Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00194)

I am sure someone with a legal background would already have looked into. We
will wait and see. I am also sure this secret move to change the rules is
going to have some serious unintended consequences, no one would have
visualized. Don't you remember that in one of the letters to APS, it was
stated that such situations like this are used to achieve certain results
that none of us know of.

But, we should be vigilant since these leaders can no longer be trusted
because they tried to do something behind our backs in great secrecy and I
have not seen any justification so far because they are attacking the wrong
problem for wrong basic reasons.

mkr


On 10/8/08, Anton Rozman <anton_rozman@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Dear friends,
>
> I will speculate a little on what could be the legal basis for the
> postponement of the discussion about the proposed amendments to the
> TS Rules and Regulations. Here are by-laws Rules 4 and 5:
>
> ??????????????
>
> 4. Meetings of the General Council
>
> (a) The General Council shall ordinarily meet once a year, at the
> time of the Annual Meeting or Convention of the Society; but a
> special meeting may be called at any time by the President, and a
> meeting shall be called at any time by him, or if not by him, by the
> Secretary, on the written requisition of not less than one-fourth of
> the total number of members; but of such special meetings not less
> than three months' notice shall be given, and the notice shall
> contain a statement of the special business to be laid before the
> meeting.
>
> (b) Whenever, at any time or place, a Convention or other function of
> the Society shall bring together a number of members of the General
> Council, the President at his discretion may call such members to a
> meeting for the purpose of study and discussion of any matters
> concerning the Society that he considers appropriate to lay before
> them. The meeting may then forward to the President its report on
> such matters and may make recommendations thereon. Such meetings
> shall be of a consultative nature without administrative or
> legislative authority, or may be of a legislative nature upon the
> decision of the General Council taken at least one year in advance.
>
> In the event the President does not himself attend such a meeting he
> may appoint the Vice-President or some other member of the General
> Council to preside in his stead.
>
> The President or his Deputy shall give not less than thirty days'
> notice of such meeting to all members of the General Council who may
> be expected to be present at the function that provides occasion for
> the meeting, but all members of the Council shall have the right to
> attend.
>
> 5. Resolutions
>
> (a) On the request of any member of the General Council any
> resolution or other item of business proposed by such member shall be
> placed on the Agenda, and circulated with brief supporting
> statements, for consideration at the next meeting of the General
> Council, provided that not less than three months' notice of such
> resolution or item of business shall be given to the Secretary.
>
> (b) At all meetings of the General Council, members thereof may vote
> in person, or in writing, or by proxy duly given to another member of
> the General Council for the particular meeting concerned. Except as
> aforesaid no member shall exercise more than one vote. No member
> shall be allowed to exercise more than 5 proxy votes.
> Note: Meetings include adjourned meetings.
>
> ?????????????????
>
> We know that the proposal was made according to the Rule 5 but in the
> Rule 4 you probably noticed the following passage:
>
> ?. Such meetings shall be of a consultative nature without
> administrative or legislative authority, or may be of a legislative
> nature upon the decision of the General Council taken at least one
> year in advance.
>
> Although this passage deals with special meetings of the GC it anyway
> opens a possibility for different legal interpretations.
>
> I hope this will help,
> Anton
>
> --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com <theos-talk%40yahoogroups.com>, MKR
> <mkr777@...> wrote:
> >
> > The whole issue of changing the bylaws is barking at the wrong tree.
> > Membership has been going downhill all over the world except for
> India and
> > none of the GC members are talking about fixing it.
> >
> > As I recall there was a message on the internet posted about a
> decade ago
> > which mentioned that during Dora's time in the USA there were 8000
> members
> > and it dropped to around 4000 during John's time and today still
> hovers
> > around that number.
> >
> > No one has challenged these numbers, then or now, with accurate
> figures
> > along with a statistical analysis of the current rentention rate
> just like
> > aging analysis on accounts receivable.
> >
> > Instead of paying attention to this critical issue, the rule change
> is
> > simply a ruse and an attempt by a group to take control of TS
> secretly
> > before members found out.
> >
> > This is simply are the facts.
> >
> > I welcome everyone's comments.
> >
> > mkr
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 8:14 AM, Erica Letzerich
> <eletzerich@...>wrote:
> >
> > > The better person to clarify it is Pedro. He is better
> acquainted with
> > > the by-laws than me.
> > >
> > > Erica
> > >
> > > --- On Wed, 10/8/08, Katinka Hesselink <mail@...<mail%
> 40katinkahesselink.net>>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > From: Katinka Hesselink <mail@...<mail%40katinkahesselink.net>
> > > >
> > > Subject: Theos-World Getting very tired of this - proposal not
> off the
> > > table, voting postponed
> > > To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com <theos-talk%40yahoogroups.com><theos-talk%
> 40yahoogroups.com>
> > > Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 8:33 AM
> > >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Erica Letzerlich clarified things for me (I guess I can give your
> name
> > > as you post here publicly on a regular basis).
> > >
> > > The issue is NOT that the proposal is off the table. It's that it
> has
> > > been postponed till next years general council meeting. This in
> the
> > > hope that by then the disappointment over the election results
> will no
> > > longer trouble the waters.
> > >
> > > While I do feel that the organizational structure of the TS could
> do
> > > with improvement, I want this specific proposal off the table as
> soon
> > > as possible. This insecurity about whether or not we will have our
> > > voting rights when the next president is to be elected is not
> good for
> > > morale.
> > >
> > > I have changed the page dedicated to this issue accordingly. So,
> still
> > > online (and likely to stay online for a while):
> > >
> > > http://www.squidoo. com/theosophical -organisation- 08
> > >
> > > Katinka Hesselink
> > > http://www.allconsi dering.com/
> > > http://www.katinkah esselink. net/
> > > http://www.squidoo. com/katinkahesse link/
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
> 
>


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