tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post1070960336962667670..comments2024-03-27T18:00:02.032-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Fast Track Zero HourKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-60350142211449002342015-06-25T08:36:12.722-04:002015-06-25T08:36:12.722-04:00My understanding is that the four-year secrecy rul...My understanding is that the four-year secrecy rule applies to the chapter on investment state dispute resolutions (the part that allows multinationals to usurp national judiciaries and extract from national treasuries any "lost profits" resulting from, for instance, laws forbidding the sale of tobacco products to Malaysian children.)<br /><br />More here:<br /><br />https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.html<br /><br />I am sure that once "we" are allowed to see the text, it will contain numerous redactions of this for nashnual securiteh poipuses. After all the TPP is an act of economic/military aggression against China as well as against the proles, both here and abroad,Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-61658121534989923312015-06-25T06:22:19.009-04:002015-06-25T06:22:19.009-04:00Black Swan
Not so sure about the releasing the dr...Black Swan<br /><br />Not so sure about the releasing the draft to the public 60 days before the final vote. It is my understanding they won't release the treaty to the public for 4 years after it is signed. <br /><br />Karen? Can you weigh in on this?<br />Valerienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-20039016185036588862015-06-25T01:27:34.276-04:002015-06-25T01:27:34.276-04:00I'm ashamed to live Washington State. I might ...I'm ashamed to live Washington State. I might have even voted for Cantwell or Murray when I was younger. It's disgusting. I emailed and called my Senators and Rep and got nothing but nearly identical memos. The NYTimes comment section is nuts. People are very angry with the Democrats, and especially with Obama. All hell is going to break loose when they have to release the draft to the public 60 days before the final vote.<br /><br />Karen, great comments and great article.The Black Swanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03988752808485377434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-18812520615451214652015-06-24T10:38:38.454-04:002015-06-24T10:38:38.454-04:00Today I received a request for a donation to Ron W...Today I received a request for a donation to Ron Wyden's (D. Oregon)website. Seeing him on the list of senators who supported the fast track and TPP plans, and finding a contact space, I told him why I and others would not support him. I am surprised at his position as Oregon is usually quite progressive.<br /><br />I hope he will hear from other constituents.Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-34487756479064066752015-06-24T10:18:40.925-04:002015-06-24T10:18:40.925-04:00Meredith,
Japanese rice farmers have been organiz...Meredith,<br /><br />Japanese rice farmers have been organizing and protesting the TPP for years. Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-23098499119018851612015-06-24T09:01:42.274-04:002015-06-24T09:01:42.274-04:00"President Obama’s ambitious trade push is ba..."President Obama’s ambitious trade push is back on track, after several near-death moments, in large measure because top Republicans stood by him." The opening paragraph, no sentence, from the Top Stories section of the NYT, 6.24.15. I am dumbstruck. There are some other insightful comments - spot on really, calling out Mr. Obama and his cabal of Senate Democrats for the contemptuous people that they are. i for on keep going back to Kevin Philips prescient book, "American Theocracy" and the wonderful writing of Jane Jacobs in "Dark Age Ahead." Like the Romans and the Brits, the necessary things leading to our demise are falling nicely into place. Ste-vonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-28174020363878346972015-06-24T05:32:24.707-04:002015-06-24T05:32:24.707-04:00Good article in the Guardian about Australia and c...Good article in the Guardian about Australia and concerns about the TPP. My favourite senator, Nick Xenophon is in the middle fighting for the ordinary Australian. Nothing new in terms of information - just giving you a view from Down Under. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/22/labor-greens-and-crossbenchers-concerned-at-trans-pacific-partnershipvalerienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-81226613061158813862015-06-24T02:47:25.924-04:002015-06-24T02:47:25.924-04:00I can only speak to the Australian part of your qu...<br /><br />I can only speak to the Australian part of your question, Meredith.<br /><br />Australians consider themselves "the lucky country," especially after dodging the Great Recession and they genuinely believe that their government is working in their best interest. They vaguely realise that a huge chunk of the manufacturing has been shipped overseas but the mining boom (which is now winding down) has cushioned the worst of this reality for most of the middle and working classes in Australia - and thanks to free trade they can now buy a lot of stuff cheaper than before. Real estate has continued to go up and those who "bought in" ten or fifteen years ago feel that they are quite well off, far better than their parents were at their age. I cannot tell you what a deja vu it is to be living in Australia right now. <br /><br />When I try to talk to the average Australian citizen about the TPP, they haven't heard of it and really don't seem to concerned. China and other developing countries buy our wine and our minerals, we buy their clothing and electronics - free trade is good. <br /><br />However, there are a few people who are waking up and realising the TPP isn't the average trade deal. The ABC (our PBS) has reported on the ISDS and the Sydney Morning Herald (our NYT)has reported mostly about the dangers of the TPP - mainly that Big Pharma is going to ruin our health system and the ISDS. Andrew Robb, our Minister of Trade and our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, are talking heads for the TPP - neither strike me as being very intelligent. However, our Labour Party is like the Democratic Party in the States - also very "pro business" so not a lot of help from that front.<br /><br />I think Australia might wake up. Obama is protecting sugar and beef from the TPP so a lot of pro TPP people from both industries are saying, "What's in it for Australia?" http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/agribusiness/general-news/us-resists-tpp-deal-for-sugar-and-beef/2734521.aspx<br />Also, fear of Big Pharma and the ISDS. The other issue that is not talked about very much is Australia is very much into the "buy Australia" meme. The idea that we can't go into our grocery store and find out where the apples come from, Australia or China, is a big deal to Australians. Ironically, there is a lot of talk in Parliament that ALL our foods should be labelled to show how much of a product actually is grown in Australia - as opposed to grown elsewhere and packaged in Australia.<br /><br />As for the secret text of the TPP - it is secret here as well. In fact, I would wager not that many parliamentarians have actually been able to read the treaty. The secrecy of it IS something that is starting to ring alarm bells amongst Australians as well. We DO have a couple of parliamentarians speaking against the TPP but no one like Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown.<br /><br />The more people know about the TPP - the more it sees the light of day - the better it will be for Australia.Valerienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-81123241944630614582015-06-24T00:12:12.102-04:002015-06-24T00:12:12.102-04:00With respect to the text of the TPP, corporate dem...With respect to the text of the TPP, corporate demands for secrecy continue and apply to all countries. So you see, the supranational rules of our corporate overlords are already in effect and trump nation states’ presumed need to know in advance about what we're "being agreed to."<br /><br />Thanks to Canadians' more conservative swing in the last election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper now commands a majority in Parliament. He need not negotiate with the Liberals (they follow him like a puppy anyway) or the NDP (New Democratic Party), which puts up some resistance. Harper can pass any bill he pleases and he likes the TPP. <br /><br />It is likely that no one anywhere has seen the full text of the TPP. It doesn’t exist. The corporate cabal is still tuning and retuning drafts depending on the noise from the street of all likely signatories. However, the lack of a settled and final version didn’t stop the US Congress from approving fast track blindly. Hey, if you can’t trust the corporations who funded your way into political office, whom can you trust?<br /><br />Wikileaks, the international paper of record, has since 2013 published three important sections of the TPP that were thrown over the transom. In the last published section we learned that the full text of the "agreement" will continue to be kept secret from the proles until four years after TPP becomes operational. Karen wrote about the 2015 dump a few weeks ago.<br />https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.htmlJay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-61845350490816406192015-06-23T23:50:21.980-04:002015-06-23T23:50:21.980-04:00I am incredibly saddened but not surprised about t...I am incredibly saddened but not surprised about this outcome. So many of our senators and representatives have whored themselves out to the multinationals who will benefit so greatly from this treaty. I wondered, when the stock market didn't blip the first time the TPP failed to pass in the House, if the multinationals knew they had so many of our elected officials in their pocket they would eventually win.<br /><br />Those in power are counting on our apathy and weariness in the face of battle. They are also counting on the public's short attention span. It is a re call to arms for those of us who understand the relevance of this treaty and the damage it will do to the Middle and Working classes to say nothing of the poorest people in the world. We must demand that the TPP be made public and demand that our newspapers carry the story. We must work against those senators and House members who voted for the treaty and replace them with REAL advocates of democracy - as opposed to the advocates of plutocracy who voted for it.<br /><br />In short, we must continue to "Fight the good fight."<br /><br />Thank you, Karen, for your determination to report on this issue.Valerienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-50809936152021281322015-06-23T20:59:20.121-04:002015-06-23T20:59:20.121-04:00TPP trade talks too secret, NDP MP Don Davies says...TPP trade talks too secret, NDP MP Don Davies says http://www.cbc.ca/1.2703010<br /><br />The Conservative Party is keeping any information about the TPP secret but the NDP has already criticized its purpose.Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-65943040600292039412015-06-23T20:03:53.208-04:002015-06-23T20:03:53.208-04:00Karen.....thanks for excellent post. Obama should ...Karen.....thanks for excellent post. Obama should stay away from DNA talk. Racism is deeply embedded in our culture, not DNA. <br /><br />Re TPP..... You say citizens in Canada, Australia, Japan are less than enchanted with TPP? Any more info is welcome. <br /><br />I wonder....do the other countries in TPP also keep its contents secret? On Ed Schultz show today, Larry Cohen, anti TPP labor official said something like the other 12 countries ( or is it 9?) get to read their TPP agreement details. Is this true? Couldn't find anything on it. <br />Canada and Australia---how is TPP going in their parliaments and media? <br /><br />btw on msnbc, Chris Matthews seems to be the only 1 favoring TPP---to compete with China, or something. <br /><br />RE CONFEDERATE FLAG<br /><br /> Andrew Rosenthal has op ed blog re some senators’ excuses re the SC flag being part of ‘who we are.’ Lindsay Graham, etc. <br /><br />I commented....(not published yet)<br /><br />Germany bans he Nazi flag. So Germany’s politicians could say the Nazi flag can be seen as part of 'who we are.' That it represents both pride and defeat for a substantial segment of our population ---those who respect a German race that’s pure and untainted by foreign blood with a different ancestry. <br /> <br />It symbolizes what they think was once the strongest, most superior people on earth, taking pride in how it invincibly subdued the European continent. Who ruled by strength, not weak parliaments. And who by that view had contempt for the democracies of the world who don’t know how to properly wield power, so let themselves be diluted and compromised by inferiors. <br /><br />This view thinks if they’d had enough of the right kind of weapons for every soldier and every civilian, they might have stayed unconquered.<br />And if the noble confederate troops had more weapons, they might have won over the North.<br /><br />And if now the American public has enough guns in daily possession, they can defend themselves against massacres.<br />Or some such nonsense. <br /><br /> <br />Also Democracy Now today has on David Goodman, brother of Andrew Goodman, murdered with Schwerner and Chaney by the Klan during the ‘60s, trying to register blacks to vote in Miss. ....discussing the Conf and US flags.<br /><br /><br /><br />Meredith NYCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-74099494274635402582015-06-23T12:02:23.186-04:002015-06-23T12:02:23.186-04:00Moments ago TPP survived a Senate vote and should ...Moments ago TPP survived a Senate vote and should be on Obama’s desk by Wednesday evening. On K Street, unconfirmed reports of drownings from the tsunami of champagne.Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.com