I set May 3rd as the start date for the game because that will give Daniel enough time to get back from gallavanting across New York. However, the Senator will be in Europe until the end of May. This brings me to the question of how we should handle the absence of participants. I would have liked to bring this topic up at the first meeting but the Senator will already be gone and so we would not be able to achieve a unanimous vote as per the Intial Set of Rules. Should we add an inital rule for absentee participants? Any ideas?

Lynch them. Anyone not present should be immediately lynched. Of course, as soon as they return, the lynch order would be revoked, so I am unsure of the effectiveness of this...
Actually, though, you could try to keep them updated after each session via email, and they could try to propose legislation the same way; perhaps if their proposals were dealt with first in meetings, they would not lose relevance due to the dynamics of the game. Aside from doing it on-line with instant messaging or something like that, I do not know how else it would work.
What does the Senator think?

The Senator thinks that he will have access to the Internet due to the fact that his mother is an addict and will in no way go without e-mail access for 2.5 weeks. However, the Senator also realizes that he will be at much of a disadvantage due to the fact that most of the game dynamics will be occuring during the meetings. Since the Senator would actually rather visit the sites of power in Europe than take place in a few preliminary meetings, this isn't too big a loss for him (opportunities like this don't happen every day). But the Senator is going to put his vote against anything that would deny him his right to vote, etc. in the game. He's thinking that he'll propose (if no one else will) a law to allow absentee ballots of laws and/or choose someone to act as his delegate to act in his best interests. However, he may do some conferring with others to ensure the individual really does act in his best interest (in the form of other legislation or something). All failing, the rules kind of factor in for a computer version of this to be played at a distance. Either way, he can't imagine that he'll miss more than 2-3 meetings (since it'll probably be a weekly thing at best) and he's sure he can at the very least send in his vote by e-mail. Depending on the tour schedule, he might be able to make an appearance on MSN for a meeting (though the time difference is going to throw all kinds of monkey wrenches in those works). He'll look into that and let everyone know.

Also, the Senator is allergic to lynching. It's bad for his health.

Allergic?!! What a lame excuse! Why don't you just claim it is against your religion and have done with it? Gosh!
My roommate, Tamra, adds that after you are decapitated Claritin® may help clear up your sinuses. You shouldn't have to worry about allergic reactions to lynching anyhow, because after it happens you won't be feeling much of anything anyway.

Because it's not against my religion. I'm allergic to it (I can't keep the whole referring to myself in the third person up). I mean, I get this really nasty rash on my neck from the rope and everything. It makes me short of breath and tends to cause a headache.

Okay, settle down you two. It seems to me that Senator Carlson's suggestion of selecting a delegate to perform his duties is the best course. However, we will have to make a change to the Inital Set of Rules to permit this, because otherwise the council will have no legal stance for believing that the delegate is not an imposter.

*remorse* Was Tamra too mean to the Senator? Was I? Sorry... Well, maybie I can make it up with a nice gift for him. Hilton likes to borrow the Senator's neckties; perhaps I could give the Senator a new necktie all of his own. Would the Senator like a nice hemp necktie?

Could he smoke it?

Or is it just going to smoke him?