2005.10.12=3[#285]:9.10=#(60x4+6)[US#66] Taiwan status, Chinese taikonauts, Sci-Rel:Einstein, Cas,US,Rus,Fre,Ira. Section 8?...#0. IraqConstitution.

Taiwan Status & News: http://tinyurl.com/cekb5 China 2nd taikonauts: http://tinyurl.com/8mnsd http://tinyurl.com/7cskr Science-Religion: http://tinyurl.com/bs45e Einstein's Ideas: http://tinyurl.com/bqek3 Cascadia: http://tinyurl.com/a4jja http://tinyurl.com/cakmu US anti-torture amendment: http://tinyurl.com/85vxz Bushy Temper? http://tinyurl.com/axrn2 http://tinyurl.com/aa4v7 Russia-EU >"NATO": http://tinyurl.com/dpbnm http://tinyurl.com/8q7h4 French Energy: http://tinyurl.com/9rk33 Iraq > News: http://tinyurl.com/cbz8d >Constitution: http://tinyurl.com/bqafx > #0 Fair cool to mild: Up 7:50, 9am to house for rent: no show, walk back for breakfast, then near 11:30 H & a young friend waiting, Mei coming home to stop, she applies for Section 8 renting. Home, Lung back and out for lunch, Mei back and out for class. Lunch. Postpone tax return to Friday morning, and go through almost all documents in big and small folders. Jun in for a short time only. Chen should be driving already from Oregon, then she would drive back righat after interview, according to Lung? From emails to #0. Now 11:40pm. Bed 12:40am. #0. Iraqi Consitution: 1. "Iraqi MPs approve charter changes", BBC, Al-Mendhar News Center: Updated on 13/10/2005 00:55:21: http://tinyurl.com/bqafx "" Iraq's parliament has approved last-minute changes to the draft constitution aimed at overcoming Sunni Arab objections. "" 2. [C]: "Sunni Party in Iraq now endorses Consitutional Referendum": "" D.: Several mofifications to the proposed Iraqi Constitution seem to have won the support of a major Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, in Iraq today. The amendments/modifications were approved without objection. This should be great news for everyone, except those who want democracy in Iraq to fail. R.: Depends on what you mean by "democracy". The US began planning an "interim" constitution for Iraq two years before invading. They imposed it - with dubious legality - before the UN gave a provisional and time-limited OK to the occupation. (The Geneva convention is fairly specific about occupation authorities tinkering with local laws on things like commerce - The UN OK'ed the US occupation in a very badly worded document... one that the USA chose to interpret as meaning that these provisions of the Geneva Convention need not apply. They were being flouted before the UN passed the resolution) For the Iraqis to have a genuine choice, they needed time to make whatever changes to this interim document suited their needs. Re-writing a constitution under those circumstances (with the need to form a consensus on each point) clearly takes longer than writing one from scratch...yet they've been under intense pressure from the US (who set the timetable) to produce a complete document in an unreasonably short period of time. Given that the "interim" constitution-as-presented seemed to be written mainly for the benefit of US corporations, one can see why the US is so keen to make changing it as difficult as possible. I'd like to see democracy in Iraq succeed. Too bad that the current administration in the Whitehouse seems so keen to doom it, by imposing a constitution that, when the Iraqis have had a chance to look at it (which most haven't - and they're angry about it) they'll reject. The aim seems to be to railroad it through with as little examination as possible. During Saddam's era, social infrastructure - things like free education, free heathcare, industrialisation, access to clean water and electricity - rose steadily for over 20 years. The Iraqis are being asked to approve a document that will set back those improvements to their life by decades. A process where that's likely to take place isn't "democracy". Democracy is supposed to be government "of the people, for the people and by the people". But then... the guy who said that also said "you can fool all of the people some of the time..." It's the latter quote that seems more applicable to the terms of the new constitition. Note that Israel - founded in 1948 - has to this day still not managed to agree on the terms of its constitution... yet it manges to rule itself, after a fashion. If anywhere in the Middle east needs help and encouragement in finally getting around to agreeing on a constitution... it's Israel. 57 years, and still no decision. Maybe they'd be happy if the US Ambassador gave them instructions on what to do? Maybe dictated a timetable? "" "" D.: You are throwing stones from a glass house, R. The UK Constitution is half a millenium overdue! The Basic Laws of Israel are a Constitution in progess that are harder to change than virtually ANY of your laws in the UK. "" "" R.: Our constitution, unlike yours, isn't compiled into a single document - but it still exists, as many documents. Hence it's not over 200 years out of date. ""