Word: drafting
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...most rapt expression of the Pope's enthusiasm for the U.S. came in a high-minded 2004 dialogue with the president of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera, published as the book Without Roots. It bemoans the European Union's refusal to acknowledge Christianity in a draft constitution, and Pera wonders about bringing back some kind of multidenominational "Christian civil religion." In response, Ratzinger cites Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and makes the case that America's Founding Fathers were pious men of different denominations who wrote the First Amendment prohibiting state establishment (that is, sponsorship) of religion precisely...
...Serbia, but because it was not yet a state, it wasn't allowed a seat at the table when the U.N. Security Council discussed the issue. ID tapped contacts inside the talks to keep Kosovars in the loop and made sure important points were addressed by, for example, helping draft letters to the negotiators. In February, Kosovo declared its independence and became an ID success story...
...Daniel Bellemare, a Canadian. Its contents were keenly awaited to see if he would be more forthcoming than his tight-lipped Belgian predecessor, Serge Brammertz. The original investigator, Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor, produced two sensational reports during his six-month tenure that read more like crime thrillers. A draft version of the first report in October 2005 even named four leading Syrian security officials as suspects. Mehlis also advised the Lebanese authorities to detain four top Lebanese generals who were close to Syria. They have been held without charge in a Beirut prison since August...
...courtyard of the town's temple. Buddhism is central to life in this tiny Himalayan kingdom, and temple grounds are regularly used for town meetings. Just then, a local election official called with news: no political party could hold a meeting near a temple, since the brand-new draft constitution separates church and state, much as the U.S.'s does. The party organizer argued that the choice of venue had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the temple's nice lawn and handy power outlets. But a rule's a rule, so campaign workers tore down...
...election have nearly identical platforms, but accusations (mild by Western standards) of influence-peddling and smear tactics have begun to enter the discourse, and people are worrying that Bhutan's close-knit society will suffer. Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye, Bhutan's Chief Justice and the main architect of the draft constitution, understands that there should be political debate but laments that differences are splitting villages and even families. "I don't think we should be enslaved to the nature of politics," he says...