From Mousqueton´s very fine plume...

"I sincerely believe that, on December 2, all Venezuelans who believe in freedom and democracy have no choice but to take a stance and vote regardless of what the outcome of the election is and even though there are strong indications that the election will be fraudulent. As I said before, in matters of principle you can not stand on the sidelines and avoid taking a stance if at all, to let the tyrant know that the will and determination of those who believe in freedom is not and will never be broken."

-Mousqueton, from Stars, Stripes and Stains.

My fellow friend Mousqueton, who writes in his/her own blog "Stars, Stripes and Stains", definitely can sell ice on the North Pole if he/she wants to.

He/she wrote a great piece in detail about the legal process of this constitutional referendum, and why he/she thinks it is necessary going to vote, even though this is process filled up with many unconstitutional illegalities, committed by the National Assembly:

"In the current process the National Assembly has not complied with discussing the President’s constitutional reform “initiative” in three separate sessions as mandated in article 343 of the constitution. The approval of the “initiative” is therefore unconstitutional and illegal.

Further, the National Assembly has illegally and unconstitutionally modified the Presidential constitutional reform “initiative” by introducing additional articles to such initiative without having the power to do so. The constitutional reform therefore is not anymore a Presidential “initiative” and it is not a National Assembly “initiative” either since it has not been properly filed and/or discussed as such. By doing so the National Assembly has arrogated on themselves powers that are only granted by the constitution to the members of a National Constituent Assembly.

Last but not least, the National assembly has made a mockery of the constitutional reform process by sponsoring a national debate that was a useless and futile travesty because under the constitution no change could be made to the President’s constitutional reform “initiative” once it was filed with the National Assembly. As a matter of fact, it is the President who should have encouraged that debate before sending his constitutional reform “initiative” to the National Assembly when changes could have been introduced.

(...)

Instead of this simple and clean violation of the constitution the National Assembly decided to mess up the process and now the government is tangled up with an illegal and unconstitutional reform “initiative”, an illegal and unconstitutional approval of the reform “initiative” by the National Assembly and, hence, an illegal and unconstitutional referendum.

By doing so, under article 139 of the Bolivarian Constitution, every single member of the National Assembly that participated in the illegal approval of the constitutional reform is personally liable under the law for abuse of power, deviation of power and violation of the constitution. In this case, not even article 199 will shield them from that responsibility.

By any account what has happened with this constitutional reform is absolutely amazing. So much so, that if I was the government I would be desperately supporting the NO vote to get me out of this gigantic constitutional and legal nightmare.

One thing is sure though, if the referendum takes place and the reform is approved, the government of Venezuela will not be able to call itself democratic anymore and will certainly loose whatever credibility it has left within the international community."

It is a post full of legal background and I have to say that Mousqueton did a great job making it very easy to read and understand. So please, take your time and give it a read. Mousqueton also reminds us, that the only way the Supreme Court can declare this reform illegal is after it is "approved", if it is. Not that I trust too much on the Chavista Supreme Court, but they are the only ones who can do it. So, in order to make it unconstitutional it has to be approved.

Mousqueton also believes that the best way to make a righteous stand is by going to vote, while mine is simple not participate in this scam. But I have to say, it looks like the majority of the people will vote, so with all my heart I wish they are the ones doing the right thing. And, I think they are. Though I have to clear that even though I think Mousqueton is very right, I think also that the ones who feel like me are also very right not to participate.

"I also want to thank my fellow blogger Feathers for being so stubborn, passionate and uncompromising when it comes to defending her points of view and beliefs. By doing so she encouraged me to write this post and made me realize that I also needed to be reminded of the above concepts."

No prob, I am happy that my stubbornness helped, Mousqueton. Always happy to touch other people´s soul with the light of the muse, :)