Angry Clam seems to want to get into a "blog war"....=^) Sorry Rory, no dice. I'll be more than happy to maintain an email dialogue with you, but that's as far as I go.

Oh, and it's a matter of the MEANS not the ENDS of the process that makes Nazi Germany not a socialist state.

Damn, you tricked me.... How's that for irony.

Cheers and good night.

Well, it seems the Daily Cal got to explaining what I received from my Rhetoric advisor in the paper today. Still, I received this last night and it seems like a pretty big thing to not have been discussed prior to this memo being disseminated.

Angry Clam has been in the habit of calling Nazi Germany a socialist state. While it is true that it was the National Socialist Party that Hitler and his cronies took control of, it is a pretty far stretch to call it socialist in any conventional sense. This was merely a small, weak, but established party in Germany that was easy to take over. I understand his point, but it's just not accurate and makes his arguments degenerate into ungrounded conservative rhetoric as opposed to pragmatic conservative commentary.

Just received this in my email from my Rhetoric Department Advisior:

IMPORTANT MEMO FROM LETTERS AND SCIENCE

To Students:

This is the last semester of the present late-drop policy. Starting in Fall 2002, you will not be able to drop courses after week 8. We are letting you know about this now so that you can plan ahead for the Fall 2002 semester.


Sincerely,
Kwong-loi Shun, Dean
and Leanne Hinton, Associate Dean
Undergraduate Division

Why hasn't this been discussed more? This is pretty important stuff.

Last night's "mandatory" ASUC Candidates' Meeting was a complete fiasco. Chair Ghori didn't quite seem to understanding that if you treat people with respect from the beginning they'll be a little more respectful toward you. Basically, it took over an hour to register all the candidates. Perhaps because this was such an involved process, since it did require making little check marks on a piece of paper, the elections committee didn't feel that they could get started reading verbatim to us from the candidates' handbook until it was all over. I had to leave a little before 9:00PM but supposedly it then took another TWO hours to assign numbers to the 150 or so candidates. Incredible. A highlight of the night was at 8:30 when President Adeyamo came up to the Student Action group and said "Alright Student Action, you guys can go. Head back to headquarters. I'll stick around to make sure everything gets taken care of." And like little lambs they obeyed and shuffled away to go flyer the town, presumably. If the rest of the elections are run in this manner, we're going to have a grand old time.

Vote Dave "Do the" Duman for Senate. Vote Squelch!

People are actually reading PragLib!

Thanks to CalAnon for his kind words and endorsement regarding my bill. He has it more or less right that I didn't treat the bill very seriously, I just though it'd be fun and intentionally used stupid inflated rhetoric, the finest example of which is the lovely passage that Nolo Free quoted. As a regular reader of ASUC bills, I tried to pattern mine as closely as possible to the conflated language I've read in many bills. Except President Adeyamo's bills, they tend to just be full of grammatical errors.

With regards to a checkout system, this actually has been explored and has received favorable support from those at the Circulation Desk. The Bill is more or less in Noah's hands now, although the it hasn't gone before the Senate yet, so I may yet do a rewrite.

I honestly didn't realize how popular this bill could become.

Thanks for the political support too, CalAnon. In the slim chance that I am elected I do plan to work toward making a campus a more light-hearted and enjoyable place. It's not really my business to be spending student fees to buy bag lunches for the homeless or bring prominent speakers to campus so that a fraction of the student body can go see them. It is the small but enduring things that really make a difference, as well as responsible distribution of funds to student groups and the accountability of student groups for their spending.

Simple steps and things that don't cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Anyhoo, I'll keep you posted on the status of the bill.

Bryan Ritchie is not a very good columnist. He writes the dryest columns known to man. Read his most recent asinine column in the Daily Cal. I don't understand why the current crop of columnists have such a hard time writing about anything remotely interesting. Very strange.

I have a Bill going before the Senate this week, authored by me and sponsored by Senator Noah Kagan. Here it is in its entirety:

Respectfully submitted to the Associated Students of the University of California Spring 2002
SB_______
_________________________________________________________________


A BILL IN SUPPORT OF CHESS IN THE GARDNER STACKS

_________________________________________________________________

Authored by David Duman
Sponsored by Noah Kagan

Whereas the David Pierpont Gardner stacks are an architectural and academic landmark in this country; and

Whereas the circular table at the bottom of the staircase on floor A of the Main stacks is positioned in a point of aesthetic significance; and

Whereas this table is used for nothing of an aesthetic value right now; and

Whereas there; and

Whereas there are many other tables that may be utilized for studying; and

Whereas chess is a game that is enjoyed by many; and

Whereas chess can be played on the aforementioned table; and

Whereas the theft of chess pieces should be considered a terrible crime.

Resolved that the ASUC will draft a statement “To support the aesthetic premise that having two people playing chess at the round table at the bottom of the spiral staircase in the Gardner Stacks during all open hours of the Stacks is imperative to the maintenance of a world-class educational institution.”

Resolved that to this end the ASUC will allocate $25 for the purchase of a chess set to remain at this table at all times; and

Resolved that the ASUC will also allocate money at its discretion for the replacement and maintenance of this chess set ad infinitum.

Resolved that, in order to protect and maintain the integrity of this aesthetic principle and to discourage theft, the punishment for any individual found attempting to steal part or all of the chess set shall be a public flogging by the sitting ASUC President or an authorized deputy at a site of his or her discretion.

My belief is that it'll get killed in FiComm, but Noah seems to think that it has the possibility of passing.

I just wanted to let you know what I'm doing to make this campus a better place.

Vote Dave "Do The" Duman. Squelch! 2002.

Not to tell the Elections Chairman how to do his job, but I must take issue with the email that was just sent to all the candidates. He mentions the MANDATORY candidates' meeting on Tuesday, March 19th, even going so far as to require ID's.

However, Article 12.1 of the Election By-Laws state:

"12.1 The Assistant Elections Council Chair shall hold an optional Candidates Meeting on the first Tuesday of classes following the end of the Filing Period. All candidates are responsible for all information that is disseminated at the meeting."

Now this either means that Chair Ghori does not know the By-Laws accurately, or that the By-Laws have changed and have not been reflected in the information available to the candidates. Either position is unacceptable. These elections have historically been mismanaged blood-baths. We need to have an Elections Council that knows the rules and/or makes those affected by the rules aware of changes.

So, seems to me that there is a discrepancy. As my first act as Squelch! senatorial candidate, the candidate for the people, I have informed Mr. Chair about this discrepancy.

Vote Squelch!