By 
Its show time and showdown in Egypt today. Voters are preparing to go to the polls again Saturday, Dec. 15 to approve or disapprove President Mohammed Morsi's hastily drafted new constitution.
Critics argue the constitution makes Morsi a dictator, far worse than former President Hosni Mubarek. The 80-year-old Muslim Brotherhood put Morsi in power in a June runoff election this year.
The Brotherhood maintains Morsi's constitution was drafted to help lead the country to a "true democracy" in the Middle East.
You have to be deaf, blind and tipsy to think the Brotherhood won't stack the deal again to have Morsi's constitution approved. If it is, Morsi will have the clout to throw out some or all of the 718 members that make up Egypt's parliament.
The parliament is composed of the People's Assembly ("Majlis Al-Sha'ab"), a 454-member lower house and the Shura Council ("Majlis Al-Shura"), a 264-member upper house. The Brotherhood controls 50 percent of Parliament.
So you know right away that even a second drafted constitution by either parliament or Morsi will favor the Islamist Brotherhood. Right now, Morsi's constitution handcuffs freedom of the press; limits women's rights; controls the courts; and bans criticism of any sort against the government.
And this, Morsi calls, is a new "democracy" in Egypt's modern history that dates from Feb. 18, 1922 when the country declared its independence from the United Kingdom.
It is to laugh and cry because thousands of innocent lives once again will be wiped out as the country enters an even more modern and dangerous political era.
Tens of thousands today are protesting throughout Egypt, the largest Arab-dominated sphere on the globe with 91 million residents. Online and print media are blacking out some of their publications also as a protest. Women's groups, long suppressed, have also taken to the streets to shout down Muslim Brotherhood activists.
Ten years ago they would have been flogged and put to death for doing so. That was under former President Mubarek's 30-year-old dictatorship. He and his family fled Cairo Feb. 11, 2011 after tumultuous public protesters and Egypt's army generals persuaded him it was time to leave.
And now that same army is again pulling the strings behind the political curtains in Egypt. The generals collectively and individually have confirmed they own real estate throughout Egypt valued in the millions. They want to hold on to that real estate. They want to stay.
But as they remain the power behind the throne, the country daily continues to suffer from an economic cancer. Here is what Morsi faces:
- Tourism and outside commercial and real estate investments are dead.
- Borrowing costs by the government are near records highs of 25 percent.
- The Central Bank has spent almost 75 percent of Egypt's foreign currency reserves.
- Egypt is seeking a $3.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
- The country is concerned over the $1.1 billion in aid it receives annually from the U.S.
- The official unemployment rate is estimated at 25 percent.
- The government budget deficit has surged to 20 percent of gross domestic product.
- Forty percent of the nation's 91 million residents live at the poverty level.
The above points are taken from a number of credible international media sources and analysts who have previously published the information online.
Anyone betting on the Dec. 15 constitution referendum?
Anyone care to visit Egypt on Dec. 15?
Good night, Irene!
