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Fourth Closed-door meeting of the second cabinet of the DSA; concludes 23:59, Sunday, 30 Sept., 2012; (quasi :D ) Weekly progress report and check-in
Topic Started: 21 Sep 2012, 05:37 (537 Views)
Suceavija
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Greetings to you, my fellow comrades of the Second Cabinet!

I apologize for the late start to this week's meeting - it's been a busy week. Thank you for your reports from last week, and I will address some of the questions and issues posed in that last meeting here. Below are the various items I would like to bring to your attention and for which I would like your feedback this week:


1) Progress report from last week’s meeting:

a) Recent referendums: While it is slightly premature (by a few hours as of press time, anyway) to say definitely so, I see the approval of our last three referendums to be imminent; and so I will move forward with this meeting as though they have been. I would like to congratulate you, Arcomo, on the resounding passage of your commendation by the Congress!

b) Updating the Wiki: I will be putting a call out to creative writers in the DSA to volunteer to update the Wiki when I create my brief Cabinet update 2.2 in Solidarity, as we all seem to be fully extended with our current obligations; and it may be a fun way to get additional nations interested in government. Depending on the results, I will draft a formal commendation for whoever among our region takes this task on through completion (or whatever sort of reasonable incentive they would deem appropriate for doing so, if any).

c) The regional map project is up and running! [nation]New Andureo[/nation] has done a fantastic job creating a new political map for the region and has been highly responsive to those comrades who have requested a place for their nations therein.

d) Regional tags: I have restored the ‘Map’ tag in our WFE to reflect our new and active map initiative. I have also added the ‘NSwiki’ tag in anticipation that ours will be updated soon.

e) Debates: The renewed debate forum is alive and well with the first of several debates being initiated by Arcomo on the issue of separation of church and state – I encourage all Cabinet members to chime in, even if it is to say no more than a couple sentences. I will put another plug in the RMB for these debates as well as in the CU 2.2 as I would like to get more involvement among comrades here and abroad (I have set these specific debates to be fully accessible by guests/visitors and registered forum members alike). I will be initiating a new debate this week based upon Arcomo’s recommendation that I take on the issue of Queer rights as it relates to RL and NS alike (this was spurred by the discovery of one of our comrades having made homosexuality punishable by death via their response to one of the NS issues recently). I would also like suggestions for topics from the rest of the Cabinet if you have any, even if you don’t wish to initiate them; I would be happy to get them rolling on your behalf.

f) Pet projects:

I) I have started up a new forum, State, Corporation & Media Watch for the purpose of letting comrades post interesting articles from all sorts of different sources to help keep each other more informed about the RL world as many of the topics I have highlighted tend to be swept under the carpet of the mainstream media or presented through a distorted lens to the masses. This is open for anyone to post links or initiate topics as they find them and to respond – it’s all about the free exchange of information! Arcomo, I heed your warnings of the potential for spammers and I will be vigilant; I'm more concerned with the current relative lack of use of the forum :D

II) In hopes of increasing communication and camaraderie among comrades here in the DSA, I am proposing we do a series of opinion polls or mini contests based upon various aspects of the lighter side of NS, such as everyone’s favorite flag designs, national mottos, etc. I will draft a couple to present to you all before the end of this meeting to get your opinions. I may end up using something like Survey Monkey or similar as the engine for these as I don’t know that the NS interface easily would allow such a thing. My hope is to appeal to those who are more inclined to participate in regional matters on a more superficial level as opposed to the other ways I have been trying to increase participation up to this point.

III) Regional Holidays: I was thinking of making official holidays for our region. One of the holidays I am proposing is the anniversary of our region’s founding on April 8th, calling it something like “Founder’s Day (in honor of Opalaland)” or “DSA Day” or something relatively generic, though descriptive, like that. I was also thinking that we could declare May Day to be an official DSA holiday. They certainly all don’t have to be relative to RL. I would like to get your perspectives on this initiative as well as any ideas as to additional holidays we could declare (this is something that I thought can be fun and not too time consuming to implement – I’m looking for things like that all over the place these days :D ). I can draft a referendum to this effect that we may use as a template for declaring future holidays.

III) Medals of honor: After contemplating different ways to create incentives that may entice comrades to help us with our initiatives and to get them generally more involved, I looked to one of Herrebrugh’s factbook entries that I thought would be a cool thing to try on a regional level: Creating medals/badges of honor for various acts of service – we could also award these retroactively to recipients of commendations- that we could either post in the Hall of Honour for public display or let individual nations post them in their factbooks, or perhaps both. Not believing any of us to have an abundance of free time to design these, I was thinking of appealing to other creative/artistic comrades in the RMB and in CU 2.2 to volunteer to do this for the region. I think this will be a good feature to add in order to boost morale and camaraderie. Let me know your thoughts. I will draft this referendum before the end of this meeting along with the holiday thing (Both will be in referendum, R2012.9.1)

IV) I will be drafting another round of formal charter amendments that will create the position of the Minister of Cartography which will be available for you all to review (will be much more concise than the last one :D ) before it will be put before Congress to approve this term. This is so that the position will be able to be on the ballot for elections next term where we all will be up for reelection (I will nominate New Andureo for this position when the time comes).

V) Reorganizing the forum: I haven't forgotten about this initiative, but it is on my back burner currently. I do plan to get various things more organized with respect to the Cabinet government design and also archive those things that were carried over from the old Alliance that are safe to put away or that are no longer relevant to our region.

VI) Trade agreements: I honestly haven't had an opportunity to revisit these since we discussed them in the first meeting; so I think I will realistically be able to seriously address them in the next term after some of our more pressing projects are implemented and behind us. I don't mean to discourage any initiative by the other members of the cabinet; so if any of you feel so inclined to put something together as a preliminary draft for an interregional trade agreement, by all means feel free to run with it - I won't stand in the way!


2) Other items I would like to address during this meeting:

a) Minister of Foreign Affairs (and our Interregional Ambassador):

I)I would like to thank you, Herrebrugh, for continuing to keep us all informed as to what is going on outside our regional borders – I deeply appreciate you being our eyes and ears in the NS world!

II)I would like to know if there has been a consensus between you and Arcomo on the issue of keeping/removing our embassy with the UPFS since the last meeting. Both of you make excellent points in your arguments for taking opposing courses of action on the matter. My inclination is to defer to our regional precedent for upholding the equitable treatment of -and the impartial application of standards on- our interregional partners under the Charter, as well as any recommended criteria and courses of action from the Minister of Foreign Affairs on just this sort of thing. I feel that a reasonable compromise may be to establish normal diplomatic relations with [region]PanSocialist Union[/region] and suspend/terminate those with the UPFS until they request that we do otherwise. However, I don’t have the depth of intimacy and long-running relationship with the UPFS like our ambassador has. I know Diederick doesn’t take such things lightly, and if he feels that a substantiated exception should be made for the case of the UPFS, then I am open to reexamining my position if there is any additional compelling information about the progress of the UPFS on its refounding. Diederick: Have they (govt of UPFS) been able to secure a definite minimal number of nations that will return to a new UPFS despite all the prolonged turmoil of their situation? Is there a timeline for when they would be finished with this initiative so that our relations could be normalized without taking alternative measures? My hope is to resolve this issue one way or another by the end of this meeting on the 30th. Herrebrugh and Arcomo, please let me know your thoughts on this if there is more to consider than what was already mentioned since the last meeting.

III)On revitalizing the UDLR: I don’t have any recommendations for this initiative; so Herrebrugh I will defer to your best judgment based upon your wisdom and experience of working with the other members of this coalition. I will keep a safe distance so that you are free to do as you see fit on the matter. I only ask that all dealings are done within the legal bounds of our Charter and that you keep the process and its results transparent for the rest of the Cabinet to observe and reasonably contribute/collaborate to the best of your ability. What ideas are you considering at this time or that have been posed by the other members of the UDLR?

IV)Are there any interregional initiatives such as the LeftEXPO on the horizon during the rest of this term? I’m not looking to add things to our plate at this point (such as initiating something like this ourselves at this point); I just want to make sure we are ‘in the loop’ so that we can plan accordingly if there are any being initiated by others soon.

V)Is there any significant news to report from our interregional partners or generally from abroad?


b) Minister of Immigration/Regional Promotion:

I) I would like to thank you for your continued efforts of reaching out to other nations in an attempt to woo more to join us! While we continue to lose a steady amount through attrition, our numbers are keeping stable due in large part to new members coming in from all over the place – your efforts are paying off for all of us!

II) Have you had a chance to use the new recruitment tool yet? If not, telegram Laevendell or Arcomo; they both seem to know the most about it. I would like to coordinate the use of this tool with my timely requests in the spawning/resurrecting regions for embassies that I plan to complete by the end of this meeting. It appears from last week’s meeting that [nation]New Andureo[/nation] knows how to do this as well and is apparently willing to if you would like to delegate this task instead.

III) Is there any news about your recruitment initiatives to report at this time, or is there anything you need from the rest of the Cabinet at this time to make your job easier?


c) Minister of Justice:

I)I would like to thank you for keeping me abreast on the statuses of our comrades’ compliance with the regional Charter and for your timely recommendations for appropriate actions – You do an excellent job, Fyrossarian. Are there any nations currently under probation?

II)I have established an interim position for [nation]New Andureo[/nation] as Minister of Cartography until the referendum for formally creating this position is (presumably) passed by the Congress. I did this out of pragmatism as New Andureo had a map designed and a willingness to take on the project at this time. I have made them aware that the interim appointment is only for the duration of the rest of this political term and that they will need to stand for election as we all will in the upcoming term.

III)Are there any other issues or concerns that you would like to bring to the Cabinet’s attention?


d) Secretary General:

I)I would like to thank you for your efforts in keeping the members of the Congress updated and reminded of their right and chance to vote in the recent referendum voting, as well as for setting up the election process – I know these had to take a significant amount of time and effort on your part.

II)Implementing the results of the approved referendums: I know there is a lot of text to transfer and to document; so let me know if you would like me to assist you with any of this at all.

III)Would you like to do the honors of notifying [nation]New Bazlantis[/nation], [nation]Ratateague[/nation] and [nation]Laevendell [/nation] of the approval of their commendation by the Congress once it is posted in the Hall of Honour?

IV)Would you be so kind as to notify our interregional partners of the commendations and charter amendments? I’ll be curious to get outside opinions and perspectives on the evolution of our regional government.

V)I will also request that you make a formal announcement of some kind in each of our interregional partners of our new/renewed forums hosting the current steady debates; the State, Corp. & Media Watch; and map project as I would like to increase the level of general communication between our regions; and I think these initiatives may achieve that, at least for a while, hopefully.

VI)Not that you don’t already have enough on your plate, but I would be remiss if I didn’t ask: What is the status on the alternative forum site that would be established in order to satisfy the requirements for such a forum in the Charter?

VII)Are there any other updates, initiatives or concerns from your ministry at this time?


That is all I have this week. Thank you all for your time, efforts and input, comrades - I hope you all have a good week!

Your President and World Assembly Delegate,
[nation]Suceavija[/nation]
Edited by Suceavija, 21 Sep 2012, 05:48.
The United Socialist States of Suceavija
Founding Nation of the Suceavijan Commonwealth of Socialist Nations
Resume - & - Factbook
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Diederick Antonius
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Suceavija's points:

1, a, Thank you, thank you all, for your commendation. I hope I will be able to maintain my commitment and activity to this region and, surely, this recognition does a great deal in supporting that.
1, f, II, All for it. Though many of our current residents will be used to relatively low activity, new arrivals may be enticed to join in and, most importantly, remain in our region.
1, f, III, I propose including the day we signed the alliance with the DSAlliance and the SLU, the UDLR, as a day of celebration of the unity and common goal we three strive for.
1, f, III', This is something I have toyed with as well, seen that we now have four commended nations but no fancy things to adorn them with. I did create a little something for the forums a while back, tell me what you guys think of it.
1, f, IV, I would also suggest including or proposing amendments on:
- DSA official standard language
- Raising the bar of progress with a mandatory minimal Civil Rights level of 'Average'
- DSA regional government location (map), we're currently a city state, like Vatican City, this sparks a bunch of questions, the most important ones about our consitution and law. As it is, there is no law or constitution for our city state. I therefore suggest creating a nation titled "the Capitol of the DSA" and relying on its caretaker to keep it compliant with our Charter. I have taken the liberty of creating this nation (http://www.nationstates.net/nation=the_capitol_of_the_dsa) and would also like to submit myself as the caretaker - at least until we once again have a Minister of Domestic Affairs. I think the capitol's Factbook should include information on our regional government, the Charter, and what different offices of the government do (each office in a separate entry). The concerns of it being a city state (which government type is not yet available, so I've chosen 'commonwealth' for now) can be written in one entry, te keep the focus of the Factbook on our regional government.
2, a, II, Herrebrugh and I haven't discussed this very much, I have communicated my thoughts on the issue both here and to Herrebrugh, and will do so again in my report below. I would very much like to discuss this issue, however, our embassy has just received the following telegram:
Received by the Ambassador to UPFS
 
The Transparent Democracy of The Electronic Future (New. 1 day 11 hours ago)

Comrade,

The expected time is around 20 days. Since UPFS will lose all of its embassies in the process of re-founding, it would be alright if your region closed its embassy. However, I hope your region accepts our embassy request once UPFS is back to normal. Your ambassador is of course welcome to remain in PSU for the time being.

In Solidarity,
The Electronic Future
I recommend withdrawing the embassy but leaving the ambassador in place, to keep track of things and offer any assistance necessary.
2, a, V, A concise status of the embassies I control is in my report.
===
d) Secretary General:
I)I would like to thank you for your efforts in keeping the members of the Congress updated and reminded of their right and chance to vote in the recent referendum voting, as well as for setting up the election process – I know these had to take a significant amount of time and effort on your part.

It is my pleasure and duty to serve the DSA, and I hope my efforts to promote the democratic process have made an impact on our region - even though most of the telegrammed nations did not respond.

II)Implementing the results of the approved referendums: I know there is a lot of text to transfer and to document; so let me know if you would like me to assist you with any of this at all.

I think I will be able to deal with this in the coming weekend or even this Friday evening. Since there is no real writing to do, I think I'll manage, but thank you for the offer - I might come back on this.

III)Would you like to do the honors of notifying [nation]New Bazlantis[/nation], [nation]Ratateague[/nation] and [nation]Laevendell [/nation] of the approval of their commendation by the Congress once it is posted in the Hall of Honour?

Personally, I think it suits our President best to declare the honours to our comrades.

IV)Would you be so kind as to notify our interregional partners of the commendations and charter amendments? I’ll be curious to get outside opinions and perspectives on the evolution of our regional government.

I will do this though the embassies.

V)I will also request that you make a formal announcement of some kind in each of our interregional partners of our new/renewed forums hosting the current steady debates; the State, Corp. & Media Watch; and map project as I would like to increase the level of general communication between our regions; and I think these initiatives may achieve that, at least for a while, hopefully.

I think I'll go and do a big-ish report like Grolsch (SLU) does regulalry...

VI)Not that you don’t already have enough on your plate, but I would be remiss if I didn’t ask: What is the status on the alternative forum site that would be established in order to satisfy the requirements for such a forum in the Charter?

I have created a forum and am currently struggling with the theme, layout and stuff like that. I also still need to create about half of our current forum boards and copy the most important documents. But the forum exists and can be used if I take it off of 'maintenance mode'. As soon as I'm done with it, I'll lay it out in these meetings - before that time there is little use.

VII)Are there any other updates, initiatives or concerns from your ministry at this time?
WEEKREPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
 
--SUNDAY 16-09-2012
*Forum changes:
Created profile field for commendations, only editable by mods/admins.
Altered welcome text from "administrative and legislative functions are exercised, through the Congress, Council and Tribunal." to "administrative and legislative functions are exercised, through the Congress and the elected Cabinet."
*New Charter Nations:
Romaka (telegrammed, but was already a Charter Nation?)
Taakaland (telegrammed)
Haltari (telegrammed)
La Pays de Soliel (REQUEST DENIED, telegrammed)
The Great Southern Continent (telegrammed)
*Secretary-General stuff:
Threw a deadline warning on the RMB for nations to opt-in before it's too late for them vote on the Charter Amendments, and explaining the further timeframe for the referenda.
Welcomed Martean by telegram (invited into our forum and Charter)
Welcomed Haltari by telegram (invited into our forum and Charter)
Removed vote by 'Honourable_Stephens' nation=Le Pays de Soliel, dismissed Charter opt-in, notified by telegram of Charter breach by being a Father Knows Best State and potential expulsion from our region.
I will be including WA membership in the list of current Charter Nations, as it is apparently a Charter provision.
*Ex Charter Nations:
Irrelephant (ceased to exist, MoJ has been notified)
*Ambassadorial notes:
SLU is having an interesting debate on whether and how ambassadors might partake in their region's government, they are thinking of an 'observer' position. This was initiated by the request of an active member of "A Liberal Haven", which has an embassy with the SLU.
DSA is still painfully low on activity, even though they have very recently entered a new regional government's term. It seems to be hemmoraging nations, but I have noticed we have lost some nations which 'ceased to exist' as well (among which Irrelephant). Must be the time of year. And their forum doesn't seem to be working...
CIL has had that little mess with the nomination for liberation, but is really concerned with establishing a new regional government, since the term for the current one is up.
UPFS is still in the Pansocialist Union and doesn't seem to have given the return to the home region a great priority. They are instead assembling a new regional government, just as CIL is. Concerning the status of our ties with UPFS, I would like to suggest to inquire as to how long the UPFS is planning to remain in the Pansocialist Union, so we can determine whether we're willing to wait that long. Telegrammed their minister of International Affairs.


Update: The Charter has been updated, I've stored a back-up of the old version on my computer. On updating the Charter, I noticed we hadn't paid too much attention to the numbering of the amendments. For instance, there is no Article IV, which is mentioned three times in our, I would believe, most significant amendments; the Clause numbering is faulty several times, theoretically overwriting existing clauses without the intention of doing so; and I think we haven't spell-checked it properly, one of the main concerns being that we haven't established an official standard language and I struggle adopting American English versus my British English education.
I have only adjusted the faulty numbering, to avoid screwing up our Charter and creating a whole new article for three clauses which are numbered under one section called 'section II', while such would suggest a 'section I' though that one does not exist. Surely the numbering is not a crucial issue and we won't have to re-do this entire thing... we have enough future amendments boiling up without having to concern ourselves with the mistakes we've made in this one. I feel very stupid and would urge us all to keep an eye out when we try to do something to our Charter next time.
Edited by Diederick Antonius, 21 Sep 2012, 17:34.
Dictator in session for the Praetorian Council of the Praetorian Republic of Arcomo
Former Secretary-General of the Democratic Socialist Assembly
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Suceavija
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"House Chairman"
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In response to Arcomo's Posts:

"Personally, I think it suits our President best to declare the honours to our comrades."
Yes, you are right. I have taken the liberty of notifying all three, as recommended, that their commendation was resoundingly passed by the Congress and that it will be posted in the Hall of Honour for all to see.

"I have created a forum and am currently struggling with the theme, layout and stuff like that. I also still need to create about half of our current forum boards and copy the most important documents. But the forum exists and can be used if I take it off of 'maintenance mode'. As soon as I'm done with it, I'll lay it out in these meetings - before that time there is little use."
Thank you for working so hard on this initiative! I also recently found the thread in the Tech forum about your idea for adding ranks to forum users - I think this is a great idea and I am in full support of it!

"La Pays de Soliel (REQUEST DENIED, telegrammed)"
Is it possible at this time to grant this nation's request to join the Congress since having rejoined the region recently, or are they once again under probation?

"DSA is still painfully low on activity, even though they have very recently entered a new regional government's term. It seems to be hemmoraging nations, but I have noticed we have lost some nations which 'ceased to exist' as well (among which Irrelephant). Must be the time of year. And their forum doesn't seem to be working..."
I had checked up on the region a couple days ago for old-time's sake just to see how things were and I too was dismayed to see its numbers and regional activity down so drastically. That problem with attrition by CTE is a biggy. I am confident that between our robust recruitment efforts and regional reforms currently underway that we will be able to avoid a similar fate, so long as we continue to be actively working to prevent it.

"The Charter has been updated, I've stored a back-up of the old version on my computer. On updating the Charter, I noticed we hadn't paid too much attention to the numbering of the amendments. For instance, there is no Article IV, which is mentioned three times in our, I would believe, most significant amendments; the Clause numbering is faulty several times, theoretically overwriting existing clauses without the intention of doing so; and I think we haven't spell-checked it properly, one of the main concerns being that we haven't established an official standard language and I struggle adopting American English versus my British English education.
I have only adjusted the faulty numbering, to avoid screwing up our Charter and creating a whole new article for three clauses which are numbered under one section called 'section II', while such would suggest a 'section I' though that one does not exist. Surely the numbering is not a crucial issue and we won't have to re-do this entire thing... we have enough future amendments boiling up without having to concern ourselves with the mistakes we've made in this one. I feel very stupid and would urge us all to keep an eye out when we try to do something to our Charter next time."


Thank you for updating the Charter and for correcting the numbering mistakes that I had made. I deeply apologize for the erroneous numbering of several amendments. As things were being created and kept while others were later struck out or rejected, these errors were created despite all the verification that took place during the whole process. Your reminder for better quality control is duly noted, and I will do a full examination for accuracy after completing the draft, before bringing it before Congress for vote, next time.

One easy and effective method I will now use in order to prevent extensive errors like these from occurring in the future is by keeping amendments short and limited to specific sections of the Charter. I will also limit my use of recursive references since they have proven to not hold up well when so many little things become interdependent upon others that are mixed together and later altered/removed in great haste over such a large piece of legislation. Another quite easy way to eliminate a vast amount of related errors would be to adjust text size and spacial arrangement of Charter components to uniform standards:

I propose the following text size standards (the default text size being x1): Clauses: x1.5; Sections: x2; Articles: x3
I propose the following spacial arrangements between components (the default spacing being return/enter key x1): Between Clauses: x2; Between Sections: x4; Between Articles: x6
I'm not married to any of these rigidly; more important to me than specific text sizes or precise spacing is that the spacial arrangements of the various Charter components are made more easy for the eye to rapidly distinguish where important breaks occur in the text so that the many lines don't seem to blend together on the screen as much as they currently do. This change alone will make QC much easier and more effective in the future. Since doing any of these to the Charter doesn't actually affect its content in any way, I don't think we need an approval by Congress of the Cabinet to take the initiative to make the Charter more user-friendly.

About the use of American vs. British English, I have no problems establishing the British version as our official, since that appears to have been the chosen version when Everton originally drafted the current Charter. I will apologize in advance for my lack of extensive familiarity with many of the subtle differences in British English, and I'll need those who are 'in the know' to patiently correct my use of American vernacular as those situations arise (my spellings are based upon the spell check algorithms embedded in the USA releases of Windows 7 & Microsoft Office Suite; many of the British spellings are considered to be 'incorrect' by the software as well as my own American-English dictionary).


"2, a, II, Herrebrugh and I haven't discussed this very much, I have communicated my thoughts on the issue both here and to Herrebrugh, and will do so again in my report below. I would very much like to discuss this issue, however, our embassy has just received the following telegram:"
In light of this telegram and your stated change of heart, it would seem that the decision to close embassies with the current UPFS is in order since now you, Herrebrugh & I are all on the same page with this. Unless there are any objections, I will embark to close the embassy with the UPFS by the end of this meeting with the intent of opening a new one upon the refounding of the UPFS and compliance with standing embassy criteria at that time from the MFA.

"1, f, IV, I would also suggest including or proposing amendments on:
- DSA official standard language"
(see my comments above)

"- Raising the bar of progress with a mandatory minimal Civil Rights level of 'Average'"
I am all for it! This is a good time to bring this up because as I read the Charter, I don't see where these minimal levels for CR & PR are actually listed therein. I know I've read them somewhere; but I guess not in our Charter. They should probably be written there if they aren't already - are they buried in a different section that isn't membership? I feel like they should be listed along with the prohibited nation categories, right? Let me know if I'm just being dense and have glossed over them by accident; otherwise, let's get those minimal standards codified in this next round of amendments!

"- DSA regional government location (map), we're currently a city state, like Vatican City, this sparks a bunch of questions, the most important ones about our consitution and law. As it is, there is no law or constitution for our city state. I therefore suggest creating a nation titled "the Capitol of the DSA" and relying on its caretaker to keep it compliant with our Charter. I have taken the liberty of creating this nation (http://www.nationstates.net/nation=the_capitol_of_the_dsa) and would also like to submit myself as the caretaker - at least until we once again have a Minister of Domestic Affairs. I think the capitol's Factbook should include information on our regional government, the Charter, and what different offices of the government do (each office in a separate entry). The concerns of it being a city state (which government type is not yet available, so I've chosen 'commonwealth' for now) can be written in one entry, te keep the focus of the Factbook on our regional government."

Excellent idea - thanks for taking the initiative to create the new nation and the language for the amendment as well. I have incorporated your amendment below, in R2012.9.3. As it turns out, Art. III, Sec. V is already taken by 'Reaffirmation of the Freedom of Expression' but I will change the proposed location to Art. III, Sec. VIII since that is available.

"1, f, III', This is something I have toyed with as well, seen that we now have four commended nations but no fancy things to adorn them with. I did create a little something for the forums a while back, tell me what you guys think of it."
I was unable to locate this thread; would you provide a thread, please? It would be great to have a start on this already - I look forward to seeing them!

"1, f, III, I propose including the day we signed the alliance with the DSAlliance and the SLU, the UDLR, as a day of celebration of the unity and common goal we three strive for."
[nation]Herrebrugh[/nation], do you know this specific date? The alliance took place before I became involved in regional politics. The best I can ascertain by reading the discussion thread for it is that it was established sometime between early February and mid-March of 2012.

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Proposed Referendums: Series R2012.9



R2012.9.1: Designating the group of 28 Charter amendments passed in referendum, R2012.8.1, as a combined amendment ‘block’ that shall be titled, Amendment 20.

In order to comply with regional precedent for archiving passed Amendments, the recently passed block of 28 Charter amendments from referendum, R2012.8.1, shall comprise a single Amendment 20. Many of the 28 amendments were small, minor revisions and incremental changes that were by and large mutually dependent upon passage of all 28 to be relevant; no single one of these necessitated standing independently as a separate amendment by itself. This will allow seamless transition into the existing regional archival structure for passed amendments and smooth continuation of the existing numerical system.

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R2012.9.2: Charter Amendment 21: Establishing the Cabinet position of the Minister of Cartography.

Adding: Article II, Section XII – The Minister of Cartography

Clause I. The Minister of Cartography shall have the responsibility of maintaining at least one regional map which shall be available for any member of Congress to establish an area comprising the administrative borders of their nation.

Clause II. The regional map shall be maintained such that its format shall be one that is commonly/universally accessible and usable for anyone with a basic level of computer technological skills/literacy. Access and use of the map shall not require purchase or extensive/advanced working knowledge of proprietary software beyond those that are provided by basic operating system packages that are widely available for use on personal computers or free, open-sourced web-based design software. The Minister of Cartography shall coordinate with the President as to how to best display the map for the region based upon technical limitations of the forums and the regional World Facbook Entry interface.

Clause III. The Minister of Cartography shall make extensive efforts to accommodate the reasonable wishes of all members of Congress (in good standing) for their desired national administrative boundaries on any DSA regional map.

Clause IV. The Minister of Cartography shall have jurisdiction over international administrative boundary claim disputes between all nations that are represented on any DSA regional map. Any member of Congress who has their nation represented on any DSA regional map may appeal the rulings of the Minister of Cartography following the procedure as prescribed by Article II, Section IX, Clause III, of this Charter.

Clause V. The length of term and election procedure for the position of the Minister of Cartography shall be in accordance with the provisions of Article III, Section II, of this Charter.

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R2012.9.3: Charter Amendment 22: Establishing the Capitol City State for the Democratic Socialist Assembly.

Adding: Article III, Section VIII – The Capitol of the Democratic Socialist Assembly

Clause I. The capitol of the Democratic Socialist Assembly houses the regional government and is a City State under the control of the Cabinet. The capitol is given a practical body through the nation titled "The Capitol of the DSA". The Cabinet shall appoint a caretaker for this nation, who will promote the principles of the region through the national legislature and will update the national Factbook with entry's on the regional government and the region at large, in the best interests of the DSA.

Clause II. The caretaker of the nation embodying the capitol has to be a member of the Cabinet to ensure being up to date with the latest information of the region. The preferred office to be given this task is the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, but this is not a stipulated condition.

Clause III. The password for command of the nation embodying the capitol, will be known and passed on to their respective successors by both the caretaker, the President of the Assembly and the Secretary-General. The password will, for security reasons, be changed by every new caretaker, after which that caretaker will disclose the new password to the President of the Assembly and the Secretary-General. The password may not be publicized beyond the provisions of this clause.

Clause IV. The nation embodying the capitol must remain in the region of the Democratic Socialist Assembly, it must therefore be prevented that the nation ceases to exist due to inactivity. The nation may also not attempt to join the World Assembly, become a Charter Nation, or cast any vote of any kind. The nation also can not post messages on the RMB, the NS forums or the regional forums, of any kind. The nation may respond to telegrams it receives and update itself in the confines of the settings page of the nation and the nation's Factbook.

Clause V. The caretaker may be immediately dismissed from his task by the President of the Assembly for breaching the provisions of this Charter. The President of the Assembly will, following the relief of the caretaker, impose a new password and disclose it to the Secretary-General. Either the President of the Assembly or the Secretary-General will take over control of the nation, awaiting a Cabinet decision on a new caretaker.

Clause VI. There shall be no limits to the consecutive terms served for the position of caretaker, as long as the provisions of this Section and this Charter as a whole are met.

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R2012.9.4: Charter Amendment 23: Establishing Protocol for Declaring Regional Holidays.

Adding: Article III, Section IX - Regional Holidays

Clause I. Any member of Congress may propose a regional holiday for the DSA to formally recognize. The process of declaring a new holiday or rescinding an existing holiday shall be in compliance with the governing standards on proposing Charter amendments and voting as established by this Charter. Specific formal regional holidays shall be documented under this section of the Charter as individual clauses. It shall be the prerogative of the ruling Cabinet at the time of any declared regional holiday as to how to best recognize that holiday on a regional or interregional level.

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R2012.9.5: Charter Amendment 24: Establishing Two Official Holidays for the Democratic Socialist Assembly.

Adding: Article III, Section IX - Regional Holidays

Clause II. The Congress of the Democratic Socialist Assembly hereby establishes 8, April, as 'Democratic Socialist Assembly Day' so to commemorate the brave and principled founding of our region by [nation]Opalaland[/nation] and [nation]Bazlantis[/nation] on this day in 2011.

Clause III. The Congress of the Democratic Socialist Assembly hereby establishes (Date), as 'Union of Democratic Leftist Regions Day' to commemorate the co-establishment by the DSA of this unifying organization for Democratic Socialist and Social Liberal Communities along side The Democratic Socialist Alliance and the Social Liberal Union.

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To all: Please feel free to critique these for quality control and merit!
Edited by Suceavija, 22 Sep 2012, 20:03.
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Proposition for the new Charter provision on our regional capitol.

Proposed draft: R.2012.9.#
Charter Amendment with a constitutional function for our regional capitol.

Proposed Article: III
Proposed Section: V "The Capitol of the Democratic Socialist Assembly"(new section)

Clause I. The capitol of the Democratic Socialist Assembly houses the regional government and is a City State under the control of the Cabinet. The capitol is given a practical body through the nation titled "The Capitol of the DSA". The Cabinet shall appoint a caretaker for this nation, who will promote the principles of the region through the national legislature and will update the national Factbook with entry's on the regional government and the region at large, in the best interests of the DSA.

Clause II. The caretaker of the nation embodying the capitol has to be a member of the Cabinet to ensure being up to date with the latest information of the region. The preferred office to be given this task is the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, but this is not a stipulated condition.

Clause III. The password for command of the nation embodying the capitol, will be known and passed on to their respective successors by both the caretaker, the President of the Assembly and the Secretary-General. The password will, for security reasons, be changed by every new caretaker, after which that caretaker will disclose the new password to the President of the Assembly and the Secretary-General. The password may not be publicized beyond the provisions of this clause.

Clause IV. The nation embodying the capitol must remain in the region of the Democratic Socialist Assembly, it must therefore be prevented that the nation ceases to exist due to inactivity. The nation may also not attempt to join the World Assembly, become a Charter Nation, or cast any vote of any kind. The nation also can not post messages on the RMB, the NS forums or the regional forums, of any kind. The nation may respond to telegrams it receives and update itself in the confines of the settings page of the nation and the nation's Factbook.

Clause V. The caretaker may be immediately dismissed from his task by the President of the Assembly for breaching the provisions of this Charter. The President of the Assembly will, following the relief of the caretaker, impose a new password and disclose it to the Secretary-General. Either the President of the Assembly or the Secretary-General will take over control of the nation, awaiting a Cabinet decision on a new caretaker.

Clause VI. There shall be no limits to the consecutive terms served for the position of caretaker, as long as the provisions of this Section and this Charter as a whole are met.
Edited by Diederick Antonius, 21 Sep 2012, 23:40.
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Currently there are two nations under probation (BigBrotherTSA and The Industrial Machine of Soviet Russia, both 'Iron Fist Consumerists'). Their probationary periods began on the 23rd of September, and will end on the 28th of September.

Also, I've noticed the election for the Minister of Justice has started incredibly early, and by the 2nd of October (which is when the new MoJ would take office), I will only have served for 112 days out of 150. The actual end date for my term is on the 9th of November, after the next Cabinet takes office on the 2nd of November.
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Tribune: 21/4/12 - 10/5/12
Minister of Justice (Interim): 11/5/12 - 11/6/12
Minister of Justice: 12/6/12 - 31/10/12
Minister of Foreign Affairs: 1/11/12 - 26/1/13
Ambassador to the Social Liberal Union: 16/6/13 - 13/8/13

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You are absolutely right, I must have accidentally started counting from the 12th of July instead of June.
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Should I take down the link to the election site for the new MoJ from the WFE?
The United Socialist States of Suceavija
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@Suceavija: Yes, you probably should. We're still getting people nominating for an election that's not going to take place.
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Tribune: 21/4/12 - 10/5/12
Minister of Justice (Interim): 11/5/12 - 11/6/12
Minister of Justice: 12/6/12 - 31/10/12
Minister of Foreign Affairs: 1/11/12 - 26/1/13
Ambassador to the Social Liberal Union: 16/6/13 - 13/8/13

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I have closed the thread on the nominations and added a notice on the matter. I suggest reopening it once the time is appropriate.

On the new matters in Suceavija's previous post:
La Pays de Soliel As noted in the rejection in the Charter Opt-In thread, La Pays de Soliel is able to opt-in again as the nation is no longer in violation of our charter. La Pays de Soliel does need to opt-in again.
Raising the Civil Rights and Political Freedoms bar After an update of the list of Charter Nations (adding whether they are WA members and some aesthetic alterations), I noticed that only Boyznichov would fall under a new standard for Civil Rights, which I would propose to be 'Good', by having only 'Some' Civil Rights. Unsurprisingly, Boyznichov is our region's most devout region, and, as you may recall, the nation which put the death penalty on homosexuality. All of that doesn't sit well with this gay Secretary-General... Anyway, all of our other members of Congress have a Civil Rights rating of 'Very Good' or higher, suggesting two things: 1. We can assume civil rights are an important aspect of a Democratic Socialist region by this devotion to it by our politically active member nations, and 2. This suggestion supports raising the bar and also suggests our member nations would welcome this change as we wouldn't lose any of them (apart from aforementioned).
The small in-forum representation of honours This is displayed under the nation's name, a small field to contain specific honours and commendations. It takes a bit of figuring out to make it look nice while fitting on one line; but it is also the only way I think is workable to display such honours in a general and uniform way.
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For the coming meeting I would like to ask to include on the agenda, a comprehensive description of what each office of the Cabinet of the Assembly does and stands for. Such would be given its own Factbook entry in the Capitol of the DSA, within a standardized layout and links to the nation of the current office-holder's nation and the office (if applicable) on our forums.

I would also ask our members of Cabinet to review the short description of their post in the Captiol's Factbook entry titled "The Cabinet of the Assembly". > LINK <
Edited by Diederick Antonius, 28 Sep 2012, 23:00.
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