
From Bad to CAFTA to Worse Prison Planet \|\| December 14, 2005 First let me say that I am not a protectionist and fully understand the vital importance of trading with other countries. It should never be at the expense of the poor and middle class while multinational corporations benefit from their misfortune. The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was signed into law by President Bush on August 2. It will bind the United States, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to a set of rules covering trade, investment and much more. It is an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that will result in the loss of more jobs, more industry being shipped overseas, depressed wages and further erosion of sovereignty. It could not pass on its own merits but through heavy arm twisting, lies, treats, bribes and promises it passed Congress by only two votes. It is much more then a trade agreement and is yet another chapter in the merging of a Pan-American Union. On June 30 CAFTA was passed in the senate 54-45. In Congress it was still to close to call that on the day of the vote Bush made a rare appearance on Capital Hill. Also stopping by was Trade Representative Robert Portman joined by vice president Dick Cheney both trying to secure more yes votes. Bush was trying to sell CAFTA as a must for the war on terror, national security, stability and freedom in the Western Hemisphere. With only some in the mainstream media like CNN’s Lou Dobbs covering its very nature CAFTA was mostly ignored and received very little attention. Most that were aware of CAFTA and its consequences were primarily against it. There was a Lou Dobbs poll with the question do you think the Central American Free Trade Agreement should be approved or rejected? 6% approved with 517 votes while 94% rejected it with 7943 votes. With a real chance of CAFTA going down in flames it was time to let the arm breaking , I mean arm twisting begin. Yes the bribes, promises, bridges, parks, dams and little side deals all at an estimated cost of $50 billion. Most was tucked away in the huge energy and highway bills. It was pork barrel politics at its best and worse. Before the vote took place Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay vowed to hold the vote on CAFTA open for as long as it took to get it passed. After much debate it went to a vote and when the 15 minute time period ended it saw CAFTA seemingly defeated 180-175. Many delayed voting maybe to see if they could vote no and abide by the wishes of most of their constituents or the plan could have been to simply buy more time to secure a yes win. Just weeks before Republican Robin Hayes said "I am flat out, completely, horizontally opposed to CAFTA." He had a last minute change of heart and after playing let’s make a deal he flip-flopped and switched his vote from no to yes saying "It was a unique opportunity, and we took it." Republican Joe Wilson also switched his vote to yes. It gets worse Mississippi Republican Charles Taylor said he voted no but an error in the electronic voting system did not register his vote. Many accused him of ducking the vote and trying to have it both ways. The point is this was a very important vote and his would have made it a tie and would have defeated the agreement. Why didn’t he make sure his vote was counted? Another confirmed no was Virginia Republican Jo Ann Davis who on the very day of the vote was attending an event in her district and was unable to make it back for the late night session. In the wee hours of July 28 CAFTA passed 217-215 with 27 Republicans voting against it and 15 Democrats supporting it. Many Congressman simply just sold-out to the back room deals and compromised their own believes and voted against their conscience and turned their backs on many constituents. There is no doubt in my mind that many who voted for CAFTA and especially those who flip-flopped will be signaled out for the traitors that they are and many will be voted out in the 2006 House elections. Bush and the Republicans pulled out all the stops to ensure a CAFTA win and the controversy escalated after its vote with all the oddities and irregularities surrounding its passage which was not an exercise in democracy. CAFTA is part of a destructive cycle in the line of other trade deals that have sacrificed more then they have gained. NAFTA which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico wiped out close to a million American jobs and CAFTA will continue that trend. Before NAFTA Americans enjoyed a $1.3 billion trade surplus with Mexico and it has turned into a $45 billion deficit and with Canada it is over $66 billion. There were also promises that NAFTA would stem the tide of illegal immigration and make it easier to control and that clearly hasn’t happened. CAFTA will further undermine immigration laws giving international tribunals the power to rule against Congress on such manners which they would then have to change or face sanctions. These same tribunals will have the authority on U.S. immigration limits and visa requirements. You see CAFTA is not about fair or free trade how else would you explain 2400 pages of extraordinary legal entanglement. It was yet another way to smuggle through a new set of transnational corporate rights. CAFTA once ratified in all the countries will give them immediate access to U.S. food markets while America’s access will be phased in over 10-20 year period. It masquerades as a free trade agreement but is more of a huge transfer of wealth to the region. It will in fact increase some trade barriers while lowering others. Louisiana Democrat Charlie Melancon said "We’ve given away textiles, we’ve given away steel. We’ve given away fruits and vegetables. Now let’s just go ahead and give away everything and be dependent on every other country for our food and our defense." CAFTA will continue to undermine America’s ability to control its own economic independence. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com Under CAFTA multinational corporations will have the power to challenge environmental and public interest laws in the U.S. and other signing nations. It also includes rules that promote privatization and deregulation of services including education, health care, agriculture, water and others. It will allow these same multinational corporations to exploit the abundance of cheap labor, less taxes and a lack of safety regulations. It fails to really protect the rights of these poor workers and they won’t even be able to afford to buy the products they are assembling. It will act as an outsourcing agreement and will gut all buy American laws. Georgia Republican Charlie Norwood said" At every turn this bill seeks to wipe out American laws in favor of CAFTA and other world trade agreement rules." These trade deals cede more control of U.S. trade policies to international bodies of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. It is all designed to wipe out the ability of Americans to govern themselves. These international tribunals along with the World Trade Organization (WTO) are effectively taking more control while Americans further shed their national sovereignty. The WTO was ratified in 1994 and like NAFTA and now CAFTA it undermines Americans sovereignty. It is fundamentally undemocratic and has the power to order Congress to change its tax and trade laws. It has allowed for the domination of Americas trade policies by multinational corporations and is another piece of the puzzle on the step towards total global, central economic governance. By its own admissions the WTO is much more then about trade but it is about the transfer of wealth from rich to poor countries. Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich who supported the WTO said "We need to be honest about the fact that we are transferring from the United States, at a practical level significant authority to a new organization." It didn’t stop him from voting for it but many others including some in government are waking up to the true reality and horrors of the WTO. There was a real ground swell of grassroots resentment towards CAFTA which saw it almost defeated even in the face of intense lobbying, arm twisting and vote buying. It saw Democrats, Republicans, some in the union movement, the sugar industry, textile manufacturers, environmental groups, solidarity activists and human right organizations strongly opposed to its dangers. When it comes to any of these trade agreements we aren’t even being given a real opportunity to discuss or even vote on them. The reason is that most would never support an agenda that would cease more national identity, create even higher trade deficits with more job loss and industries leaving for cheaper labor markets. They serve the interests of ruthless multinational corporations at the expense of the poor and ever dwindling middle class. These trade deals are more then just about trade and economics but a huge step towards total open borders, a merging political union and the loss of more sovereignty. This is evident in the continued merging and integration of the United States, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union. CAFTA is but a stepping stone to the Free Trade Area of the Americas which would create a 34 nation free trade bloc and a Pan –American Union integrated market. In 1993 former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that NAFTA was the "Architecture of a new international system, a step forward toward a new world order." It’s about setting up a European Union style government with no borders and in its finale global conclusion will culminate into a one world government. All is not lost their agenda has been staled and pushed back with great resistance and we need to build upon the closeness of the CAFTA battle if we are to derail and defeat the coming FTAA. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
In Depth The Number 1 Reason YOU became a Slave Knowledge Driven Look at Your Favorite Canadian Political Parties Coming Soon: 9-11
Archive October November December 2005 27 28 29 30 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Weekly Features

From Bad to CAFTA to Worse

Prison Planet || December 14, 2005

First let me say that I am not a protectionist and fully understand the vital importance of trading with other countries. It should never be at the expense of the poor and middle class while multinational corporations benefit from their misfortune. The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was signed into law by President Bush on August 2. It will bind the United States, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to a set of rules covering trade, investment and much more. It is an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that will result in the loss of more jobs, more industry being shipped overseas, depressed wages and further erosion of sovereignty. It could not pass on its own merits but through heavy arm twisting, lies, treats, bribes and promises it passed Congress by only two votes. It is much more then a trade agreement and is yet another chapter in the merging of a Pan-American Union.

On June 30 CAFTA was passed in the senate 54-45. In Congress it was still to close to call that on the day of the vote Bush made a rare appearance on Capital Hill. Also stopping by was Trade Representative Robert Portman joined by vice president Dick Cheney both trying to secure more yes votes. Bush was trying to sell CAFTA as a must for the war on terror, national security, stability and freedom in the Western Hemisphere. With only some in the mainstream media like CNN’s Lou Dobbs covering its very nature CAFTA was mostly ignored and received very little attention. Most that were aware of CAFTA and its consequences were primarily against it. There was a Lou Dobbs poll with the question do you think the Central American Free Trade Agreement should be approved or rejected? 6% approved with 517 votes while 94% rejected it with 7943 votes. With a real chance of CAFTA going down in flames it was time to let the arm breaking , I mean arm twisting begin. Yes the bribes, promises, bridges, parks, dams and little side deals all at an estimated cost of $50 billion. Most was tucked away in the huge energy and highway bills. It was pork barrel politics at its best and worse.

Before the vote took place Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay vowed to hold the vote on CAFTA open for as long as it took to get it passed. After much debate it went to a vote and when the 15 minute time period ended it saw CAFTA seemingly defeated 180-175. Many delayed voting maybe to see if they could vote no and abide by the wishes of most of their constituents or the plan could have been to simply buy more time to secure a yes win. Just weeks before Republican Robin Hayes said "I am flat out, completely, horizontally opposed to CAFTA." He had a last minute change of heart and after playing let’s make a deal he flip-flopped and switched his vote from no to yes saying "It was a unique opportunity, and we took it." Republican Joe Wilson also switched his vote to yes. It gets worse Mississippi Republican Charles Taylor said he voted no but an error in the electronic voting system did not register his vote. Many accused him of ducking the vote and trying to have it both ways. The point is this was a very important vote and his would have made it a tie and would have defeated the agreement. Why didn’t he make sure his vote was counted? Another confirmed no was Virginia Republican Jo Ann Davis who on the very day of the vote was attending an event in her district and was unable to make it back for the late night session. In the wee hours of July 28 CAFTA passed 217-215 with 27 Republicans voting against it and 15 Democrats supporting it. Many Congressman simply just sold-out to the back room deals and compromised their own believes and voted against their conscience and turned their backs on many constituents. There is no doubt in my mind that many who voted for CAFTA and especially those who flip-flopped will be signaled out for the traitors that they are and many will be voted out in the 2006 House elections. Bush and the Republicans pulled out all the stops to ensure a CAFTA win and the controversy escalated after its vote with all the oddities and irregularities surrounding its passage which was not an exercise in democracy.

CAFTA is part of a destructive cycle in the line of other trade deals that have sacrificed more then they have gained. NAFTA which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico wiped out close to a million American jobs and CAFTA will continue that trend. Before NAFTA Americans enjoyed a $1.3 billion trade surplus with Mexico and it has turned into a $45 billion deficit and with Canada it is over $66 billion. There were also promises that NAFTA would stem the tide of illegal immigration and make it easier to control and that clearly hasn’t happened. CAFTA will further undermine immigration laws giving international tribunals the power to rule against Congress on such manners which they would then have to change or face sanctions. These same tribunals will have the authority on U.S. immigration limits and visa requirements. You see CAFTA is not about fair or free trade how else would you explain 2400 pages of extraordinary legal entanglement. It was yet another way to smuggle through a new set of transnational corporate rights. CAFTA once ratified in all the countries will give them immediate access to U.S. food markets while America’s access will be phased in over 10-20 year period. It masquerades as a free trade agreement but is more of a huge transfer of wealth to the region. It will in fact increase some trade barriers while lowering others. Louisiana Democrat Charlie Melancon said "We’ve given away textiles, we’ve given away steel. We’ve given away fruits and vegetables. Now let’s just go ahead and give away everything and be dependent on every other country for our food and our defense." CAFTA will continue to undermine America’s ability to control its own economic independence.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

Under CAFTA multinational corporations will have the power to challenge environmental and public interest laws in the U.S. and other signing nations. It also includes rules that promote privatization and deregulation of services including education, health care, agriculture, water and others. It will allow these same multinational corporations to exploit the abundance of cheap labor, less taxes and a lack of safety regulations. It fails to really protect the rights of these poor workers and they won’t even be able to afford to buy the products they are assembling. It will act as an outsourcing agreement and will gut all buy American laws. Georgia Republican Charlie Norwood said" At every turn this bill seeks to wipe out American laws in favor of CAFTA and other world trade agreement rules." These trade deals cede more control of U.S. trade policies to international bodies of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. It is all designed to wipe out the ability of Americans to govern themselves. These international tribunals along with the World Trade Organization (WTO) are effectively taking more control while Americans further shed their national sovereignty.

The WTO was ratified in 1994 and like NAFTA and now CAFTA it undermines Americans sovereignty. It is fundamentally undemocratic and has the power to order Congress to change its tax and trade laws. It has allowed for the domination of Americas trade policies by multinational corporations and is another piece of the puzzle on the step towards total global, central economic governance. By its own admissions the WTO is much more then about trade but it is about the transfer of wealth from rich to poor countries. Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich who supported the WTO said "We need to be honest about the fact that we are transferring from the United States, at a practical level significant authority to a new organization." It didn’t stop him from voting for it but many others including some in government are waking up to the true reality and horrors of the WTO.

There was a real ground swell of grassroots resentment towards CAFTA which saw it almost defeated even in the face of intense lobbying, arm twisting and vote buying. It saw Democrats, Republicans, some in the union movement, the sugar industry, textile manufacturers, environmental groups, solidarity activists and human right organizations strongly opposed to its dangers. When it comes to any of these trade agreements we aren’t even being given a real opportunity to discuss or even vote on them. The reason is that most would never support an agenda that would cease more national identity, create even higher trade deficits with more job loss and industries leaving for cheaper labor markets. They serve the interests of ruthless multinational corporations at the expense of the poor and ever dwindling middle class. These trade deals are more then just about trade and economics but a huge step towards total open borders, a merging political union and the loss of more sovereignty. This is evident in the continued merging and integration of the United States, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union. CAFTA is but a stepping stone to the Free Trade Area of the Americas which would create a 34 nation free trade bloc and a Pan –American Union integrated market. In 1993 former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that NAFTA was the "Architecture of a new international system, a step forward toward a new world order." It’s about setting up a European Union style government with no borders and in its finale global conclusion will culminate into a one world government. All is not lost their agenda has been staled and pushed back with great resistance and we need to build upon the closeness of the CAFTA battle if we are to derail and defeat the coming FTAA.

About KDR | | Home | | Weekly Features Archive

Weekly

Chicken Little Terrorist: Fake Terror Tapes

Weekly Features Archive

In Depth

The Number 1 Reason YOU became a Slave

Knowledge Driven Look at Your Favorite Canadian Political Parties

Coming Soon:

9-11