The Atlasian Sentinel

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Coming soon...

I decided to start this to report, analyze, and comment on news. I decided to do this for three reasons: One, many have been complaining about the disconnect between the senate and citizens, this will inform citizens of the senate's activities. Two, there are no regularly updated news sources around of late. Three, I have nothing better to do.

I plan to update it every few days if not every day and I hope to have the first edition out tomorrow. If you want to submit a commentary or analysis (probably when/if this gains more momentum and popularity), pm a summary of your post for my approval. Comments are welcome.

[Vepres]

You might want to start by fixing the title.

Good idea.

What RowanBrandon said.

Also, it looks like this will discuss only the Senate--why?

The senate is why I started this, but they will be by no means the pure focus. Campaigns, the executive branch, and state governments will come into focus as well. GM events and news stories will also be commented on.

Because we are just that damn interesting. Also, the majority of average Atlasians never or rarely visit the Government board, so this seems like a way to bridge that disconnect.

Yes. Elections will be more interesting and activity will increase (hopefully) if Atlasians are informed. Besides, I need something to do, and there were no regularly updated news sources.

[Vepres]

June 15, 2009; Edition 1

The Atlasian Sentinel

Constitutional Amendment Fails to Pass
By Vepres

As of yesterday, the constitutional amendment banning capital punishment nation-wide has failed to pass in the regional votes. The constitution states that three-fourths of all states must approve an amendment for it to pass. Two regions passed the amendment, the Midwest and the Pacific, and the Northeast is still voting. However, two regions, the Dirty South and the Mideast, rejected the amendment. With two of the regions rejecting it, there is no way the three-fourths of regions required for it to pass can be achieved (as two-fifths are greater than one-fourth, the maximum fraction of regions that can disapprove of an amendment, and have it still be instituted into law).

This is a major victory for the Regional Protection Party, which advocates for regional rights. Presidential candidate and RPP member Senator PiT, reportedly urged all RPP members to vote against the amendment. His efforts seem to have been proven successful.

Keystone Phil Confirmed by Senate for AG position
By Vepres

Keystone Phil (DPL-PA), President Bgwah's nominee to replace Attorney General Marokai, was unanimously confirmed by the senate today, with seven ayes, and zero nays and abstains. This nomination generated little controversy, though Senator Purple State questioned whether Keystone Phil was just making a power grab, considering he was already in a senate race. Keystone Phil replied,

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Ultimately, Senator Purple State voted for Keystone Phil anyway. Senators Smid, Bacon King, Afleitch, were not present at the vote.

Tmthforu94 Appointed to the Mideast Assembly
By Vepres

Friday, Tmthforu94 was appointed to fill the vacancy in the Mideast assembly by Governor Inks.LWC. The seat had been vacated when it was revealed that the current office-holder, Persepolis, was Ogis, and then removed from the office. When asked by the Governor why he should appoint him to the seat, Tmthforu94 said, "I'm one of the only non-Assembly members who is active in the Assembly thread, so I know what is happening in the Mideast. I am devoted to helping the Mideast, and will represent the values of the Regional Protection Party."

Tmthforu94 is a member of the RPP, and currently a resident of Indiana.

[Vepres]

Page 2

June 15, 2009; Edition 1

School Lunch Bill is Signed into Law

By Vepres

Today, the "School Lunch Bill" was passed by the senate and subsequently signed by President Bgwah. The bill passed with 8 Ayes, 0 Nays, and 1 Abstain. Senator PiT was the only senator to abstain from the vote, and Senator Smid was not present.

The bill requires that all public Atlasian schools provide students with a salad bar at lunch. Poor families would be eligible for either partial or full subsidies based on their income so their children could afford a lunch. It also provided an additional $3.5 billion of school lunch and construction funds to each region.

The bill was introduced by Senator Marokai.

[Vepres]

Keystone Phil Confirmed by Senate for AG position
By Vepres

Keystone Phil (DPL-PA), President Bgwah's nominee to replace Attorney General Marokai, was unanimously confirmed by the senate today, with seven ayes, and zero nays and abstains. This nomination generated little controversy, though Senator Purple State questioned whether Keystone Phil was just making a power grab, considering he was already in a senate race. Keystone Phil replied,

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Ultimately, Senator Purple State voted for Keystone Phil anyway. Senators Smid, Bacon King, Afleitch, were not present at the vote.

I object to this portrayal of my questioning. I simply was attempting to understand what about the position of AG appealed to Phil more than the Senate seat for which he was a candidate. It was my attempt at understanding what about the AG position most stood out in his mind. Instead, he answered with "Serving the people," which in no way related to the question (unless he was implying that Senators don't serve the people, which did not seem to be the case). My subsequent posts were meant to elicit a clearer response, which ended up muddled down by Phil's defensive posture.

Nevertheless, I voted for the AG's confirmation because I attribute his attitude to the cut-throat attitude that Atlasia has taken on, rather than any flaw in Phil's ability to get the job done.

By the way, I am always available for comment or an interview if the need/urge arises.

Thank you Senator! In hindsight I should've asked you personally why you questioned him.  I would edit it, but you make a good case here yourself.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Presidential Election Could Be a Close One
By Vepres

According to both the Survey Atlasia presidential poll as well as Franzl's tracking of the absentee ballots, the presidential election is shaping up to be a close one. The current poll shows Senator PiT with 54.5% of the vote, while Former Senator Lief has 45.5% of the vote. A nine point margin, essentially a tie given the historical inaccuracy of Atlasian polls.

The current absentee ballot results are close as well. Senator PiT and Fmr. Senator Lief are tied after DC_United's vote is distributed to PiT in the second round. If these patterns hold in the rest of the election, we could well have razor-thin victory from either PiT or Lief.

[Vepres]

gporter edited his vote after 20 minutes, rendering it invalid.

     Though Lief & I are still tied in a second round, due to the distribution of Dc_united's vote. Right idea, wrong poster.

Fixed.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Repeal of the Magnetic Research Legislative Act is Introduced in Senate

Introduced by Senator Afleitch, the bill would repeal a statute passed by the fifth senate. The bill being repealed provided money for the research of maglev trains and required the construction of maglev routes between major cities. However, with the passage of the High Speed Rail Act by the thirtieth senate, which was very similar, but with the cheaper high speed rail much like in Europe, many believed that the maglev research was unnecessary.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Ben Constine, Head of Atlasians for Intelligent and Active Legislators, Endorses PiT/Happy
By Vepres

Today, Ben Constine, the head of Atlasians for Intelligent and Active Legislators (AIAL), announced that he would support PiT/Happy for president in the coming election. Ben, an RPPer from Virginia, said, "I encourage everyone to follow my ballot, at least for the Presidency.  PiT and HappyWarrior both have long and distinguished records of activity in Atlasia, and deserve our support."

The AIAL is nonpartisan group that advocates for the election of legislators who are well versed on the issues facing Atlasian and have proven to be active in Atlasia and therefore will actively advocate for their issues.

Because Ben had finals around the election season, the group did not give out endorsements for any race, though one could say Ben's endorsement of PiT is official due to his status as the head of the organization.

[Vepres]

I'm curious as to why a socially conservative economically liberal pseudo-southern populist would support a west coast socially liberal free-trader, but not much ever makes sense here in Atlasia-land.

Because he believes that PiT will be more active and knowledgeable on the issues (my opinion).

[Vepres]

Oh, and Vepres, my group is actually named Atlasians for Intelligent and Active Legislators.

Fixed.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Senate Debating Fair Interest Rates Bill
By Vepres

The senate is currently debating the Fair Interest Rates bill. The original bill, which was introduced by the newest member of the senate, Senator Marokai, would cap interest rates on credit card debt at 20%, and the interest rate on pay day loans at 30%.

Senator Purple State introduced an amendment on Tuesday which would make the regional governments administer a six hour course on the "proper uses and risks of credit." It states that if an individual completes the course, the government will subsidize the a reduction in the individuals credit by half. To pass, one must score a 75% or higher on a government approved exam. Regions may set stricter standards.

The amendment is currently up for vote.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Interview With Presidential Candidate, Senator PiT
By Vepres

Today, June 18, I conducted an interview with Presidential candidate and current Southeast Senator PiT (RPP-LA).


Vepres: First of all, I would like to thank you for accepting this interview. Before we get to the presidential race, I would like to ask you about some questions about your work as a senator.

Do you support the Fair Interest Rates bill currently in the senate?

Senator PiT: I think it's a good idea, but as I have pointed out, it does nothing to teach people that credit cards are not just toys to spend however much they want. That's why I initiated a push for an amendment to the bill to do just that.


Should the amendment fail to pass, would you vote for the bill anyway?

I probably would. I do not see how preventing exorbitant interest rates is that objectionable, though I would be disappointed if no compromise were achieved to help teach fiscal responsibility to credit card holders.


Alright, moving on. How do you feel about the school standards reform bill?

As long as public schools exist, we can do well to set out guidelines for them. I must say that I am happy that the amendment banning soda sales failed. While students should be educated about healthy food choices, if they still choose to consume unhealthy food & drink they should be able to do so.


Midwest senatorial candidate, Fritz, has said this bill violates regions' rights. Don't you, as an RPP member, believe this bill violates regions' rights?

Regions can always implement school voucher programs if they do not like federal standards, or legislate stricter standards.

     That aside, if people demand it, the federal standards could be loosened, though I do not think this is an area where regions or the federal government really should be involved anyway. It just so happens that doing things this way might encourage higher private school enrollment.


How so?

If people think that the public school requirements are too draconian, they might seek alternative means of schooling. Then again, they might not. We would have to see what ultimately happens.


So, if I understand you correctly, you support this bill because it drives people away from the public school system, and not because it could potentially improve existing public schools?

 I dislike the public school system in principle. If we can take measures that encourage higher private school enrollment, I would be fine with that. That's not to say that that is my only consideration in this bill, but it is something that has crossed my mind.


Fair enough.

Alright, let's move on to the current election. First, how, in terms of governing style, will you be different from President Bgwah?

For one thing, I intend to be more hands-on than President Bgwah. I will frequently get involved in Senate debate, though I reserve the right to not take part in it. Still, I hope to be a voice for compromise where I think it willl be helpful.

I also plan to have more of an agenda than he does. I cannot remember any instance of a Senator introducing a bill at the request of President Bgwah, though I can remember that happening several times under President Moderate.

Furthermore, I plan to work with the GM to help introduce my agenda, with relevant stories, such as referring to increased efficiency in government offices. I will also encourage him to write articles about the effects of bills passed by the Senate.


What will be your top three priorities should you be elected?

In no particular order, they are:

1) Promoting freedom of the media in other countries,

2) Codifying the roles of appointed government officers,

3) Making the Game Manager more accountable to the Senate as well as to the President.


Before we conclude this interview, I would like to take a brief moment to discuss politics with you.

There is no doubt that you are one of the most influential members of the RPP at the moment. Just a few weeks ago, before the special senate election, you had four seats in the senate, tied with the DA for the plurality. The RPP candidate lost by a significant margin to the JCP candidate, then-AG Marokai, leaving you three seats. All are up for reelection currently.

Now, according to Senator Franzl's election tracker, you are behind. Not only that, but Hashemite, the DA candidate in the Northeast, has a large lead over RowanBrandon, the RPP candidate. Senator MasterJedi is currently tied with Fritz. The only race your party has the lead in is the southeast senate race. You're party could potentially be left with only one senate seat, not good news.

So, how do you feel about this?

And, as an influential RPP member, how will keep the party alive should a worst case scenario occur?

Finally, you are currently behind Lief, how do you feel about this?

     I am not worried currently. The RPP voter base has not yet begun to be mobilized. Also, the RPP & DA combined are close to the same size as the JCP. Furthermore, as the votes of sbane, Torie, Andy Jackson, bullmoose, & others have shown, I have the ability to appeal to voters who are not registered with any of the three major parties.

     As such, I have faith that I will emerge victorious, as will MasterJedi. I would also like RowanBrandon to enter the Senate, but it appears that this is not the season for that.

     Assuming a worst case scenario that sees NC Yankee as the only RPPer in federal office, I would suggest a back to basics approach. Focus on regions where we are already strong & make sure that we can win offices there. Also, looking forward to August, we should very easily pick up one, & possibly two Senate seats.


Thank you Senator and good luck!

[Vepres]

Excellent!

I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised.

In truth I am a little bit as well.

Well, I will be conducting an interview with somebody tomorrow (not a government official), but I would certainly like to interview all you senators, especially as things quiet down in the off season.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Editorial: Do We Really Need a New Constitution?
By Vepres

Around the time of his reelection, President Bgwah called for a new constitution and constitutional convention. He said, "I hope we can come up with something that will breathe new life into Atlasia." Fast forward to today, and the situation is far different. We have many active newbies, a competitive presidential election as well as three competitive senatorial elections. Our senate has been very active as well, passing over twenty bills in its time. There has been daily activity throughout Atlasia in recent times.

The one place where you don't see much activity, however, is the constitutional convention. I have been following the constitutional convention for some time now, and it occurred to me that they weren't getting much done, particularly in the past few weeks. They appeared to be mostly having theoretical discussions about this and that and the other thing. None of it seemed to really have the potential to take shape into anything concrete. Sure, they were drafting constitutions, but the convention itself seemed to be an after thought for most of the delegates. And even if they could finally draft something, I highly doubt it would survive through the public referendum process. Indeed, the two most prominent proposals mirrored European style democracy as opposed to American style democracy. I highly doubt that either of these proposals would be popular among the mostly American participants in Atlasia.

With this in mind, one has to ask himself: Is the convention really necessary? When asked if we needed a complete overhaul of the system, President Bgwah simply said, "No." When asked just today by the Atlasian Sentinel if he believes the constitutional convention is necessary, he, again, simply answered, "No."

What stimulates activity is the willingness of our elected officials and candidates to campaign, debate and pass laws, and encourage others to be active. If a region's governor is active, the region will be as well. e.g. Mideast Governor Inks.LWC. We should stop focusing on how to change the system and instead focus on getting active office holders and active campaigners.

[Vepres]

This proposal has been dead for about a month and a half basically, and I've been doing something thinking.

Activity in Atlasia has taken a jump, even though of course some of the activity is from The 25's, I think that an entirely new government has lost considerable support amongst the people and this convention's activity, including mine here, has dropped to a record low. As such, I think we need to re-think our approach. We still have considerable problems in Atlasia and the best way to fix them IS through this convention, but let's take our current system as our model and make some improvements here and there.

• Take our current Constitution and combine it with all the passed Amendments so it's alot cleaner and more organized, and make some changes where necessary to deal with Regional Powers and other small areas, etc.
• Reduce the number of regions to three, the simplest way could be to divide the Midwest and the Mideast between the Pacific, Southeast, and Northeast regions. This still keeps the mode of some of the current regions but improves the system a bit.
• Expand the size of the Senate to 15, perhaps having two elected by each of the three new expanded (and consequently more active) regions, and the remaining six elected at-large.
• Deal with issues revolving around the GM, such as putting the position in the Constitution or putting it's responsibilities into a new job reminiscent of my "Department of Economic Affairs" or something.
• Fix other misc. problems such as Absentee voting, Presidential powers, or anything else we need to deal with.

We can do all of this within the framework of our current constitution without the need to build and entirely new government. So, if Lief is willing to hear me out, and PS is willing to possibly scrap and rebuild this proposal like we did with Presidential Universalism, I think we can fix Atlasia without building an entirely new house and get something we can all agree with.

Something I was thinking about and posted in the convention.

That's actually a pretty good idea.

[Vepres]

I agree with Purple State, 15 is too big for legislature. I would like to return to the district system without ditching the at-large races. What if each region had a senator, the country was, every x months, divided into districts as close in population as possible, and the other four would be at-large. Senators could have a 6 month terms, but we would have senatorial elections every two months.

[Vepres]

Didn't we try districts before? We don't need to be too complicated here folks.

I wasn't around then, so I don't know how it turned out.

[Vepres]

Guys, regional Senate elections, as evidence by the ones currently happening, are boring and awful. Why do we want more of them again?

If we had three regions, and then two per region, they will be far more competitive. If you had three regions, you would be far less likely to have ideological bastions like the Pacific and Southeast, thus resulting in more competitive elections.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Interview With Ben Constine, Founder of Atlasians for Intelligent and Active Legislators
By Vepres

Today, June 19, I interviewed Ben Constine, the founder of Atlasians for Intelligent and Active Legislators.


Vepres: First I would like to thank you for allowing us to interview you.

On to the questions. The most notable thing you have done in Atlasia of late is start the "Atlasians for Intelligent and Active Legislators"(AIAL). Could you describe for our readers the organizations goals and how it will go about achieving those goals?

Ben: Thank you for agreeing to interview me.  I think The Sentinel is an excellent newspaper and I look forward to it having a long, healthy life.

The AIAL was founded to combat the trend of people joining and seeking office in Atlasia before they fully understood the concept, or the issues facing Atlasia.  Our primary goal is to ensure that the people elected to office in Atlasia, at both the Regional and National levels, are fully cognizant of the major problems in Atlasia, and have solutions to these problems.  I have found that far too often, candidates will run for office with little or no understanding of the issues in Atlasia, and run solely on platitudes.

We hope to achieve this goal in the most basic way possible: the ballot box.  We hope to elect officeholders throughout Atlasia, to all offices, who demonstrate an understanding of the issues in Atlasia.  This won’t be difficult to do, as the AIAL currently has 9 members, from across all Regions, with several more voters proclaiming sympathy to our goals.  We also count in our membership 1 incumbent Senator, 2 more apparent Senators-elect, and either another Senator, or the incoming Vice President.  Using the democratic process is, in my view, the most expedient way to achieve our goals.


Your organizations thread mentions activity, as in, you want to get active people elected to both the regional and national legislatures. How will you decide whether somebody is active enough our not?

I personally don’t believe that activity can be quantified into number of posts, or something like that.  My definition of “active” is someone who posts frequently in the Atlasia boards, votes in every, or almost every, election, and who posts substance, not just white noise.  But of course every person will have their own definition.


So how will the AIAL choose which candidates to endorse in any given race?

A week or so before each election, we will vote on which candidate to endorse in each race.  Whichever candidate gets the most votes in each race will gain the endorsement.  In the event of a tie in a two person race, no endorsement will be given.  If two people tie in a three or more candidate race, then we will vote on the top two candidates.


Was there a single event or set of events that prompted you to start the AIAL?

It was a series of events, so to speak.  For the last several months, people have been joining Atlasia and seeking office despite, in my view, not being qualified to run for Office.  Kyle Gordon’s Senate bid is a prime example of that.  The straw that broke the camels back for me was Garrison Porter’s most recent Presidential campaign, in which he once again avoided giving substantive answers, instead posting only platitudes and delusional comments about his opponents gossiping.


I assume that includes my and Tmthforu94's campaigns, no?

To an extent.  You and Tmthforu94 are, in my view, some of the better new people to join Atlasia; you’re both active and fairly well informed on the issues.  Some new people join Atlasia and are an asset, such as yourself and Purple State.  Others are not as successful, and they are the reason the AIAL was founded.


Do you support regional assemblies, and if so, will AIAL advocate for their creation?

I support regional assemblies if they will be active.  The Mideast Assembly has been very active, and it has propelled several of its members to higher office.  In some regions, though, such an Assembly would not increase activity.  AIAL will advocate regional assemblies in regions where they will be active.


Which of the four regions without assemblies do you think would most likely have an active legislature?

My guess would be the Pacific, but it’s hard to say.  I think, though, that the Midwest would be the least active.  I can’t be sure; I’d have to watch the debate unfold, and see how that went.  A large number of citizens took place in the Mideast debate; I’d watch for that type of activity.


Finally, before we end this, I would like to ask you about your future. Are you interested in running for any political office in the future?

It isn’t something I’ve thought much about, to be honest.  I’m barred from seeking office until September, so I haven’t entertained any notion of running again.  Eventually, I will probably make a political comeback, but for now, the AIAL has my total attention.


Thank you, and good luck with the AIAL!

Thank you very much for the interview, and best of luck to The Sentinel.

[Vepres]

And as an aside, excellent interview with Ben (although you may want to pace yourself before you run out of people ). I also want to thank Ben for his little shout out there. I'm glad to be involved.

Well, I didn't want interview another person so soon, but Ben requested one concerning the AIAL, and as I believe in their cause, I wanted to help out.

Thanks for the compliment as well.

[Vepres]

How about this:

Reduce the Senate to 5 at-large Senators, making sure all elections to the more prestigious body are exciting.

Create a House, with 15 members, 3 max from each region, made up of 3 members from each regional legislature (if they exist) to incentivize regional constitutional reform and activity.

Abolish regional executive and judicial branch.

Require national legislation to pass both chambers. All financial legislation must originate in the Senate. Other legislation can only be in one chamber at a time, may be amended by each chamber respectively, first by the originating chamber, then by the other, and finally again by the originating before it must be passed by the second chamber as it stands.

Would that just make sure that we have 5 really exciting elections and 15 really boring ones? I think now we're just trying to change and complicate everything again and go back to previously rejected proposals. I proposed a back-to-the-basics idea so we could work within the framework of what we have now, not just come up with something else entirely new.

Perhaps, but it would also free up people that hold high positions in the regions, such as justices, governors and lieutenant governors. My hope is that the regional legislatures are less competitive, sure, but also able to serve as an "introduction to Atlasia." It gets people involved in national politics, but forces them to do so through regional avenues. Also, regional legislatures with greater than three seats would have their own internal politics of who to send to the national level.

But you're really turning regional governments into skeleton crews. There's no reason to abolish regional executive and/or judicial branches, if you want to solve the problem all we need to do is allow people to serve in regional positions as well as federal ones if they choose to run for the Senate.

Or, what if the regional senators were also members of their regional assembly (if one exists). I say this because I don't personally like the idea of dual office holdings. Though my idea is basically the same thing, it eliminates electoral issues that could arise.

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

Election Projections, June '09
By Vepres

We have some projections, albeit obvious ones:

MaxQue will win the Pacific senate seat
NCYankee will win the Southeast senate seat
Hashemite will win the Northeast senate seat

Too close or too early to call:

The presidential race
The Mideast senate race (too early)
The Midwest senate race

[Vepres]

The Atlasian Sentinel

More Election News
By Vepres

For all you Midwesterners out there, there is currently an election for lieutenant governor of our region.  Though it may be overshadowed by the current election, don't forget to vote.

On to the national election. We cannot project anymore elections, but we can give you the current layout of the senate.

Old Senate
DA: 4
RPP: 3
JCP: 3

New Senate
DA: 4
JCP: 3
RPP: 1
Ud: 2

Last one is undecided.

[Vepres]

Guys, regional Senate elections, as evidence by the ones currently happening, are boring and awful. Why do we want more of them again?

^^^
Again, another series of tired, uncompetitive regional elections.
They haven't worked for years.

I don't like that there are so many safe seats in the Senate and I don't like systems which allow that to thrive.

Every PR-STV election so far has went down to the final minutes. Few candidates have been safe in those elections until late into balloting. By comparison, many of this weekend's races were effectively over before official polling began. -_-

Our senate race is competitive, so not all are boring. The Mideast's would've been had Persepolis not been Ogis. The Northeast's would've also been competitive if Smid endorsed Ronan, the candidate from his party. Something needs to be done about the Southeast and Pacific. I think we should redraw the regions, reduced them to five, and draw them so there are no safe elections.

Edit: What about senatorial term limits? This would not only cycle newbies into the system but also prevent uncompetitive elections.