An Update on Congressional Matters: May-June 2012

Day 1,658, 23:16 • Published in Japan Japan • by ahava3233

Hey eJapan, it's your speaker of congress, ahava3233!



Anyway I wanted to give an update on recent congressional matters to clarify what has been going on within the government and also to follow a concerned citizen's (Akki's) citation of my duty as mentioned by the constitution. Many things have been addressed or are being discussed in congress on the forums, you could all use an update.




1. The Forum Charter



Zodiarque recently posted a charter of behavior in the forums with some minor input from myself. I thought the document as it was then written would be a non-issue, but many members of congress have disagreed on this and believe the charter needs to be completely dropped or edited. Zodiarque has contested congress's authority on the matter of the charter as well, so all the conversation could very well be moot.
Link to the Charter


Specifically, the major clauses in dispute are:

3.1. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Slanderous posts will be deleted.
3.2. Warnings/temporary/permanent bans will be issued depending on severity and repeat offences.
4.2. Posting is a privilege, not a right.


2. Default voting requirements and the power of the speaker to hear objections in congress.


The end of the vote on our treaty with the eROC was shaken up when Geezus gave an objection to the voting itself, believing it must require a supermajority rather than a majority (see here). However, on the basis of his vehement opposition to the terms as written during the voting, the manner of presentation of the objection, my belief that such an issue only required majority by default (as such wasn't specified in discussion), and the immediacy of the issue itself, I dropped the ball as speaker and found it fair to declare my authority to overrule his objection. The treaty was then passed, as most of you are aware, you can view the terms here.

Since, concerns have been brought up regarding the speaker's authority to rule on future objections in the first place, and if so the manner in which they are to be handled. Additionally, congress members and citizens have been discussing proper voting requirements for various types of votes. (see here)


3. The Imperial Election


Since the beginning of the current session of congress, there have been in-depth discussions regarding reviving the Imperial House of Japan and installing a new Emperor/Tenno or a new Emperor and Empress to replace His Imperial Majesty Emperor Kokawayoshi Makoto of Japan a now long-dead citizen who was crowned emperor upon the approval of the First Constitution of Japan, whose authority and legitimacy in the first-place has also been recently tested by a few individuals. There was a very lengthy discussion on the matter itself, but eventually it came down to an agreement that exreality would be installed as the Emperor/Tenno pending a supermajority vote and a referendum.


The supermajority vote has already been passed (see here) and the referendum is currently scheduled to start sometime tomorrow during the presidential election, pending some minor administrative arrangements. Citizens, keep an eye out for an article. However, other recent political matters have brought this into question...


4. The Legitimacy of the Constitution


The recent potential cabinet appointment of myself by Yagami M aka Mii, despite the constitution saying this is probably not allowed due to my position as speaker and more prominently the fundamental right or non-right of the emperor/tenno to take political office in lieu of the constitution stating that the emperor/tenno cannot do so along with the recent emotions of some people has brought up discussion regarding the legitimacy of the constitution itself. These discussions are very recent and the outcome of them is currently uncertain. They may have an effect on the legitimacy and outcome of the upcoming Imperial Referendum, or may even dictate that such a referendum is to be postponed.


5. Other matters

The matter of porky aka Jungle is Massive abusing channel owner powers on IRC has been resolved. exreality is now the owner of the official IRC channel (#nippon-teikoku). (see here).


Complaints and recommendations regarding government accountability have been heard. (see here)


The soon to retire president has brought up possible speculation on the monetary market to congressional discussion. (see here)

Other matters have been addressed, such as security clearances, immigration matters (here and here), citizen masks and/or forum masks for certain ambassadors and taxes, which all seem to be currently sitting in committee.


That's all for today folks, stay tuned for a future update in a few days.

Additionally, if you liked this article feel free to vote up this article and subscribe to my personal newspaper, Gougai/号外/Extra. Also feel free to leave a comment, thanks!