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!

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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.

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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).

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ACCESS The PANTS Page

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