Sunday, July 1, 2012:
12:35PM: Ah, the drama of the American highway on a holiday weekend. Angry parents, exhausted, whiny children, and the only smile worn is on my face.
6:03PM Settled in at the hotel, and getting ready to have a meeting of the minds over dinner.
Monday, July 2, 2012:
6:38AM: What an ungodly hour to be awake. At least there's coffee.
9:34AM: Finally registered and checked in. Sitting in the hall; very nice facility, but light turn-out so far.
11:22AM: A late start is better than no start. We've begun.
11:45AM: Beginning voting. When I vote "yes", it means that I think the topic should be in the final document; "no" means, not necessarily that I disagree with the sentiment, but that it should not be in the document at this time.
End to corporate personhood: I vote "no".
Money is property, not speech: I vote "yes".
Campaign finance reform: I vote "yes".
Health care: I vote "no".
Employment: I vote "no".
Protection of the environment: I vote "no".
Tax reform: I vote "no".
Criminal justice reform: I vote "no".
Election reform & ending voter disenfranchisement: I vote "yes".
Fiscal responsibility: I vote "no".
Government ethics reform & closing the "revolving door": I vote "yes".
Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia statehood: I vote "no".
Veterens benefits: I vote "no".
Protecting consumers from predatory practices...: I vote "no".
Student loan debt relief & grants: I vote "no".
Ending the communications monopolies: I vote "yes".
Immigration reform: I vote "no".
Protection of civil and human rights: I vote "no".
Ending perpetual war for profit: I vote "no".
Term limits: I vote "no".
12:13PM: Initial voting is complete. Committees will form next to work on categories that received at least 50% of the vote.
2:28PM: Forming committees in possibly the most confusing way possible. I've chosen Campaign Finance Reform, though I might eavesdrop on some others.
5:59PM: Done for the day. Now for food and beer.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012:
8:07AM: Awake, showered, and dressed. We don't meet until 9:30, so time to chill with Matt Forbes and whomever else happens to be around. Let's see where today takes us.
10:24AM: Hearing mini-speeches about the relationship between "99D" and Occupy.
11:05AM: Back in committee. Campaign finance reform once more.
1:20PM: About to hear a speech from David Cobb of Move to Amend. Should be interesting, at least.
1:54PM: David Cobb was certainly impassioned. I'm not sure that I agree with everything he said. I'll have to read his website later.
2:00PM(ish): The body voted to endorse Move to Amend. I abstained. I don't know enough about their organization, and I think that the issues are more nuanced than they appear to want to make them.
3:00PM: Committee work is completed, and the document is being pasted together in a kind of rough draft. There will be voting around 3:30.
[Editorial Note: I was emailed the final working document, with pass/fail notes, proposed amendments, etc., after all of the voting was done. That can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7507h092lw3756b. It's probably helpful to look at that in order to follow along.]
Speaking of voting, here are the results from yesterday (sorry they're late, I suck at this live reporting thing):
96 Campaign Finance Reform
90 Election Reform
85 Corporations Are Not People
85 Money is Property Not Speech
82 Government Ethics Reform
80 Tax Reform
76 Protecting Consumers
75 Protecting the Environment
73 Ending Perpetual War for Profit
71 Protection of Civil and Human Rights
65 Employment
64 Ending the Communication Monopolies
63 Healthcare
60 Student Loan Debt
58 Criminal Justice
53 Immigration Reform
53 Veterans Benefits
52 Fiscal Responsibility
50 Puerto Rico and DC
43 Term Limits
*All numbers are percent "yes" votes.
4:00PM: Beginning deliberations for voting.
4:14PM: Starting with Healthcare. I'm on my phone, so I can't post everything that's laid out for deliberation. I'll just report how I vote on things, and I'll try to get specific texts up at some point, if I have them.
[Editorial Note: See previous link.]
4:43PM: Voting on healthcare: I vote "no". Healthcare passes with 72.4%
4:52PM: Discussing "Corporations are not people".
...and a vote. I vote "no".
Passes with 98.6%
4:54PM: "Money is property, not speech."
The discussions begin...
5:16PM: Voting on "Money is property, not speech".
I vote "no".
Passes with 76.9% of the vote.
5:18PM: Discussions begin on "Campaign finance and electoral reform".
5:30PM: Breaking for dinner. I'm going to try to upload the text of the campaign finance reform. It's long, and to me, it's THE document.
I'm probably voting "yes" on this and "no" on everything else.
7:00PM: Back to discussion. There are several proposed amendments to be discussed. We're going to be here all night.
I have the text of this item on my phone, in doc format. It won't let me select all so that I can copy and paste. I'm still working on that. I do NOT have the amendments.
8:11PM: I'm this close to moving to declare the whole thing a shambles.
We just spent at least 45 minutes debating the wording of a *suggested*, *possible* solution. A fact that I finally needed to get up and point out to everyone.
9:00PM: We have officially voted on all matters related to election/campaign finance reform, and succeeded in butchering the whole thing. I have no clue where we've ended up with it. I apologize for not having the full information, I will get it when I can.
9:05PM: Debating criminal justice issues. Talking about legalizing drugs. Mein gott.
9:29PM: Criminal justice issues: I vote "no".
Passes with 86.9% of the vote.
9:30PM: Debating employment issues.
9:34PM: Employment issues: I vote "no".
Measure fails.
9:44PM: Vote on civil rights issues. I vote "no".
Measure passed (missed the %).
9:45PM: Discussion on environmental issues.
9:49PM: Vote on environmental issues. I vote "no".
Measure passes.
9:50PM: Discussion on economic issues.
10:01PM: Adjourned until 8AM.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012:
8:35AM: Running late once more. We'll see how today goes.
9:36AM: Pushing votes through. Economic issues I vote "no". It passed. Ending communications monopolies I vote "no". It passed.
Next up: government ethics reform...
Next up: government ethics reform...
9:44AM: Apparently ethics reform means creating a fourth branch of government and banning lobbying. No mention of the fact that we are lobbying right now.
10:05AM: Ethics reform (minus the fourth branch part) vote. I vote "no". Measure passed.
10:06AM: Discussing veteren's benefits.
10:11AM: Veterans' benefits voted. I voted "no". It passes.
10:12AM: Discussing ending war for profit, which apparently has something to do with 9/11.
Christ.
Christ.
10:48AM: Ending war for profit voted. I vote "no". Measure passes.
10:50AM: Discussing immigration reform.
11:00AM: Voting on immigration reform. I vote "no". Measure passes.
11:02AM: Discussion of consumer protection.
(sometime in the past 10 minutes): Voting on consumer protection. I was out of the room, so did not vote. The measure passed.
11:19AM: Discussing parade plans for this afternoon.
11:43AM: Voting on various amendments to already established points (God knows why). I'll save you some time: I vote "no".
12:17PM: Discussing education reform.
12:37PM: Vote on education reform. I vote "no". Measure passes.
12:50PM: Voting on the entire document. I vote "no". Passes with 92.2% of the vote.
1:54PM: I'm done. Skipping the march/rally and headed home to my wife. Physically and emotionally drained.
[Editorial Note: Evidently the document read at Independence Hall was just the grievances, and omitted the solutions. This document can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/?wqdvd1vmtcm5f2n]
7:46PM: My Philadelphia adventure is over, with a new one bound to begin. I made it home safe and sound, thanks to a couple of liters of water and a cup of grapes from a thruway rest stop.
I think it might be bedtime.
I think it might be bedtime.
