Web Reviews by 'el Duque'

I went a little hard on Sg-Span. However, what's up with these 3-4 month vacations?!! Dead Blog?

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We've got blogs that last five or six months and then hit a wall - they run out of material. They want to take this site out and I welcome them, hell, I even send traffic their way! And what? Four turncoats run a blog anonymously, they run out of material, they make claim web saboteurs hacked them, then they go private, then they go inactive, then they announce themselves like the unmasking of Kiss on MTV in 1983, but then unlike KISS who went on to several gold and platinum runs....they FOLD.



Then you have SwampFrontLawn. I mean what can you say about this rag? Pro-System? Toolfest? Propaganda Clearinghouse? I mean reading this was like going to Karl Rove for an objective take on the Bush administration. Never in all my blogging-life had I read such a piece of crap - and I've read plenty of crap on the boards since 2005.

Status: Getting Less Action Than MAX HARDCORE.



It's not all bad after all. I mean you've got guys from way back in the 1990's like Ken Kerns online. Now I'm not saying Ken is older than dirt, in fact, I'm probably older in age, but it's nice to see a voice from the past millennium talkin about SG. Kerns does a good job in seasonally blogging on SG - good election time articles. Ken also sells books, tote bags, and buttons off of his website. I do believe he may also peddle bumper-stickers.

Got Buttons?

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Then there's Gator Gossip Girl. Good little blog, seemed to cater to average bozo more than anything, but good effort. If this were the late 80's/early 90's this blog would be totally zine-worthy! That's actually a compliment, a great read for those memorable moments on the can.

I think that more blogs should stray away from SG for breathers; cover something else! Whether than be skanks with guts in inflatable fraternity swimming pools or talkin about how Joe Bennett wants to pack on muscle and get rich per a facebook update so he can nail Lady Gaga - whatever it may be, stray a bit.

Now I'm not advocating you write books and sell tote bags, but get away a bit.

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EEE

EEE and Sg-Span seem to be two peas in the same pod, perhaps a casualty of the infighting of December 2008, or perhaps a concomitant creativity-freeze that warped amateur bloggers everywhere.

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Duque's Clear Favorite
One Last Gasp for Fresh Air

SG Gatorade

You can tell there's some clear TR influence on this page. A lot of subject diversity at work here. Last post was in mid-March, so I'm hoping there will be more to come. This seems like a fairly well put together site that could easily be around for years to come, should its author(s) so choose.

Reilly Recap: Friday Night Special Post

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What Novel Extracurriculars for UF Student Body President Theta Chi, I.F.C., Florida Blue Key.

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Reilly Recap, 10 words or less

"A massive swamp bar tab."
Matt Martz

"A total waste of time.
He was an empty suit."
Sam Miorelli

"HomeZone."
Ben Dictor

[Back in Fall]"When I infiltrated the meeting,
I remember him saying we were kids
who are mothers didn't hug enough.
Justin Wooten

"Impeachments."
Mark McShera

"An unyielding defense against maligning,
insipid, and misguided partisanship.
J. Clayton Brett

Ken Kerns....Sneak Peak

TheRaDiKaL: What can you tell us about the Vision Party campaign and working with Gary Slossberg? In what ways did the Voice Party (your incarnation) compare and/or differ from Vision?

Ken Kerns: Vision ran for an extraordinarily long time, from Spring 1997 to Spring 2000. I was only around for its final two elections, when it failed to win any seats. And when I was there, I could see why – very little effort was made to build and sustain coalitions in the fall and spring, and especially at recruiting new activists. In Spring 2000, we were heavily reliant on the qualifications and diversity that our Treasurer candidate brought to the table as BOCC Treasurer and the first openly gay candidate for campus-wide office.

Gary Slossberg was a great person to work with – funny, friendly, and passionate about his beliefs. As the Vision presidential candidate in 1999, for example, he spearheaded an effort to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Of all the political leaders I worked with at UF, he remains my favorite – I can’t quite explain why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that it took a lot to get him mad at you.

Vision was always like that, too – while not a “College Democrats” party, Vision was very much a socially liberal one that was skeptical of FBK and the greek system.

Voice 2001 was a bit different. Our platform was within the Vision tradition of “integrity, democracy, diversity” but our emphasis was on the plight of student organizations, and improving how SG worked. Our biggest fight was over giving more money to student groups – an amendment to the A&S Fee budget that Fusion bitterly opposed in the election but eventually sponsored when it came time to fund the organizational budget. We did not really campaign on social issues as much, although we favored more emphasis on a cleaner environment. With folks like Adam Guilette, a founder of the Liberty Project, on our side, our campaign was more about making SG more responsive, more decentralized.

It’s within the GDI tradition that Vision had cemented, but we had our own policy accents that made it a distinct force.

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The Full Ken Kerns Q&A...June 1, 2009
NO MORE POSTPONEMENTS! ONLY 41 Days Left!
Argento, Capezza, Kerns: "The Big 3"

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Skeet Surrency: 6 Replies to TheRadikal.com

1) The quote in which I call Machen an ally was both paraphrased and taken out of context by the alligator and yourself. As you probably know, Alligator reporters don't usually walk around with voice recorders - it's pen and pad for them, which almost always means your quotes will wind up paraphrased the next day. A more accurate quotation would have read "It's nice to Machen as an ally on this issue...” Now of course that sentence they chose to quote me on was just one of many I spoke during the interview, and the one immediately prior to that one was important contextually. It went something like "Budget cuts and tuition increases are symptoms of the same problem - Tallahassee refusing to adequately fund education." And the reason Machen is an ally on that particular issue is because he agrees with that statement 100%. We even got the man to agree that FL is in need of an income tax, which was a real surprise considering his conservatism.

It doesn't mean his handling of the situation is exemplary or commendable - I'd say he's done a horrible job advocating on behalf of students, faculty, and staff at UF. And when we confronted him with that sentiment, his reply was unsurprisingly pragmatic: it's easier to get money out of you students through tuition increases than it is to get this state to fund our school. So his role in this funding crisis is really just a symptom of the crisis itself, not the cause of it.

It is also worth nothing that at this time last year, 4 friends and I starved ourselves for 2 weeks trying to get a seat across the table from Machen to discuss our university's investment practices, which he refused to do. To get into all the ups and downs of my interactions with the man over the past 4 years easily fill an essay. Needless to say, I trust the man as far as I can throw him, yet I am not opposed in principle to working with him when it suits our needs.

2) I have friends and and allies in every political party represented in SG right now. I'm willing to work with anyone willing to work with me.

3) "Old" SDS was primarily a group of friends who got into activism together, and who mostly got out of activism at around the same time. The reasons for that are numerous and include, variously: activist burnout, loss of moral due to our defeat in the SRI campaign, school obligations, other activist obligations, people moving away, and a loss of direction or lack of creative ideas on where to go next.

"New" SDS could refer to anyone who joined SDS around the time when the original members were leaving, and represented a new generation of activists. Old SDS members failed to leave the organization with any sense of institutional memory, or with any meaningful training of new members on how to be successful activists. At the same time, the old SDS members who stuck around still held a considerable amount of sway over the organization, but were not coming up with any plans of their own, or were not able or willing to follow through on them. Even so, it was during this time that we won our first significant victory as activists, which was to stop the installation of handscanners at the rec centers on campus. But compared with our previous levels of activity, SDS was largely stagnant during this time.

New members obviously grew restless with this, and when it became clear that the old members were not offering anything in terms of where to go from here, they charted their own course, which included heavy participation in SG elections and a restructuring of the organization. For better or worse, the prospect of restructuring SDS brought back some old members, who were opposed to some of the measures. Tensions ran high for a while, and the end result was that most of the restructuring proposals passed a vote, but some didn't, and this left many new members dissatisfied. Some ended up leaving to form a new group, the International Socialist Organization. Most of those who left have not been back to a meeting since then.

Since then, SDS has returned to levels of activity similar to what we saw when we first started. Our focus is on the anti-budget cut campaign. Specifically we see our role as operating both independently and within the coalition formed around opposing the cuts (Coalition Save our Schools), in order to push the dialogue of this fledgling movement towards a more radical analysis of the situation. The ISO has also been active during this time, tabling, recruiting members, and attending meetings and conventions. Membership crossover between the two organizations exists on some levels, and it is undoubtedly a good thing that a explicitly socialist organization exists on campus. We could be wonderful compliments of one another, if the levels of collaboration between the two organizations would increase. That's obviously the most constructive direction the two groups could go together, and that's what we're working towards.

4) Frank Bracco has always been a friend of mine within SG. Before there was an Orange and Blue or SDS, I was active in getting an SG referendum question passed in the 2006 elections, and Frank helped me navigate the confusing culture and bureaucracy of SG. Since then he has helped in the same capacity in two other SG referendums I helped get onto election ballots.

Sam and I have no relationship to speak of, except that he served as the president of a political party I was marginally involved in. Politically I'm sure we'd disagree on most subjects.

5) SDS has slated members in the Orange and Blue and the Progress Party. Our constitution officially says that "We are not a mouthpiece for any particular party or ideology... (you can find the rest on our facebook group)." If it made tactical sense, I don't think many in SDS would object as a matter of principle in welcoming members of any political party who are willing to work constructively towards the broad goals outlined in our constitution, nor would we forbid our members from joining such parties. That said, we are unabashedly leftist in our analysis, so it would be odd indeed for much crossover to occur between us and, say, the college libertarians. Even then, we have often welcomed libertarians at our meetings, and have collaborated in putting on events with them, College Democrats, and even the College Republicans (most notably, in debating them on the issue of healthcare, where we were the only advocates of a single payer, universal system, but also in the aftermath of the Andrew Meyer protest, where we worked with the College Libertarians to put on a forum on civil liberties)

6) I did not participate in organizing the last radical rush, but it seemed okay to me.

Thank You, "Joe The Plumber!"

Lansing Tea Party

Let me start out by saying that I strongly believe in the concept of taxation and large government. How many people are going to openly admit wanting big government in this age of lousy economics and foreclosures left and right, but at least I'm not naive enough to believe that the markets will cure all evils. It's those same markets that packed up and headed over abroad at the prospects of cheap labor and nil government regulation. Surely, right-wing economists could once again point the finger at big government as the main culprit for the big U.S. companies ditching the red, white, and blue - however, we're not talking about a return to feudalism are we? We still want someone to live in the White House right? We still want a federal legislature and judiciary right? We still want some kind of a national government, right? I mean what's the purpose of chanting "U.S.A, U.S.A.," if you're goal is to revert our national government to the days of the Articles of Confederation?

Governments regulate, they tax, and they spend for the general welfare. So...while I strongly disagree with 90% of the arguments posed at yesterday's Lansing Tea Party, I just want to commend the organizers and even most of the supporters that showed up for taking part in their civic duties. It's important that Americans make good use of their constitutional freedoms to speech, press, and association. These were hard-earned freedoms, truly enjoyed by a select few nations in the world today. Most of these concerned conservatives, I'm sure, never miss an election and never pass up a chance to talk politics. I may not agree with them on substance, but I support their activism as if I were speaking of my own.

In closing, I would hope that the protesters and their supporters keep in mind that President Obama has been in office barely three months. Many of the protesters were extremely disappointed and furious with President over the fledgling economy - it's simply not fair. Give the man a chance. If you disagree at the end of six months, a year, a term - fine, but you're guy had the reins for 8yrs, our guy has been in office 3 Months, take that into account too.



Remember What Saved Us From U.S. Depression...it wasn't the bankers and industrialists being let free to go wild...it was FDR's NEW DEAL!

[Skeet] Surrency Comment Fallout

"It's being taken somewhat out of context. I took it as Skeet saying Machen was an ally on the issue of raising the sales tax."

Mark McShera
Fmr. O&B Party Presidential Candidate

"I mean a bunch of lefties supporting higher taxes doesn't surprise me.

Sam Miorelli
Fmr. Student Senator
Fmr. O&B Party President

It shows that Skeet believes in his goals enough to not act in the manner of a petulant child. He doesn't take the opposite stance of the administration and Machen just for the sake of being in opposition to them. Any good movement should recognize and be able to exploit opportunities within an established power structure that may present themselves.

Machen can be an ally today on one issue and an arch nemesis tomorrow on another. The world is not black and white and this is how mature and well adjusted individuals conduct themselves. There is no benefit to being shrill for the sake of being shrill. Screaming out, "It's Opposite day!" is the stuff of elementary school yards and high school spirit weeks, it is in now way a manner in which leaders need conduct themselves.

Joseph Trimboli
O&B Party Chairman

"I think the Alligator quoted Skeet out of context. I believe that Skeet would only be refering to Bernie as an ally when it came to the educational sales-tax (since Bernie has publicly supported it) It is well known that Skeet disagrees with Bernie on nearly every issue except this and the Alligator is well known for misquotes."

Frank Bracco
Fmr. O&B Party S.B.V.P. Candidate

"Skeet is a loser that is graduating, and only cares about this stuff because he is a media whore. All his activism is focused around how much he can get his name in the paper."

Justin Wooten
Progress Party Organizer

I don't know what was said or how deserved it was, but I'm skeptical of calling a guy that honestly thinks he deserves a bonus big enough to prevent several faculty being laid off an 'ally of the students,' but hey, if he really is, then he's a great ally to have."

Joe Bennett
Fmr. Student Senator

"Justin Wooten made a very apt analogy by comparing the study-in at Tigert Hall to the London protest referenced in Zizek's seminal essay, "Resistance is Surrender". My fear is that if the student opposition movement to the budget cuts gets too close with administration, it will compromise its autonomy and message.

Dave Schneider
Student Senator, Progress Party Leader

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Officials, Progs DIVIDED On Skeet

People have been hammering me as of late for implying that Skeet Surrency is an Official, yet it's interesting how factional-lines distinguish between support and skepticism.

In a post-election [SG]-world, it would seem that the divisions that broke the back of the Indie movement would be all but healed. One would think that 'the movement' is on the money again, waiting to give the machine a bloody nose in Fall! But not the case just yet.

Unlike SG as a whole, SDS is supposed to represent a certain fringe, a certain sector willing to take the fight one step further than the mainstream kids. It's quite unnerving that SDS, a group Skeet Surrency has largely associated with and which is credited with the protest in question, is now considered a Pro-Machen support group. It's not only sad for SDS, it's sad for the entire Independent movement.

SDS Leader Calls Machen "An Ally."

Read The Alligator Article!

I think dialogue is great, don't get me wrong, but when a key leader of a revolutionary student movement calls the head of the University of Florida's administration 'an ally', then you have to wonder what SDS is exactly all about.

Joe Bennett Speaks!

TheRadikal: Please tell us when you arrived at UF and what were some of the first organizations/causes you got involved with?

Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I arrived at UF in the fall of 2005 and I didn’t really care about SG. I’d been in SG in high school and figured it was a bunch of dorks playing house and adding resume lines. I joined the gator swim club freshman year and then the UF Rugby team fall 2006. I never really got involved with any causes throughout my college career. I did some work with mentally handicapped kids for community service, but I wouldn't describe that as anything close to championing a cause. I directed most of my passions into UF Rugby; building it from a scrub club into a nationally ranked force to be reckoned with. I tore my ACL spring of 2008, taking me out of the game and leaving me with enough free time to find another cause. Queue entrance of Student Government.



The Radikal: How did you first learn about student government and what motivated you to join the Orange & Blue Party and run for public office?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I got involved in SG through my association with one Mr. Samuel Miorelli, whom I attended high school with and lived with freshman and sophomore year. He told me over the summer that the Senate seat for my college (public health and health professions) was open. I wasn't taking classes at the time, so I had to wait until Fall to apply. I applied as an Independent, and with some pointers from Sam made it through the interview unscathed. My plan was simple: I'd stay Independent in the Senate and vote according to my conscience (that thing everyone talks about doing but never does). I realized very quickly that the Orange and Blue party was essentially a coalition of people that already did that, combined by the common goal of bringing down the corrupt Gator party. I joined right after I got my R&E seat.


TheRadikal: Did the candidates and/or the party change from the days on the campaign trail to the historic Fall victory, and if so, how?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I wasn't really involved with the historic Fall victory. Like I said, I joined the Senate as a replacement Senator and was not initially involved with Orange and Blue until later on.

I can offer some commentary on how things changed, however. I think what made Fall 2008 so successful was the wonderful circumstance where everyone was united to champion the same goal. Everyone was able to ignore their differences because the Gator party was a foe worth uniting against. The division that caused the formation of Progress and Orange and Blue as separate parties came as the result of personality clashes. Essentially we had two groups of people that didn’t like one another, and so even though they had the same goal of usurping the Gator party, they weren’t willing to work together to make it happen.


The Radikal: How would you describe a typical Tuesday night Senate meeting?

Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: The typical Senate meeting… makes you lose at least some of your faith in humanity. JJ was almost as bad of a chair as Kelly Dale. The leadership of the Gator party regularly took action ranging from pointless to ludicrous. That anyone is willing to follow them at all is laughable. For some reason people do… I have no idea why.

Orange and Blue would fight the good fight, but far too regularly goes into a conflict expecting to lose. Far too often people complained for the sake of complaining. The chorus of nasal “NAAAAY”s from the back corner did nothing but foster a defeatist attitude. The idea of isolating the party to a single, back corner in a four corner room is in itself defeatist. We needed to work much harder at being the voice of reason and providing an example for others to follow. Far too often we just bitched; no one respects that.

The Radikal: How would you describe typical office hours, a senator's modern day relationship with Glenda & Sandy, and a typical senator's relationship with his/her Senate President?

Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I didn’t really do many office hours; I tabled for my constituency requirements because it took half as long to get done. The time I spent in the office was either for Rules and Ethics or working with John Ossip on something or other. JJ was a terrible Senate President, one of the least genuine people I have ever interacted with, and almost as poor of a chair as Kelly Dale. Glenda is a nice lady, but I wonder why she stays around. Everyone in Senate speaks well of her, but few and far between are the Senators that treat her like a human being.


The Radikal: What are some of your proudest moments w/ O&B in Senate? Low points?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: My proudest moments in Senate were defeating the bills removing minority protections and gaining the support of some Gator senators. There was a small victory every time we succeeded in getting a Gator party senator to vote their conscience. It’s truly terrifying how mindlessly people will vote for things that are blatantly morally reprehensible, and so seeing someone break free from brainwashing or resist being strong-armed was inspirational. Ben Dictor gets most of the credit for getting a lot of these Senators on our side, but I’d like to think I had something to do with it as well.

Getting bylaws written for the Orange and Blue party and having elections for new officers was somewhat of a personal victory, although the main aim in doing that was to prevent the party splitting. History can tell you how well that one worked out…
That leads into my lowest point; the split between Orange and Blue and Progress. Political death. We essentially said, “Here Unite, have the election, we didn’t want it anyway.”

Another huge source of exasperation for me was Rules and Ethics. From the committee’s ridiculous refusal to subpoena Riley for the Green Means Go emails to the Senate’s repeated refusal to kick out Taxter. I still can’t believe he kept his seat. Pretty much the only time the guy came to Senate was to plead not to be kicked out. He didn’t even show up to his hearing with Rules and Ethics to defend himself.

I’m going to have to stop here in the interest of time, but rest assured I have witnessed more ridiculous occurrences during my time in Senate than I care to recall.



The Radikal: We all know you left Student Government, but no one really knows why. Could you please tell us, in your own words, why you stepped away from SG? Is the move permanent?



Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I must admit I’m at a bit of a loss as to why anyone would find it a mystery why I stepped away from SG. I’m graduating this May, so I wasn’t planning on running for reelection. Everyone I’ve spoken to was aware of this. I had moral qualms about running for an office that I knew ahead of time I would have to vacate within a few months. At the time I resigned, I had only a few Senate meetings left until my term was over. The opportunity arose for me to enroll in a first responder class as a precursor to Emergency Medical Technician training (it was only offered Tuesday nights 6 to 10 PM). I would have had to delay my plans by at least a semester in order to stay in Senate for three more meetings. With nothing pressing on the table, I decided to go the First Responder route. I’ll get the chance to actually save lives instead of just talking about doing it (paraphrased from Alan Yanuck).

As for my withdrawal itself, I’m still around for anyone that wants my help. The only call I received from anyone in SG during the elections was from Sam Miorelli, who needed a candidate to slate with Orange and Blue for my college. I found him one within 20 minutes. That said, I’m not a Senator anymore, so I am taking a step back. SG is draining, and I have to decide how best to direct my energies. During my time as a Senator, I would regularly spend entire days working on nothing but SG issues. I just can’t afford to keep doing that.

During the elections, I kept to myself mainly because I never decided who I wanted to support. On a case by case basis, the Progress party had more candidates I supported, but fundamentally I was opposed to the formation of a second party to begin with. I’d been saying since well before the election that any division would be our downfall. I tried hard to stop it; I wish I’d tried harder. To beat the force that is the United Swampy Gator Party, we have to be working as a unit.


The Radikal: If O&B and Progress were to join forces, would you consider returning to SG to work with Eric Conrad & Joe Trimboli?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I will work with anyone that wants to improve SG. I’ve known Joe Trimboli since high school and have gotten on well with Eric Conrad since I first met him. I’m not sure why you chose those two people specifically, but yeah I’ll be around Gainesville until fall 2010 and I’m willing to help out.


The Radikal: Per my promise, there will be no questions regarding contentious matters as of 11/2008-03/2009, however, some of these issues have been marked in word association.


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: Not sure what issues you’re referring to, but sounds good.


Ben Dictor: Charismatic. The Progress party was basically formed around Ben as a presidential candidate. A lot of the victories we had in the Senate during fall and early spring were due to his gaining of rapport with opposition senators.


Grasshopper: Experienced. No one’s been around longer than this guy. He makes damn good pizza rolls too.


Elizabeth Stinson: Angry. I have no idea if she is even sure what her own goals are. She shouts a lot and talks big but I’ve never really seen her do anything constructive.


Stacey Gray: Promising. One of the nicest people I’ve met. It will be a sad day for the student body if she ends up as jaded as the rest of the people in SG.


Joe Trimboli: Veteran. He’s been around SG for ages. I disagree with him on some issues and he knows that, but we get along well. That said, he works for an insurance company. You can never really trust an insurance salesman.


GMGo Emails: Pain in the ass. They basically highlight everything wrong with SG. In themselves they show how corrupt SG leadership was and is. The refusal of R&E to investigate them shows even more clearly how much Gator sucks. They were almost assuredly obtained illegally, also a problem. That said, they exposed corruption, and for that they were invaluable.


Mark McShera: Likeable. He was easy to rally around; reference his spontaneous appointment to the R&A committee. He got too hot headed at times, but he’s a good guy. I wish he’d stepped down to allow Ben to run for SG President, but then I also wish Ben had done the same thing for Mark.


Kyle Huey: Behind the scenes. Never saw much of him but apparently he does a lot.


12/11 Meeting/Scandal: I’m not great with dates, but I’m going to assume this is referring to the Orange and Blue open meeting where we called out the supposed cabal. Since then people have said the word “cabal” is too strong. Whatever. I don’t care what word you use; a large portion of the party was being lied to by our leadership and I called them out on it. I was personally the one that called them out on it, but for some reason in the weeks that followed a number of people chose to hold it against Ben Dictor, who actually had very little to do with it. That did not help the healing process.

By this point our party was tearing apart at the seams. A lot of people were pissed at one another; pretty much every person with good reason. We were headed for splitsville, and this was my last ditch effort to get our issues out into the open and keep everyone on the same page. It was a shitty situation, but we made the best of it. We got bylaws passed and new officers elected. I could go down the list and tell you the mistakes made by each person involved, but the bottom line is that we didn’t do what we needed to do to stay together. Divided we got conquered.


O&B 2009: Good luck. They’ve taken a big hit and they need to figure out where to go from here. My vote is to have O&B and Progress get back together.


Progress 2009: Best wishes. I’m happy for the grad seat wins, but I don’t like how people are viewing them. Winning eight seats means Unite got all the rest. It was a big step back from the success of the previous Fall. As far as I’m concerned, as long as Unite or Gator or whatever they call themselves are winning, everyone is losing. I hope they have more success in the future.


Keg 2009: Retarded. Leading up to the election we were concerned that Gator would form several parties to diffuse the anti-Greek vote. They didn’t go that route, so some genius decided to do it for them. Whoever’s idea it was to form this party should kick themselves in the balls/ovaries.



Unite 2009: U suck. Every time I see someone with that stupid U on a shirt or sticker I lose some respect for them. That U does not stand for Unite in my brain.


Frank Bracco: Overzealous. He’s got good ideas but has zero ability to build rapport with people that don’t already agree with him.


Charles Grapski: Activist. I don’t know anything about what the guy stands for, but I can’t help but admire anyone willing to sacrifice so much for what they believe. Whether he’s insane or just determined I don’t know.


Thomas Jardon: I don’t really know him well enough to comment.


Matt Martz: --- [Fmr. Sen. Bennett wrote in to state he in fact has not met Mr. Martz and to offer his apologies for the mix-up.




The Radikal: Any parting words?



Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: SG’s main problem is that it’s populated by people that realize things are corrupt, but are unwilling to take a stand against it. They join Gator/Unite because they think they can make change from the inside. Pretty soon they find they value their resume lines too much to rock the boat. As always, it’s the sheep, not the wolves, that are the real problem. Dumbasses like JJ and Fager pose no threat at all until you add 60 Senators ready to blindly vote at their command.

Friday Is Joe Bennett Night!

The Q&A will be published at around 10pm tonight :)

Updates

I'll be speaking with Fmr. Progress Party Presidential candidate, Sen. Benjamin Dictor this weekend for an update on where the Progress Party is headed, continued negotiations with O&B, and SG-strategies. Dictor, whether remaining at UF or not (like Bruce Haupt), has made a lasting contribution to the modern day independent movement.

I'm also awaiting the Q&A from Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett and working on some loose ends for the months of April & May, as well as hopefully getting more involvement from Joe Trimboli & Eric Conrad on the State of the Parties.

I'm also hoping to be able to have a Jordan Johnson Q&A up at some point during his administration - I consider this a top priority for the blog and would be ever-so-gracious to anyone that could help make this happen.

GDI v. Mainstream Indie

Mainstream Indies

GDI's

There's three types of Independents...yes more subcultures...but these three types have been around a lot longer than yours truly or this blog. The first type (which is a Greek-friendly version, e.g. "Swamp," "Impact") was not present in this election. The next garden variety is the Mainstream (or Moderate) Independent (ala Progress '05, Action, or Hernandez-UNITE!), which in this case would be the Orange & Blue Party. The smallest type - and contrary to this year's upset, the worst performing faction - are the GDI's (see Student Alliance '03, Keg '04, Voice '05, and arguably, ARGUABLY Keg '09.

In the featured videos, you see Mainstream GDI's using the same influences as their elder-GDI counterparts and while funny, the O&B version seems forced, whereas as the Pants version is very spontaneous, laid back, and naturally "WHATEVER!"

You decide for yourself. Put your film critic's hat on and comment!

Early Decision

I've decided to lift Kerns' ban and declare an end to the cyber conflict between us. This decision was inspired by a brief facebook exchange with Ken yesterday.

A New Term: "The Officer Corps"

TR Terms - A Review

Officials - the hardline-moderate wing of the O&B Party pre-2009. This faction, was loosely led by outgoing Party President Sam Miorelli and retained control of the party, during a brief mutiny led by the 'the Progs' culminating with the 12/11 Scandal.


'Progs' - disenfranchised minority wing of the O&B Party pre-2009, led by Benjamin Dictor. The faction sought a primary, but withdrew during the 12/11 Scandal.


'Prags' - smaller ideological tendency, found in both factions. Leading figures in this movement included Mark McShera and Joe Bennett (who is no longer involved with SG).


"The Officer Corps" - label for mid-level party leadership in O&B, Progress during 2009 Negotiations Period - (beginning with rumored talks between Eric Conrad & Joe Trimboli.

"The OC's", as postulated by this blog, will likely man the last holdout pockets of resistance to an O&B/Progress reconciliation, should such a move be either premature or backward in substance.


12/11 - Progs believe cling to this date as marking a deceptive Executive Order by O&B Party President Donte Hargrove, whereas Officials believe that Progs had ample notice of the meeting time(s) and that this is a mere smoke screen.

"I don’t see the December 11th meeting as a cause for the now-Progress Party members leaving Orange & Blue but rather a manifestation of the actual root causes. I chose to not attend the meeting because I was uncomfortable with the idea that we would hold a critical discussion without a significant portion of the party being present. As it was, quorum was called with only 13 members present. There simply wasn’t enough time for many senators to adjust their schedule, especially given the proximity of the date to finals.

I don’t want anyone to be crying over spilt milk, though. In the words of Lady Macbeth, 'What’s done is done.'"

Sen. Dave Schneider (Progress)
3/09/2009

GMG Emails - Officials called the Progs bluff on this one. Progs failed to deliver the goods, though, 'the Officials' believe this turned the PR tide against them.


Toto - a rumored multiple personality of Justin Wooten. Many anon posts claimed Wooten engaged this double in lively conversations on bus-stops all throughout campus. These tales amounted to nothing but off-color humor. Toto also supposedly beat up Wooten at a Turlington restroom.

SG News! Served Up Fresh Since 2005!

Opposition Leader's Wallet Stolen!

"I was at a concert last night, the girltalk show at the venue, and i realized about halfway through that my wallet was gone."

Sen. Dave Schneider (Progress) spoke to TheRadikal, stating that the larceny began within thirty minutes of the theft and that he raced to cancel credit cards - SMART MOVE! Schneider was an integral part of the Spring 2009 student body elections, where the longshot Progress Party defeated its larger, more solidifed indie rival nine seats to nothing.

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"Progress Won't Survive Summer A."

Fmr. O&B Party President Sam Miorelli is convinced the rogue O&B faction that became the Progress Party has its days in the UF-Senate numbered. The Officialist-Indie leader (recognized by this blog as one of the Great SG leaders of the 2000-2010 decade) had this to say:

"I just don't think that putting all of your political eggs in the GSC basket with Ryan OMara and Grasshopper is a sustainable electoral strategy...

I don't think they'll survive past Summer A."

In response to Miorelli's comments, current Progress Party President Joshua Simmons lashed back, stating:

"Ignorance and volume often make for a lethal combination, and Sam has plenty of both.

Since his conception of "surviving as a Senate party" seems to be calling for dilatory roll-call votes, standing to pose irrelevant, inflammatory, and often insulting questions, and generally just being as obstructionist as possible, then yes, we probably won't "survive as a Senate party."

However, I can guarantee that the Progress caucus will do far more policy-making in this one summer than Sam Miorelli has ever done in his entire SG career.

Dictor and I aren't planning for the next election - we're going to be here for the next few months helping do what we set out to, and then we're leaving Gainesville. For the first time in a number of semesters, independents are going to focus on policy, and not on politics."

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Joe Bennett Agrees To Tell-All Q&A!

The next big name to grace the Q&A Roster will be a name that was largely absent from the recent student body elections. This will be Joe's time to explain why he left SG! This is a must-read for anyone interested in the current crop of Indie leaders and for those curious as to what internal party strife means to the guys on the front lines!

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Matt Martz Shares 'His Side'

O&B Activist, Matt Martz gave TheRadikal.com an exclusive on the comings-and-goings of current scandal rocking the pillars of UF student leadership. The following was provided directly from the man some insiders called 'O&B Spymaster'.

"I really dont know the name to be honest [when asked by yours truly for the identity of an unknown sorority member/speaker at tonight Senate meeting], a friend of mine was handing out I-voted-stickers outside of a KA social at Xs because we saw them walk by Salty Dog while we were drinking

Two or three frat guys start harassing her so i come up to get them to go inside the club (we were handing them out at the door) anyway after awhile of me trying to get them inside and them yelling at me that i was unethical one of the KA guys makes some comment about how much more he gets laid than me, and to look around at the girls walking in so i tell him that at least i dont have to pay to get laid (referring to frat dues)anywho, like 5 minutes later in the conversation they threaten to call the cops if we dont leave saying that they will tell them that I pushed his girlfriend and sexually harassed her and that his frat brothers would all back him up.

I told him to fuck himself and to call the cops, he didnt, and all of sudden a few days later after it became apparent that the charges against me for stealing I-Voted-Stickers werent going to hold up, an elections complaint comes up essentially they are ramping up the pressure, they tried a false police report on the election wednesday and once that fell through they are pushing this sorority girl to lie to get me in trouble with Student judicial affairs

The better part was apparently before Stephen lawson, the elections commission chair announced the results he went off topic to say that I in no way should be trusted; I dont have the exact wording because I wasnt there but yeah, twice in one meeting I was called out its just JJ and Dan Siegel ramping up their retalitory actions for me requesting then printing i voted stickers they know they are fucked as soon as i get my legal brief in order, they broke a shit ton of laws."

I have a little trouble believing all this. In fact, when a few brave FIJI M-E-N escorted Access Presidential candidate Jamal Sowell through Fraternity Row, there wasn't a nicer group than those diversity-loving KA's. I still remember, fondly, a young KA man, wearing a KA cap on no less, walking by me as I tried to hand him an Access flyer and speak with him about Sowell, stating, "I won't vote for that colored." I remember how I lovingly followed him from Turlington to the Hub bus-stop, courteously reminding him of what a lovely sentiment he'd just shared with me. So I must say, Mr. Martz you had me going, until you mentioned that glorious fraternity. I cannot believe they would make such a sordid tale. Bless those boys! Bless them.

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Bracco/Wooten Feud Continues
Indie leaders from both factions need to figure out a way to get Wooten & Bracco speaking again. It will surely take a village - let's try Hawthorne - I mean what else do they have goin on anyways?

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That's all folks.

Bracco, Wooten Feud Heats Up

Orange & Blue Leader Frank Bracco has been fingered by top Progress Lt. Justin Wooten in a scandal rocking the Independent movement. Wooten claims he has first hand knowledge that the former O&B Vice Presidential candidate has been telling fellow party-members that Wooten is an FBI Agent, allegations that, if true, will put a major damper on hopes of a key-Summer-pactbetween the two warring Indie factions.

"We need a united front for [Fall]," expresses a key indie leader on the ground at UF. Wooten, who is widely rumored heir-apparent to the Progress-presidency, a post currently held by Joshua Simmons, is the #1 go-to person O&B should be looking to win over.


Bracco, on the other hand, is a senior member of the independent movement, having made his bones with the heroic Pants Party of Bruce Haupt and following that up with a successful tenure at the helm of a key SG Agency, not to mention consisten ground & organizational work several indie parties.

Many people have had their fingers crossed since the results were announced - hoping for unity and reconciliation. On the other hand, many hardliners (from both parties, I'm afraid to say) still have some fight left in 'em. It could be Bracco/Wooten or it could be Heinz or Hunts Ketchup, but some hardliners seem poised to carry on the tensions - even though the elections are a thing of the past.

Question is...will this feud provide a forum for the upcoming battles? You Decide!

"What Do The Insiders Say?"

"It's utter nonsense. SDS people made it up and Bracco just parroted it. If Wooten has beef he should take it to SDS.

Chairman Joe Trimboli
Orange & Blue Party

"I think it's a bit overblown, although Bracco has been extremely obnoxious as of late and Wooten's not one to tolerate a lot of rowdy and unwarranted behavior.

Like, Bracco was yelling and screaming about this poster we made and put up at our table in turlington w/ our exec and lil wayne+obama and he was really trying to raise hell, saying we were misrepresenting ourselves and falsely implying that these two figures endorsed us.

And Wooten flat out told him to shut the fuck up, or something in that ballpark which may have sparked the fbi comment as backlash.

But like, even after o&b pulled their complaints against progress (a ridiculously shallow gesture), Frank still filed a couple against us for the lil wayne poster."

Sen. Dave Schneider
Rumored Progress Party 2010 SBP Candidate

"I think Wooten isn't a student at UF and seriously question how much free time he has on his hands that he's so "involved" in SG politics."

Sam Miorelli
Fmr.O&B Party President

"Wooten wins in the 5th round by TKO. Sam is trying to be relevant. Wooten is a really good guy, committed to the party and the cause."

Sen. Benjamin Dictor (Progress)
2nd Place Finisher, UF-SG Fmr. SBP Candidate

Congratulations to Unite, Progress, & O&B.

The Original photo has been deleted. I received an email from Harrison Diamond Photo Editor of The Independent Florida Alligator, stating:

"I already had to come down hard on the Unite party after they stole the image you used in the congratulations post on their campaign website after being formally warned not to use the images from our site on any campaignmaterials. I have nothing against you, your blog, or anything like that,but it is important that I am consistent in matters of protecting ourintellectual property."

I saved the photo from Jordan Johnson's facebook profile, thinking it looked very classy. Mr. Diamond pointed to six other photos on my blog since October that were taken from the Alligator.

I have asked Mr. Harrison to please provide me with all dates in question so that I may remove them and issue proper credit. Over the past four years I have been the subject of articles, as well as had letters and a column printed in the Alligator. I've enjoyed the readership of Alligator writers and, arguably, its editors. Over the course of the past four years, I've cited the Alligator and/or shared photos without any incident - whatsoever. However, Mr. Diamond makes very valid points in that these photos are intellectual property and requests must be made, be it from a political party, a blog, or anyone else for that matter.

I hope that no one's feelings are rubbed the wrong way by this post, but I believe a valuable lesson has been learned here today and I wanted to go above and beyond Mr. Diamond's request because I feel it's the right thing to do.

Final Election Thoughts

The Progress Party (first endorsed by TheRadikal.com and later by the Independent Florida Alligator) must live on. While Orange & Blue remains a viable independent party, the real GDI's are in the Progress Party. Unaware of any election results, I believe the only person that can be to Progress what Sam Miorelli was to Orange & Blue - or what James Argento was to Access -- or what Ken Kerns was to Voice - is Justin Wooten.

This incarnation of Progress means something. SG can finally move in a honorable direction, educating the students about worldly affairs, organizing grassroots campaigns for true sustainability (not just dropping a plastic recycle bin outside some random classroom in Turlington. History shows us that the students are the ones that pushed for civil rights, suffrage, gay rights, the students helped end wars, but here at UF, the students are relegated to bullshit roles in a government that's carefully monitored by the UF Administration and infected with legacies and good ole boy systems.

Whatever the results may be, the only party that was truly about real, in-your-face change: was Progress and this party should not 'marry' O&B or sail off into oblivion. Progress should be alive and well in 2009, with Dave Schneider as its presidential candidate in 2010.

In the coming weeks I hope to look into the Keg Party and study how O&B chose to milk the name of a heroic party, we'll also look at the threatened ***complaint*** [correction] from Elizabeth Stinson against our dear Ben Dictor. Once again, major kudos to Mark McShera for a kickass, LIVE Q&A. This blog may have endorsed Progress, but the Dictor Q&A, much like the Bracco one, was a snoozer. Then again the interviews took place at different times...Ben was trying to gain support and by the time we got to Mark the lines in the sand had not been drawn, but were actively being held, defended, w/e.

Jordan Johnson was smart to extend a hand to Wooten- he's the future of the Independent movement. It's not Ben Cavatero in 2010, it's not Donte Hargrove, it's not TH allegedly redbaiting... interesting.

Well anyways the law library is closing soon. I heard Brandon White didn't campaign much - heard this from both Indie factions...that's mildly pathetic.

So anyways, best of luck to Ben, Mark, Justin, Joe, the Geico spokesman, Liz, Dave, Joe Bennett (don't pull an Eric Gordon....come back to SG), Sam, Crazy-But-Cool MT, Alleged Redbaiter TH, Alan, Gary, Stacey, Grasshopper, Bracco (stop [allegedly] calling Justin an FBI Agent), and everyone else.

Charlie Grapski, glad you're out, thanks for letting me know, you to Michael. I brought Progress to your side, when no one knew who you were, but doin that for ya since 2005, but no sweat. Try to stay out of jail, will always support you in one way or another, but stay out of trouble - if you can, lol.

Best of luck to Mark and Ben, seriously. Jordan Johnson, good luck to you too. Keg...jump off a cliff.

TheRadikal.com's Official Election Predictions

First and foremost, let me speak to the issue of credibility. Aside from my Alum' readership, every single regular contributor and friend of the blog hails allegiance to one of the two major Indie factions. There are minor factions as well - be very sure of this. However, these minor factions have succumbed to the ramifications of internal party strife - not seen in Indie cirlcles since the Spring 2005 term.

Minor factions have wrestled with the fact that they are not in a position to break into yet another viable faction and so, have compromised their stances and become mere tendencies of a larger, more pronounced organization - key tendencies from within the Progs would be best articulated by those wanting more revolutionary politics and a mor militant-SG. The leadership of the Progress Party, while possibly sympathetic to many of these worldly causes, has undergone sometimes subtle, sometimes rigid efforts aimed at keeping Dictor a viable alternative to McShera for many Indie moderates. So...I would say that a minor faction within Progress would be 'The Red & Blacks' championed by Justin Wooten. Let it be recorded for all [SG]history, that it was not Ben Dictor or Ben Dictor's charm that won the Progress Party this blog's endorsement, rather, it was the ideological perspectives and future-outlook of Justin Wooten. JW is the red, MT is the black, and JS is neither, but they're all Progress!.

The Orange & Blue Party's minor faction would be the The Pragmatists, of which I believe even Mark McShera could be categorized as being a part of. This faction, through failed attempts stretching even pre-12/11, seemed growingly resilient in its efforts at avoiding a split. Initially, 'the Progs' seemed open to talks with the stunning victory of Donte Hargrove, but even this bleak glimmer of hope soon faded, as Hargrove formally accepted the strengthened role of Party Chair Joe Trimboli (almost a pre-condition on his very election) , thereby substantially weakening the title he'd gain from outgoing Party President (& boss) Sam Mioreli. I believe, that the election of Hargrove drew a line between hardline-Official thought and a version of pragmatism willing to lose some power, in the hopes of saving the day. It's no secret McShera more than likely voted for Hargrove, but what does this say about the candidate and the structure of the party supporting him? Supporting or forcing? Today there is no question Mark wants the Presidency, but in Oct., Nov., and Dec. - it's a bit iffy.


(getting past that little preamble)....

I have Johnson winning the first round, similar to Joe Goldberg in '05, missing the win by less than 1-point. Forcing a run-off.

I predict a large turn-out election: 13,000 votes, of which I believe Jordan Johnson will receive between 6,000-6,500 votes; I believe O&B will come in a distant second with between 3,250 - 3,500 votes; Progress I believe will get between a low of 1,600 votes and a high of 2,100; independent/write-ins candidates will probably secure the remaining votes.

Not to be bested by Progress '05, I believe Progress '09 would not only not endorse Orange & Blue (staying silent per MM/Robert's incarnation) but endorse Unite/Johnson as a final vindication. Johnson/Unite, will more than likely offer piecemeal concessions through mid-level intermediaries and likely fail to give full faith and credit under a Johnson administration to any of the said offers come May 2009.

At this point, Dictor (like most defeated presidential candidates - e.g. Tommy Jardon, Dennis Ngin, Bruce Haupt, Jared Hernandez, Travis Marsh, etc) would either graduate and leave, fade away, or decide to hang up their prestigious SG credentials, opting for retirement and possibly living on as consultants for a carefully selected cadre of respective proteges.

It will be with Dictor's defeat (or McShera's) that we will see where th Independent movement will head post-election and into the new decade. I believe a JW/MT-led Progress would never marry Orange & Blue in the Fall of this year, then again it depends who's in the driver seat.

For O&B Trimboli is the driver (with Miorelli making the gear changes, Cavatero navigating (despite the fact the car comes with OnStar), Stacey Gray has been carefully buckeled into her baby-chair, and Hargrove's out behind in full force - pushing.) . In Progress Simmons is doing the driving, Dictor is doing the site-seeing, MT has leaned forward from the backseat to channel-surf the radio-dial, meanwhile JW & a group of SDS'ers push the car as it smokes by O&B at high speeds of 9mph - yes NINE MILES PER HOUR.