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Region: A Liberal Haven

History

It's not the learning that I don't want, though, or my friends, Rawls. It's just more like incorporating back into society.

And as Sheila said, we do have elections here. She/he and Garchy have been planning them for a few months now, but I assume they have their own RL lives to take care, making NS and regional elections difficult things to work on.

I intend to run for the Delegacy, though. I'm on just about every day for many hours. I would be able to quickly respond to regional votes, movements, and the like. It's not that Garchyland is a bad delegate, but that he/she probably has more important things going on IRL and simply can't be on as much as they'd like.

To those who died in 9/11. I hope no one here lost anyone to that tragedy 10 years ago. I was little, so, I can only remember little snippets of the day.

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Welcome back, Crisqothia, and welcome Javanonoes and Torgothia.

Greetings all, I'm back! We'll be starting the process for elections very soon. As for the lack of time I've had IRL this summer, we won't have to worry as much this fall and winter. I do intend to run for reelection!

*Jumps up and down and does an intricate series of acrobatics that I can't do IRL, topping it all off with back-flipping over a flaming chair, that is quickly doused and replaced*

Yes! I can't wait, which seems a bit weird, concerning an online election in one region on a site with 6,000 or so of them and less than 80,000 members, since some are known to have over 100 accounts on this site. Dang, NS is almost like a series of African tribes in one country, in it's set-up.

As a matter to our newer nations;

I tend to take it as a matter of security to only endorse nations after that heave resided in our region for over a month! Please do not take it personally if I do not reciprocate immediately an endorsement, but chances are it will come in due time. It's a good way to make sure we end up with the nations who are really interested in what we do and stay for the right reasons.

That being said, Welcome! :)

As part of the election preparations, all those who wish to run for office (of Delegate), please declare yourself now.

Garchy has already declared his intention to run for reelection.

I fully endorse and support the nomination and reelection efforts of Garchyland.

Hello. I'm here to act as a diplomat between the Social Liberal Union, and you, A Liberal Haven. I'm looking forward to strengthening our regions' relationship with one another.

Thank you,

The Republic of Franco-Highlands, representative of the Republic of Franco-Lowlands, ambassador of the Social Liberal Union

Hoorah for elections! Hopefully someone challenges Garchy, not because I dislike Garchy or his reign(in fact I don't really know him) but because I love debate and discourse.

I, as I said, I will run for delegate of A Liberal Haven.

I would appreciate it very much if any would support my nomination or election to the delegacy.

I move that Garchyland vote AGAINST the resolution, "Repeal 'Consular Rights'".

Yes, I second the motion to vote Against the repeal.

I'll support Alevuss' candidacy. Nothing against you, Garchy, but it's not much of an election with only one candidate, and Alevuss certainly deserves a chance to run.

We now have two confirmed candidates, although the declaration / nomination period is not closed, so other nations may enter if they so wish.

No offense taken Laak!

I move that Garchyland vote FOR the resolution, "Commend Glen-Rhodes".

Alevuss, we don't usually have the delegate participate in Commend/Condemn resolutions.

As a matter of fact I believe I'm barred from voting on commend/condemn resolutions per our constitution

Post self-deleted by Alevuss.

Actually, I just looked over the Constitution. It says nothing about any differences between Commend/Condemn and General Assembly resolutions. So, basically, the rules for Commend/Condemn resolutions are the same, as the constitution generalizes all World Assembly resolutions. Furthermore, I see no reason as to why the delegate should restricted from voting in such specific resolutions.

My movement for Garchyland to vote FOR the resolution, "Commend Glen-Rhodes". remains.

While that may be true, we came to a decision after the elections and ratification of the constitution not to allow the delegate to vote for such measures. At the time, the resolutions concerning regular matters and what are now split off into the Security Council were not separated. We collectively decided not to allow the delegate to vote in those matters.

Formulating a voting bloc to assist you in backing the resolution is up to you, which effectively amounts to the same thing as having the delegate voting in the same way, but that's just not what we agreed to.

*Sigh* The constitution should really be updated. Also, in a few days, two weeks from today tops, I will likely re-post my stances and plans for what I would do if elected delegate, since that last time I posted them, we didn't have the option allowing us to view older messages.

And what a historical defeat that "Commend Glen-Rhodes" resolution was! I don't think there's ever been a resolution that was defeated by so few votes, unless you count the "Fight the Axis of Evil" resolution, from before the game was made public.

So we still only have two confirmed candidates, it doesn't seem as if anyone else is going to enter the election race. We shall soon close this phase and move forward in the election process.

Do you know of the 'Occupy Wallstreet' protests?

The mainstream media's snubbing of this event should disprove once and for all the claims of a 'liberal media bias'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV9uZ00bqD8

"As Occupy Wall Street demonstrations enter their second week, over 80 people were arrested over the weekend and police brutality surges on the streets.­ Many protesters say the mainstream media is undergoing a black-out since many corporate networks sleep in the same bed with Wall Street."

Post self-deleted by Alevuss.

I actually haven't seen much news lately, except for today when went on the New York Times website for school. I didn't seem to find much information on the protests there. I also just looked up some video of the protests and watched the video in Sheila Anteres' post.

You can feel free to think what you want about me for this, but what exactly are protesters on Wall Street protesting? I only saw it on T.V. once and it was only mentioned for a few seconds, and I was half asleep at the time.

I have only a bit of an idea of why they are there after watching the videos.

Still, I find it a bit disgusting that hardly any news source seems to be covering this very much.

They're protesting anything and everything you can think of. There is a lack of a common message.

When will these hipsters learn that this isn't how you stage a protest in 21st century America?

My brother lives in NYC, and went down to check out the protest yesterday. He said they staged a few marches, I guess down Wall Street and back. He didn't seem to pick up on any specific message, either. It seems like they're mostly just aggregating around the idea that they all dislike corporate America, for their own particular reasons.

I've seen a few interviews of protesters on tv, most of them where saying that they want better regulations for corporate America. That was just a few though so I'm not sure about the overall purpose.

Hey everyone! I'm new to this whole nationstate thing, but I typed in liberal and found you guys! Hope I can hang here and learn the ropes!

Welcome Hippies From Texas! I didn't know there were liberals over there:p

Thanks Bullettt! And yes we are few and far between, but we still exist:)

I know that we are still in the process of elections, but I decided to endorse all of you for now I felt deserved it:) I'll change it when we have elections. If you feel I'm deserving, feel free to endorse me:)

Thank you and welcome, HFT. Glad to see the website's new tags feature is being used well.

‎[Comment only available for NationStates® Gold™ account holders]

Why does this region have an ad on the side about a book that promisses to reveal 'how liberalism destroys peoples and nations' and advertises about it being 'a must-read...in the fight against liberalism'?

Probably some advertising attempt to turn away liberals from liberalism, since we are, after all, A Liberal Haven.

I move that Garchyland vote against the General Assembly resolution, "Legalizing Prostitution". It is not that we do not believe that people have the right to do as they wish with their bodies, but that we believe that prostitution is a form of human trafficking and that making the business legal in the manner that the resolution describes will not assist either the industry of prostitution nor the nation that the business exists in. We also believe that the resolution could be construed so as to get nations to lower their ages of consent, so as to not violate the line stating:

FURTHER PROHIBITS Individual member-states regulating prostitution-based enterprises to the point where it no longer becomes profitable for the enterprise, or its employees; member-states must also refrain from instilling negative ramifications on prostitutes for pursuing the profession with the intent of stymieing the industry.

On top of that, prostitution is legal in Alevuss, however, one must be 17 or older and must pay for a license to do the practice legally, along with paying yearly fees to maintain the license, along with periodic check-ups for STIs. We believe that this resolution would prevent us from placing such rules on the industry, except for check-ups for STIs, as the resolution recommends doing so.

I would move for passage.

Excellent job to two of my favorite raiders! Jakker, I always knew you would be great! And Tram, you are awesome. Quit arguing about it.

It's true. she is quite awesome.

Post self-deleted by Bullettt.

alright, I'm here to top the rankings.

Post by Garchyland suppressed by Bullettt.

Garchyland

All nations are required to remove endorsements from invading nations. Thank you for the cooperation!

Post by Franco-Lowlands suppressed by Bullettt.

Franco-Lowlands

Christ, if your going to occupy this region at least choose a better Youtube Clip of the Day. Not something from 2007 that everyone has seen.

Post by Franco-Lowlands suppressed by Bullettt.

Franco-Lowlands

Once again, terrible Youtube video.

I love that video! I'll try to come up with something more recent next time:p

Post self-deleted by Alevuss.

Might I make a suggestion for tomorrow's YT Vid of the Day?

Never knew you could put links in a WFE. That would've made accessing our regional forum so much easier, IMO.

haha of course you can Alevuss:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dB8wBr76Jg

^Worthiness of WFE update, tomorrow that is. ;)

haha i think if i played the original game, it would make a lot more sense and be much funnier, but if I'm still around, I'll put it up.

P.S. Alevuss if you go to FAQ, it shows you how put up links.

Keep it up boys! (and girls!)

Post by Bullettt suppressed by Garchyland.

Bullettt

Well I knew I wouldn't last long, but it was fun while it lasted. Thanks to A Liberal Haven for being awesome. You were my first lead raid.

-Jakker

Well, you were a pretty cool raider. I can't really say anything like "come back soon" or "better luck next time", though, since I'm not exactly a supporter of raids.

Now, does anyone remember the website we kept our forums on?

I've sent the delegate a copy of the original WFE. The link was http://users.boardnation.com/~alh

*waves at Alevuss* Nice to see you (Unibot here!).

Thanks to all our allies and nations who helped restore power to our democratic government! We are indebted to you and your help. If anyone is aware of any raiders still lurking in our region don't hesitate to contact me so we can make appropriate actions.

If any nations wish to extend the favor to other regions and act as defenders in their time of need, please check out http://s4.zetaboards.com/UDL/forum/3648350/ we are indebted to those that have helped and I believe we should pass on our fortune to others in need!

*Waves back at Unibot* I thought the flag was familiar. Thank you.

I will continue to keep my eyes open for any invaders. So far, the nations who have embassies with us do not seem to be in any danger. I do agree we should extend the favor when the opportunity arises.

Glad that was taken care of.

Comrades,

I am very happy that this unfortunate invasion has been repelled and that Garchy has been returned to his position.

However I am also pissed off !

I saw this raid coming, just a few hours ago. Yesterday afternoon when I checked in, I just happen to browse the nations and noticed Bullettt endorsement count, and was wondering why does he have the same number as Derk, just one shy of Garchy, and then I read his RMB post: "I know that we are still in the process of elections, but I decided to endorse all of you for now I felt deserved it:) I'll change it when we have elections. If you feel I'm deserving, feel free to endorse me"

It raised my suspicions, and I was going to send out a telegram about the situation, but I had to head on the road, so I delayed sending the telegram and when I got off the road I completely forgot about the situation and to send the telegram. I should have just sent the telegram right there, it wouldn't have taken 5 minutes, and then head on the road. I really dropped the ball on this one. I am truly sorry.

In light of what has happen, plus for other reasons, I am standing down from the post of organising the election process. I wish to turn it over to the most capable hands of either Derk or Laak.

I really dropped the ball, I am so upset over my inaction at that most critical moment, I sincerely apologise and vow to work harder on my duty and vigilance.

Sheila,

If it were not for you warning me earlier this morning of the attack that had taken place we could have been caught in a much worse situation. The invasion wasn't a result of your lack of ability or action; but rather a time bomb that was waiting to explode due to our lack of emergency plans and leniency towards our own constitutional amendments. It was bound to happen. I received Sheila's warning 4 hours into Bullettt's reign, and immediately contacted other delegates and allies of our region to help us reinstate democracy. I withdrew my endorsement immediately from Bullettt and asked all others to do the same. In under 12 hours we regained control of the government, With my lead of 16 endorsements over his 7. I then password protected our region and began isolating the raiders to have them ejected. I ask that all resident nations suspend movement amongst regions since I will not be providing the password to more than a few nations until we can assure order has been established. I do not plan on keeping the region password protected for more than is necessary.

Sheila, I do not want you to blame yourself. We are all a little responsible for what happened. I am just as much to blame for being relaxed on our policies. This is why we should be careful about endorsements.

I ask that Sheila still be in charge of the elections. They have done an amazing job so far in orchestrating and sparking interest and I would like them to see the process to the end, as long as they are so willing. I do not want to cause a delay in the elections, so I ask that we try to resume life as usual as soon as we can assure everything is stable.

Thanks again to all those that supported us during this time, including a great congratulations to ourselves for acting so quickly to squelch the attack.

I hope some sort of overhauls get made with the telegram system, like "mass messaging" to everyone in a select group. True, it could easily benefit raiders, but it would make defender reaction times much quicker, too. I remember hearing that Max Barry has some plans to update the site, unless these recent updates are what he meant.

Thank you for the vote of confidence Garchy, I appreciate it.

Let us take the lessons we need to learn from this unfortunate incident, then put this raid behind us and move on with our region's best interests at heart.

With your support, I shall continue my role in the elections.

On that note, a significant amount of time has passed without anyone else throwing their hat into the ring; so we can safely assume that no member other than Alevuss wishes to challenge Garchy for the post of Delegate.

So our two candidates for the post of delegate are: Garchy [the incumbent] and Alevuss [the challenger].

The next step is to organize an appropriate mechanism for members to cast their votes that would ensure significant participation and turn out. A poll on the forum is one obvious option (however not everyone in ALH is a member of the forum and usage of the forum by members is minimal), other suggestions are most welcome.

.....................................

Well, I think I completely missed that raid. Sorry I couldn't help out, but glad ALH is still here and kicking!

Sheila, you are doing great as the election coordinator, so don't undersell yourself. As for suggestions, perhaps tg'ing you with each member's vote? That seems a little large in scale, but since not everyone uses the forum, it might be the only venue for everyone to cast their vote privately and still participate.

I agree with Laak. Although I remember us talking about doing the elections via TGs a few months ago and agreeing that it leaves us wide open for electoral fraud. Seeing as there may be little other way, and I do trust Sheila to not lie about the votes, I would support him/her being the one who gets nations' votes sent to, with him/her later announcing the results.

I agree that could work as well. We don't have to worry about electoral fraud so long as we are able to make a list of nations who can vote and are able to prove they have been in ALH long enough to have their vote counted. We should plan on having an open voting system for elections for 1 week, preferably from Mon Oct 31st through Mon Nov 7th. That gives nations a few weeks to stick around if they want to be involved in elections but don't fit our residency criteria as of yet.

Post self-deleted by Alevuss.

That seems like a reasonable time to hold elections.

Also, I move that Garchyland vote in favor of the resolution, "Laws of the Seas".

Any seconds for Alevuss' motion? Also does anyone have any votes for the proposed embassy with Cimmeria?

I move that we should accept the embassy proposal with Cimmeria.

Okay I'm going to head out now, see you ladies and gents. I hope your region gets sorted out and back on its feet.

Thank you for the help Dominion! And seconds on Alevuss' vote?

I will second Alevuss' vote.

A little too late unfortunately. Looks like our constitution may need some updating

I've been fairly busy this weekend, so, I will be sure to post my plans/hopes for ALH if elected to the position of delegacy, along with my stance on popular issues within the region.

Hey guys I'm back.

Great to have you back Utopia! Just in time for elections

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ELECTION UPDATE

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Okay everyone, we on the eve of starting voting, which shall commence one week from now on Monday October 31st through to Monday November 7th.

As suggested, the method of casting votes shall be through telegrams to my nation. For transparency and accountability, I shall take screen-shots of the incoming votes cast and upload them to a image hosting site so that the results can be verified and confirmed.

...............................

Sheila Anteres

Election Coordinator

A Liberal Haven

I move that Garchyland vote in favor of the resolution, Workweek Limitations Act.

Hello there, I'm new to the region: it seems pretty liberal and much to my liking! How do I get involved in things around here?

One last message before the elections begin. On my running for the regional delegacy of A Liberal Haven and what I plan to do, with all of your help, of course.

Garchyland, It is not that I have anything against you, I thought you were a pretty okay delegate and I, and I'm sure the other nations here, have gotten used to your delegacy. I mostly just believe this region needs a regional delegate who is always available to answer questions and respond to votes quickly.

When I first joined ALH, around sometime in late February, this place was quite the active region, not to mention, had about 45+ nations. As we've seen as of late, we haven't been very active at all. Nations are leaving or ceasing to exist almost every week. In roughly 5 months, we have lost about 22+ nations, mainly from either inactivity or the desire to find an active region. I came to this region to leave behind the total silence that was going in my former region, Cathycea. If you look at it now, only its founder and a puppet of mine remain. I fear that if we let you hold the reigns to this region, we will only become more like that within a few years, or less. I bet that if more people join the region, we may get more activity, and maybe even get some of our old nations back. I have already set in place some ways of making sure that people may or may not notice the region and decide to join it, but I wish to take this further. I cannot do this if I am not delegate, or if I do not have the delegate's permission. I will also promise that ALH's voice is heard in the World Assembly.

Garchyland, it's alright if you just don't have the time to do things to work on the region. It is not that I have I don't know if I'll actually do anything for the region, like getting it back to the way it used to be, but I would like to try. Also, sorry about how this is so long winded.

When it comes to password protecting the region due to raiders, if it appears to be one person, who may be waiting for other's join them, then we should kick them out of the region, and put the region on password protection for 1-2 weeks. Possibly more, decided by a regional vote every week after the first two weeks are up.

With Foreign Affairs, I know of regions that would be likely willing to have good relations with us. I think that it is important to have many good allied regions we can trust, in case we need help in keeping a hold on the region or if we need a place we know we can run to until we can take the region back, start a new region, or stay there.

As for recruiting, I'm all for it. With recruiting, I hope to increase the regions numbers, and in turn, raise the activity here. With luck, some of our old members may even decide to return. Though, we should keep a watch on who we recruit and where we recruit. Still, if something seems like an invasion, or high suspicion of such a thing should occur amongst the populace of the region, then, after a vote through TG to the delegate, so as to keep the possible invader(s) from suspecting a retaliation. Of course, though, I believe in being careful of where we recruit, as I have similar beliefs with the new regional embassy feature. Also, with the being able to delete messages on RMBs, if we do not want a recruiting message to be shown anymore, we can simply delete it.

I was also reading the constitution's areas on Governance and the World Assembly and I couldn't find anything really on impeachment of a delegate. Yes, it says that a delegate may be banished or removed from office in issues involving the WA, however, I believe impeachment of the delegate is something that should be added to the constitution, but with restrictions such as:

1.) A vote must be held to impeach the delegate.

2.) Good reason that is agreed upon by the displeased nations must be made to make the impeachment.

3.) The vote for impeachment must be approved by at least half of the Delegate's Endorsers, along with at least 25% of the region's non-WA member states.

Naturally, I encourage you to vote for me as your new

I'll be posting my official platform early this week, after voting has gotten underway. I will address all issues Alevuss has brought up, I just didn't want this to appear to go ignored! As for a quick point, I will always and forever be against active recruiting. I feel that puts our region in a perfect place to be raided. Don't get me wrong I'm not for isolationism, we have and hold dear a few very close allied regions, ones who have come to our aid even just a few weeks ago. I believe most nations here are looking for more activity through discussion and debate, but not just plainly more numbers. I myself like the happy suburb of ALH better than the idea of a bustling city. I have known most nations here for quite a long time, and I am happily meeting new ones. I'm not against change, I'm just against recruiting and the drastic sudden change that will bring upon ALH. I'll have more to post later as well as my full platform.

So, voting's now open? If I have the right to vote, am I able to change my vote at any point, or is it only my first opinion that counts?

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VOTING IS NOW OPEN !

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Our two candidates are:

Garchyland - The Incumbent

&

Alevuss - The Challenger

Please cast your votes by telegram to: Sheila Anteres

Screen-shots will taken of the ballots to verify and confirm the results.

The period for voting will last until Monday November 7th.

.............................................

Sheila Anteres

Election Coordinator

A Liberal Haven

Dabtoria - I believe that decision should be left up to Sheila since they are counting the voted - whatever works easiest for you Sheila!.

I apologize for not posting my platform yet, it's on my computer but I'm posting this from my phone! It will be up after work

If it makes it easier to understand my home hasn't had power since Saturday night because my region got hit by a freak Halloween weekend snowstorm that wiped out power to hundreds of thousands. Makes it hard to get my laptop working!

Garchy, I was hit by that too! One of the lucky ones not to lose power, but we did get a foot of snow. Hope you get your power back soon.

I wish my region got more snow. We got less than a couple inches and it melted by the end of the day. I hope you guys are alright.

Also, will us candidates cast our votes as well?

Also, who here intends to partake in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)?

It's been really mild on this side of the Atlantic recently! May I ask, why was the People's Republic of the Liberals of America ejected from the region?

Whoa I have no clue. I don't think someone hacked into my account because it would have let me know - must have been an accident on my mobile phone, I have no idea though because I didn't go into the regional admin page. I'll remove that and apologize to Liberals of America!

In regards to NaNoWriMo, I've never heard of it before! But I'm no good at writing... do you plan to do anything?

Can I suggest that our WA delegate approves the proposal 'Protect War Correspondents', which is currently pending? I think it's an important issue to be addressed.

I was actually going to do this one idea I had, but I talked over the general setting of the entire story and quickly realized it was pretty much the same as The Terminator, but with no action. Back to the drawing board. XD

Greetings Dabtoria! I tend to not vote on proposals, seeing as I receive many telegrams a day. I like to think of the Delegate post as more of a security post than a power thing, and therefore abstain from voting in some issues and don't vote on security ones either! I'll outline my beliefs and why the constituion bars me from certain votes as soon as my power comes back on! My state gave today as their deadline for residents getting power back, I haven't been home to check yet. I hope my lack of rebuttal to Alevuss under my current conditions does not stop those from voting for me!

Assembled with Dot's Region Saver.
Written by Refuge Isle.