Apropos of Nothing
April 20th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaI hope everybody is having a good day.
Just make sure not to shoot your friend in the face, which, of course, is very likely to happen when you’re smoking The Devil’s Harvest!
Archive for April, 2009Apropos of NothingApril 20th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaI hope everybody is having a good day. Just make sure not to shoot your friend in the face, which, of course, is very likely to happen when you’re smoking The Devil’s Harvest! Some Cheese With That WhineApril 19th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaIn case you haven’t seen it, the Daily Emerald has its article on the final ASUO election results up, and it’s full of hi-larious quotes from the Oregon Action Team’s campaign manager Marcus Krieg. Here’s Krieg talking abut how the OAT got an absolute shellacking:
The article goes on to say that new ASUO president elect didn’t receive a congratulatory phone call from either Michelle Haley or Ted Sebastian, although she did receive some from ASUO Sen. Demic Tipitino and current president Sam Dotters-Katz. Kallaway also said in the article that she hopes OAT members still apply for some of the open positions in the ASUO. Krieg’s classy response?
Krieg must be gunning for a PR job with the Republican party, what with that charming, conciliatory attitude. Honestly, I wish the OAT had won a few more seats because we need diversity of opinion in the ASUO. Having a single party in power is never good. But when they conduct themselves like that, it’s hard to muster a lot of sympathy. On Just Saying NoApril 19th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaFrom a Washington Post opinion piece and probably one of the best articles I’ve read on drug legalization:
Speaking of Baltimore, here’s David Simon, creator of The Wire, in a recent interview with Bill Moyers:
I tend to disagree with the some of Simon’s argument, which is fairly anti-capitalist (you should watch the whole video), but it just goes to show the breadth of drug legalization support. Election Results to Be Posted at Five P.M.April 17th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaASUO election results will be posted at five p.m. I’ll update this post when I get them. Apparently all the confusion has been sorted out, but not before elections board chair Aaron Tuttle received a high volume of obscene phone calls and emails. I’m sure it had nothing to do with certain candidates posting his cell number on Facebook last night. Definitely not. Stay classy, guys. *** Okay, here’s the results. Emma Kallaway and Getachew Kassa won the executive ticket by a vote of 2031-1368. The Oregon Action Team lost bad, taking only one contested Senate seat and a couple of uncontested. They won a few positions on the SRC advisory committee and EMU board as well. Personal Message for Zack VishanoffApril 17th, 2009 by GuyZack, This is a bit untimely, but the OC isn’t in the message business. Someone named Nina called the office up sometime early last term looking for you. She said she was in California and wanted you to call her back as soon as possible regarding a personal matter. Her number is 661-323-6250. Better late than never? Always The Bride’s MaidApril 17th, 2009 by TimothyRadley Balko has announced the AFF Blog Contest Winners. Congratulations are in order to the current OC staff, as for the second year in a row this very blog has taken Second Place! Like the print magazine, the OC Blog is consistently sharp, witty, and apparently award-winning. Keep up the good work, folks. And be sure to spend all the money on blow. You’ve done papa proud. This Ain’t OverApril 16th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaIn case you were wondering, ASUO elections have not ended. Online polls were supposed to close at five p.m., but there was some mix-up. Apparently students at the American English Institute and the Continuing Education program weren’t able to vote. No word about hanging chads. Word on the street is this will be resolved when the elections board meets with Vice President for Student Affairs Robin Holmes in the morning. About that Gadsden Flag in the Office…April 16th, 2009 by VincentCon Court Smacks Down Elections BoardApril 16th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaFinding that the elections board does not, in fact, have the power to unilaterally dismiss candidates or enforce state laws or university conduct codes (who would have thought?), the ASUO Constitution Court has summarily reversed the boards’ decision to remove the Oregon Action Team from the ballot and dismissed the grievance filed against it by David Griffin. From the ruling:
Upon hearing the court’s ruling, elections board chair Aaron Tuttle reportedly roared mightily, flipped a nearby table and exclaimed, “I AM THE LAW!” Okay, that’s not true. The silver lining behind all of this is that we are actually getting somewhere close to clearly defining the role of the elections board, the Con Court, etc. Finally, we can get back to the business of electing people based on cronyism and colorful t-shirts – y’know, the way a representative republic is supposed to work. Anti-tax ‘tea parties’April 15th, 2009 by Scott YounkerI’d heard about this a couple of days ago but didn’t see anything come of it in Eugene. However, I came across this article whilst browsing MSNBC a little bit ago, and this article features some of the best/most hilarious quotes that I’ve seen in a national “publication” in sometime. Here are my favorites:
And finally, what I think is the best one of the article—two reasons, 1. They used Twisted Sister in a protest and 2. Remember when everyone was comparing Bush to Hitler? This one is even funnier.
You should actually read the article, it’s pretty interesting in and of itself but I just wanted to point out some of the more notable parts, or at least I thought they were notable. I wonder how many students we could rally if we held an Anti-iFee ‘tea party’? ASUO Elections: OAT Still on the Ballot?April 15th, 2009 by Scott YounkerTomchak is getting all the news over at the ODE blogs, then again, Tuttle is force-feeding him information. Anyway. According to a post, the UO Administration told the IT guys not to remove Haley and Ted from the online ballot for the elections. So, they’re still on the ballot? — In other news, Tuttle provided Tomchak with the “evidence” that supports Haley’s alleged involvement in the parties, stickers, and bribery alcohol. He also got the letter to Tuttle about the parties, from someone… The Letter – (names removed because people feared for the writer’s safety…what is he going to get assassinated?) More updates as they come. ASUO Elections Achieve New Heights of AbsurdityApril 15th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaWe’re entering uncharted territory here, folks. Beyond thunderdome, if you will. The Oregon Action Team exec ticket has been kicked off the ballot, with the rest of its slate also under the axe. The OAT is threatening legal action. ASUO Exec Sam Dotters-Katz has issued a statement calling the election board’s ruling “one of the most reprehensible and shameful acts I have witnessed at the ASUO,” although he said he would not try to intervene. All in all, it’s a complete disaster. Either the OAT is guilty of bribing volunteers with alcohol, or their opponents sandbagged them with false accusations. It’s a lose-lose situation for the student body either way. This is why the Oregon Commentator did not endorse any of the executive tickets. I know that both campaigns have been doing these shady things all along. The problem is I don’t know which one to distrust more. For example, the following is from the ODE article on yesterday’s exec debates:
Do you know what they’re talking about? It’s called Fight Club. The progressive bloc in the ASUO have their own Mystic Society of No Homers to organize their campaigns and get “the right people” in office. Most everybody around the ASUO knows about it, but it’s hard to get anyone on the record because … well, you know the first rule of fight club. But this is the kind of atmosphere that pervades the entire ASUO on both sides of the spectrum; the conservatives have their little Karl Roves as well. It’s all insider politics, backroom deals and smoke and mirrors, and it’s disgusting. Most people expected the Commentator to support the OAT. We did last year, and I don’t regret that. But besides opposing OSPIRG and paying lip-service to lowering the I-fee, it’s hard to see how this year’s Oregon Action Team slate qualifies as particularly conservative. As the ODE noted, their idea to increase football tickets is unrealistic, especially in an economic crunch. The rest of their platform consists of maintaining and/or expanding services. How this will lower the I-fee is beyond me. The OAT seemed more concerned with fostering an image and winning seats than promoting fiscal responsibility. So there you have it: Stuck with the choice of the “ASUO tested, Fight Club approved” candidates or a faux-conservative slate full of mostly lackluster people and ideas, we chose neither. (Well, actually we chose “Deez Nuts.”) No one on the Commentator staff was interested in endorsing any of the exec tickets. The students of the University of Oregon deserve an open and transparent government, not a bunch of self-serving twits. I don’t give the benefit of the doubt to any ruling coming from the elections board, and their ruling once again seems completely arbitrary and nonsensical. However, I have trouble being outraged because, frankly, we were doomed from the start. The cherry on top of all this is 80 percent of students could care less. (Oh, P.S. Emma and Getachew voiced conditional support for bringing OSPIRG back next year, so if Michelle and Ted are completely off the ballot, you can expect to see those money-grubbing clowns again come budget season.) Oregon Action Team ResponseApril 15th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaThe Oregon Action Team just issued this press release:
OAT Exec Ticket Removed From BallotApril 14th, 2009 by CJ CiaramellaThe ODE just reported through Twitter that Oregon Action Team executive ticket Michelle Haley and Ted Sebastian have been removed from the ballot by the elections board. Updates to follow. *** Here’s the ODE blog post with the election board’s opinion. Apparently the election board has evidence that the OAT gave alcohol to minors in exchange for support. Gee, I sure am glad the Commentator didn’t endorse any exec candidates this year. Because that would just be embarrassing. In the words of the great Roast Beef, “Jesus, [Oregon Action Team], we got the chessboard out but you playin’ whac-a-mole!” UPDATE: The ODE blog post has been updated to read: “Michelle Haley and Ted Sebastian are off the ballot after the Elections Board ruled they had provided alcohol to minors volunteers.” Intrigue. Shenanigans. Just another hour in this perennial circus known as the ASUO elections. And if you take this as some sort of endorsement of the other slate, forget about it. I wash my hands of all these clowns. *** The full text of the decision:
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