Imagine my surprise
Several weeks ago I wrote about the IVAW Convention and the vote to defeat a measure that would condemn members who incited violence against our troops. the actual wording went like this;
Therefore be it hereby resolved that Iraq Veterans Against the War only uses, supports or endorses, non-violent and peaceful actions in seeking to accomplish its goals of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; providing proper medical care to all returning veterans and repairing the damage done by the occupations.
Additionally be it resolved that any member found promoting violence in pursuit of the goals of this organization, will be subject to immediate discipline, including the termination of his or her membership, in accordance with the procedures outlined in the policies governing termination of memberships.
Back in August, that resolution was defeated among the membership and the organization was widely criticized not only by the staff and audience here at This Ain’t Hell, but also by their own membership. Many long time members left the organization because they refused to separate themselves from the more extreme elements who actually not only didn’t support the war, but supported the enemy’s goals as well.
Well, imagine my surprise when I discovered this morning, from Army Sergeant, that the first vote was in error and now suddenly, the resolution has passed. Yes, that’s correct, it took two months to recount 79 votes – I guess they recounted one vote every day in order to keep it accurate.
So now that the votes have miraculously cured one of the ills of IVAW, all 1700 of you can rest easy and remain in the organization. Jose Vasquez is coming by your house personally to renew your subscription to the Skittles-of-the-Month Club and to feed your unicorn.
Unless, of course, you think that the vote was changed this week just to end the hemorrhaging of the membership.
I’m just sayin’….
Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War
AS- Is it going to be a pain in the ass to get your unicorn back to the states? Just occurred to me you might need help getting him/her through customs….
😉
that is how she is traveling, unicorn air: propelled by unicorn farts from a skittle diet.
Jonn, do you realy think IVAW would go so far as to change a vote to stop people from leaving? Would the elements happy to see them leave allow such strategic actions?
Somehow the inability to actually count 79 votes correctly the first time doesn’t raise my estimation of the quality of the organization, especially on an issue of this importance. I wonder how they know that they are 1700 members and not 17 or 342 or 569.
I would say that the first vote describes the “true” feelings of the fools. This “recount” is just to put the lipstick on the pig.
Unicorns, Skittles, Fart Propulsion, h’mmmmmmmm; suits the scaredy cats well.
“Learned all I need to know about Islam on 9/11!”
“Clerical Computer error”, how many votes is that?
@Jen, the vote was changed due to the ongoing investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. I can almost guarentee that.
Holy Fuck.
Maybe the President can learn a thing or two about politics fron the IV*AW
*no real service in Iraq needed
Dutch,
that would be the last two presidents. Shoot as a matter of fact that would be every president. What is your points?
ASH: I think you’re right. I think that the investigations aren’t limited to the IRS, but also DHS, since there are militant members within the org that advocate various nefarious activities. Maybe they’re trying to get the heat taken off them?? Of course, it’s just window dressing.
I guess we know where all the lawyers for Al Franken went once they were done with the MN Senate recount.
Or maybe Joe Biden’s secret ninjas finally got into the IVAW offices to get the right vote count.
@Dave…I’m not a Franken fan, but you have to admit that Coleman is such a loser that he can only beat a dead guy in elections, but loses to a Wrestler and a Comedian. Pathetic!
Here is what happened, for the conspiracy theorists:
There were more than 79 votes in the initial election. A lot of our active duty members sent in votes online through inability to attend the convention. I was in communication with many of them, and knew roughly how many online votes to expect just from my people alone.
The votes were tallied, and the numbers fell far short of what I had expected. However, I’ve been pretty busy with some personal stuff going on, and took a bunch of use-or-lose leave to spend time with family. I did not have the time or energy to raise my concerns then. I also worried that if I was the one to challenge the election, it would appear that I simply wanted to be on the Board. I also suspected that the people who had told me that they voted for me and expressed indignation over the results were just blowing smoke.
However, once I turned my attention to figuring out the situation, I discovered the actual online vote total had not been accurately reported. I then contacted the Board of IVAW to call their attention to the situation. They conducted their own internal investigation and found out that yes, some votes had not been counted the first time through a computer error. This has now been corrected, so that all votes would count, and the totals evened out to roughly where I thought they would be.
Despite Jeff Peskoff and Jonn Lilyea’s conspiracy theories, this most definitely did not take place because of his complaining to the IRS. This took place because of my own hard work and investigation, and the Board’s willingness to correct the situation to accurately reflect the wishes of the membership, who overwhelmingly voted in favor of the resolution by a ridiculous margin.
Wow…looks like you wasted a perfectly good opportunity to blame Diebold on this, AS. Didn’t you get Rahm’s memo on this?
Conspiracy theory my ass….Why was that the only vote that got screwed up. 12 resolutions and board nominees and the only resolution that really meant anything and the one resolution that was fought against by the leadership is the one that has a “clerical computer error”
CYA, AS, CYA.
You came on here and defended the initial vote. You even argued the point with TSO and myself, and I believe Dave Thul was in on it, also. If you suspected another outcome; why didn’t you say that at the time?
because the uncounted votes were cast in roughly the same manner that the others were. increased votes led to an increase in what the percentage needed to reach approval was, so most resolutions stayed the same. I hate to be rude but either we were too dumb to count right or are smart enough to carry out a multi level stretegic plan. most comments on this site wouldn’t lead to the second option, so what changes your mind now?
Old Trooper: Because unlike many here, I don’t believe in spouting off wild theories without any evidence. I like to get my facts straight first, then come in swinging.
Fixed it for you, AS;
I like to
get my facts straightnitpick first, then come inswingingon my unicorn.Only if TSO is photoshopping it for me.
Just out of curiosity, does your unicorn have the proper ASK applied or did it get passed over due to budget problems?
Jen,
You said, “because the uncounted votes were cast in roughly the same manner that the others were. increased votes led to an increase in what the percentage needed to reach approval was, so most resolutions stayed the same.”
How many BoD could one person vote for?
Also AS says that after the recount, the resolution passed by a “ridiculous margin”, yet the other 11 resolutions kept their percentages through the recount? That does seem odd.
What are the new vote numbers for the board?
Of course this is the group that believes you are a war vet if you have experienced the stress of the Mess Sgt running out of Jello Pudding Pops.
I’m told that Carl Webb is saying on his Facebook page that this is a racist plot to get rid of him. He de-friended me, so I’m going on second-hand information here.
Jonn,
Even though that 1700 member number is extremely inflated, he’s definitely not the only black man/woman in “IV”AW. Carl Webb is an idiot, you don’t want to be his friend.
BTW, Someone de-friended me too and it wasn’t Carl Webb (I’m not friends with people who call for sabotage).
I’ve never been friends with Carl Webb, on facebook or otherwise.
However, it is not a racist plot to get rid of Carl Webb. Even if it was a plot to get rid of Carl Webb, which it wasn’t, I assure you, said plot would not be racist. No one hates Carl Webb because he’s black. They hate him because he’s a violent asshole.
BNG: One of the reasons most resolutions and amendments probably stayed the same is that the other ones were generally very technical small changes to the bylaws. A lot of people may simply not have had the interest to vote on those: kind of like people who vote for President but not their city councilman.
What ever you say, War vet.
I wonder if we can start calling them
“Iraq Era Veterans For Peace” IEVFP