Homestead mailing list

[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Bill Jones wrote:

> > At 1/22/2005, you wrote:
> >
> > > When will you people get over this blame it all on Clinton and spend 
> > > some
> > > time doing your homework!
> >
> >
> >
> > It is easier to watch Fox news and not think. 
>
>
>
> Sorry but these are just lies.  For one thing, like all the 
> corporate-controlled news, they'd never mention free trade in a 
> negative light.
>
> The free trade agreements signed by BC do far more than eliminate 
> tariffs on imports.  They make it virtually impossible for our 
> government to react when our industries are targeted by foreign 
> interests.  It's perfectly possible to have no tariffs, without a 
> NAFTA or a GATT.  But now corporations have been assured that there 
> can _never_ be a tariff, so they're free to locate factories anywhere.
>
> It surprises me that not a single court at any level has ever ruled 
> that NAFTA and such are de facto treaties with foreign nations and 
> require a 2/3 majority.  They're obviously treaties.  Instead they 
> were rushed through under BC's watch via the Fast Tract legislation, 
> which limited the hours allowed for debate.  The light of day could 
> not be allowed to shine, for very long anyway, on their deeds.  
> Clinton could have easily stopped NAFTA.  He is the one most to blame.
>
> I'd even go farther than that.  Real starry-eyed libs like BC speak 
> glowingly of equalizing the standard of living in the world.  Did he 
> see this as a golden opportunity to weaken the nation he loathes?  
> It's really hard to see how we can win, with both conservatives and 
> liberals giving big corporations everything they could ask for.
>
> When I moved here in the mid-90s, I had no idea who would be elected 
> in 2000.  But all the real liberals (as opposed to check-seeking 
> government employees and slugs paid by the DemNatCom to constantly 
> attack the President) were saying back then that BC's actions would 
> "hollow out" out our industrial base and wreck our country.  And so 
> it's happened.  I moved here because I realized that there was no hope 
> for the future.
>
> Because your heads are pushed so far into the sand, next time you'll 
> also nominate another check stamper who's perfectly happy to go along 
> with whatever corporations have in store for us.
>
> Bill
ttvoivozhd---there is rarely any logic in Presidential or Congressional 
reaction to disaster unless it is spectacular one---WTO and GATT do more 
damage to the U.S.each day than the so far one-time destruction of the 
World  Trade Center did.    Enough blame to go around too.  Clinton 
started the ball rolling, Bush#1 could have stopped WTO and 
GATT---absolutely refused to do so, and you can search until you are 
blue in the face and you  won't find Bush #2 doing or saying anything in 
opposition to WTO or GATT.  WTO is too handy as a cover'  He can pretend 
he is protecting U.S. steel producers and practically non-existent U.S. 
producers of dimensional lumber by levying tariffs on foreign steel and 
Canadian lumber in a blaze of publicity---and when a gullible publlic 
forgets all about it in a few weeks, he cancels the tariffs to avoid WTO 
trade sanctions.  Meanwhile thousands of small steel fabricators are 
driven out of business,, and building contractors have an added lumber 
cost of $2500 per house they have to eat on housebuilding 
contracts.already signed and being built.




http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=6824&secID=1038&catID=126
 (Clinton duplicity on NAFTA promises to get Congressional votes)

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7108&secID=1912&catID=126
 (more detail from Public Citizen)

http://www2.siliconv.com/siliconv/trade/tradepapers/lobbying.html
  (huge corporation bribes to buy Congress to pass NAFTA)

http://www.gnp.org/house-votes.htm
 Voting record, House on NAFTA, GATT)

http://www.stoptheftaa.org/docs/tpi.pdf
(House AND Senate votes)

http://www.stoptheftaa.org/docs/tpi.pdf
  (Appeal to George Bush to stop transfer of U.S. sovereignty to 
WTO---Bush ignored their appeal---didn.t even acknowledge it.)

> _