmaurice.


Duque Speaks: (from a Wiggio cite) Donte Hargrove claims that "if we democratize everything, we won't get anything done."

Where the fuck did you people find this guy? And then he asks people to 'trust his judgment.' Trust these nuts! You're a fuckin puppet, you can't even make a decision and have it last longer than 20minutes. You're about as much 'a president' as Ahmad Karzai....it seems like neither one of you can even wipe your own ass without getting permission from the forces that keepyou in power.




Duque Stunned: Why is Armando Ramon Grundy Gomes in an O&B Party meeting? He's not even a UF student yet and there he is talking about TheRadikal, pledging to give money to prospective candidates, and saying that everyone is a good person. Let's make to sure get Armando on record here....he states that the GATOR PARTY STAND FOR NOTHING. We don't want to see you on the other side. Thanks for name-dropping my blog dear friend...

& just so you know...I have access to everything, always have. Anything I REALLY want to know, I know.

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why don't you look at the threads and see that the meeting was reinstated because of bitching from the "progressives."

Re: democratize everything, remember Christian not everyone is in law school. It is clear that Donte meant only that if we required unanimity for everything nothing would get done.

Anonymous said...

Just so you're clear Christian, you need 1/3 to block a MAL seat... all 4 got 14 votes out of a potential voting body of 21.... that's 70%..... you see where this is going? So 100% voted for them who were present, and even if we assume all those absent would have voted against them had they been present (something that is very unlikely), the four that got through still would have gotten through.

Same thing with the party officer elections. You need a majority to win. Joe got 14 votes. Donnie got 14 votes, Cain 13 votes. Once again, even if all absent members were present and voted against those that were elected they still would have won by a majority.

"The Progs" were not there because they knew they didn't have the votes to block any of this from happening which is why so many of them chose to stay home. So with that in mind it was time for a new strategy. Instead, "The Progs'" strategy became to claim that their absence, which was deliberate on their part by and large, makes the elections a sham.

As the saying goes: If you can't win it, steal it. If you can't steal it, accuse the other guy of stealing it.

The majority of a voting body cannot be held hostage by a minority. O&B is going up against FBK for goodness's sake. They have an 80 year head start on this stuff! And you want us to make every single one of our decisions by committee, and not only by committee, but by a committee with 100% attendance? We might as well all pack it in and go home. The election will be over before we even agree on a single candidate for the slate.

Decisions get made by those who show up: Ben Dictor, Dave Schneider, Grasshopper, and Melody Goddell all could have shown up, they were all available to and CHOSE not to. A vote in a body is a privilege and one that any member can refuse at any time. But if they do chose to refuse that right then they cannot complain about the decisions made without them.

This argument also is insulting to everybody who found time in their day to come and try and move the O&B Party forward. What is being argued here is that the voices and the opinions and the votes of those who were absent far outweigh those that attended.

Anonymous said...

Mathematically it was unwinnable for the Progs even if they did show up so they took their cell phone and pretended that we were stealing the election.... an election they demanded to have when Donte tried to cancel it.

These are the most dishonest indies I have ever met. They belong in FBK.

Anonymous said...

So the Orange and Blue Party selected a homosexual once again this year for the presidential slot? This time there was no excuse. They were presented with a brilliant, charismatic organizer with no known homosexual tendencies and chose a member of the gay racket that runs the party. McShera and his band of gays have so alienated the Left that Orange and Blue can hardly even be called a party at this point.

Anonymous said...

I'm not quite sure what the scrolling text up top is supposed to be about. Is the fact that the votes were unanimous supposed to imply that they are illegitimate?

Addressing the rest of your thoughtless diatribe (in reverse order):

Armando was there because he showed up. We don't tell people they can't watch. We have had members of the Gator Party come to our Senate caucus meetings before.

Donte was backed by "the Progs" against "the Officials" candidate Mr. Niederriter. Ben Dictor seconded Donte's nomination, and many of those you consider to be "the Progs" spoke in support of him. In fact, when it was announced that he had won the election, Ben was ecstatic.

In about 48 hours Donte managed to go from being the hero of "the Progs" to one of their enemies. Unlike what Mr. Dictor expected, Donte is nobody's tool.

If Stephen or other members of "the minority" wanted their opinion heard they were more than welcome to show up. Some, such as Melody, had legitimate reasons for not being there, but the fact is that the meeting was scheduled for a time that Ben Dictor said he could be there. He then decided not to come so he could work on a paper. I would note that several members were working on academic stuff at the meeting, and that Ben found time to bitch online during the meeting he was too busy to attend.

To quote Brad Friedman: "If you can't win it, steal it. If you can't steal it, claim the other guy stole it. If you can't claim the other guy stole it (yet), say they're about to and then kick up smoke that maybe someone will believe you."

To the quotes from Gary and Stacey, Donte has done a great job so far running meetings (which has pretty much been his only duty up to this point).

With regards to Dylan and Frank, and more generally, the central issue of yesterday was that certain people were fine with a meeting not everyone could attend because they thought it would give them a better chance of pushing their agenda. When they realized that their opposition had managed to rearrange their schedules so that they could attend, they decided to stay home and whine rather than go.

Anonymous said...

your flipflopping is giving me whiplash

Anonymous said...

Prior to the meeting, as I read the comments that were being shot back and forth I was disappointed by the turn of events. I saw many of the progs say they couldn't make the meeting. Then Donte canceled, then basically every one of the officials claimed that they had already considerably shifted their schedules for this meeting and that it should go on. It seemed almost like texts went out saying go tell Donte you still want the meeting right now! The meeting was held and after attending the meeting I honestly can't see what everyone was complaining about. To say that there were no prog supporters present is simply not true and I honestly don't think anything controversial transpired at the meeting. Every nominee except one (one member voted in favor of Jossip over Cain for general council) was elected unanimously. Who can argue against Cain's abilities as General Council? Donnie was nominated by the outgoing treasurer and has worked with him before. Joe had two people nominated against him but both denied the nominations. Frank, Graham and Josh were obvious choices and they went through without any discussion. Tyler was also an easy decision after he was given the opportunity to introduce himself to some members of the committee who didn't know him. There are still (by my count) 6 MIL seats available. Only the most obvious choices were pushed through at the meeting.

Anonymous said...

I can respect the people who were unable to attend the meeting because of legitimate schedule conflicts but I have a serious problem with people who think it is a good idea to boycott meetings because other people couldn't attend. If you are a voting member of this body you have a responsibility to be at these meetings. If you can't? That's fine. But to intentionally refuse to attend a meeting on the grounds that other people couldn't come? Does Sam refuse to attend the "Illegal" Judiciary Meetings? No, he goes to the meeting and tells the other members of the body why he feels it is wrong. Refusing to attend a meeting in order to be able to say in the future that "no members of the progs" were present at this terrible meeting is reprehensible and a waste of your vote in the committee.

Anonymous said...

Gator has already offered Dictor VP and he is seriously considering it. Dictor is selling out already...

Anonymous said...

& just so you know...I have access to everything, always have. Anything I REALLY want to know, I know.

If only Duque knew what the B-Cell has on him.

Josh said...

When Dave Schneider, Ben Dictor, and Grasshopper all choose not to attend a meeting when they previously could. That is their own damn fault. It is not a failure of democracy. It is a failure of them to show up. Its like when people bitched about W. Bush being elected for a second term who didn't vote.

Now if those people who said they could go have shown up, 18 out of 21 people would have been there. A huge proportion.

Anonymous said...

Ben as a friend, im going to ask you to nicely not to start a third party.

If you do, i'm afraid that since neither of us will have a shot in hell at winning, ill just spend my free-time making your life miserable

Anonymous said...

In other news, nose is suddenly dismembered, possible motive: spiting face.

Anonymous said...

Many in the audience saw him as bullying, reckless and dishonest, and the daily blog summaries of the hearings were also frequently unfavorable to him. Indeed, Dictor himself referred to his performance in the meetings, saying, "I was brash, smug, and smart-alecky. I was pompous and petulant."

Anonymous said...

Orange & Blue is run by gays, jews, and negros

Anonymous said...

Has the name of the third party leaked yet?

Christian Duque said...

5:30, I published your comment b/c you didn't use any racial slurs, but what's wrong with cultural diversity? If anything that's a good thing.

Anonymous said...

There were people at the meeting who are considered swing members, and if all the members of the "Progs" would have been in attendance and argued their points, the swing members probably would have voted with them. So the 'mathematical' arguments are pointless and whoever made them knows it.

But this is all beside the point now. This meeting was the end of any chance of unity. You have another thing coming if you think you can weasel victories this way. You aren't dealing with dumbass Gator Party senators who just want to leave SG to drink beer.

Not only is this shit completely undemocratic and underhanded, you have ruthlessly smeared the best member of your party, the guy who is the sole reason your party even has minority protections now. And not only that, you red-bait him in your juvenile insults, which I guess whoever is doing it is too stupid to realize and/or doesn't give a shit where the majority of O&B support comes from.

The cabal has made a fatal error. What this whole thing tells me is that members of the cabal feel nothing but disdain for the majority of people who put them in power. The raw hatred expressed toward Dictor is just an expression of the hatred of the Left by the right-wing leadership of the party. And I've heard plenty of comments from O&B people to realize that disdain most certainly exists.

It was a mistake for the Left to ever hitch ourselves to the O&B. You are dead weight, and we don't need you and your half-hearted attempts support our ideas, when all you really want to do is scream about 700 codes. We can go into the Spring and win CLAS and the Executive ticket without you. The O&B have no social network of political support without the Left.

Anonymous said...

Duque, It is because the Jews that control the party are Zionists.

Anonymous said...

Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

Anonymous said...

6:16: You are the man who complained that Joe has homosexual tendencies. Joe has a lot more than just tendencies, he is out and proud.

One day I hope you can do something and be proud of it, until then we'll just watch you support Dictor.

Anonymous said...

the 3rd party? It's the Voice Revival Party (aka the VORP)

Anonymous said...

Certain elements of the O&B believe that they can assume leftist status through sheer force of will. No Dictor, being a leftist requires more than a sound bite about "Stalinism" in the Alligator, it requires both actual familiarity with progressive thought and actual belief in that thought.

Can someone please show me what Dictor has ever done that makes him a leftist instead of just a prima donna claiming credit for Skeet's work?

Real leftists did the leg work while Dictor just preened for the cameras.

Anonymous said...

If Dictor is a leftist why did he brag TO RANDOM CAMPAIGNERS THAT he got head from girl X or Y while campaigning? He is just as chauvinistic as anything we've seen in the greek system. Yes, I called the girls X and Y because they shouldn't be slimed by his lack of discretion.

Anonymous said...

@6:28

Skipping over the majority of your tripe: "right-wing leadership"? You do realize that apart from SAM, most of the so-called-cabal are active members, even officers, of College Democrats, don't you?

If you're going to make up malicious rumors, at least make ones that are vaguely plausible.

Anonymous said...

If Dictor is a leftist why did he and his impostors fight against the living wage for janitors platform point that even a Fascist like Sam supported? It just wasn't as glamorous why Univ of Miami already had that fight?

Anonymous said...

If Dictor is a leftist why did Skeet do all the work on SRI?

Anonymous said...

Anon 628 is the messiah himself, Benjamin The Empty Suit Dictor, and I claim my 5 pounds.

Anonymous said...

6:38 is Ben Dictor himself and I claim my 20 pounds, which I will use on some shitty and overpriced import beer.

Hey Dictor, you lay on the self-gratification pretty thick: "You have ruthlessly smeared the best member of your party." Gimme a break.

I can smell your hyperbolic bullshit from a mile away.

As for the "right-wing leadership of the party": McShera and Cavatero are College Dems #1 and #2

Anonymous said...

If Dictor is a leftist why did he not object to David's "suck my cock" comment that helps perpetuate the myth that society relies on male domination?

Anonymous said...

If Dictor is a leftist why doesn't he object to his followers that attack anyone for not fitting into their heteronormative view of the world?

Anonymous said...

Dictor believes this is a whole struggle of good vs evil, left vs right, labor vs the man. Ben Dictor is a charlatan and buys his own bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Ben Dictor: Quit claiming to speak for the left. You speak for the left as Michael Moore Speaks for the Democrats.

You are nothing but am egomaniacal bombthrower that can't even keep your lies straight.

Anonymous said...

Christian,

Why are you suppressing that Dictor fought against the living wage for janitors platform plank? We wanted SRI and living wage but Dictor explained that SRI is a much more important issue. That was spoken like a true son of capitalism. Maybe he will grow up to be my personal CEO.

Anonymous said...

I respectfully request that 6:28 (Dictor) save the drama for his mama.

Anonymous said...

9:38- I'm moppin' what you're spillin'

Anonymous said...

Ben Dictor: please learn to write concisely. Your post took too much reading for too little payoff.

To quote the great Sam Jackson: English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?!

Anonymous said...

Armando was there for Dictor and then switched to McShera...

Anonymous said...

Dictor responds to "malicious smears" of him running off and starting a 3rd party if he lost the primary by....

...
...
...

Running off and starting a 3rd party!

Anonymous said...

why do miorelli and dictor need to compromise?

Anonymous said...

Gary Benedix's brother was President of Gators For Israel and serves in the IDF. Maybe you should look into this Duque

Anonymous said...

These so called "leftists" have the impression that all it takes to win campaigns is hopes, dreams, and rainbows.

You played in a campaign with all the odds stacked in your favor, welcome to SG bitches. SG elections take real men and women to win.

Anonymous said...

"Not only is this shit completely undemocratic and underhanded, you have ruthlessly smeared the best member of your party,"

Dictor, you are so full of shit, your eyes are brown...

Anonymous said...

9:51 is Sam, and I claim whatever pounds remain. Drinks on me.

francisco said...

Why is everyone attacking everyone else??? Please people, if you are going to post crap about each other, at least debate the merits...

Anonymous said...

"There were people at the meeting who are considered swing members, and if all the members of the "Progs" would have been in attendance and argued their points, the swing members probably would have voted with them."

Well it sounds like these "Progs" should have shown up then, doesn't it?

INFLUENCE FAIL

Anonymous said...

I am very disappointed to learn I am a failure at life.

Anonymous said...

I am 6:28, and I am not Dictor. I probably couldn't explain why without giving myself away to people in the know, so I won't bother. If you want to pretend Dictor would waste his time posting serious comments to this blog in support of himself, be my guest. It's obvious some of you will resort to the stupidest of lies to smear someone, so one more stupid lie you can spread won't change things.

But it's obvious a lot of the people posting here don't know a god thing that goes on in SDS to be able to say shit like Skeet deserves all the credit for SRI. He doesn't. He deserves all the credit for catastrophic failures like the Hunger Strike, but that is another matter.

And supporting the Democratic Party doesn't make you a Leftist. The Democratic Party is a party of imperialist mass murder. Most liberals are just different shades of right-wing, and college Democrats are often some of the most politically ignorant people I have ever met in my life.

But let me make myself perfectly clear. The SDS supported O&B and entered student government as a means to an end. It was a way to try and gather support for SRI, something the cabal of O&B have only half-heartedly supported. A McShera candidacy does not guarantee our political objectives will be pushed in a satisfactory way. This is both about lack of concern for our issues and for lack of political ability to get things done (after all, none of the rest of you can claim to have swung any Gator Party votes our way). I have personally witnessed McShera saying things like efforts to rename the buildings named after notorious homophobes and racists is akin to "political masturbation." McShera is not a candidate I trust at all to give a shit about our interests.

What has also made an impression on me is not so much that you hate Dictor and spew the most vicious slander towards him, it is the mindless red baiting that so many of you have let fly on this blog, and in personal conversations. This says to me you don't give a shit about your political allies.

You're gonna have to learn the hard way you don't have a political machine that has to do your bidding, like the Gator Party does. You don't get to tell us to get up at 7:00 AM and talk to hundreds of people, or else you'll haze us or make us lose pledge points. The O&B has real constituents with real political concerns. You don't get free work out of us and free votes. You have to earn them. And regardless of what you personally think of Dictor, you better realize smearing one of your Leftist party members in this way is an attack on all the constituents that were brought to the table by him on others on the Left like Steiger.

This naked power play that occurred solidified in my mind the need for a break with the O&B. I realize the potential consequences of this going into the Spring, but I believe we really can win CLAS seats and the executive ticket regardless. However, and if you can for a moment put away your childish personal attacks and think in real political terms, I have a serious suggestion to make that might satisfy both parties:

The first thing is that the attacks on Dictor and Schneider need to cease immediately, followed by a public apology on behalf of the party and a condemnation of those who engaged in this incredibly divisive shit (without having to out anyone, though we all know who they are anyway). The second is that the ticket needs to be Dictor as SBP and McShera as VP. Dictor wants Grasshopper badly as VP, but I personally don't think he is anymore trustworthy than McShera in fulfilling our goals. I'm sure I don't need to fully articulate why this should be seen as a great compromise. The third thing I want to see is a public guarantee from McShera that he will make SRI his overriding concern during his time in office.

If these three things are done, I definitely see unity being possible (and these three things are very, very minor concessions on your part). I really hope we can set aside our personal hatreds and come together to give the Gator Party it's greatest defeat in the Spring. I like Dictor and consider him a friend, but I am writing this post as someone who wants to see the goals of the Left carried out effectively. Dictor is a powerful personality in SG and is someone I know is also concerned with Leftist issues and is willing to work hard for them. However, I am more than willing to force Dictor to take a little "Iron Discipline" and ditch the idea of a Grasshopper VP and suck up his pride for the good of the party, and also to make him apologize to some of those he was less than 'cordial' to (I specifically have in mind Gary and Alan).

The question in my mind now is whether or not the O&B party is a suitable vehicle for our political goals, or if it was a huge mistake to have ever involved ourselves with you in the first place. I strongly advise that you stop thinking about this whole affair in terms of personalities and start thinking in terms of realpolitik. I also advise you to start thinking about serious efforts to avoid a split. While I am not completely sure we can do this without the O&B, I know for god damn sure you aren't gonna do a thing without us.

Otherwise, we have the financial resources to run our own campaign. We can immediately get a lot of O&B senators with us, we can fill a full slate of candidates, and we will have more than enough rank and file people to get out the vote, plus the entire progressive scene on campus behind us. You'll have a lot more than the Gator Party to worry about in the Spring.

Again, I hope you read over my words carefully, and take my advice.

Anonymous said...

5:39

I hope you have the balls to have your you and all your candidate's guts eviscerated in the spring.

Anonymous said...

To 5:39

Minor concessions? Dictor and Schneider and even Tian have barely done anything towards these "goals" in senate Stephan Fitz has been useless all around. Don't blame the rest of O&B for them not leading the charge, The rest of us would have followed. But nooooooo, it's Mark's responsibility for not pushing this when he thought that's what Dictor and Tina and the other leftists would do?

Anonymous said...

5:39, you, despite your claim, are either Dictor or Schneider. Given the length, Dictor.

P.S. You really shouldn't use distinctive phrases (like "naked power play") that you have been heard screaming after meetings, when you're trying to claim you didn't write the comment.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:28, you are perfect for the Gator Party. This is EXACTLY how they operate. An interest group, in your case (as you claim) "the Left", declares that they will be withholding support unless they are given concessions. In the Gator Party's case it's usually things like senate slate positions, cabinet positions, etc. So if you want to play a game of extortion you might want to go talk to Matt Goldberger or Jordan Johnson.

Also, to say that O&B doesn't support things like SRI is just insulting. O&B has done everything within its power to support SRI but at the end of the day O&B is an SG political party. SG doesn't invest any money, they spend it all, and they have no control on the operations of any other aspect of the University. You want more done about SRI? Call your local state representative, write your congressman.

Your comments clearly demonstrate that you are not very well versed in politics, only petulance.

Dictor and his supporters clamored for bylaws and for open elections of officers, etc. They were given both. Now they are crying over the results and outcome of what they clamored for.

Anon 6:28, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not TheBenDictor itself and also that you are a member of SDS. So I ask you this, why are you making this all about one man? Is this really what SDS stands for? Has it no principals or ideals to fight for? Doe it exist solely as a means to further Ben Dictor's political career through means of extortion and threats?

O&B has advocated for what it thought were SDS and the Left's causes, but somehow we missed Ben Dictor's name on that list. Your people end up on our slate because they are smart and qualified, your causes on our platform because they are worth fighting for. None of that is going to change.

Our party believes what you believe, we see how you see, and feel how you feel. We are a party of principles, causes, and ideals and these are the things we rally around.

One of O&B's core principles is merit; nobody is given anything for any other reason than their merit. And yet you come on this blog and demand Ben Dictor be made the SBP nominee for O&B based solely on the fact that he supports your causes. No discussion of any other reason.

You want to know why many people don't support Ben Dictor as the O&B nominee? Because he threw the hand scanner bill under the bus; the Gator Party attacked the bill and tried to tear it down and Ben Dictor stood up at the front of the room and concurred with their attacks. He cannot be trusted to advocate for what we believe in, too many times has he said too many nice things to his opposition of apologized for things that needn't be apologized for.

So there you have it; SDS wants Ben Dictor because they think he'll support the Left's causes unwaveringly but in actuality has been opposed because on issues as important as Hand Scanners he has floundered and even taken on Gator's positions on the matter.

Anonymous said...

10:15 AM (the only serious reply)

Some of the things you write are clearly false, though I thank you for being somewhat serious. I say somewhat because you seem to be writing almost in a campaign-ish fashion, rather than trying to seek real solutions to this crisis.

Firstly, I was there when the hand scanner thing went down. I know exactly what Dictor was doing, and what the claims of a few possible swing voters in the Gator Party were. They said it wasn't clear enough for them, so Dictor was arguing that it should be amended to just make the bill clearer. I'm pretty sure he was arguing with Cavataro about this, but even when Cavataro got on stage he was clearly ok with the idea of amending the bill. The Gator Party killed the amendment attempt, and killed the bill. To blame it on Dictor makes me believe you either weren't there to witness what went down, or you're lying. If anything on our part killed the bill, it was the unwillingness of some O&B people to work with the Gator Party kids to get this through, though I personally believe it was dead no matter what. The administration called an audible, and the Gator Party changed their play accordingly...

Secondly, on claims of threats and extortions, you can take it however you want. I personally see it as advice from someone who deep down doesn't want to see this party split. I don't think I need to spell it out why a Dictor/McShera ticket should be seen as a compromise (and for that matter, it is one I'm honestly not entirely sure we could even force Dictor to agree to at this point), and simply publicly apologizing to Dictor and Schneider for the actions of a few of your most childish members and agreeing to renew your efforts to push SRI is not asking for much at all. I think it leaves you with everything you want, and gives us enough reassurance to continue supporting the O&B.

But if you have your own ideas for a solution, I suggest you start calling the right people and negotiating now. This problem is not going away, and as far as I know, the cabal is acting like they don't have to do jack shit. I'm here to tell you that you're fatally mistaken on this.

Anonymous said...

From: 10:15
To: 6:28

What I was alluding to with the hand scanner bill was when Gator Party Senator Jon Fager stood up and alleged that the hand scanner bill was radical as a means to scare people away from voting for it. This was during con debate. Immediately following that, Pro debate started and Dictor stood up, apologized to everyone else who wished to speak Pro because he was intending on taking all 3 minutes, and then immediately agreed with Fager that yes, in fact, the bill was radical. Game. Set. Match. Gator Party win.

You are right that the administration gave their tools the signal to kill the bill and it was dying no matter what. That doesn't change the fact that Dictor helped along the Gator Party's line of reasoning/justification for the bill's death.

Senator Eric Wolf found himself in a similar situation months ago. He threw Dictor under the bus over the Aramark issue and found himself completely out of favor and depowered within the party. Dictor, in his agreeing with arguments intended to kill the very bill his fellow senators were advocating for, has now found himself in a similar situation.

The Aramark issue was going to die as well because the administration had issued an audible but nobody blinked an eye when Wolf wasn't allowed rise within the ranks of the party for going against what the party stood for.

I am Anon and you will have to take my word when I say that I did not partake in any smear campaign against Dictor. Did it happen? Smears happened. But to call it a campaign implies organization and coordination and neither of those are true. If you run into several friends at Krishna lunch and somebody came upon all of you eating together on the grass. Would it be fair for that person to allege that you had coordinated the effort, or would the truth be more akin to you all just had the same idea, that being to go eat Krisna lunch? I would argue the latter.

Are there some apologies in order? Probably. At the same time, this whole mess began because Dictor grossly overreacted to comments on a blog. His overblown reaction shows poor judgment and an inability to operate well under pressure, both are qualities not becoming of a leader. Leaders who make decisions with their emotions in full bloom usually don't make the right decision.

Here's a promise to everybody reading:
SRI will be pushed hard in the Spring.
Hand Scanner's will be made a big issue.
"The Left", its people and ideas, will still be greeted with a smile and open arms by the O&B Party just as they always have and many of their members and their ideas will make it onto the O&B slate and platform respectively.

What won't happen is this:
The entirety of the O&B Party will not capitulate to the demands and wishes of one individual or one interest group. Is "The Left" important to the success of O&B? Absolutely. Are they the sole reason for our success? Absolutely not. O&B is a movement bigger than any one person or any one individual and the sooner everybody can start agreeing on that point the sooner we can begin moving on.

If you want to play, then play. But you're done playing the second you threaten to take your ball and go home. That didn't fly with anybody on the playground in elementary school and it still doesn't fly now.

Anonymous said...

From: 6:28
To: 1:29

Again, I was personally there for the hand scanner bill, and I found no fault with anything Dictor said in support of the bill. Maybe you want to latch onto to something Dictor said as justification for your previous remarks, but that is total crap. I recall Dictor saying something to the effect the "power of the purse" was radical, but Dictor and many other O&B senators stood up and said this was only to make sure the will of the student body was done, and that it had nothing to do with defunding Rec Sports, as that liar Fager said. The bill was killed before we ever got there Tuesday night, and nothing Dictor said could possibly have saved it. And frankly, he probably did a lot better job with those 3 minutes than anyone else would have.

To pretend this has anything to do with some off the cuff speech Dictor made in support of the hand scanner bill is ludicrous. I can't believe you are seriously suggesting that. In fact, I don't believe it, and must say again you are not serious about a real solution to this crisis.

I have wasted too much studying time worrying about this, and this is gonna be my last response for awhile. Please, for the love of whatever god you might believe in, take these next words seriously.

The Left is gonna side with Dictor no matter what. There are myriad reasons for this, but you must not deceive yourself on this point, 1:29 PM. Nothing you or anyone else says on this blog is gonna change that. There is no point in rhetorical posturing on this matter.

At this juncture, it may be impossible to reconcile. You must also trust me when I say that time is of the essence. You are going to have to make some serious effort, and soon, at reconciliation. And while you may not yourself be part of the smear campaign against Dictor, I'm sure you know just as well as I who is. These people need to be reigned in immediately. This has to stop, and I mean right now. The simple fact of the matter is no one wants to work with someone who has nothing but disdain for them, and for any hope of unity these people must be forced to stop what they're doing and apologize (and if you're reading this now, I hope you care enough about the future of the O&B to stop what you're doing and apologize, without having to be told to do so).

Someone anonymously has made a comment in another post to this same effect, but we know information that will be one hell of a "February Surprise." I don't really want this information used against the O&B. I'm not gonna say anything more on this matter. Those in the know reading this know what I am talking about, and that is all I am gonna say.

I'm asking you as a favor, 1:29, to make sure the right thing is done to reconcile the party. I can't stress enough how close things are to being completely unreconcilable at this point. You have to take my words seriously and make sure the cabal does as well. If they really care about not dividing the party (something I can't really tell at all at this point), then you will go through the necessary steps I outlined, or something very similar to them.

Please, please don't respond with more rhetoric. It is so far beyond that right now. You need to get on the phone and make everyone realize how dire the situation is, as I am desperately trying to get through to you with what (admittedly) little literary talent I have. I seriously hope you have the political wisdom and will to prevent this split, 1:29, and if you are who I think you are, it might just be possible. But I seriously don't believe anything less than what I previously outlined is going to fly.

Anonymous said...

I am pleased to welcome the Ghost of Fei Long to our coalition. Grasshopper recruited him to join with us and bring his international experience into the mix, something that the FBK has sorely lacked for a number of years. We are in prime position to take over and control this election once the Orange and Blue party completely dissolves. We will be meeting in the attic of the Hippodrome and then moving to Liquid Ginger tomorrow night after the Ghost of Russell Semmel's evidence exam.