Coyote

Born: 28 February 1968
Citizenship: USA
Star Wars Experience: Original Fan; saw Ep. IV "A New Hope" in theaters in 1977; hasn't missed a movie since.

Positions/Titles

Deputy Moderator (and co-founder) for both the Mess and the House of Commons; Senator.

Description: Coyote is a US citizen, and US Army veteran from Boise, Idaho; but was originally in Israel as a student when the movie "Star Wars: the Phantom Menace" came out in theaters. A Star Wars fan from long ago, he began entering searches for Star Wars information into Google from the student computer center at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, Israel, and found Mike Wong's site with "Turbolaser Commentaries" and the epic fanfic with Admiral Kanos leading an Imperial invasion into Star Trek space.

After returning from Israel in 2002, Coyote logged onto the site to discover it now had a series of discussion forums and a hearty debate & discussion environment brought over from "ASVS" (an environment Coyote had not known of or participated in). Joining shortly after the Board's founding but distinctly not a part of the initial wave of ASVS veterans, Coyote was among the first of the 'second wave' of people who joined, his sign up date being August 22nd, 2002.

Notable Debates

Coyote was present during much of the Darkstar/Tharkun debates and participated only peripherally, since the battle lines had already largely been drawn and had its combatants. However, in the Star Wars vs Star Trek forum, Coyote was one among many who argued against Star Trek Redshirts being able to beat Napoleonic-era troops in pitched battle, a claim that seemed to sit poorly with Darkstar. Coyote was able to see first hand the banning of Darkstar in response to his open dare of Mike to ban him.

Coyote (among others) was also instrumental in the IvP moratorium, or moratorium on Israel vs. Palestine debates, arguing vociferously in favor of Israel against Arthur Tuxedo (and others) with regard to Israel's status as a US ally and its legitimacy (among other issues). The argument bogged down to a stalemate and, with no progress being made, Mike Wong asked all parties to agree to an IvP moratorium and not to bring up the subject unless something "new and compelling" that was worthy of discussion came up. The moratorium is board-wide and violations of it have resulted in threads being locked and sent to the Hall of Shame or HoS'ed.

Political Positions

Coyote's political positions started out as "moderate right wing" with some tendancy toward "right wing" in certain select areas such as Gun Control. Over the course of time, no small amount thanks to debate on SDN, Coyote's views have gone more to the left and is now, in some areas, "moderate left". Most of Coyote's more liberal views focus on things such as health care and worker's rights, and a flexibility on Gun Control. Once a "hold your nose Republican", the events of the GW. Bush Administration has made Coyote a Democrat, even going so far as to run for office (County Clerk) as a Democrat, an election bid he lost 40% to 60% to an incumbet, 3-term Republican. Coyote's primary platform was introducing Vote-by-Mail to his home County (thus negating the suspicious Diebold machines), patterned after neighboring Oregon's system. While losing the election, Coyote's opponent, shortly afterwards, announced an intent to look into "Vote-by-Mail" as a possiblity for the future.

Religious Positions

Coyote does not share the rabid anti-Religion fervor as many on the board; indeed, Coyote is a semi-practicing Jew who adheres to Jewish dietary laws or "kashrut". While recognising that religion has only a corrosive effect on politics with no legitimate place guiding public policy, Coyote also does not see it as an existential threat to public welfare-- rather, Coyote believes that the most dangerous threat to freedom in American society today is the powerful Corporate lobbying sector, which can do and had done far, far more damage in the modern world.

Current Status

Coyote is currently a regular poster after taking a brief (about two-month) break from the board. While sometimes frustrated with the belligerence and rancor of everyday posting (especially in the News & Politics section), Coyote found during his brief foray to other boards that for the most part other boards' rules on evidence and facts was wholly inferior, and in fact the general quality of people out there is kinda dumb.

He returned, and is now a major participant in the SDNet-World STGOD "SDN World", where he runs the nation of Canissia.