Jul 12-18 1999

From merope@Radix.Net Mon Jul 12 21:47:43 1999

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 21:47:42 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Rockin' in the free world...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* chock full o' editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Saturday 10 July 1999:

Bill Oliver posts that "From Tim Pierce's message it is pretty obvious

that ballots will not be going out to the two one candidate positions.

Since there has been no activity concerning alternatives except what I

offered last evening; since the motion has not been declare passed/failed;

and to facilitate a solution to the issue, I formally withdraw my Motion

numbered 99-20 and ask the two seconds to do the same." He also states "My

hope is for a speedy resolution, and though not closed minded, I prefer

the solution of the "one time secretary casting the single vote for both

candidates." Both seconds are withdrawn.

The National Coordinator posts, "Motion 99-20 reached that necessary

quorum with 11 votes (9 aye 2 no) and thereby passed even though it was

not declared as such...However, now that Bill and his second have

withdrawn this 'passed' motion - the result of that is a mute point.

The motion was withdrawn because of a letter received from the software

manager and the Board will be seeking an alternative way of handling the

elections for the two seats that have only one candidate."

Bonnie McVicar-Briggs posts "Since there seems no better solution, Bill's

idea of "one time secretary casting the single vote for both candidates."

gets my vote." David Young offers to second if this is a motion, and Lynn

Waterman also supports this notion. [this would meet the requirements of

parliamentry procedure, but would of course still deny the volunteers in

those regions the opportunity to vote "no" on the candidates.]

Tomorrow's News Today: A motion is made to have the NC appoint someone to

cast the single required vote to elect the two candidates in question; the

board starts discussing when newly elected representatives may be subbed

to the Board's lists.

Election Miscellany: With all due respect to the Election Committee,

which is apparently working hard resolving numerous problems with the

ballots going astray, I think they are missing the point with this idea

that candidates automatically win their race if they are unopposed. Yes,

it does save time not to issue ballots in those races. But one purpose of

a ballot is to vote "no", and while not probable, it is possible that

every single voter could vote "no" on a candidate running unopposed. By

not issuing ballots in those races, members are denied the opportunity to

speak on the issue of who their representative should be. I'm not in

either of the regions in question, so I don't know if there has been a

clamor for ballots in these races, but if even one person wants to cast a

vote for or against they should be issued a ballot. You just don't

disenfranchise people to save yourself work.

That said, Jim Powell has posted the following remarks concerning the

single-candidate races:

"This whole no Ballot idea is my fault and only my fault. It was my idea,

Common Sense I thought, to save us some of that last minute work. I sold

it to the committee. Yes, it was discussed. Tim, did think it was extra

work for all of us. But is was my idea. I merely thought we had already

"elected" those candidates. Tim Pierce, as a well meaning member of the

committee with direct knowledge of the extra effort this involved, offered

up a letter to the Board addressing that. The Committee thought that was

great, not Rootsweb. Rootsweb as an entity did not enter into any of

this. Tim and the entire Committee were already working on setting up the

lists for the ballots. We, they would have followed any Board motion sent

to us. I usually don't call names, but anyone that is using the name

Rootsweb in this one has me, Jim Powell Jr, mixed up with Rootsweb. Of

that I can assure you. This all just goes to show me how this Rootsweb

hysteria stuff gets started. Maybe I have been judging Rootsweb a little

too harshly. So to Rootsweb, and Tim and the Board, and all the

volunteers out there with mixed emotions from this debate... I apologize

for all of this craziness swirling around this, common sense decision that

I made. To those stirring it up, I say "Get a life"."

Finally, someone has sent me a copy of the post from Tim Pierce to the

Election Committee [which he requests be sent sent to Board-L but which

was apparently sent to Board-Exec instead]. This post has been sent to

some project lists and to Board-L. After a discussion of why the

committee and he decided not to send ballots, he says this: "All of this

is by way of saying that while we agree that it would be nice to hold an

election for single-candidate positions, it would only be a symbolic

gesture. It does not make sense to us to expend so much time and energy

on a symbolic gesture." [His full post should hit the archives in a day

or two; I suggest you read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions

on what happened here. The bottom line appears to be no ballots for SE/MA

and NW/P CC rep races.]

Rebel Yell Redux Corner: The Board member who has joined ALHN is Jim

Powell. Jim is the ALHN county manager for Alachua County, Florida

(http://www.rootsweb.com/~flalachu/Alhn/index.html). He is also going to

the assistant coordinator for the Florida ALHN. We hope ALHN appreciates

the class act they are getting!

"...the thing about my jokes is they don't hurt anybody. You can take 'em

or leave 'em. But with Congress, every time they make a joke it's a law...

And every time they make a law it's a joke."

---Will Rogers

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Tue Jul 13 20:00:16 1999

Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 20:00:15 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Nothin' but net...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Sunday 11 July 1999:

David Young makes the following motion: "As we have two races for CC Reps

that each have only one person running for that office, and since each

has to have one vote to be elected, I move that the NC appoint someone

to cast the one required vote to elect each candidate." The NC asks for a

second.

The NC posts a note regarding subbing newly elected candidates to the

Board lists: "I've been informed that it has been the Board policy to

subscribe any new representatives to the Board lists during the transition

period, so that they may view - not talk - how the Board operates. Does

anyone have any comment they wish to make regarding this?" Trey Holt posts

that new members were subbed during the month of August to aid them in the

transition, but "In my opinion part of the reason this current board got

off to such a slow start was that there was very little dialog that

occurred during this transition period." [if the were subbed in read-only

mode, as Tim implies, how could there be dialogue?]

Tomorrow's News Today: more discussion on uncontested elections, and a new

motion.

You Read It Here First: Board member Bridgett Smith announces that on

July 7 she was hired by Root$web to work on their new "Communities" [uh

oh, sounds like more clusters]. She will be handling the "Grandparenting"

and "Computing" communities, and promises us these will be fully explained

in an upcoming issue of the Root$web Review. Congratulations to RW and

Bridgett both.

"Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no

good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm."

---Ralph Waldo Emerson

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Wed Jul 14 19:01:35 1999

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 19:01:34 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Grading outside the curve...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Monday 12 July 1999:

The NC republishes Tim Pierce's note regarding the ballots for uncontested

races "in order to make this a public record." [as this has been discussed

ad nauseaum on other lists, it won't be repeated here].

Bonnie McVicar-Briggs posts the following motion: Where as, no ballots

where issued and will not be issued to the following regions;

Northwest/Plains Region and Southeast/Mid-Atlantic Region, for the 1999

Advisory Board elections for the CC-Representatives, due to the

CC-Representative races in both of these regions having only one

candidate for the board seat for that region, I move that Bill Oliver,

Advisory Board Secretary, be directed, by this Board to cast one vote for

each of the following candidates: Northwest/Plains Region, CC

Representative: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman and Southeast/Mid-Atlantic

Region, CC Representative: Teri Pettit, thus insuring they are properly

elected as the bylaws require."

This motion is seconded, twice.

Ginger Cisewski asks David Young for clarification on his motion [posted

yesterday], stating "This Motion is somewhat vague. Could you please be a

bit more specific in your proposal? Perhaps some clarification will help

us to reach resolution of the situation."

Jim Powell, Election Committee Chair, posts an apology to his "Fellow

Volunteers". [this was sent to several lists, and also won't be repeated

here].

Tomorrow's News Today: The NC asks David Young to withdraw his motion in

favor of Bonnie's.

Election Update: An election chat is scheduled for 8pm CDT on channel

#SWSC on DALnet. All four SW/SC CC rep candidates have agreed to attend,

and we hope you all will as well. Everyone is welcome!

Coward's Corner: We note that Linda "Pot, Kettle, Black" Lewis is back to

unsubbing people who challenge her version of reality. What a way to win

an argument: just call everyone who disagrees with your version of events

a liar and then deny them the opportunity to rebut. Of course, when your

arguments have no merit, then that is the only way to win.

"It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of

free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed

all free speech except his own. "

---Herbert Hoover

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Thu Jul 15 10:12:54 1999

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 10:12:53 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: USGW_ALL@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Like a bull in a china shop...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Tuesday 13 July 1999:

The NC notes tht there are now two motions on the floor concerning

uncontested elections, one from David Young and one from Bonnie

McVicar-Briggs. He asks David to withdraw his motion, and also asks if

there is any discussion on Bonnie's motion.

David states, "Yes, I believe that would help move things along if I would

remove my last motion. But a motion will out a second is dead, is it not?"

Ginger Cisewski posts that since there is no discussion on the motion, she

calls for the question.

Betsy Mills seconds Ginger and reminds the NC "we may want to vote on both

the call to the question and the question at the same time to save time."

Tomorrow's News Today: The NC directs the group to vote on Motion 99-21

and the call of the question; voting begins; the motion is declared passes

with 14 ayes and 0 nays.

Election Update: Don't forget, the SW/SC chat is scheduled for 8 pm CDT

tonight on channel #SWSC on DALnet.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Copyright Law Corner: [the following is from a

guest reporter in the field and only minor editorial changes have been

made]:

Word on the grapevine has it that one former USGW CC has requested

that all of her copyrighted submissions to the Archives be removed. In

researching the facts, it seems that is the case, and that, according

to the chat posted on the OHGenWeb CC Chats site

(http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmahoni/chat/990713.txt),

According to Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman, "Linda said to pull them and have

someone else proof the material and resubmit". [Note: this probably refers

to Linda Lewis, coordinator of the Archives. Ed.] (The private email

sent to Linda Lewis was also posted within this chat log by Maggie

Zimmerman.)

According to the former CC (who verified both the original files and

the now-purged-of-copyright files in the Archives), when she left USGW

in November 1997, her copy of the submitted files remained online and

are still up at her old Geocities site

(http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5060/lawrence.htm).

In checking, I find that they clearly indicate her work is copyrighted,

and the former CC stated that the works residing in the Archives *used* to

bear both her name and her copyright notice. Those files somehow were

"mysteriously" purged of the contributor's name, copyright notice and

contact information. (Now how could *that* have happened? Hmmm...)

Legal proceedings are reported to be in the works, and her attorney has

dated hardcopies of both her site and the archives data, both pre-

and post-purging, as well as a copy of this chat log. Stay tuned!

A handy guide to the cast of characters in the aforementioned chat log:

CCmahoni - Mary Ann Hetrick, OHGW CC, COGW ASC

Maggie - Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman, OHGW CC; OHGW Archives,

new USGW Advisory Board Member

MaMaT - Holly Timm, OHGW ACC, candidate for At-Large representative

Big-Blimp - Unknown.

Jim - Jim McCluer, OHGW, ALHN CC

KCgal - unknown

Pecos - TXGW CC, COGW CC

[Note from the editor: be assured that multiple copies of this chat log

now exist, so its probably pointless to take the site down. And a big

thanks to our guest correspondent!]

"Propaganda is that branch of the art of lying which consists in nearly

deceiving your friends without quite deceiving your enemies."

---F. M. Cornford, quoted in New Statesman, 1978

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Fri Jul 16 20:32:50 1999

Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 20:32:48 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Speaking freely and responsibly...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

The NC calls for a vote on motion Motion 99-21 and the call of the

question. 14 members vote "aye" to both, 0 vote "nay" and 1 does not

vote. [11 "aye" votes are present on Board-L.] The NC declares the motion

passed.

Election Update: The SW/SC Election Chat, held last night, is now posted

at: http://www.radix.net/~merope/chat/swsc.txt. Three SW/SC candidates

attended as well as two candidates from other regions and an at-large

candidate. Topics covered included the bylaws, grievance and elections

committees, standards of conduct and responsible free speech, and the

archives/census issue, among other things.

Presumably, with the passage of Motion 99-21, Bill Oliver has been

directed to cast one vote in favor of the candidate in each of the

uncontested races. So we'll jump the gun a bit and congratulate Maggie

Stewart-Zimmerman, the new NW/P CC rep and Terry Pettit, the new SE/MA CC

rep.

Tsk Tsk Corner: We're told by An Interested Observer that some of the

files that the Archives were asked to remove have "reappeared" with a new

submitter and submission date attached.

"Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and

assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech

to free men from the bondage of irrational fears."

---Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1927, Whitney v. California

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Sun Jul 18 12:44:58 1999

Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 12:44:57 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Full steam ahead...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* Contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Thursday 15 July 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Friday 16 July 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

News About Town Corner:

According to an announcement made by pam Carey Durstock, "RootsLink is now

accepting URL's, and displaying them directly on the cluster pages. The

"add" form is now on every cluster page, and as soon as people start

entering links, they should have the links displaying on the pages by the

following day." According to a follow-up post by Joan Young, old links

submitted to Rootslink will not be added to the cluster pages, so if you

added links previously, you must go back and add them again.

Root$web list managers will now have the option to add their own taglines

to the Root$web corporate ones on the new lists created for the clusters.

According to Tim Pierce, in an announcement made earlier today, "When we

set up the cluster lists, we reserved the taglines for our own use, since

we anticipated selling advertising space in the list taglines." Listowners

who adopted the lists formerly did not have the option of supplying their

own taglines [which previously all listowners could do], but in response

to a number of suggestions to allow double taglines, that ability has now

been offered to them. Notes Tim, "Your taglines will appear at the

bottom of each message on the list, followed by RootsWeb's commercial

taglines." Note that does not give one the option to remove the

commercial taglines entirely, and of course Root$web's own commercials may

presumably be replaced at any time by commercials for online casinos and

the like.

In a related development also announced today by Tim Pierce, Root$web is

now offering pre cluster pages listowners the option of _including_

commercials on their lists, merely by checking the option on their

listowner's utility page.

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in

the good of others; we are interested solely in power....Power is not a

means; it is an end....not power over things, but over men....In our world

there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and

self-abasement....There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the

Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother....Always, at

every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of

trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the

future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever."

---George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

This has been your Daily Board Show. Goodbye John-John.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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