|
|
|
 |
| Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. |
|
Patterico's Pledge
If the FEC makes rules that limit my First Amendment right to express my opinion on core political issues, I will not obey those rules. |
| « | May 2009 | » | ||||
 |
||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 | ||||||
| View blog reactions |
|
| > |
Just our Stimulus dollars and work and more of the same to come.
The Worm Ouroboros (1922) is a heroic high fantasy novel by Eric Rücker Eddison. The book describes the protracted war between the domineering King Gorice of Witchland and the Lords of Demonland in an imaginary world that appears mainly medieval and partly reminiscent of Norse sagas.
Though triumphant, the Demon lords find that victory is bitter because there are no more enemies worthy of their heroism, no more great deeds to perform. The Lord Juss says to Queen Sophonisba:
| “ | Thou O Queen canst scarcely know our grief: for to thee the blessed Gods gave thy heart's desire: youth forever, and peace. Would that they but give us our good gift, that should be youth for ever, and war; and unwaning strength and skill in arms. Would that they might but give us our great enemies alive and whole again. For better it were we should run hazard again of utter destruction, than thus live out our lives like cattle fattening for the slaughter, or like silly garden plants. (page 392) | ” |
Sophonisba, gifted by the gods with the power to grant wishes, returns the world to how it was four years ago; and so, with a blare of trumpets, an ambassador from Witchland arrives, "craving present audience," and
the story starts over again.
Now, I am of course not saying that the Republican Party WANTED things to go back to the way they were, but that does seem to be the Human condition, after Great Trials, Adventures and Adversity, the Ultimate Evil is Vanguished and then
Everything returns to the way it was before and the process starts all over again.
If we look at the ebb and flow of power between the Democratic and Republican Parties over the years we see this repetitive pattern over and over again,.
Indeed the most extreme reverses seem to follow the Greatest Victories.
Let's take a look at a graph of Republican Seats in the Senate over the past 50 years I have two lines for 40 and 60 seats with over 60 you can end a Filibuster, less than 40 you cannot maintain one,.
Upon being informed that a newspaper had printed his obituary, Mark Twain is reported to have said
The rumors of my Death have been greatly exaggerated.
I am beginning to feel that way about the GOP.
We are continuously hearing about the demise of the Republican Party.
Are the reports of the death of the GOP, to paraphrase Mark Twain, "Greatly exaggerated?" Or are we seeing the inexorable demise of a doomed beast -- like seeing the last wooly mammoth go down in tar pits of La Brea?
The defeats suffered in the 2006 mid-term and 2008 Presidential elections, combined with the recent defection of Senator Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party, certainly left a whiff of lingering death in the air. Was Specter's decision a mandatory 10-count that will allow the Republicans to get off the mat and fight on? Or was it the final knockout roundhouse?
I am sorry but there is quite a bit of exageration here. The 2006 Election was the average outcome of a second term bielection. It is true that the Democrtic Party did much better than the Republican Party in that election, but there was nothing out side of the normal range.
Now it is also true that 2008 took that trend further | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
House of Representatives
Senate
All of the above looks daunting, I will be the first to admit that, but if this portends the demise of the Republican Party shouldn't it be as bad or worse than what has gone before???
Let's just take a look and see how the present state compares with say the 1976 Election?
TOTAL members: 100
TOTAL members: 435
Now I might be biased but I don't see much difference in the balance of power in the Senate and the distribution of House seats looks better today than after the 1976 Election.
But what about one might ask the overwhelming victory of the Democratic Presidential Candidate?
Was it really that overwhelming??
1976 Jimmy Carter against Gerold Ford
Carter won with 50.1% of the vote to Ford's 48%
2008 Barack Obama against John McCain
Obama won with 52.9% of the vote to McCain's 45.7%
2008 was better than 1976 but neither compare with 1964
Johnson had 61.1% of the vote to Goldwater's 38.5%
No any prediction of the demise of the Republican Party
needs to explain why it did not curl up in die during the last
40 some years when things looked as bad as they do now or even'
worse.
Whatever became of that Carter fellow anyway?
Oh I remember now
While Harry Truman did say, "The Buck Stops Here" in some cases the Buch never makes it to the Oval Office.
There has been a lot of excitement over the buzzing of high rise buildings in New York City recently by one of the Air Force 1 aircraft for a "photo-op"??
This might have been in mere bad taste were it not for the decision NOT to disclose this event to the Public.
What in the World could they have been thinking?
Video of Air Force Airplane "Photo-Op" That Caused Panic in New York City and Jersey City
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A photo shoot involving an Air Force aircraft and two fighter jets led to hundreds of frightened calls from residents and workers in Lower Manhattan Monday
To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling's CLEARED
Help for an Office sullied, a Spotless Spirit hurt,
Help for an Honourable Clan sore trampled in the dirt!
From Washington to Frisco Bay, O listen to my song,
The honourable gentlemen have suffered grievous wrong
Their noble names were mentioned O the burning black disgrace!
By brutal Right Wing Punidits; in a Faux Air Safety Case
If print is print or words are words, the Media perpends: --
We are not ruled by Fools, but only -- by their friends.
How did we come to a day when a Russian TV network would appear to be acting in a professional manner, and CNN would be acting like Socialist Attack Dogs?
If you are thinking, "That doesn't look like the Tea Party "I" went to."?
It isn't,
I got curious and lucky and tracked that photo down, It turns out it is from the G20 riots earlier this month in London
Technorati Tag::Tea Party ****DHS Report ****AOL ****Right-Wing Extremists ****View blog reactions
I use the term "epicycles" as an example of an extremely complex convoluted method to force reality into conformance with a desired outcome.
This is a not uncommon occurrence in human endeavors and if the initial starting point of the paradigm is invalid the results can be bizarre and paradoxical.
I met recently with the Leadership of the Linn County Central Committee,
Our dialog was civilized and the basic outcome was that, we agreed to disagree
.
They do not agree with my analysis of the situation the Committee finds itself in, but that they did not have any desire to silence me.
To which I agreed.
It is not my habit to merely dispute an issue with someone and then not think about the matter further. I spent a fair amount of time later that day mulling over the implications of what we discussed.
To recap the situation as it appears to me.
At the February Central Committee meeting David Chung, and quite correctly I might add, brought up a point of procedure, on Iowa State Election Code and the various Constitutions of the Republican Party at the State and County level
.
The result was that we were in fact not in compliance with the above as far as membership and more importantly eligibility to vote and it has come to my attention after investigation, that this situation may be back 10 years or so.
The practice of asking if anyone wished to join the committee and then voting them in is not even close to compliance with State Law and our Constitutions and By-Laws.
A serious problem since at the time we were looking at Officer's Elections at the March meeting.
It was decided to form a committee to examine the Form As from the Precinct Caucuses in order to compile a list of Credentialed Voters.
Now that method was IMO quite correct.
The State Election Code states.
43.99 Party committee persons.
Two members of the county central committee for each political party shall, at the precinct caucuses, be elected from each precinct
The State and County Party Constitutions state
<IV. MEMBERSHIP OF CENTRAL COMMITTEE
The County Central Committee shall consist of two precinct committee members elected from each precinct at the precinct caucuses
So it appears to me that the only persons who couldhave been listed for the March Election as Central Committee members were those elected to those positions at the Precinct Caucuses.
It would seem that everything should have been simple. Look at the Form A records from the Caucuses and list those persons elected to those posts.
However the list that was derived included not solely persons listed as elected to be County Central Committee Members, but Chairs, Co-Chairs, Secretaries and a category called Alternates.
Now let me be clear on one thing there is no position as Alternate County Committee Member, there is something called an Assistant Central Committee Member, but those are appointed by a majority vote of the Central Committee which does not happen at the Caucus.
In my opinion, our list contained not just elected Central Committee Members who were eligible to vote but others who were not eligible.
At least not in compliance with the State Election Code and the Constitutions and By-Laws.
In fact I am informed that one elected Central Committee member's name did not appear on his Precinct Caucuses Form A and therefore they did not vote someone who Chaired the Caucus voted instead.
When I presented my conclusions, which are the Election may not be valid, the response seems to have been we should let it stand because we voted on it.
I may be doing the two gentlemen a disservice but to me the logic seems to be.
Upon discovery that a large portion of those who thought they were Committee Members, were in fact not,
We examined the Form As and compiled a list of persons many of whom were not eligible to vote either,
and we should let the results stand because
The original group comprised of many people who were not eligible to vote, voted to do so.
This sort of circular argument, gives me a headache.
In a latter article I will present my own ideas on how to remedy this situation in a Post I plan to title
Solutions.
Technorati Tag::REPUBLICAN PARTY OF IOWA ****Election Laws of the State of Iowa ****Precinct Caucuses ****Linn County GOP Central Committee****View blog reactions
I will take your points in a biblical manner the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Dan,
I appreciate your thoughtful inquiry. I have a couple of comments about your notes.
4) Mark Hudson. I do not know whether Mark is a member of the Central Committee or an alternate. Regardless, the bylaws allow officers to be selected from outside the membership. This is a common practice. According to Roberts Rules chairmen who are not members may not vote or break ties. In the RPI Constitution, the Chair is not a member but is allowed to break ties. The RNC Constitution also allows non-members to serve as chair (I don't know whether non-member chairs are given voting rights). Current RNC chair, Michael Steele was elected from outside the RNC membership.
4) The correct term for the secondary class of Central Commitee Members as per the By-Laws is ASSISTANT COMMITTEE PERSONS and while can be heard, have no voting rights but as you point out if they are Chairing they can break a tie since Robert's Rules of Order take precedence unless the By-Laws preclude them
IX. RULES OF ORDERRobert's Rules of Order Revised shall prevail unless modified by these by-laws.
So an Officer does not have to be a Central Committee member since the By-Laws also state.
The
Central Committee shall elect either from its’ membership or otherwise a chair, co-chair,
secretary, treasurer and other officers as it may determine
I interpret Otherwise as they don't have to be a member, however anyone who is an officer but not a voting member would have no voting rights unless they were chairing and a tie had been called
3) Our (Linn County's) Constitution and By-laws do allow for alternate members who do not have voting privileges except in the absence of their elected committee people. It has been many years, but we used to keep ordered lists of alternates per precinct. People who came to meetings to join were informed whether they could join as members (to fill vacancies) or alternates if there were no vacancies.
3) Again the accurate term is Assistant Central Committee Persons and it is correct as you state that in the absence of an Elected Committee Member one or two from a Precinct maybe given temporay voting rights. But since the By=Laws are mute on the mechanism I would assume it would be by a vote of a Quorum. Present.
@
2) The question of who are the two elected members is a more difficult one to answer. I proposed the first two names from form A because it is the only record we have of what happened on caucus night. In the two precincts that I moderated, we did have elections and we did elect two CC members. They were reported on form A. In my opinion form A was the only reasonable way to attempt to re-construct the results of caucus night. As I mentioned, I am on the State Central Committee's organization sub-committee. Issues like rules and the caucus (and form A) fall under my committees purview. This situation will not happen again
@
1) It was not improper for the county central committee to add new members. However, only those added to fill 'vacancies' are actually full-fledged CC members. Since Linn Courty (and RPI) by-laws allow the committee to fill vacancies and this power is granted explicitly in the Iowa code. What the committee cannot do, is add more members than two per precinct without taking the special steps defined in the code of allocating new seats proportionate to the precinct's voting in the last election.
@
2 & 1) Yes that is indeed much more difficult. You recall I missed my Caucus? It being the first I would have attended I have no experience with how these things should run, but looking at the Paul handout I would say that would be a good way to do it.
So I asked my next door neighbors what they remembered. They recall there was an Acting Chairman who was elected to be Permanent Chair and they do not recall ANY other ELECTIONS that night for Permanent Secretary, County Convention Delegates, County Convention Alternate Delegates Nor for Central Committee Members,
With respect we cannot allow individuals to simply fill in who they wish for these positions and in the absence of any documentary evidence, Form A for instance that clearly indicates that a person was elected to the positon of The Precinct County Central Committee Member, or witnesses to the same, then that position is Vacant.
Now IF we can find 20 people who were elected in the correct manner as happened in your Caucus? The situation is simple,. They consitute a Legal Quorum of the County Central Committee and as stated
Vacancies in the County Central Committee may be filled by a majority of those members of
the Committee present and voting.
and yes this situation does not need to happen again, we shoud wipe the slate clean and restart in the correct maner, even if what is required is the process stated in Article VI Secion 7 of the
CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF IOWA
7. Vacancies on the County Central Committee may be
filled by majority vote of the County Central Committee, or
at a special precinct caucus called by the County Central
Committee.
The following is an extentsion of my (Dan Kauffman's) remarks after gathering more information
I have recieved reports to date on the actions of 8 precincts in 4 there were elections for Central Committe
Members. In 3 the person I have been in contact with have no recollection of special elections for
Central Committe Members. In the last and 8th Caucus, there were two nominations from the floor
for Central Committee Members, being unopposed it was the consensus of the Precinct Caucus that
their positons were afirmed BUT their names did not appear on Form A.
@
As a result when it came time for the Election in March one of these two, who had been attending
Central Commitees all year under the impression that they were one of the two credebtialed Central
Committee Member, was not able to vote and instead someone whose name did appear on Form
A and who this person had never seen in a meeting since the Caucus voted instead,
Not Good.
Technorati Tag::REPUBLICAN PARTY OF IOWA ****Election Laws of the State of Iowa ****Precinct Caucuses ****Linn County GOP Central Committee****View blog reactions
