Confusion & Malaise

What must the average student be thinking right now? I was at the post office the other day and I saw this gorgeous blonde (prolly sorority girl) wearing a Swamp t-shirt and I felt so strange inside...because this is the party I'm leaning towards (even if by a hair) it made me feel awkward, but I guess an independent that plays only one side of the field isn't much of a free-thinker to say the least.

I've sent out a few letters, though I'm pressed for time, to Gavin Baker, Nikki Grant, & Michelle Lightbourne making a point that UNITE needs to address certain PR blunders. Much of what I've said about the traditionalists came true, my suggestion that they remove online voting and the reasons why from their platform a few days ago....is now today's news in the Alligator...I also suggested they change that horrid party photo with Lola holding the football because it sent too much of an athletic-based emphasis and sure enough a couple days later they changed it...Swamp has yet to change their photo so I would be disinclined to call it mere coincidence.

Here's what I think UNITE needs to do to get back in this election:

1. Jared needs to address his real track record w/ online voting. He needs to stand by what really happened in the past and why he supports the measure today. Independents are very familiar with the bandwagon-concept and right now Jared could really present a HUMAN image by perhaps not whitewashing his past and appearing REAL by saying that in the past his judgement may have been clouded by the ills of single party rule, but that today he sees the greater value of online voting to the student body. Continuing to ride the current tide will cause many would-be UNITE voters to simply stay home as they feel their intelligence is being insulted.....UNITE can either take my advice or learn the hard way, it's all the same to me.

2. UNITE needs to address the Siler acquisition. This one issue is the single most detrimental factor facing UNITE's campaign. I have spoken to nearly a dozen formerly hardcore UNITE supporters that I would consider at the 'organizer-level' that remain furious at how UNITE effectively absorbed MVP. Even a minor clarification would really give the party the HUMAN image that its frontrunner and the organization seem to be lacking.

I would also remove the ridiculous East Gainesville initiative....SWAMP may have a bs initiative like keeping towing rates low (which SG can't do), but having an initiative where students are led to believe that an SG party will improve (even over a long-term) the living conditions of a historically downtrodden sector of the off-campus community is just beyond ridiculous. I'm sure the number of website views received will be no where near proportional to the number of votes you'll receive, but on principle, I really think that initiative should be removed.
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Article time:

...From Tuesday
Electoral platforms are diverse
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060221platforms.php

If rival Unite Party is triumphant, students may have the option of voting for the next generation of SG leaders from their home computers.
(((RIIIGHT))) What about the referendum...this is cutting edge journalism raht here!

Hernandez said he hopes to change the culture of SG by fighting the elitist stereotypes associated with the organization.

For someone that's had more titles in SG than Imelda Marcos had pairs of expensive shoes, Jared should really shut his pie-hole when it comes to bureaucracy.

He said a Unite administration would not promise Cabinet and other leadership positions to members of predetermined student groups.
Great answer. "I like what we're saying here"....(anyone watched Almost Famous...this is what the Rolling Stone editor tells William on the phone...I won't elaborate)

"The Unite Party stresses that students live and act responsibly," Hernandez said, adding that an AA chapter would not use many SG resources.
What about drugs? It's a good thing Jared said AA and not NA...might have lost NORML support on that one! Either way, I think it's great Jared was a prohibitionist in his past life and that he wants to make editorial love to Bernie Machen or milk his hardass IFC Pres days, but this is a college campus and with excellent counseling programs already in place. SG cannot take the brunt of following through with substance-abuse-related-therapies, I think this is a good idea at heart but not in practice. Speaking of heart over mind....

...From Today's Alligator:
SG candidates speak up
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060222forum.php


Boyles, referring to the questioning process,"I'm really glad we went second because that way we knew what was going on."
This quote is horrible (replying with the heart [emotion over thought]). The students already remember SWAMP being the party that took longer to release a PLATFORM, now Boyles further makes SWAMP look unprepared. This quote reads like he needed to feed off UNITE to be able to get past the debate. Very bad quote, horrible!

"Jared, last-minute changes happen all the time, sir," Goldberg told him.
Well, Joe's already SBP but that seemed to have been as cold as when he addressed me as "Mr. Duque" a few months back when I was trying to pressure his office into co-sponsoring the upcoming Howard Zinn speech. Will Joe endorse ala Jamal Sowell, but really, who cares.

The audience of about 70, comprised mostly of rival Swamp and Unite Party supporters, was enthusiastic as executive candidates stressed the attainability of their ideals.
This will hopefully put down the radical-UNITE idea that their party is sooo revolutionary. We all thought it, yes..even w/Access! These debates, if anything, are truly a humbling experience, because only the most loyal of the most loyal party supporters appear. When the day comes (if it ever will) that the party supporters in the party shirts are the minority amongst throngs of average, everyday concerned and interested students in the audience...then and only then will SG live through revolutionary times. As for right now, save the drama for your mama and just realize this is a boring election.


Old School
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060222eddy.php

We think online voting is a noble goal. But independent candidate for treasurer Susan Henriques already got the online voting measure approved as a ballot initiative. That means that the issue will go to a student vote in the next election, so we don't really need Unite's help anymore. But it does sound suspiciously like Unite is trying to take credit for Henriques's work.

If I were a UF history professor and whoever wrote this was my student...I'd politely ask why this line (clearly paraphrasing someone else's THOUGHT) did not include with it a footnote to the RADIKAL? But this isn't a history class, I mean the Alligator sat on this for a week and a half and I made the comment two days ago and now it's on their paper and sure the editors have seen my blog but they would never steal someone else's idea, I don't believe that for a minute!
Nonetheless, the quote is very familiar to what I wrote. Later on, the quote is also wrong in that Susan Henriques is not online voting, online voting has been something that a long list of folks have been fighting for, a list that includes Diane Kassim, Andrew Hoffman, the Impact, Progress, & Voice Parties and many more if we were to go further back in time. Susan definitely fought hard but she is not the issue, this is just typical Alligator crap....just endorse the girl already and shut up!

Both want lower textbook prices.
This SWAMP/UNITE comparison is misleading. Not once has the Alligator addressed SWAMP's strategy at lowering the textbook prices. Making textbook purchases tax-exempt is both feasible and realistic....it goes a lot farther than merely saying "oh yeah let's keep the prices down." Excuse me folks, I need to write the editors of the Alligator a little side note....

"HEY STUPID....CAN YOU GO INDEPTH ABOUT HOW THE PARTIES WANT TO KEEP TEXTBOOK PRICES DOWN?"

--Ok I'm back, well that's it. Keep on fighting the good fight everyone!--