We need one.

[Gabu]

"One candidate"?  Sir, I'm going to have to alert the police to the fact that you have murdered LiberalPA, as there were two candidates last I checked.

[Gabu]

wow. full of negative tonight, arent we? maybe we should get some sleep. that will pretty much stop this argument in its tracks. im going to take one more look around and then hit the sack. BTW i think Reese was trying to keep his comment simple. had he given a complete analysis of the whole situation, it would have been a very long, very annoying to read post. we all need sleep. at least i do anyway. good night KPhil. and good night, Max Power.

I love when people are wrong and then try to cover it up with "You should get some sleep."

Oh, oh! And then I like the line, "Casey would have give more analysis." I mean, this wasn't clear what he said and then you defended him not knowing the whole story?

Phil, really, just some objective advice... it doesn't really look good or impressive when you harshly argue every single point made against you to the death.  Rather, it really only serves to add weight to the claims being made if people perceive you as feeling that they deserve tons of attention - they'll begin to wonder why you're giving it so much of your time.  I've always personally found that really stupid claims are best thwarted simply by turning them into a joke.  It's very hard to dislike someone who makes you laugh, and it makes the claim lose a ton of credibility if you're successful.

I think you'd do better if you learned to identify what's worth your time and what really isn't.  It's okay not to give a detailed analysis of why every single claim against you is false, really.

Just some objective advice, as I said.

[Gabu]

When someone takes a shot at me and does not have the correct information, I will respond. Everyone can clearly see that Casey mistakenly blamed my departure on my losing of an election. That's wrong. Instead of owning up to it, instead of admitting he's wrong, he goes off topic and tries to change what he said.

Well, your call.  I'm just saying that when people wake up and see you arguing this one point for six or seven pages, they're not likely to be impressed, and it's in your power to stop this debate and cast it aside as stupid at any time.

[Gabu]

As for what Akno said, I think Senators have serious power on this issue when it comes to lobbying the Governors. I'll do everything in my power.

Er, no... why would senators have any more power over that than private citizens?  It's not as if the governors somehow feel threatened by the fact that you're an elected official.  They do generally try to make it so that two incumbent senators don't have to face off against each other, but beyond that, I can't think of any sway senators have, really.  Why would we have any sway?  The federal government is completely detached from the regional governments.

Feel free to lobby all you want, but you're not gonna find being a senator any different than being a private citizen.

[Gabu]

The federal government is completely detached from the regional governments yet the regions decide how we are made up? Yeah, that makes sense. To suggest that we can't have an influence of this is silly.

Well... tell me how you intend to have an influence then.

And, Gabu, when you're not attack me you're...well...still attacking me. I made it clear that I'll do all I can and at this point, I think that's more than what any private citizen is doing.

How am I attacking you?  I'm stating what I feel is a plain and simple fact: that senators have no more sway than anyone else when it comes to redistricting.  I'm not attempting to stop you from doing what you feel is best, I'm just trying to inject what I perceive as realism into things.

Honestly, Phil, you really need to stop taking everything so personally.

[Gabu]

Organizing petitions and writing to the Governors would be two examples.

Well, I don't know what that has to do with being a senator, but I don't know.  I'm getting the sense that we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this point, because we seem to just be spinning our wheels and not getting very far.

You come as if you're "err..." talking down to me.

Well, that wasn't what I meant that as.  All I'm saying is that I've been a senator through two redistrictings, and I've never once gotten the sense that I could have drastically affected anything in the process.  I'm just speaking from experience.  If you took that in a condescending tone, I apologize.

And don't tell me I need to stop taking this stuff personally when someone like Hughento has a vendetta against me and never gives up. I don't care how much he seems like a nice guy to everyone else. He's the attack dog here over petty, childish stuff from, of all things, Atlasian Survivor!

But no. I'm the one blamed. I'm the one who takes this too personally. I'm afraid some things will never change here.

Phil, I'm not "blaming" you for anything, and Hughento's behavior has absolutely nothing to do with yours.  Two wrongs don't make a right.  Yours is the behavior that you can change.  Hughento is not forcing you to act in any way; the final decision is ultimately yours.  If you want my personal opinion on it, your reaction to Hughento's behavior accomplishes nothing except exacerbating the situation.  This is not blaming you for the situation, this is simply stating a fact.  I simply feel that you need to take some personal responsibility and stop doing nothing while requesting that Hughento change his ways.  No, you are certainly not fully to blame for anything, but you do play your part in it, and I really don't think Hughento is 100% to blame, given that an argument takes two people.

Furthermore, you're taking what I intended to simply be constructive comments as an attack against you.  That's the sort of thing that my comment was in reference to, and it has nothing to do with Hughento.

[Gabu]

I know you don't like me very much Gabu and that's fine with me but don't act as if you don't mean to get cocky with me at times.

Um, I have nothing against you, Phil.  I admit that I sometimes post things that are not exactly... gentlemanly, but that's mainly because I'm bored and - no offense - you tend to react in quite volatile ways.  If you genuinely take this as an indication that I have something against you, I'll try to stop it.  I'm sorry, really.  I don't hate you.

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I love this arguement. Someone can just keep iritatting someone but that's ok. No one ever speaks out against his attempts to get under my skin. I know I don't have many friends in Atlasian politics but I'd figure that some of you would have some damn guts to tell him to shut it. Nothing can excuse his vendetta against me. Nothing

The problem with so many of you is that you want this crystal clean image. Don't get involved in something if it doesn't directly concern you. Far too few people have guts in this game.

Look, I'll explain the facts to you.  You can take from them as you will.

Who am I talking to?  You.
Whose actions do you have control over? Yours.
Can you change how Hughento acts? No.

Therefore, what use is it to talk to you about how stupidly Hughento is acting, and why do you act as if examining your own actions is out of the question?

Look, I'll say what I honestly believe to be true right out in the open where Hughento can read it: I think that Hughento is acting in a very silly manner that is completely unconducive to anything civil and that he really should stop, because it's thoroughly unproductive and only serves to inflame tensions.  You want me condemn it?  I do.  Simple as that.  No conditions.

That said, let's glance a few posts up the pile.  Has Hughento's post gone away?  No, it's still there.  As I said, talking to you about Hughento's actions cannot do a thing to change them.  That's just a fact.

Beyond that, you do see what effect it's having, don't you?  Every time Hughento posts something like this, you immediately jump on it and start getting defensive towards everyone that gets within a hundred feet of you who is not attacking Hughento.  Your highly defensive reactions make people as averse to you as Hughento's actions make them averse to him.  It's not helping your image, and given that you're in politics, image is, well, everything.  That's just a fact.

I could say everything I wanted about Hughento, but unless he changes, you're going to have to be the one who changes.  It's really that simple.  As I said, an argument takes two people.  This is, again, just a fact.  Whether or not you want to acknowledge it is up to you.

[Gabu]

So I should just let Hughento get away with it? Once again, if it was NixonNow or Naso, you'd jump on them for posting whatever they posted. Instead of attacking Hughento, pressuring him to knock it off, people let is slide. If you can clearly see that he does things to provoke me, don't say "It's because he likes to get you mad and it works." That's not addressing the problem.

The problem is that you're responding to it, so responding to it is not exactly going to solve the problem.

You let Hughento get away with it every single time you respond to him.

At any rate, I really have nothing left to say, so I'll stop.  Really, Phil, I try to give some friendly advice and you attack me.  If you want to know why few people like you, perhaps you need to learn a thing or two about personal responsibility - you can stay hard as a rock, ever unchanging, all you want, but don't expect everyone to welcome it with open arms.  It's your life, at the core.  Sooner or later you'll have to stop expecting everyone else to change while ceding no ground whatsoever to anyone.