Senate Protest and Analysis Thread

[Purple State]

Thought I'd throw an idea out to the Senate regarding some trolling legislation:

Troll Suppression and Rehabilitation Act

Clauses

(A) Trolling shall be declared a chargeable offense in the land of Atlasia at the request of a forum moderator and the discretion of the Attorney General.

(B) The act of trolling is to be defined as the use of meaningless or otherwise distracting and malignant posting to sidetrack or interrupt proper forum discussion.

(C) Upon a guilty verdict returned by a majority of jurors, the punishment for said trolling is to be determined by the justice hearing the case; but, the punishment must consist of at least 1 month of suspended voting rights and 6 months of suspension from office, if one is held, or at most 6 months of suspended voting rights and 1 year of suspension from office.

[Purple State]

This legislation is extraneous because the Moderators already hold this power. In fact, you lowered possible suspensions and gave the Attorney General discretion, instead of leaving things as is. The system in effect now is better for the banishment of trolls. Look what it has done to me. :-)

The mods have no power as far as office holding by run-of-the-mill trolls. They may be able to delete the posts of excessive users, but it did take quite a while to get to this point. I would like some proactive power by users to oust trolls from Atlasia.

[Purple State]

I think an explicit clause should be added to the Special Prosecutor Bill enumerating just that. Leaving ambiguities is never good. And by no means should the post be permanent or outlast the Attorney General's post. This is just to help lessen the workload on the AG.

[Purple State]

I'd like to protest the complete inability of this Senate to do things. You have a long to-do list, including possibly calling a Constitutional Convention, reshaping the government. Let's see some discussions and voting here.

[Purple State]

     It's fine. Truth is, you can hang out in bill threads as much as you want. People only get angry if you try to vote on bills.

Ilikeverin yelled at me before. Tried to shoo me!

Beware Lunar. He may come for you too.

[Purple State]

     It's fine. Truth is, you can hang out in bill threads as much as you want. People only get angry if you try to vote on bills.

Ilikeverin yelled at me before. Tried to shoo me!

Beware Lunar. He may come for you too.

     He was joking.

I know. So was I.

[Purple State]

So the President called for 4CC. What now?

[Purple State]

Due to recent drama in Atlasia, I would like a Senator to bring forward ethical reforms to prevent actions that are harmful to Atlasia, whether through manipulation or abuse of power.

[Purple State]

Could you be more specific?

We need laws so that we can deal with Xahar and his intimidation of users. We need laws addressing slander, libel, and other false claims. We need laws outlining unethical standards for political office so that abuses of power are not allowed to go unpunished.

Without these Atlasia will keep deteriorating. We lose the trust of new members and the interest of current members when these issues are left unaddressed.

[Purple State]

The Xahar Amendment
1. The user known as Xahar is banned from the Republic of Atlasia for life. Any future alias or account he may adopt is also banned.
2. If Xahar is found to have registered under another alias or account, then the President shall present evidence to the Senate, who may then strike the account from the voter rolls by ordinary legislation.
3. Any person banned under clause 2 of this Amendment, may appeal the facts of their case to the Supreme Court, whose decision on the matter shall be final.
Ethics laws are by their nature hard to draft, but if you want to bar Xahar permenantly, this is about the only legal way - Constitutional Amendment.

I'll take that.

I guess other ethical standards are really up to the president to implement by executive order. What about libel laws? Are those allowed without an amendment?

EDIT: Oh, and welcome back Peter.

[Purple State]

EDIT: Oh, and welcome back Peter.

I've been busy, but watching. I suppose I ought to do the decent thing and resign from the mideast assembly given that I have no intention of continuing with the position.

Eh, if you could just pop in with some votes every so often when you're watching that would be more respected than some other inactive user.

[Purple State]

I think a reasonable case could be made in court once he returns.

I'm kind of reluctant to support the amendment here....it doesn't seem appropriate in a democratic game.

On the other hand, it does seem it would protect Atlasia, regardless of principle.

Still...wouldn't it make more sense to try him in court once he gets back?

Apparently, there is some proof concerning Marokai Blue's account. I have not seen any proof yet, but it seems quite probable. We could always give him the maximum penalty for that, and that'd get rid of the problem for a while at least.

The problem is we need a permanent solution to his shinanigans. Is there no sentence of life without parole? There needs to be a way to permanently remove people from the game. It shouldn't be easy to do, but it should be an available option.

[Purple State]

Would treason extend to intent to sabotage an aspect of Atlasia? I think subversive tactics to attack an Atlasian party (RPP) or to induce fear upon individual members (Marokai) should be considered treason against Atlasia as a whole, no matter where the evidence is found (unless of course evidence can only be used from within the Atlas forum).

[Purple State]

Would treason extend to intent to sabotage an aspect of Atlasia? I think subversive tactics to attack an Atlasian party (RPP) or to induce fear upon individual members (Marokai) should be considered treason against Atlasia as a whole, no matter where the evidence is found (unless of course evidence can only be used from within the Atlas forum).

No. Those things are not treason; that's ridiculous. I mean, I know people are out to get Xahar, but please let's not make a mockery of 1) the Atlasian legal system or 2) the Atlasian constitution to do it.

I'm just trying to be clear of the law. I was hoping the answer would have been in the affirmative, but I guess we will just have to see how the mods treat Marokai's info and see if it warrants further investigation.

[Purple State]

I would propose, as a matter of forum affairs and internal Senate function, that the time period that the PPT Candidate Declaration Thread remain open be reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours, before the new Senate Session begins. I just don't want the progress and activity of the current Senate to slow because of the slow nature of the PPT election process.

[Purple State]

Somaliland Recognition Bill

1.  The Republic of Atlasia hereby recongnizes the Republic of Somaliland.

2.  Somaliland will be recognized to hold the lands of the former British colony of British Somaliland.

3.  Dahir Riyale Kahin is hereby recognized as the President of Somaliland.

This bill has already been done and passed awhile ago.

Is it in the Wiki?

[Purple State]

Fair enough. We will move on pirates in the next term. I have something in the works.

[Purple State]

Atlasian Tax Code Resolution

Whereas, Atlasia has existed for years without a functioning or present tax code,
therefore let it be

Resolved, that an independent commission shall be instituted for the formation of a tax code to be presented to the Atlasian Senate for approval. The commission shall be made up of the President or a citizen so designated to fill his place, the Attorney General, the PPT, the five regional Governors or any citizen of the same region so designated by a Governor, and two additional Senators so appointed by the Senate. At any time the commission may, by two-thirds consent, approve the addition of outside members as full voting members.

Resolved, that this tax code shall include, but not be limited to, an income tax, sales tax, social security tax, and estate tax. The proposal shall be prepared and presented before the start of FY 2010.

Don't we also currently have a carbon tax, or was that just repealed?

It may be repealed in favor of cap-and-trade, or may not be. It can be included in this new tax code, but I want to make sure that we at least get the other things.

[Purple State]

How come most every bill here has some sort of connection to current events in the real world? Why don't we base bills on how Atlasia is doing, rather how the US is doing? Obviously, first we would have to find out how Atlasia is doing. I propose that we try not to concern ourselves so much with the events of the outside world, and instead craft legislation that would thoroughly round out the Atlasian Gov't.

I completely agree, but we have a GM that is anything but active. There is no known status of Atlasia without something like that.

[Purple State]

Resolution Compelling the President to Appoint a New GM

Whereas, the position of Game Moderator is necessary for the full function of the Senate; and,

Whereas, President bgwah's current GM, Ebowed, has proven sporadic and ineffective in his position; and,

Whereas, the Senate, by statute and subsequent motion, has dismissed GM Ebowed from his office; therefore let it be

RESOLVED, that the Senate hereby calls upon the President to exercise all due haste in nominating for Atlasia a new GM to be confirmed or denied by the Senate.

Good to see you are still pressing this, PS. It will be tough to break bgwah though.

Thank goodness for upcoming elections and term limits, but I hope I don't need to wait that long to see a new GM.

[Purple State]

A question for Purple State

I don't see how the Economic Zones are a liberal idea especially in the European form as you said? Could you clarify, how this contitutes that type of thing?

It is may use the best friends of conservatives (tax cuts), but it is messing with the market to preference and advantage disadvantaged regions. It builds equality of opportunity, but it is nothing near to a free market. So I support it, but I'm surprised the more conservative voters do.

[Purple State]

Party Name Change Bill

1. If the membership of a major political party, by vote of a quorum of all members of that party, decides that it wishes to change the name of that party, an officer of that party shall, within 14 days, notify the Secretary of Forum Affairs of this fact.

2. Once notified, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall change the official party membership of all members registered within that party to the new name approved by the party membership.

Okay, I guess. Is this just making it easier for a party to change it's name, rather than making all the members reregister?

[Purple State]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

As per my campaign pomise, I introduce this on behalf of Fmr Senator and current Lt Gov. South Park Conservative.

Don't sound too happy about it Yank.

[Purple State]

LGB Dignity Act.

All self described reperative therapy, psychological therapy, self help and 'ex gay' institutions, associations and ministries with the intent to subdue, erase, reform, negatively influence or attempt to change an individuals sexual orientation are hereby outlawed.

I do not think this can be justified under any federal power, moreover, I believe it could violate the free speech and free exercise of religion clauses as well.

I agree. So long as these institutions aren't compelling people to attend against their will, which would be illegal, we can't outright ban these.

[Purple State]

Atlasia-EU Free Trade Bill
1. No tariffs, customs, or restrictions on movement of goods, except those that have been outlawed by the destination or interim nation, shall exist between the Republic of Atlasia and the Eurpean Union

2. The President and other officers of the Atlasian Government shall take such actions as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this bill.

Atlasia-Turkey Free Trade Bill
1. No tariffs, customs, or restrictions on movement of goods, except those that have been outlawed by the destination or interim nation, shall exist between the Republic of Atlasia and Turkey.

2. The President and other officers of the Atlasian Government shall take such actions as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this bill.

Summarized: MasterJedi gives a hearty welcome back to afleitch.