I mentioned it a little bit in another thread, but I thought I'd post it here. I'll be gone for eight days, so I won't be able to respond to any of your messages. When I get back I hope those of you participating in the Olympics have a lot of medals! Bye for now!

The Baranxtuan office has seen to it that a giant screen has been put in place, on which the live broadcast by the FBNCE (First Baranxtuan National Channel - English) can be projected.
Apsani Dehogi, Baranxtuan ambassador and current nervous wreck, ushers in everyone he can find so no one misses the ever so exciting announcement of the official results.

Finally, Izandra Empara, National Election Supervisor, appears on the screen. With a serious voice, she begins talking:
"And now, dear ladies and gentlemen, I am here to announce the official final result of the Baranxtuan legislative elections of 2006.

1,561,296,288 people were legally entitled to vote, of which 1,354,424,530 - or 86.75 per cent - cast their vote. Of these, 1,336,139,799 - or 98.65 per cent - were valid.

Now, for the votes cast for each party:

The Republican People's Party received 271,299,710 votes, or 20.30 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 244 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

The Liberty and Justice Party received 673.627.885 votes, or 50.42 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 606 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

The National Party of the Republic received 14.450.763 votes, or 1.08 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 13 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

The Spiritual Union Party received 207.868.671 votes, or 15.56 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 187 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

Tradition and Economy received 144.507.632 votes, or 10.82 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 130 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

The Conservative Party of Our Holy Traditions received 3.334.792 votes, or 0.25 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 3 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

The Union of Independant Candidates received 21.120.346 votes, or 1.58 per cent of all valid votes. Therefore, they will receive 19 out of the 1202 seats of parliament.

These were the official final results of the Baranxtuan legislative elections, 2006. Thank you, and good night."

Quote: Repeal "The 40 Hour Workweek"

A proposal to repeal a previously passed resolution


Category: Repeal


Resolution: #59


Proposed by: Leg-ends

Description: UN Resolution #59: The 40 Hour Workweek (Category: Social Justice; Strength: Significant) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: The United Nations,

BELIEVING that individuals have the right to choose to work for more than 40 hours per week should they so wish;

OBSERVING that every country has differing, complex socioeconomic conditions;

RECOGNISING that the UN is not as informed as national governments on economic circumstances prevalent in individual nations, and is as such less well placed to effectively accommodate their varying needs;

CONCERNED that "The 40 Hour Workweek" unfairly restricts the economic progress of developing countries, and of small businesses within more developed countries;

BELIEVING that terms and conditions of employment are best decided through negotiations between employees and employers;

FURTHER BELIEVING that the United Nations should where possible not interfere in private negotiations;

CONCLUDING that key economic decisions should be taken at the level where those closest to the issue at hand have the greatest information and understanding of differing economic conditions:

REPEALS "The 40 Hour Workweek".
[/quote]

The original resolution:

Quote: The 40 Hour Workweek

A resolution to reduce income inequality and increase basic welfare.


Category: Social Justice


Strength: Significant


Proposed by: Free Soviets

Description: 1. The maximum standard full-time workweek shall be set at 40 hours. Nations shall remain free to set their workweeks lower than this.

2. No one may be contractually obligated to work more than 40 hours per week, except for the following exemptions,
a ) military personnel
b ) civil defense forces
c ) civilian emergency response personnel
Excepting military personnel, these exemptions shall only apply during emergency situations.

3. No one may be contractually obligated to remain on the worksite without pay.

4. On call hours shall count against the 40 hour limit.

5. Work exceeding 40 hours per week that is voluntarily undertaken shall not exceed a total of 80 hours per week, and shall be paid at a rate of at least time and a half or an equivalent pro-rata time off in lieu. Nations shall remain free to set their allowable overtime hours lower and their overtime pay rates higher than specified in this proposal.

6. The 40 hour week shall be implemented in a manner that does not reduce the standard of living of the workers. Nations shall enact the laws needed to comply with the 40 hour week within 1 year of the passing of this resolution and they may phase in the changes over the course of up to 4 years. The necessary changes must be fully implemented within 5 years of the passing of this resolution.

7. In time of declared emergencies the national government may suspend this directive to any sector of the workforce it deems essential to the effective running of the country for the duration of that emergency.[/quote]

I'd actually like to make a point here. I originally was against the repeal. However, I've looked more closely at the original resolution, and have found an issue with it. Some medical doctors in the U.S. have a contract for a 40-hour week: 30 or so in the office, 5 or so paperwork/organization/etc., and 5 or so as non-working hours to compensate for on-call time, because often times there will be an average of 5 hours of actual work during an on-call time per week. This seems to be a fair set-up. However, it's banned under this resolution, because the doctors are often on call for 15+ hours per week, so that comes to a 50-hour week by contract. That could be really a problem in real life. Just take that into consideration, since it's only based on the set up of the one medical practice I know of.

Quote: Individual Self-Determination

A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights


Strength: Strong


Proposed by: Hirota

Description: Believing every individual has the right to decide their own fate.

Believing no individual should be forced by any person or entity to prolong their own life past the point having any quality of life, if that person is suffering a terminal disease/severe injury and makes a clear, informed decision to end their life.

Mandates:

1: All persons of adult age or over may make the decision to refuse medical treatment for any reason, even if that decision will result in their own death. This includes the signing of DNR (do not resuscitate) orders. The state retains the right to quarantine any person carrying a dangerous communicable disease, and who refuses treatment until that person recovers, accepts treatment, dies naturally, or invokes right to die.

2: All individuals may write a living will stating their wish to invoke right to die in case of future terminal illness or severe accident that may render them incapable of making such wishes known at the time. Living wills may be cancelled or retracted, only by the individual named on them, at any time if the person changes their mind.

3: All persons of adult age or above can at any time invoke a right to die, assisted if necessary, and terminate their own lives if they are suffering a terminal or severe chronic disease or injury that will necessitate the long term use of strong drugs to control pain and/or dependence on others for personal care.

4: Any person who is incapable of making a right to die decision due to their medical condition, but has a living will, must have that will honoured if the conditions in the will match their medical situation. Nations retain the right, and are encouraged to require, that several independent medical assessments by qualified doctors are made of the patient medical state before right to die is carried out.

5: No person may make a right to die decision for another person. Exceptions to this are medical personnel during triage, and parents/guardians of children or adults mentally incapable of making such decisions. In the case of parents/guardians, a nation is strongly encouraged to require that the right to die request go through their legal system to ensure the decision is being made in the best interests of the patient only.

6: No medical professionals may be forced to participate in any form of right to die if it goes against their personal or ethical beliefs. No medical professional may be hindered or prevented from participating in any form of right to die if they agree to be involved.

7: Methods used for right to die must be as humane, painless and fast acting as possible. Starvation, for example, is not permitted.[/quote]

Freedom of Scientific Research

A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.

Category: Human Rights
Strength: Mild
Proposed by: Jey

Description: The United Nations,

RECOGNISING the many benefits of scientific research such as medical drugs, procedures and practices, more environmentally friendly technologies, more efficient and effective time-saving devices,

BELIEVING that scientists should be able to research any legal topic without undue restrictions on the research or the results of that research,

UNDERSTANDING that scientific advances that are made for the betterment of the life of any persons should be available to all UN nations,

The General Assembly hereby:

1. DEFINES for the purpose of this resolution:
- "scientific endeavour" as any scientific theory, procedure, law or any goods derived from scientific research within that UN Member nation, not including any weapons, weapon components, weapon systems, blueprints or technologies whose purpose is of a destructive nature,
- "scientific research" as one or more experiments carried out under the methodology of the Scientific Method to gain data and test a hypothesis,
- "scientific equipment" as any equipment used to aid in scientific research.
- "areas of research" as any topic, methodology or practice that is to be researched or can be used during the research process,
- "scientist" as any person performing scientific research in an honest and straightforward manner with both the government as well as any person taking part in the scientific research,

2. ENCOURAGES nations to promote research into any legal area of research without placing unnecessesary restrictions on that research or any scientific endeavours resultant from such research,

3. MANDATES that governments take the following steps to facilitate scientific research by:

a. ensuring that there are no unnecessary restrictions for buildings where scientific research is performed, apart from restrictions that ensure safety of the building, the people in it and the environment around it,

b. ensuring that obtaining adequate scientific equipment is not prohibited or excessively hampered by government regulations, excluding circumstances where there are specific and substantial safety issues involved,

c. reevaluating restrictions on materials used during scientific research and remove or loosen restrictions on as many materials as it is safe to do so,

4. STRONGLY ENCOURAGES governments to streamline policies and procedures for the legal exportation of scientific endeavours, taking into account international and national Intellectual Property laws,

5. REITERATES governmental rights to determine whether certain areas of research are legal or illegal within their sovereign territory,

6. REITERATES governmental rights to regulate or prohibit distribution of explosives or other dangerous materials, such as radioactive isotopes, that may be used during scientific research, given that these dangerous materials are not prohibited by international legislation.

Authored by: Bazalonia

I borrowed this from another forum. The purpose of this game is to make a statement about the person who will respond below you. The person must say whether it's true or false, then make a statement about the person who will reply below them. For instance:

Me: The person below me has blue eyes.
Next: False. The person below me loves sushi.
Next: True. The person below me..


I'll start:

The person below me likes soccer.

Continue...

It is my sad duty to inform nations of the International Democratic Union of the death of Lady Yssandra Faren, Triumvir of Enn. An article from the Daily Ennial with further information can be read here.

Aside from no longer having Lady Faren as a presence in Enn, there is now a significant problem - who can serve as the next Triumvir of Enn? General Amalya Xzelyn, head of the military, is acting in the role at the moment, but I hope that that will not continue. It would amount to a coup, going against every tradition in Enn.

Lady Faren's cousin and heir apparent to the Lantari fortune, Stephano Faren, can also be counted a possibility, but that would turn Enn into an effective monarchy. Enn had oligarchy, attempted democracy, and found peace with a Triumvirate. We do not want a King.

It is my hope that Lady Faren's seat will become democratic. Enn has long had democratic principles, and I was glad when we joined the International Democratic Union. But a return to autocratic rule would go against all that.

Hannah Sikura,
Secretary of Intra-Regional Affairs, Enn

~~~
OOC: This is the next step in my long thought-of RP that began with Lady Faren visiting the UN. I hope other people will take part in this, to see what road Enn takes. This will involve a wide range of characters from Enn, and concepts from Enn's past.

If anyone from the IDU wants to take part, feel free. International interference in Enn's politics has happened before, and I see no reason for it to end now.

I'd prefer it if people kept mainly to the Jolt thread, that way I don't have to keep checking each place in huge detail.

Lady Yssandra Faren, Triumvir of Enn, least democratic of the Triumvirs (and fiercely proud of it), has decided to visit the United Nations Building over the next several days. She is intending to take part in debate, have an excursion to the Strangers' Bar, and generally see how things have changed in the time since she herself acted as a UN Ambassador.

If possible, Lady Faren would be interested in meeting with representatives from other nations of the International Democratic Union to discuss Enn's views on the United Nations and the IDU itself.

While she is at the UN, her seat on the Triumvirate will be taken by her trusted advisor (and effective head of the Ennish Armed Forces) General Amalya Xzelyn.

Hannah Sikura,
SIRA, Enn.

[OOC: this is part of an RP I've been planning for a while and have been waiting for enough time to carry out. After a few days, a major plot point will occur involving Lady Faren.
I'm putting this here so that the IDU has some sort of warning, as the RP itself could well involve regional members - you'll see when it gets going.
Don't worry, I'm don't want to actually attempt to carry out discussions between nations prior to the aforementioned plot development. That's just a handy reason for Yssandra to be at the UN in the first place.]

I've always wanted to do more with my Miervatian Burrowing Owl NSWiki article, and finally did some serious revamping of the article:

http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/M...n_Burrowing_Owl

I'm not finished. If you'd like the tiny mountain owls to be native in your nations, all I ask is that they live in your mountain regions (even small pockets are fine).

For the nations where I've assumed they exist, you may remove them. You also may talk about if they are endangered (and why if so) or not. If there are special laws concerning the owls, let me know.

In August I'll start working on Ecological maps for all of the IDU (I'll be buying a new computer then and hopefully will have Illustrator CS2 -- I'm taking a class twice a week to learn graphic design)!

In the article, you can see hints of some of the other ecological articles / species I'll be introducing. I'd like to focus more on natural systems for the next few months ... and of course I want to tie our ecologies together!

(OOC 1: Hint: all images are clickable for fun big happy version )
(OOC 2: No, this is not blatant copying from Ceo.)

Since the early legislative elections in Baranxtu were scheduled for July 1 and 2, members of all parites (especially those running for a seat in the parliament) have been up and about, touring the countries or their districts to garner support.
With the growing importance of the IDU for Baranxtu and the Baranxtuan citizens' large interest in the region, the Prime Minister candidates of the five major parties flew to the Free Land of the IDU to introduce themselves to any random diplomats that were unlucky to pass by to the other IDU members.


The five major party's PM candidates pose for group photo.


The first to walk up to the podium was Aimala Boulea, leader and PM candidate for the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP).



"Ladies and Gentlemen, meine Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs, may I first express my gratitude to be able to talk in this place? I am very grateful to my party for chosing me as their candidate in the elections, and I also want to thank you for listening to us.
When I had the position of Foreign Minister, I remember building bridges between Baranxtu and its fellow IDU nations, and being part of forging friendships that will hopefully last. With me as Prime Minister, I promise you to fortify these relations, and that Baranxtu will not disconnect from the rest of the world.
I think that in this modern world, it is pivotal to be able to discuss matters of importance, and to try and find a consensus on any subject. I do not want to lessen the role of national souvereignty, but for the sake of the greater good, I will boldly admit that I am of the opinion that we may have to forgo this privilege from time to time.
Furthermore, I want to quickly discuss this "greater good", a phrase that is undoubtedly thrown around far too often in politics. What is this "greater good"? In short, it is liberty. Both on an individual and on a national basis, what can matter more than liberty?
My party's stance and mine has been for a long time that no personal freedom should be denied as long as it does not interfere with anyone else's, and I will continue to support this viewpoint.
For nothing great can ever be born out of shackles."


Afterwards, it was Suzanne Bourge's turn at the podium. She is the leader of the Republican People's Party (RPP), and considered the proteg? of current PM Htalui Mersagi.



"Personal liberty? It is a charming, if albeit na?ve opinion - at least, as long as it is not taken to this extent. Why, yes, personal liberty is important, but what dear Mrs Boulea kindly forgot to mention was that this greater good she spoke of is actually often endangered by too much personal liberty.
Please, do not misunderstand me - I think personal liberty is a fine and dapper thing. But only as long as it's kept personal. If people start to do whatever they want to in public, we will soon have anarchy - and let's face it, anarchy is not a desirable state.
I say we need stricter involvement of the government - and a stronger stance of supranational organizations may hinder that. I do not say that institutions like the IDU or the UN are superfluous - quite the contrary!
But both should know their place, and not meddle with internal affairs.
Because these interventions are actual shackles - and I agree, nothing can blossom in the dark."


Mme Bourges passed the microphone to Maeneo Aepilai, leader of the Spiritual Union Party (SUP).



"Zāmbahaoli thīkka - blessing upon ye, as we Leumi say.
Now, fret none - I am aware of the separation of religion and state as the IDU says in its charter - but I interpret this as saying nothing against being inspired by religion.
Naturally, I do not support any version of fundamentalism - just to make that clear. But if we follow our respective religions' rules for leading a good life, I think the world could easily be made a better place.
And this is exactly what the SUP and I stand for - a tolerant, spiritual world, where we do not place so much importance and faith in stuff, but in the soul.
Personal liberty is a fine matter, as long as we follow certain rules - striving to do good, striving to be good. As without personal responsibility, I agree with Mme Bourges that our world will descend into anarchy.
But more interference from the government in personal affairs? I doubt that is the path to such a better world. I'd rather the government tries to inspire the citizens, instead of forcing it to do things. Resistance is never helpful."


A stern looking Dareja Simhala from the National Party of the Republic (NPR) was next.



"Personal liberty! Spiritual guidance! Ha!
What my colleagues seem to forget is the essence of what a nation state is about - being one nation, and having absolute souvereignty about it.
The UN and the IDU may be fine for trying to avoid war and strengthen the economy by stabilizing the trade, but that's all they should be there for. Everything else should be one nation's own concern, and not that of gremium of nations, many of which probably do not even know where the nation concerned is.
And when it comes to governing a country efficiently, it does of course not really help to put so many obstacles in legislation's way. Do you know how many languages any law has to be translated into? Five! And during the whole legislation process, legions of interpreters have to be available to translate into six languages - and in some of our provinces, even more.
Is this really what the government should be most concerned with? Seeing to it that no minority, no matter how small, is overlooked?
Because then, money and time will be wasted - at our all expense.
As a PM, I will clean up - everywhere."


At last, Ineia Liala made her way to the podium.



"Isn't it interesting to notice what my fellow talkers have almost forgotten to talk about?
Namely, what makes a government work in the first place - money. And how do we get money? By collecting taxes. And without a strong, successful economy, we won't get too many taxes.
But why did they not mention the economy? Could it possibly, maybe, perhaps be because they have no vision, no plans, no knowledge when it comes to economy?
I, for once, know that my party is the only one focused enough to strengthen and expand our economy, and to walk any further paths from there.
I do partially agree with Dareja that it is important for supranational organizations to play their part in trade - after all, trade is the most basic, and most important, relationship between to countries.
And whereas it is only favorable if all countries work together in the matters of trade and economy, I also do think that the rest should be left to us.
Who else can celebrate our heritage the way we ourselves can? Who else can pay the necessary respect and tribute to those who came before us?
And in these fast moving, modern times, I think it is quite necessary that we focus on these, to. Tradition is a guarantee for constancy. Thank you."


With that, the introductional speeches are done. Now, we are open for questions, comments, criticisms.