LXXVIII: Politicus Lupus (GAME OVER!! SEE POST #2593 FOR RESULTS)

[Mrs. Schmidty]

Nice work fellow elephants. Sadly we lost one of our own today, an innocent bystander, but in the end we now have control. It's our time to bring this country back to it's roots - trim the fat, give out the guns and get prayer back into schools! Separation of church and state, bull. Keep the state out of my church, but not my church out of the state!

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

ELEVENTH DISTRICT

Chubby, former Speaker of the House, was shockingly upset in his bid for re-election.

"Something stinks," said one Chubby supporter. "Chubbs was consistently polling well above just about any other Dem leading up to election day. This makes no sense."

A token Dem representative will serve in the seat instead.

"The fine people of the Eleventh District have chosen the worthy candidate PackerFanatic, we mean illinifan999, umm, well, I guess PackerFanatic to be their choice for the next President of the United States!"

Voting:

PackerFanatic-- 50.1%
illinifan999--49.9%

WTF

[Chubby]

well Cronin sabotaged my election overwise I would have won no problem.

Guess I have to work hard to get reelected on friday night...

[Chief Rum]

Deadline

[Chief Rum]

You are all about to get ready to start a new term in Congress, putting on your suits and kissing your mistrsses goodbye, when you see a breaking TV news report!

"REP. ST.CRONIN SHOT DEAD BY ESTRANGED WIFE..."

Shocked, you watch as the talking aheads interviewed crime reporters and Washington insiders about this crime of passion, which has deprived you all of another member of your brethren. It seems that someone tipped off st.cronin's wife about his mistress, and wonder of all wonders, she even still thought she was in live. You all swallow a little harder--this couldn't certainly happen to you, right?

When you arrive at your offices, you all have envelopes waiting for you, unmarked, no distinguishing features. All they contain is a picture of st.cronin--and a file photo of a wolf.

It's clear enough what has happened.

THE WOLF PARTY GOT TO ST.CRONIN. He is out of the game.

The 5th District is now led by a token Republican representative, and the district is under the sway and control of Rep. Mrs. Schmidty (R) of the 6th District.

In other news, new President mr.illini999 signed all three bills on his desk into law today.

They are as follows:

Wolf Security Bill Redux
Wolf Observation Act
National Seer Communication Act

The Supreme Court has scheduled hearings on all of them...

[Alan T]

Well damn.. Good thing I'm not in this game, I sent a PM to Chief Rum last night asking if Cronin was a wolf.. my radar on him is so completely off it is not even funny!

[Chief Rum]

There were reports that, while the bills are strong, they should all individually hold up under judicial scrutiny.

Unfortunately, that does not take into consideration that this Supreme Court puts much responsibility upon itself when it comes to balancing the powers of the government against the rights of the individual. One new role is fine, two is conceivable, but three? With the new seer role or already active, courtesy of the Wolf Discovery Act last year?

Insiders get a bad sense on this one.

The Supreme Court announces that it is allowing the new Wolf Security Act Redux to stand, and after much deliberation, the Wolf Observation Act as well. It struck down the National Seer Communication Act, though, as too much power in addition to the other roles.

IN a press release for the announcement, the Chief Justice is quoted: "This country needs a bodyguard, and we see the value of a witness. And in other times, maybe the seer communicator would be good, too. By itself, it does not violate constitutionality. But with respect to the entire set of powers available to the Legislature, it may be pushing the envelope too much."

With that, the Wolf Security Act Redux and the Wolf Observation Act become laws. The National Seer Communication bill has been struck down.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Well damn.. Good thing I'm not in this game, I sent a PM to Chief Rum last night asking if Cronin was a wolf.. my radar on him is so completely off it is not even funny!

Yeah, got too busy to get back to you.

I think this game is sometimes a difficult one to get a read on people, with all the other motivations out there (the political ones).

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I now have confimation it was Clap who sbatouged me, I guess thats how you republicans are gonna roll.

Wow. That's almost as bad as an entire Party voting as one block! FYI, clap acted alone on that one, too.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

There were reports that, while the bills are strong, they should all individually hold up under judicial scrutiny.

Unfortunately, that does not take into consideration that this Supreme Court puts much responsibility upon itself when it comes to balancing the powers of the government against the rights of the individual. One new role is fine, two is conceivable, but three? With the new seer role or already active, courtesy of the Wolf Discovery Act last year?

Insiders get a bad sense on this one.

The Supreme Court announces that it is allowing the new Wolf Security Act Redux to stand, and after much deliberation, the Wolf Observation Act as well. It struck down the National Seer Communication Act, though, as too much power in addition to the other roles.

IN a press release for the announcement, the Chief Justice is quoted: "This country needs a bodyguard, and we see the value of a witness. And in other times, maybe the seer communicator would be good, too. By itself, it does not violate constitutionality. But with respect to the entire set of powers available to the Legislature, it may be pushing the envelope too much."

With that, the Wolf Security Act Redux and the Wolf Observation Act become laws. The National Seer Communication bill has been struck down.

Wow. I thought you guys ran this past CR? I don't know what you thought you had to gain by lying about that.

[Chief Rum]

And so begins a new term in Congress. Some faces are missing, and some return. There are new power circles in Washington. Polls will be out soon to indicate who occupies them.

As a new Congress, you have some responsibilities today. In addition to the normal process of bills, you must select a new Speaker of the House.

You also have another Wolf vote in front of you.

In your party threads, you can choose a new Leader and Liaison. The old ones still in power will serve in that capacity until you either choose replacements or rename them to their positions.

Former Rep. Lathum is no longer eligible to be Liaison for the Democrat Party, so the Dems will need to choose a new Liaison. Once that is complete and the result PM'd to me and oliegirl, the new Liaison will have PM rights with Passacaglia, the Republican liaison.

Passacaglia and Lathum no longer have PM rights with each other.

A new day has dawned. A new era in Washington? We'll see.

DAY THREE HAS BEGUN. POLLS STILL COMING. DEADLINE AT 9 P.M. EST/6 P.M. PDT.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Wow. I thought you guys ran this past CR? I don't know what you thought you had to gain by lying about that.

To be clear, I don't want anything I said to be misrepresented in a manner which affects the game (if possible to avoid). I did inform the bill writers that the bill should pass. By itself, it does, as I note above. It is only in combination with the other powers present that it becomes too much. I did not have the other bills in consideration when asked about this particular bill.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

To be clear, I don't want anything I said to be misrepresented in a manner which affects the game (if possible to avoid). I did inform the bill writers that the bill should pass. By itself, it does, as I note above. It is only in combination with the other powers present that it becomes too much. I did not have the other bills in consideration when asked about this particular bill.

So does this mean we're at a point where we're just too powerful? If so, why even bother passing bills? Or is it just that all three bills were too powerful for this one day? If so, how did you decide which bill is the one that makes it too powerful?

[Chief Rum]

Most Powerful Men In Washington

1. illinifan999
2. KWhit
3. Tyrith
4. PackerFanatic
5. Passacaglia
6. jeheinz
7. Mrs. Schmidty
8. PurdueBrad
9. path12
10. chesapeake
11. Render
12. EagleFan
13. mccollins
14. Chubby
15. Lathum
16. henry296

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

So does this mean we're at a point where we're just too powerful? If so, why even bother passing bills? Or is it just that all three bills were too powerful for this one day? If so, how did you decide which bill is the one that makes it too powerful?

Maybe, maybe not. You can explore the limits of what power will be allowed to you. There may be room for another role or two, just not one as powerful as the National Seer Communication Act. Or you can vote to amend previous roles and lessen their power to give you more room to include it. Or you can try other bills, maybe ones that can affect the game itself.

I picked the least powerful of the three to keep, figuring that would give Congress the most room to work with.

[Passacaglia]

Anyway, I think the lesson from yesterday is to vote for who you think is a wolf, rather than voting for party lines. My guess is that a big part of the reason the Dems are in trouble now is that they voted out a non-wolf. I don't think losing clap even really hurt us from a Party power standpoint. So I'd suggest voting for wolves without worrying about what Party they're on, and I'll be encouraging my Party to do the same.

[Chief Rum]

There were three bill votes yesterday. According to polling, general public came out as follows (+/- 4% polling error):

Wolf Security Act Redux

Supported: 64%
Did Not Support: 36%

Wolf Observation Act

Supported: 57%
Did Not Support: 43%

National Communication Seer Act

Supported: 71%
Did Not Support: 29%

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

National Communication Seer Act

Supported: 71%
Did Not Support: 29%

ooh...Supreme Court not polling very well now, I'd bet -- can we get a new one? I'm sure President Illinifan has some great ideas on who to stock it with!

[Chief Rum]

The Most Popular Politicians in Washington

1. illinifan999
2. PackerFanatic
3. jeheinz
4. Render
5. Passacaglia
6. Mrs. Schmidty
7. Tyrith
8. mccollins
9. Chubby
10. KWhit
11. EagleFan
12. henry296
13. PurdueBrad
14. chesapeake
15. path12
16. Lathum

[Chief Rum]

The public is leaning Republican, 54% to 46%.

[Chief Rum]

Just a reminder.

The politicians holding two districts have twice the vote power in bills and in voting on roles like the Speaker. They cannot split this vote. They get one vote--it just counts twice.

This does not apply to the Wolf Vote. Everyone--including ousted Congressmen--still gets just one vote each in the Wolf Vote.

[PackerFanatic]

Ugh, what an awful night. I expected to lose, but come on...

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by PackerFanatic

Out of curiosity, why makes you think I am a wolf?

Just catching up, it was the exchange from Night one, just struck me as off.

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by mccollins

vote to lynch claphamsa

(This is a bit like Pass's Chess game - I'm voting for someone on the opposite party to save one of our party because I'm not sure enough about anyone else.)

Marking this for myself. This vote reeks to me. Stinks to all high heaven (though granted I don't even know who was lynched yet)

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Tyrith

Well..I hope this day winds up being a good day. The guys with multiple districts all seem like good seer scans to me.

Scan me if you like, Seer. I have 2 districts, am a Party leader, and might get some heat for my late vote switch.

[KWhit]

Sheesh. What a crappy, crappy night.

[chesapeake]

I hope everyone in both parties realizes that the village gets creamed should the 3 Dems that lost their seats not be given a clear field to regain them. We already have lost 2 villagers.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I hope everyone in both parties realizes that the village gets creamed should the 3 Dems that lost their seats not be given a clear field to regain them. We already have lost 2 villagers.

Do you have reason to believe those 3 are more likely to be villagers than any other people?

[jeheinz72]

Bingo Pass.

Especially Lathum. I don't think I want him back in his seat to be honest. That whole "Let's vote KWhit" then change back late shenanigan was ridiculous.

[Passacaglia]

I guess my point is that if they're wolves, then the village rejoices.

[mccollins]

Combining the action from last night, we have

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

TOKEN REP DISTRICTS

1st District (R)
10th District (D)
11th District (D)
17th District (D)

1st District now controlled by Passacaglia (R) of the 2nd District.
10th District now controlled by jeheinz72 (R) of the 9th District.
11th District now controlled by PackerFanatic (D) of the 12th District.
17th District now controlled by KWhit (D) of the 17th District.

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

The 5th District is now led by a token Republican representative, and the district is under the sway and control of Rep. Mrs. Schmidty (R) of the 6th District.

1st District now controlled by Passacaglia (R) of the 2nd District.
5th District now controlled by Mrs. Schmidty (R) of the 6th District.
10th District now controlled by jeheinz72 (R) of the 9th District.
11th District now controlled by PackerFanatic (D) of the 12th District.
17th District now controlled by KWhit (D) of the 17th District.

If Hoopsguy were here, he'd point out that there is a 5/16 chance (or something like that) that one of these doubly powerful congresspersons is a wolf.

(As a sidenote, I found it interesting that the 10th district has a token Dem Rep, but the vote is controlled by a GOP member. Thus, the GOP holds a 10-8 voting advantage for all bills and the Speaker. Boooo.)

[mccollins]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Do you have reason to believe those 3 are more likely to be villagers than any other people?

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Bingo Pass.

Especially Lathum. I don't think I want him back in his seat to be honest. That whole "Let's vote KWhit" then change back late shenanigan was ridiculous.

Seriously? You two would essentially rather lynch 3 villagers at once, in addition to a lynch? I've heard of being strongly anti-No Lynch, but that's pretty harsh.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Bingo Pass.

Especially Lathum. I don't think I want him back in his seat to be honest. That whole "Let's vote KWhit" then change back late shenanigan was ridiculous.

That was all done because I had voted for Mrs. Schmidty and not for Clap earlier in the day. So it was seen (by him) as either a wolf move to try to decimate the Dems (for some odd reason) or just a non-party supportive move (which isn't exactly true, but I was putting my wolf-dar above stupid party politics because I didn't think Clap was a wolf).

So that's why he voted for me, but when he saw there was little/no support, he went back to Clap.

Dunno if that explanation makes it more or less fishy to you, but that's what happened.

[KWhit]

Pass, can you tell me about your decision to vote outside of what the rest of your party did? What led you to that decision?

[PackerFanatic]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Just catching up, it was the exchange from Night one, just struck me as off.

Which exchange?

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by KWhit

That was all done because I had voted for Mrs. Schmidty and not for Clap earlier in the day. So it was seen (by him) as either a wolf move to try to decimate the Dems (for some odd reason) or just a non-party supportive move (which isn't exactly true, but I was putting my wolf-dar above stupid party politics because I didn't think Clap was a wolf).

So that's why he voted for me, but when he saw there was little/no support, he went back to Clap.

Dunno if that explanation makes it more or less fishy to you, but that's what happened.

Meh, I've never been a big fan of someone else explaining anothers vote. What you say kind of makes sense, I just wish Lathum had said it.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by mccollins

Seriously? You two would essentially rather lynch 3 villagers at once, in addition to a lynch? I've heard of being strongly anti-No Lynch, but that's pretty harsh.

I didn't say that -- I asked him if he had reason to believe that those 3 are more likely to be villagers than any other people. Remember what I said earlier about building consensus? You've been misrepresenting me all over the place this game.

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by mccollins

Seriously? You two would essentially rather lynch 3 villagers at once, in addition to a lynch? I've heard of being strongly anti-No Lynch, but that's pretty harsh.

No, let me clarify. I'm not averse to someone like Chubby getting his seat back. He, to me, seems to have been on the up-and-up so far.

I don't think I support Lathum getting his seat back. KWhit may have explained it all well and good, but he's been fishy enough, in my eyes at least to just take our chances there.

Henry I can't decide on. On one hand, I don't think he was all that wolfish. On the other of course is the political and personal advantage my having his seat of course brings me. Just to lay my cards on the table in that regard. No sense pretending that I don't have something to gain by controlling his district, if anything it seems it's going to make me a Seer target, which is a-ok by me since it'll build the CoT

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Pass, can you tell me about your decision to vote outside of what the rest of your party did? What led you to that decision?

Why, was that a bad thing?

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Meh, I've never been a big fan of someone else explaining anothers vote. What you say kind of makes sense, I just wish Lathum had said it.

Uh, okay. I thought I was showing my preference of openness and honesty between the two parties, especially when the answer I shared was somewhat about me after all.

[jeheinz72]

Ya know, I find it downright hilarious that all game long the Dems have warned us Repubs about how we have to worry about getting re-elected, how we shouldn't go against their ideas because our constituents won't like it, how our bills are horribly unconstitutional and what happens?

3 dems lose their seats and the bill proposed by the Democratic Speaker gets ruled unconstitutional.

I'm not trying to play a partisan game here, but since frankly the tone of you Dems up to this point aggrivated me to the point of barely caring about the game yesterday, this deserves pointing out.

If nothing, since I think a 14:4 starting ratio would be too strong, it makes me think that if we're facing 3 wolves, 2 of them are Dems.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Why, was that a bad thing?

No, I would just like to know how you came to that decision.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Ya know, I find it downright hilarious that all game long the Dems have warned us Repubs about how we have to worry about getting re-elected, how we shouldn't go against their ideas because our constituents won't like it, how our bills are horribly unconstitutional and what happens?

3 dems lose their seats and the bill proposed by the Democratic Speaker gets ruled unconstitutional.

I'm not trying to play a partisan game here, but since frankly the tone of you Dems up to this point aggrivated me to the point of barely caring about the game yesterday, this deserves pointing out.

If nothing, since I think a 14:4 starting ratio would be too strong, it makes me think that if we're facing 3 wolves, 2 of them are Dems.

I don't see 14:4 as being too strong, especially since we have potential for a lot of roles here.

[mccollins]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I didn't say that -- I asked him if he had reason to believe that those 3 are more likely to be villagers than any other people. Remember what I said earlier about building consensus? You've been misrepresenting me all over the place this game.

And you've been backtracking from what you said in all those instances.

My above response was more directed to Heinz, but you seemed to be right with him.

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Uh, okay. I thought I was showing my preference of openness and honesty between the two parties, especially when the answer I shared was somewhat about me after all.

No no, I didn't mean that as a knock on you. Not at all.

Just that I like people, in general, in all games, to explain themselves. Ya never know when a wolf might make a goof, however minor, ya know?

Just personal preference. I hate that almost as much as I hate ties.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Well damn.. Good thing I'm not in this game, I sent a PM to Chief Rum last night asking if Cronin was a wolf.. my radar on him is so completely off it is not even funny!

Sad to be out of this game, it was shaping up as a fun one. Guess I'll go read the Dem thread now...

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Ya know, I find it downright hilarious that all game long the Dems have warned us Repubs about how we have to worry about getting re-elected, how we shouldn't go against their ideas because our constituents won't like it, how our bills are horribly unconstitutional and what happens?

3 dems lose their seats and the bill proposed by the Democratic Speaker gets ruled unconstitutional.

I'm not trying to play a partisan game here, but since frankly the tone of you Dems up to this point aggrivated me to the point of barely caring about the game yesterday, this deserves pointing out.

If nothing, since I think a 14:4 starting ratio would be too strong, it makes me think that if we're facing 3 wolves, 2 of them are Dems.

How do you think it makes us feel when we should be doing much better than we are? The rider falling on our bill day one was a big blow to us, since we decided (bi-partisanly, I might add), to veto it. That veto really hurt us, but (good decision or bad) it was done for the good of the 'village' at the Dems expense.

Also, I'll point out that the fact the rider was put on the BG bill and not the seer bill makes me think that if it is unbalanced, there are more Republican wolves than Democrat.

[KWhit]

Actually, I'd be surprised if it wasn't 2 wolves in each party. That just seems to make sense.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by KWhit

No, I would just like to know how you came to that decision.

I guess it mostly had to do with Lathum changing his vote to you. We talked a little about why he voted (but not much, since I was very in-and-out), about how your vote seemed put there to save clap. When I got back after deadline, he told me his switch back wasn't a setup, but I'm not sure how much I believe that.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by mccollins

And you've been backtracking from what you said in all those instances.

I'd like proof of that, please.