Lipstick on a Pig

Just as monotheism is no guarantor of civility and morality, calling something a "constitution" doesn't mean it bears any resemblance to The U.S. Constitution, which remains a unique -- and objectively superior -- system of governance.

But rather than re-engineer the proposed EU Constitution so that it is more Constitution-like in its substance, the EU may instead try to outwit European voters . . . by renaming it.

The European Union’s stalled constitution could undergo a name change as part of an attempt to rescue it after last year’s rejection by French and Dutch voters, EU ministers said on Sunday.

At a weekend meeting in Vienna, the bloc’s foreign ministers acknowledged it was politically unfeasible to launch moves to save the charter, aimed at speeding European integration, until after French and Dutch general elections, due around next May.

However, Germany won guarded backing for an offer to launch a plan immediately afterwards to begin salvaging key parts of the text – possibly under a new name of a “basic law,” the name of Germany’s own constitution.

“We in Germany live with a Basic Law which does not carry the title ‘constitution’ but has the same legal quality. It’s a possible starting point,” [FM Steinmeier] told reporters.

But repackaged crap is still crap, a concept also lost on Muslim scholars meeting in Amman this week, who will be drafting a model Islamic constitution. Kinda like the Model Codes drafted by the American Bar Association, except it will be based entirely on 7th century theocratic fascism.

A gathering of Islamic thinkers and leaders on Monday pledged to write a model constitution to be adopted by countries wishing to enact Sharia-based laws.

“We have agreed to hold a special conference to draft a democratic Islamic constitution that among other things safeguards women’s rights,” he said.

If it's "shari'a-based," it will safeguard "women's rights" by giving them the legal status of livestock, forcing them to wear gunny sacks, and confining them to their homes.

For the past three days, Islamic scholars and representatives of Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have been engaged in long discussions centred on the need to introduce democratic civic discourse into Muslim societies.

Syafii Anwar, executive director of International Centre for Islam and Pluralism in Indonesia, argued that Muslim countries should adopt a secular approach to state affairs but insisted that a contextual interpretation of the Koran should be the basis for writing an Islamic constitution.

The basis of Shari'a is that the Koran is the direct, received word of God, thus no man-made law can supersede it. So apparently, what Anwar means by "secular" is enacting a man-made law to reiterate, reaffirm, and reinforce the Koran as the sole source of earthly law.

So much for America's alleged theocracy. Shari'a makes the Christian right look like a pot-smoking, free-loving hippie drum circle.