http://presidentbyamendment.com/libris/lebanon.txt

Rick Hohensee's first sketch suggested plan for Lebanon national bankruptcy proceeding. New constitution included.


Context
wikipedia :
Although it was meant to be a temporary solution "Until such time as the Legislature enacts new electoral laws on a non-confessional basis",[5]Â more than eighty years later confessionalism is still the system of government implemented in Lebanon. All
posts in government and seats in the legislature are apportioned amongst different religious groups according to a political agreement, as the relative demographic weight of those groups is unknown.[6


Precepts...
Officers of a bankrupt nation are bankrupt.

Votes only count on paper.

Religious freedom requires a secular government.

You need an independent judiciary.

accountability is a miracle drug.

Plan...

Tell the military I said to find a vacant school, military barracks, warehouse or similar and lock up the whole legislature , national court, government ministers, and their families. Release their families as soon as their homes have been inspected,
inventoried, and searched. Do not let their families flee Lebanon if they haven't already. Rick said. These officers are "the bankrupts". This is a bankruptcy proceeding. After this is over these officers may be exiled from Lebanon. Basically, they are
to be released when there is reason to believe their assets have been recovered.

install me as transient dictator in the Lebanese embassy in dc. If I'm not done in 6 months, release the bankrupts.

hold elections for local interim judges immediately. or i will appoint some.

Have them appoint a national bankruptcy court to distribute the assets of the incarcerated officers.

and an interim national court.

use them as an advisory council.

Declare a constitution with single house population-proportioned legislative body, with about 50 seats, regularly periodic elections, a regularly periodically elected local judiciary that elects the national judges, and an elected chief magistrate, term
limited. Make an auditer a full fourth branch. No non-interim officer of the civil government may hold office in the military. The head of the military will report to the elected Administrator.

Rough sketch, but a plan. Lebanon needs a plan by somebody impartial. Lebanon also needs a simple expression of its will, i.e. a single representative. I'm available immediately.

**********"**************==cx**==*=****************
CONSTITUTION OF LEBANON
*******"**************==cx**==*=****************
CONSTITUTION OF LEBANON*******"**************==cx**==*=**************** CONSTITUTION OF LEBANON
(This may contain some residue from
The ICL edition of the constitution of the Republic of Lebanon.) *******"**************==cx**==*=****************
CONSTITUTION OF LEBANON
 *******"**************==cx**==*=****************
CONSTITUTION OF LEBANON

[the first thing in my US Constitution proposal is a statement that the use of male pronouns is an accident of English and does not imply a gender preference for anything. Does Arabic need that? )
(
Governates, districts, and local legal precedents are subordinate to the national government, but are not changed significantly. Local judges are now elected, but locally.)


THE STATE

We, the Lebanese people, do hereby constitute The State of Lebanon with this sovereign Act. This Constitition is therefor the supreme law of The State of Lebanon. We may further express Our sovereign will and Amend it at any time, to any extent, by
national referendum vote held for the purpose. For stability, Amendment shall require a five eighths supermajority of votes cast accountably by citizens.

Lebanon the country is the area within it's well known ancient and aknowledged historical borders. Other areas wishing to become part of the State of Lebanon may be included into this nation by act of the Legislature. No part of the historical country
Lebanon may secede or be alienated from the State of Lebanon.

The State of Lebanon is a free and independent nation. The Lebanese citizenry are sovereign; the State is their servant, and has no immunity from legal process by individual citizens.

Treaties the Republic of Lebanon was a party to prior to this Act remain in force upon the State of Lebanon at the time of this Act at statutory status, subject to review of the Legislature as if statute.

Legal jurisdiction beneath the national government purview is in existing defined geographical local jurisdictions. National statute applies everywhere, and no local law, regardless of antiquity, shall abrogate national law.

The State of Lebanon is a government of four main branches; the Legislature, the Judiciary, the Administration, and the College of Auditeurs. All main civil officers are elected by citizens.

This Constitution is enforceable in the version approved in the Arabic (I presume that's the popular preference) language. Statute and local law may be in whatever language or dialect is most convenient locally.

The four branches of government shall convene in Beirut, unless extraordinary events demand that the Administrator convene any of them elsewhere.

Officers of the State of Lebanon defined in this Act have no right of privacy as far as personal income is concerned, during their mandate and for three years thereafter. Special accounts with automatic publication of payments recieved shall be created
at banks to publicize their incomes without publicizing their expenditures.

The boundaries of the administrative areas may not be modified except by law.

The Lebanese flag is composed of three horizontal stripes, a white stripe between two red ones. The width of the stripes is equal. To the side near the flagpole and occupying one sixth width of the white stripe is a green Cedrus libani tree with its
top touching the upper red stripe and its base touching the lower red stripe. Next to the cedar, and about the same size, in the fifth sixth of the white stripe, is a diagram of a tetrahedral molecule, with two atoms (solid circles) touching the lower
stripe, one touching the upper stripe, one in the exact middle of the other three, all four linked to all others by lines. The molecule shall be in dark grey, with all four atoms the same size, the outer three forming an equilateral triangle.

The four branches of government shall convene in Beirut, unless extraordinary events demand that the Administrator convene them elsewhere.

Each of the four branches of government shall have its own police forces as necessary, but the Administration is the branch enforcing the law generally. Arrest warrants of government officials issued by the College of Auditeurs shall be enforced by any
and all national police, including the Administrator's personal guards. Arrest warrants issued by the Judiciary shall be supported in other branches.

Officers of the State of Lebanon will be given the power to lead, and will be expected to do so, providing a functional, representative government.

Topic II. The Rights and Duties of the Citizen

Lebanese territory is one for all Lebanese. Every Lebanese citizen has the right to live in any part of it and to enjoy the protection of law wherever he resides. There is no segregation of the people on the basis of any type of belonging, and no
fragmentation, partition, or colonization.

Lebanese State citizenhood and the manner in which it is aquired, retained, and lost is to be determined uniformly in accordance with the law.

Non-citizens shall have basic human rights, such as protection from crime, and guaranteed pay for work performed, even if the employment is illegal by the employer.

All Lebanese citizens are equal before the law. They equally enjoy civil and political rights and equally are bound by public obligations and duties without any distinction. There is no nobility status possible or any other exemption from the rule of
law.

Individual liberty is guaranteed and protected by law. No citizen may be arrested, imprisoned, or kept in custody except according to the provisions of the law. No offense may be established or penalty imposed except by law. No law shall
criminalize an individual, or criminalize something after the fact, except in this Act itself, as for example Us declaring in this Act (see below) that government officials are without property rights after the fact of Our national bankruptcy, that being
within Our limitless sovereign prerogatives.
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Private or local government schools may teach a specific philosophy, but no national government revenues shall go to private schools or significantly non-secular local schools.

There shall be absolute freedom of conscience, which requires a substantially secular national government.

Every Lebanese has the right to hold public office, no preference being made except on the basis of merit and competence, according to the conditions established by law.

The freedom to express one's opinion orally or in writing, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of association are guaranteed within the limits established by law.

The citizen's place of residence is inviolable. No one may enter it except in the circumstances and manners prescribed by law, with warrant issued by a judge, except in clear cases of violent crimes in progress.

No one's property may be expropriated except in cases established by law and after fair compensation has been paid beforehand. Property taken for use with a private benefit component, such as a ticketed sports event facility, shall be compensated at
twice market value.

The main officials of a bankrupt nation are themselves bankrupt, and have property rights at the time of the bankruptcy proceeding only necessary for the subsistence and employability of themselves and their dependents.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the Armed Forces or National Guards, when in actual service in time of war or public danger;
nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;

nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,

nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

No criminal confession is legally admissable except one made without duress, in open court, before three judges.

As the epitome of cowardice, torture is illegal and always will be. Torture of convicts or detainees is the equivalent of one life sentence served by the victim.

No government aid, charge, tax, burthen or fees shall be rated or levied, under any pretense, without the consent of the Legislature.

JUDICIARY

Judges of local courts shall be elected by the citizenry on a regular six year periodic system. Judges of standing national courts shall be elected by local judges one year after they, the local judges, are elected, or when vacancies arise.

The highest court may strike down statutes it determines to be in disagreement with this Act, and shall try indictments of officers made by the College of Auditeurs, or criminal complaints against foreign ambassadors. The highest court shall consist of
at least thirteen judges when sitting en banc. The high court is also the final appeals court.

There shall be a national elections court, described further under the ELECTIONS heading.

LEGISLATURE

Statute is law not in this Constitution but passed into law explicitly, rather than derived from judicial tradition. The power to pass and abolish nationwide statute is vested in a population proportional representative body, the Legislature.

The Legislature shall have 40 to 50 regular seats, representing election districts of approximately equal voter turnout in the elections since the College of Auditeurs last set the district boundaries. There shall also be four at-large Legislators, who
serve eight year terms, each term ending in a different year, so that one at-large Legislator is up for election every two years. One seat also is appointed by the Administrator, and serves at his pleasure and during his term.

The Legislature meets each year in two ordinary sessions. The first session opens on the first Tuesday following 15 March and continues until the end of May. The second session begins on the first Tuesday following Oct. 15.
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The Administrator may summon the Legislature to extraordinary sessions by a Decree specifying the dates of the opening and closing of the extraordinary sessions as well as the agenda. The Administrator is required to convoke the Legislature if an
absolute majority of the total membership so requests.
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The Legislature shall elect and name its officers, but for example "administrator" is advised against.

All votes shall be recorded and published, except those deemed by a majority of Legislators present to require secrecy. The results of secret votes shall be reported, secretly, to the College of Auditors.

No Legislator may be prosecuted because of ideas and opinions expressed during the period of his mandate.

Should a seat in the Legislature become vacant, the election of a successor begins within two months. The mandate of the new member does not exceed that of the old member whose place he is taking. Should the seat in the Legislature become vacant
during the last six months of its mandate, no successor need be elected.
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Members of the Legislature may only vote when they are present at the meeting. Voting by proxy shall not be permitted.

The Legislature has the exclusive right to maintain order in its meetings.

Petitions to the Legislature may not be presented except in writing. They may not be presented verbally or at the bar of the Legislature.

A quorum for internal business of the Legislature is a simple majority. Passage of Statute requires a vote of a simple majority of Legislators seated and under oath, regardless of the number voting.

The Legislature may impeach, i.e. remove from office, any government officer including the Administrator or a Legislator, on a vote of three fourths. An impeachment of an Administator also removes his Vice Administrator. Impeachment is not a criminal
conviction, nor does it prevent any.

Legislators shall be at least 25 years old and ten years a resident of Lebanon.

ADMINISTRATION

Performance of the general duties of the national government shall be led by an Administrator, who shall be elected. He shall enforce the laws of the nation, being most stringent upon the Administration, and shall command the armed forces. The
Administrator may appoint or dismiss ministers and military officers needed.

The Administrator is the head of the state and the symbol of the nation's unity. He shall give coherence to the Administration. He shall safeguard this Constitution and Lebanon's independence, unity, and territorial integrity. The Administrator shall
preside over the Supreme Defense Council and be the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The Administrator's term is for six years. He may not be re-elected until six years after the expiration of his last mandate. The Administrator shall be at least 30 years old, must be a citizen of Lebanon only, and must have lived in Lebanon for 20 years.

The military and the Administrator shall observe purely defensive rules of engagement with foreign powers in the absence of a declaration of war by the Legislature.

The Administrator sets policy for the Administration, where choices of action arise not detailed by law. This is the puview of executive orders.

The Administrator may issue pardons for crimes commited,
but a general amnesty cannot be granted except by a law.
He may not pardon crimes commited while employed by the Administration, as employee or agent,

He accredits ambassadors and accept the credentials of ambassadors,

He presides over official functions and grants official decorations by Decree,

He addresses, when necessary, letters to the Legislature.

The Administrator may adjourn the Legislature for a period not exceeding one month, but he may not do so twice during the same session.
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There shall be no declared state of emergency, or rather, such a declaration has no effect on the law. If an emergency exists, the Administrator shall act accordingly, and may be judged in due time by the College and or high court on whether or not his
illegal actions, if any, were necessary and appropriate.

There is no such thing as martial law. An attempt to declare such by for example an Administrator or military officer is the utter defiling of their mortal oath of office.

There shall be a chain of succession, defined by law after Vice Administrator, and linked to standing offices, to immediately assume the office in the case of vacancy or debility of the Administrator. The Administrator may appoint and dismiss one Vice
Administrator as next in line, and may delegate such authority to the Vice Administrator as he sees fit.

COLLEGE OF AUDITEURS

( this is the GAO, the FISA court, the Nixon pardon fix, a trace parliament, and more)

A College of Auditeurs shall be convened every year. It shall be composed of one Auditeur elected by each of the local districts in the State of Lebanon, one auditeur elected by the Judiciary, one elected at large, two extra from the Beirut governate,
and the first five runners up in the most recent election for Administrator. The term of office shall be two years. The runners up for Administrator serve for six years, if they accept the office.

The twentieth part of all national government revenues shall divert automatically and invariably to the College of Auditeurs for continuously auditing the government, and for other purposes. The College shall ensure the payment of government employees,
suppliers and contractors, and the execution of mandated government functions.

The College shall have regular review of all accounts of the other branches.

The College shall have pardon power over officers of the other three branches, a five eighths supermajority being the margin of pardon.

The College shall set the boundaries of representative districts of the Legislature every 20 years or less. Said boundaries shall be as evenly proportional as possible to voter turnouts of various areas of the country. Legislative districts should be
contiguous and within single governates if possible.

The College may issue a criminal indictment of any officer of the State of Lebanon, including the Administrator, by a supermajority of four fifths. Such an indictment shall constitute removal from office, but conviction is up to the court. Such trial
shall be in the highest national court. The college shall appoint one of its members as lead prosecutor of such a case. If aquitted, no further College warrants are valid upon the aquitted officer and he may resume his mandate if the term has not expired.

The College as a whole may submit written proposals for Legislative Acts to the Legislature, which shall be entered on the Legislature's journal.

The Legislature may vest other powers in the College whenever branch independence appears expedient.

Nothing that any branch of the government does may be kept entirely secret from the College. Auditeurs shall be the judges of whether or not a government secret is in the interest of Us, the sovereign citizenry.

The College of Auditeurs shall divide the government into no more than 200 funding entities. See FUNDING for why.

The College shall have full access to any national crime databases, and especially shall have access to the log of who is accessing such databases.

Auditeurs must have been born in Lebanon, and shall present birth certificates at their initial swearing-in.

ELECTIONS

Votes only count on paper.

Every Lebanese citizen who has completed their twenty-first year is an elector. It shall be possible to register to vote on election days.

National non-interim elections shall be at polls open for 12 hours on a Saturday and 8 hours on the subsequent Sunday. Election day is a weekend.

Plain paper and pens shall be available to vote with, optionally in addition to other means of affixing votes to paper.

A court of elections shall be convened as necessary to provide assessment of all citizen voter elections, to be judged on the evidence.

The court of elections may reject votes of entire ballot boxes, polls, districts, or governates showing vote improprieties, and shall have all other powers necessary to ensure that the will of the electorate is manifested in timely fashion.

Election results shall be as declared by the court of elections.

Voting shall be on approval basis, one vote per candidate per voter. Plurality shall be the margin of election.

The selection of national judges by local judges shall be per rules voted on by the entire judiciary.

COMPENSATIONS

All employees of the State of Lebanon shall be well compensated, at rates explicitly defined by law. The rate of pay of the Legislature shall not increase until an election has occured after the law is passed raising their incomes. The Legislature shall
not receive scheduled cost of living raises.

There shall be a survey of rates of pay of municipal police officers across Lebanon. The average shall be the par rate for constitutional officers' compensations. Legislators, Auditeurs, national judges, heads of Administrative departments and Vice
Administrators shall be paid not less than twice par, but not as much as six times par. The Administrator shall be paid not less than seven times par, nor as much as fifteen times par.

OATHS

All holders of civil offices defined explicitly in this Act and all military officers shall proclaim and be holdable to a mortal oath to protect and defend this Constitution.
For example, "I promise on my life that in the office I am about to occupy I will without exception protect and defend the will of the Lebanese people, as expressed in the Constitution of the State of Lebanon." Individuals may cite their prefered deities
and spirits if they wish to solicit their help.

FUNDING

No public taxes may be imposed and no new taxes established or collected in the Lebanese Republic except by a comprehensive law which applies to the entire Lebanese territory without exception.

No tax may be modified or abolished except by virtue of law.

No public loan or undertaking involving an expenditure from the treasury funds may be contracted except by law.

No contract or concession for the exploitation of the natural resources of the country, or a public utility service, or a monopoly may be granted except by virtue of a law and for a limited period.

Appropriations of national funds by the Legislature shall be no more specific than the gross annual budget of each defined Funding Entity as defined by the Auditeurs. Exactly how that money is spent within a particular agency shall be entirely the
purview of the pertinent Administration officers. The Legislature shall be informed exactly how it was spent annually, from which information they may determine the next year's gross appropiation for the agency in question.

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