The Imperial Dominion of the South's Legislature

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Sorry, I've been under the weather a bit lately. I am presenting this to Emperor Jbrase for his signature.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     We could amend the Southeast Symbols Initiative. Make the symbols somewhat more evil.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I've never been someone with a wealth of Lawful Neutral ideas for bills. I think I was principally responsible for the passage of three or four substantial bills in my eight months in the Senate.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I've never been someone with a wealth of Lawful Neutral ideas for bills. I think I was principally responsible for the passage of three or four substantial bills in my eight months in the Senate.

The problem is we have nothing to pass bills about.

     Well we could try to address the high unemployment rate (at least, beyond the previous bill that reduced the business tax). Problem is, I'm not sure that we could come up with a bill to do that that would be satisfactory to everyone.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     We could build a giant medieval-style castle, paint it jet black, & decal it with hundreds of gargoyles. Put it somewhere near the border with Mexico, ostensibly for border patrol purposes.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     A giant pentagram? That sounds awesome.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Anyway, how much would this cost? Perhaps we could contract a private company for this project, require that they hire Southerners for the construction & staffing, & encourage them to hold tours of the facility to help make money.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Anyway, how much would this cost? Perhaps we could contract a private company for this project, require that they hire Southerners for the construction & staffing, & encourage them to hold tours of the facility to help make money.

Sounds good.  I dunno about money matters.  Maybe we should consult His Eminence Ramsey?

     According to the last news we heard, the region was $2 billion in the black. However, that was a while ago, so it might have gone in the red since then.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Anyway, how much would this cost? Perhaps we could contract a private company for this project, require that they hire Southerners for the construction & staffing, & encourage them to hold tours of the facility to help make money.

Sounds good.  I dunno about money matters.  Maybe we should consult His Eminence Ramsey?

     According to the last news we heard, the region was $2 billion in the black. However, that was a while ago, so it might have gone in the red since then.

Well, we are evil.  There's nothing on the books against forced labor.

     I think that's a pretty sure way to get an ass-kicking courtesy of the federal government. Evil does not necessarily mean self-destructive.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Send a batch of evil cookies to the Senate? Sounds deliciously unorthodox.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     That looks good. I suggest we attach some strings to the contract, such as requiring that a certain percentage of the labourers employed in the construction of the Pentagram are residents of the IDS. I figure that most of the smaller details of the structure can be left up to the firm building it.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     What if we put it in Memphis, across from the IDS government complex?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Alright, let's add a section 4, so now we have:

Pentagram Creation Act
1.  A giant structure is to be built in the shape of a Pentagram.
          a.  The interior of the Pentagram is to be an intricate maze.
          b.  The walls are to be several stories high and made of black marble.
2.  The construction of said Pentagram shall be contracted out to a regional construction company.
3.  The Pentagram should, upon completion, be designated a tourist attraction.
4. The Pentagram shall be built in the city of Memphis, TN, outside the southern border of the Capital Complex, facing the Capitol Building.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It looks good. I wonder where our colleague Darth Deldem is, however. His input on this matter would be appreciated.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     it just occurred to me that we have not allocated an amount to budget the contract, or specified where that amount would come from.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     it just occurred to me that we have not allocated an amount to budget the contract, or specified where that amount would come from.

We would need these contractors to give us an estimate, at least in real life.  And don't we have a budget surplus?

     Fair enough. If we defined an upper limit on what was to be allotted to it, they'd try to get us as close to that limit as possible.

     Last we heard, but that was a while ago. It might have changed since then.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     it just occurred to me that we have not allocated an amount to budget the contract, or specified where that amount would come from.

We would need these contractors to give us an estimate, at least in real life.  And don't we have a budget surplus?

     Fair enough. If we defined an upper limit on what was to be allotted to it, they'd try to get us as close to that limit as possible.

     Last we heard, but that was a while ago. It might have changed since then.

We might've used up the surplus on the education bill.

     We probably did. May I suggest we recoup the costs through a certain share of tickets sold to tourists visiting the monument? It will have the side-effect of discouraging the contractors from over-charging us, since we will then just take more of their profits down the road.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     As I alluded to above, I think an upper-limit would be counterproductive. Basically, what I am thinking is that whoever runs the place after it's completed gets 80% of ticket sales while the contractor gets 20%. However, we take 10%, which comes out of the contractor's 20%, until we have covered the cost of funding the contract. As such, there is no incentive for the contractor to try to gouge us, since whatever they get paid for the job itself is essentially an advance on the percentage of ticket sales they get after the job is done.

[Associate Justice PiT]

As I alluded to above, I think an upper-limit would be counterproductive. Basically, what I am thinking is that whoever runs the place after it's completed gets 80% of ticket sales while the contractor gets 20%. However, we take 10%, which comes out of the contractor's 20%, until we have covered the cost of funding the contract. As such, there is no incentive for the contractor to try to gouge us, since whatever they get paid for the job itself is essentially an advance on the percentage of ticket sales they get after the job is done.

I was under the impression that this would be owned and run by the Imperial Dominion, seeing as we're paying to build it and all.

     Ah, good point. I think we should still take something out of the contractors' share, though, so they don't stiff us. I propose an amendment to the bill to add a section five, so it now reads:

Pentagram Creation Act
1.  A giant structure is to be built in the shape of a Pentagram.
          a.  The interior of the Pentagram is to be an intricate maze.
          b.  The walls are to be several stories high and made of black marble.
2.  The construction of said Pentagram shall be contracted out to a regional construction company.
3.  The Pentagram should, upon completion, be designated a tourist attraction.
4. The Pentagram shall be built in the city of Memphis, TN, outside the southern border of the Capital Complex, facing the Capitol Building.
5. 80% of revenues from ticket sales for admission to the Pentagram shall go into the Treasury of the Imperial Dominion of the South. The remaining 20% shall go to the contractors responsible for the construction of the Pentagram.
          a. Up to half of that shall be withdrawn by the government of the Imperial Dominion of the South, until that amount withdrawn is equal to the amount that the government of the Imperial Dominion of the South's contractual expenditures in the construction of the Pentagram.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Alright, the vote is open for 72 hours.
     Aye.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     With a unanimous vote of all Legislators in favor, I shall present this bill to the Emperor, for him to decide on its fate.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     So, any thoughts on what to do next?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Ah, yes, that was sort of odd. We could always adopt that as a second name if we wanted to. Maybe we could adopt 15 alternate names that all had IDS as their initials.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The nice thing about having an active GM is that it provides us stuff to work with. I really miss having Purple State as GM now.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I think this calls for a brainstorming session.