General Senatorial Discussion

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The Privacy Protection Act was an awful thing.

Elaborate.

Blatantly unconstitutional and pointless.

You know, when I have private conservation, I don't like when the jerk is then posting it online.

Is the criteria for the constitutionality of a law based solely on whether Kalwejt doesn't like something?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Quick Question:


WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?


Thank you

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If this isn't a stupid question, are there any advantages to seniority or is it merely a nominal thing?

It determines who the Dean is. Longest continously serving sitting member who isn't currently serving as PPT. Which should should make figuring out who is dean currently, pretty easy, though I don't know if he remembers that fact?

Does my last term count towards seniority or do they have to be consecutive?

Unfortunately, it starts over.

Where rules of seniority are placed, btw?

I'd honestly have to go look it up. I only know the rules in my head from an extended conversation with Yank over whether or not I was ever Dean of the Senate.

Which centered around three key points.
1. When did Afleitch resign?
2. When did the new Senate begin?  March 5th 2010
3. When did you leave? I think I established it was somewhat later based on the fact that you voted in the PPT election for that senate.


Reaserch was inconclusive as something else had occured that added to the confusion. I couldn't find a place where Afleitch had resigned his Senate seat prior to his swearing in as President on or after March 5th. Though I did find BK swearing into that same Senate seat prior to Afleitch swearing in as President. I pmed Afleitch for clarification on this matter but he never responded to me. My guess is technically BK became Senator once Afleitch wasn't one no longer, since two people can't occupy one seat.

If Afleitch left while I was still PPT, you were Dean. However if Afleitch didn't leave till after I was no longer PPT (like at the beginning of the new Senate) then you weren't. 

Unless I am mistaken there is no set of rules about Seniority. Only those concerning the terms of a Senator in the Constitution and those that establish the position of Dean in the OSPR.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

1. I have never set foot in that office. I turned it into a shrine for former PPT MasterJedi.


2. I have retained only a skeleton crew of staff because frankly, "Its so hard to 'program' good help these days". (Love this quote, and I am pretty sure no one can trace where I found it).


3. I have aggressively cutback on perks in the past, especially my first time around (Probably why those dirty bastards tossed me out. ). The restrictions on flight were just brutal.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Although I doubt but a few have noticed beyond those who have been informed by virtue of their high level connections (basically they happened to interrupt me at the right time), something has happened. Yes something very disagreeable. Very disagreeable indeed.

Somehow several programs of lesser importance get infected with the the virus win32/heur. Appearently it is in the the business of stealing passwords, and is one of more dangerous. A minor nuisance I would call it.

So now that nuisance has been eliminated, I can return my attention to the nuisances that number currently at 9, starting again tomorrow.

And just for the record, that damn ugly picture you people keep quoting is hell on my internet connection, especially now that its back down to running at 24k (well 40 was nice while it lasted).

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Since the abominable Snowman introduced the keeping of the exact times at which voting, debate, amendments etc stopped and started, I have decided to preserve this. However since it was started in January it has never been in place at a time in which Daylight Savings Time would impact it. So should I ignore it or try to incorporate it in somehow?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

@ tmth:

The problem with my computer was a virus. I removed it successfully a week ago Saturday, and posted as such on here. So I didn't have to buy a new computer to replace this computer.

Now I did buy "a" computer, but not to replace this one. It was an older machine to run software that won't run on Windows XP, of which I have about 5 or 6 programs. So I bought an HP with Windows 98 at The Salvation Army (only place to find such an old machine around here, unless you get lucky at a yard sale). It was working wonderfully for its intended purpose, that is untill it exploded in my face, when I went to plug it in yesterday morning. This pissed me off. Since my old Gateway quit (also a blown power supply, they are litteraly made with garbage parts especially in the 1998 to 2006 period), I have been prevented from using this software. That has been since 2007. Now I must wait again till a new power supply can be ordered and sent to run these programs.

Getting back to this machine that I use for internet and 90% of my software. Sooner or later, it will also be done in by garbage capacitors, but not in the power supply which can be replaced. Instead it will be those that control the processor on the motherboard and thus unfixable. Nothing less than that and maybe not even that will prevent from me from fixing this machine and continuing to use it (a motherboard for this is between $80 and $100 and thus within my ability to replace completely if I am bold enough). Ironically enough this is the only computer that we have not had to change the power supply in, yet.



@Kal:

Actually you are not Coupist. I actually prefer that the VP do stuff that I have missed or neglected for whatever reason ( such as the GM reform bill and the OSPR bill amendments etc and even opening final votes on them if the situation called for it). He has far more latitude as Veep then even I do in running the Senate.  Duke is somewhat restricted by a five day requirement of my absence before he can legally do sh**t as Dean. Though I have the ability to get around that with some chicanery if necessary. I have to be on though to do that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Everyweek I have projects due on Thursday. Normally I do these on Wednesday but this past week I didn't because I wasn't feeling good Wednesday. On Thursday, when I did them they took much longer then expected. And it was Midnight before I got on here and thus was only on for an hour. On Friday I spent the first part of the day getting that new old machine working and then replacing a damaged software CD that won't run in any machine except for (you guessed it) this computer. I think I did come on here for a while and did some of the Senate business. So I haven't been gone as long as some of you think.

Normally I go through every bill everyday, using the noticeboard as an interface. For some reason, this didn't happened Friday. I opened the bills I saw at the top of the board that had the most recent activity.

On Saturday, I didn't get online for variety of reasons. 

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I just finished a week and a half project to track all amendments this Senate. They have been numbered as well. The last amendment is number 13 by Shua to the Do Not PM List Act at 12:01 am on April 3, 2011.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I have been requested to the bring the Japanese bill and the Registration bill to the floor immediately, ahead of a bunch of legislation previously introduced. Since one is an on going emergency and the other is forum affairs I think I have the ability to do this. I will post the relevant section of the OSPR here and will give a few hours for anyone who has a problem with this action be taken.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

is the slot that was being used for Rowan's Libya bill going to be used for Ben/HW's Libya bill?

I am going to keep the PPT Discretion slot opened for Libya, yes.

also, I thought Kalwejt withdrew his deregistration bill?

Yes.

Its not deregistion, its a bill by the President to change the registration requirements. Notice I said "registration" not "deregistration".

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

**********WARNING RANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!******************************



PEOPLE !!! Take a look at the amendment currently being voted on in the Do Not PM List Act. This amendment will not be finished till the damn thing runs out of time on the 12th most likely. If every Senator had voted within a day or two, I could have called it sooner and saved three whole days of waisted time. With an amendment, it can be ended as soon as 6 Senators vote nay or aye and there is no 24 hour period to change votes regardless of how many vote in an opposite way. This is one of the biggest delays and its the result of the in attentativeness of Senators. Try to check board EVERY OTHER DAY, ATLEAST, preferably every day but we all have things that come up and these last few days and really 2 weeks have just been crazily weird for me

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

ladies and gentleman, we have multiple votes on-going. Increased activity or even just availability means we can have near real time voting. Meaning we could be moving on to two other bills, and beging catching up on the backlog. You hold the success or failure of that effort in your hands, now get off your asses and go vote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Ah yes those damn Canadian elections. Teddy AIMed me something about that bs and jammed my computer. I had to ctrl-Alt-delete and restart the machine. I wasn't very happy about that. I shall be very anti-Canadian for the next day or two. I'm joking of course, about the anti-candian part.


I am always speaking to the Senate in general with such statements as the one above. If there was some way that we could find a hot spot in activity during the day when most Senators are on, these bills could be finished easily.


There are two bills where one more person can remove them floor, one of which is very time sensitive, with less then 24 hours left in the vote (about 20 to be exact). There is an amendment to a bill that is tied with 4 having not voted yet.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I wonder how long it will be till Dallas gets on and does his thing once Noon comes.

No changes in Senority since the same scoundrels are in office after the April elections, as before.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Actually Shua likes this one. I prefer the other one. Both are fine for the purpose.

Are you ah having some split personality there, Kal?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Senators, I would like to congratulate you on the success we have had in reducing the backlog of legislation that built up in the queue. This is not a time to let up however, as we need to, in the word of Stonewall Jackson in the movie "Gods and Generals", "Press On! Press On! Press On!".


I am thinking we should begin working on the improvements to the OSPR. I have a feeling this could take a while, so I am thinking we should begin tomorrow. I can bring my OSPR amendment up in the PPT's slot and use it as a launching pad to fix some mistakes and make some general improvements. Thoughts on this move?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Did you people all take off on a tax payer funded junket today or something?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Senators, I would like to congratulate you on the success we have had in reducing the backlog of legislation that built up in the queue. This is not a time to let up however, as we need to, in the word of Stonewall Jackson in the movie "Gods and Generals", "Press On! Press On! Press On!".


I am thinking we should begin working on the improvements to the OSPR. I have a feeling this could take a while, so I am thinking we should begin tomorrow. I can bring my OSPR amendment up in the PPT's slot and use it as a launching pad to fix some mistakes and make some general improvements. Thoughts on this move?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I knew I should have posted this earlier.


Barring special circumstances (such as an early resignation like Kalwejt's), the newly elected Senators may swear in beginning at noon today. Premature oaths of office should be redone at the appropriate time as should all votes cast by such elected Senators prior to their taking the oath, for the sake of avoiding any legal challenges that could delay the Senate's operations with a court case.  



https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Article_I_of_the_Third_Constitution

Third Constitution: Article I

Section 4: Elections to the Senate

7.Those elected in ordinary elections to the Senate shall take office at noon Eastern Standard Time on the first Friday in the month after their election. Those elected in special elections to the Senate shall take office as soon as the result of their election has been formally declared.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

New Order of Seniority
NC Yankee  2009
AHDuke99 2010
Bgwah  2010
Antonio V  2011
Oakvale 2011
Snowguy716  2011
shua  2011
Fuzzybigfoot 2011
Napoleon 2011
Officepark 2011


If none of you has figured out my practical use for this, look no further then the PM's.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

You know BK if you wanted me to get the ball rolling on the 44th, you could have given me a heads up.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It is possible to extend hearings by 48 hours. It requires a Senator to motion such and for it to be seconded. Antonio and I extended Oakvale's hearing by 48 hours when he didn't respond within 72. I linked to the OSPR section dealing with hearings in everyone of those hearing threads and if someone had desired and thus motioned extention, I would have gladly seconded it, if such had been the case when I got on this morning. I saw none, so I opened the votes.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I was under the impression that the injunction was only for nominees who didn't show up at all for answering questions, but reading the OSPR it doesn't say that, just "if needed."  I still think that nominations are important enough that as a general matter that trying to get meaningful questions and debate on several nominees in just 72 hours is a bit short.

The term injunction is also used to describe a 48 hour extention of time requiring a second, in other parts of the OSPR as well.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

maybe we should consider another change to the OSPR to deal with when the sponsor of a bill doesn't show up to say whether an amendment is friendly or hostile. seems like this has happened a few times and really slowed things down.

Well I could just object to every amendment and just preclude the need to ask and go directly to a vote everytime. Typically it saves time to ask because it opens the door to 24 hour passage of the amendment. The only real alternative would be just to hold an automatic vote on every amendment and on average that takes far longer then the friendly amending process.