Mideast Assembly Thread

[Peter]

I am not a candidate for Speaker

[Peter]

I heartily vote to confirm you as Speaker

[Peter]

Resolution regarding office holding
*The Mideast Assembly notes that it has 6 positions of government within the Regional Government.
*The Assembly also notes that Mideast citizens hold the Vice Presidency, one Cabinet Secretariate, two Senate seats and one seat on the Supreme Court at present.
*The Assembly thus resolves that because a mere 11 of its 17 total citizens hold governmental office, that it feels compelled to create offices for the remaining six citizens.
*The Assembly hereby directs the Governor to investigate the creation of new offices for these citizens, and to duly appoint them to these offices.

[Peter]

Absolutely no opinion whatsoever. I have always firmly believed that the only thing that should be discussed in our various talking shops are ways to make the game more unfathomably complicated (i.e. forum affairs) and ways to make us hate each other more (i.e. wedge issues). This is neither.

[Peter]

I object - I deserve the chance to debate the bill on its merits to the citizens of the Mideast.

[Peter]

Well, since my motion was objected to, I guess I might as well debate until we have support to take it to a vote.

Why on earth do we need more positions?  Some people just want to be citizens, and if we create positions for everybody, that takes away competition in elections.  If everybody has a position, we'll have less challengers for positions and democracy suffers.

Thank you for making my point for me.

My point is that we no longer have competitions for the elections to many of the positions. True, at the federal level, there is still fun to be had, but the plethora of positions at the Regional level now means that I got elected to the Mideast Assembly after Al wrote me in, and then I got a PM asking me to accept my write-in votes. I duly did for a laugh, and then got elected. The limited amount of research I have done indicates we have never had a "contested" election for the Assembly (i.e. no more candidates than posts open)

The fact is that 11 out of 17 citizens holds a position. This is far too many. My resolution is about making a serious point in a comedic way.

[Peter]

Excellent, I motion to dissolve the Assembly and begin preparations for a return to our previous method of governance.

[Peter]

For the record I would have voted aye - the proposal is itself sound. I am however greatly disappointed that the first piece of legislation we have passed in this session will have had such little impact on the reality of Atlasian life - an internet based elections/political game.

I am happy for my resolution to be brought to a vote at the Speaker's discretion.

[Peter]

Aye. Even though the resolution has failed, I will be proposing legislation in the spirit of its passage.

[Peter]

Nay to this resolution and Aye to the previous resolution

[Peter]

Resolution censuring the Governor
Whereas,
1. The Mideast Constitution, Article VI states that:

"2. The Governor shall impliment(sic) all amendments verbatim into the body of the constitution within one week of the passage of the Constitutional Amendment.
"3. Upon completion of the above process, the citizens of the Mideast may inspect the reorganized constitution to analyze the accuracy of the Governor's reorganization process and to make sure that the reorganized constitution carries each and every legal clause that was in the pre-reorganized constitution."

2. The 2nd Amendment to the Mideast Constitution was ratified on 2 December 2008
3. And whereas a week has now passed and no announcement of a reorganization/insertion has been forthcoming,

The Mideast Assembly resolves that the Governor, Benconstine, is hereby censured for dereliction of Constitutional Duty.

[Peter]

I vote Aye on censure.

[Peter]

New Ad. Put it in your sigs.

[Peter]

The Mideast does not run smoothly, lol.

But I'm not sure reducing the number of regions would make regional governments more efficient.

But at least we might have competitive elections instead of a situation where 11 out of 17 registered voters hold office of some kind.

[Peter]

Point of Order: There is no text of a resolution that we are voting on.

I motion the following text be introduced:

The Mideast Assembly refers the matter of whether to petition for a Constitutional Convention to a public vote.
Where it belongs in my opinion.

[Peter]

Aye on my text.

Yes, it does mean that.

[Peter]

Due to Franzl's absence, I'm officially the Speaker of the House (we just need somebody to get this done quickly).

On what possible grounds?
For the record, I refuse to recognise the validity of this vote. For crying out loud, its Christmas, there's no rush, especially as the petition of the Mideast is not likely to be crucial.

[Peter]

There is no procedural resolution allowing either of us to assume the Speaker's Chair. You were so beset on us having a resolution that followed a very exacting formula to avoid a possible breach of the Constitution (and I emphasise possible because I'm not convinced a Court wouldn't have allowed my text), and now we will adhere to a system that does not bypass our own Speaker because he's eating mince pies with his family at Christmas.

[Peter]

For many, many reasons, Nay.

[Peter]

Blagojevich Statue Proposition

1. The Mideast Regional Government shall construct a statue of the Honourable Milorad R. Blagojevich.
2. The statue shall be made from bronze and coated in gold paint.
3. Upon his head, Blagojevich shall wear a crown.
4. In his right hand, a telephone.
5. And in his left, a wad of cash.
6. The statue shall be placed on display somewhere in the city of Chicago.
7. The bill shall be paid for using funds confiscated from Milorad R. Blagojevich previously used to buy a Senate seat.
I introduce the above bill to honour a great Mideasterner

[Peter]

Now something a little more serious:

The Mideast Government is far too large, and at the moment it appears that the Governor will not be able to fill the Lieutenant Governorship. If we must keep this wretched Assembly, then I propose the abolition of the Lt Governorship. There is no reason that the Speaker cannot serve all of the functions that the Governor fulfils.

Present Lt Gov jobs:
1. To become Governor if the Governor resigns/recalled
2. To jointly nominate the Judge with the Governor
3. To open voting booths, etc. if the Governor is absent.

I see no conflict if these roles are fulfilled by a legislative officer

[Peter]

I apologise for not getting to this earlier - busy couple of days.

I vote in favour of Inks.LWC for the Speakership. I have no particular desire to serve in the Speakership and in addition to the sentiments Inks has already expressed, I would like to say that I am opposed to an Assemblyman who has attained office through appointment from being elevated to the Speakership unless there is no obvious elected choice.

I have been asked to give my input surrounding the current discussion over the Amendment. I tend to lean towards the Governor's position and would be happy to lend help to a Convention process as necessary. Some have called for an immediate set of Amendments to be proposed to the people as soon as possible to rectify certain faults that have been identified - I have to disagree: a more considered approach is needed if we are to avoid patching one problem but creating another. This is not the time for a backroom discussion between 2 or 3 key players, but time for the whole Region to come together.

[Peter]

Now, on to official business: I bring the following legislation to a vote:

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Nay. Whilst by no means do I denounce their actions at all, I do not feel the complete circumstances surrounding this "War on Trolls" are fully in the light of day yet.

Regarding a 3CC for the Mideast - I am quite happy for it to be an informal non-binding convention. I am also happy for it to be called by resolution of this Assembly, or even by simple acclamation by the Governor.

[Peter]

I'm not at all keen on the presiding officer electoral procedure, which I will predict now won't be followed in its entirity. Nonetheless, there is nothing highly egregious in it:

AYE on the bill.

[Peter]

Whilst technically out of time, I think, Aye.