So....this is some more disturbing news.
First Congress Member Allowed to Read Secret Treaty Says "There Is No National Security Purpose In Keeping This Text Secret ... This Agreement Hands The Sovereignty of Our Country Over to Corporate Interests"
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/ ... ver-t.html (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/first-congress-member-allowed-to-read-secret-treaty-says-there-is-no-national-security-purpose-in-keeping-this-text-secret-this-agreement-hands-the-sovereignty-of-our-country-over-t.html)
QuoteWe reported last year:
Democratic Senator Wyden – the head of the committee which is supposed to oversee it – is so furious about the lack of access that he has introduced legislation to force disclosure.
Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is so upset by it that he has leaked a document on his website to show what's going on.
What is everyone so furious about?
An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would actually destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and all other signatories.
It is called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
QuoteIndeed, the decision to keep the text of TPP secret was itself classified as secret...
Quote(I have also received a tip from a credible inside source that TPP contains provisions which would severely harm America's national security. Specifically, like some previous, ill-conceived treaties, TPP would allow foreign companies to buy sensitive American assets which could subject us to terror attacks or economic blackmail.)
Yesterday, Congressman Alan Grayson (who knows how to read legislation ... he was a successful lawyer before he was elected to Congress, and has written and co-sponsored numerous bills himself including the bill to audit the Federal Reserve and – most recently – the "Mind Your Own Business Act" to stop NSA spying) announced that he had been allowed to read the text of TPP – and that it is an anti-American power grab by big corporations:
Last month, 10,000 of us submitted comments to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in which we objected to new so-called free trade agreements. We asked that the government not sell out our democracy to corporate interests.
Because of this pressure, the USTR finally let a member of Congress – little ole me, Alan Grayson – actually see the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a large, secret trade agreement that is being negotiated with many countries in East Asia and South America.
The TPP is nicknamed "NAFTA on steroids." Now that I've read it, I can see why. I can't tell you what's in the agreement, because the U.S. Trade Representative calls it classified. But I can tell you two things about it.
1) There is no national security purpose in keeping this text secret.
2) This agreement hands the sovereignty of our country over to corporate interests.
3) What they can't afford to tell the American public is that [the rest of this sentence is classified].
***
I will be fighting this agreement with everything I've got. And I know you'll be there every step of the way.
***
Courage,
Congressman Alan Grayson
Warren on Trans-Pacific Partnership: If people knew what was going on, they would stop it
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/19/w ... d-stop-it/ (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/19/warren-on-trans-pacific-partnership-if-people-knew-what-was-going-on-they-would-stop-it/)
QuoteSenator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Wednesday voiced her opposition to President Barack Obama's top international trade nominee because of a secretive free trade agreement.
"I am deeply concerned about the transparency record of the U.S. Trade Representative and with one ongoing trade agreement in particular — the Trans-Pacific Partnership," she said on the Senate floor.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been negotiated behind closed-doors for years by trade representatives from Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Though the free trade agreement could have wide ranging consequences on workers and consumers, the public only knows a few details of the treaty thanks to leaked documents.
"I have heard the argument that transparency would undermine the Trade Representative's policy to complete the trade agreement because public opposition would be significant," Warren explained. "In other words, if people knew what was going on, they would stop it. This argument is exactly backwards. If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States."
The Senate confirmed Michael Froman as the new United States Trade Representative by a 93-4 vote. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Carl Levin (D-MI) joined Warren in voting no.
I myself have been very skeptical about TPP. The corporations negotiating it do not have the publics best interest at heart.
Quote from: "_Xenu_"I myself have been very skeptical about TPP. The corporations negotiating it do not have the publics best interest at heart.
QuoteFascist corporatism:
Fascism's theory of economic corporatism involved management of sectors of the economy by government or privately controlled organizations (corporations). Each trade union or employer corporation would, theoretically, represent its professional concerns, especially by negotiation of labour contracts and the like. This method, it was theorized, could result in harmony amongst social classes. Authors have noted, however, that de facto economic corporatism was also used to reduce opposition and reward political loyalty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatis ... orporatism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism#Fascist_corporatism)
All this when I was finally starting to feel good. [-( Solitary
Why is it the term 'pirates' springs to mind?
It's nothing new. Read up on the term, 'banana republic'.. AS IF the US government has EVER played by anything even close to fair rules when it comes to corporate interests..
http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/LA260/bananas.htm (http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/LA260/bananas.htm)
I read some disturbing things about TPP. It will supposedly help big pharma 'evergreen' their patents by making tiny changes, robbing the public domain and preventing the creation of generics. The MPAA has a section that criminalizes downloading, not just uploading.
Our love affair with pirates== We love that they break all the rules until those rules they break affect us directly.
I just love what the government's been doing to us lately..... :roll:
Quote from: "Smartmarzipan"I just love what the government's been doing to us lately..... :roll:
Something tells me when the text is released, the Internet will unleash another SOPA style blitzkrieg.
Quote from: "_Xenu_"Quote from: "Smartmarzipan"I just love what the government's been doing to us lately..... :roll:
Something tells me when the text is released, the Internet will unleash another SOPA style blitzkrieg.
And the NSA will record the whole thing! Haaha!....aww....I made myself sad. :(
A bit more info about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Paci ... ontroversy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Strategic_Economic_Partnership#Controversy)