Well folks, they're just too darn sneaky. This is from Public Citizen's NAFTA Expansion Alert sent YESTERDAY:
"The Senate Republican leadership is pulling a fast one to try to limit debate and
public scrutiny of more NAFTA expansion.
They have just announced that they will hold a Finance Committee mark-up and then the FULL SENATE VOTE on the same day: TOMORROW, Wednesday, June 28."
...ala TODAY, so as someone who's been obsessed with our world of horrific Trade agreements & WTO foolishness, I'm asking Kossaks to call your Senators ASAP and I'm throwing in a little gift for all activists---the TOLL Free way to make ALL your calls to D.C. for political activism (why all the activist groups continue to give out only the 202 area code is beyond me when this toll free number has worked for quite some time)::: 888-355-3588 .
More from Public Citizen's email-alert:
"The Oman deal is word-for-word CAFTA,
except...worse. Oman bans labor unions and has been
cited by the U.S. State Department for human trafficking
and forced labor.
they go on to add,
"Tell [your SENATORS] to vote NO on the Oman FTA.
Ask to speak to the person who handles trade issues. [btw, I did this, they'll answer that they simply relay all phone messages, I mean honestly, I don't think any Senator has a 'trade phone call expert' but what the heck, I just wanted to give u the skinny as Public Citizen's email requests, Oy.]
Tell the office you want your Senator to
vote NO on the Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA)
and ask for a response letter or email stating the Senator's position.
--Let us know what they said! Reporting back is critical to our success--tell us what happened using the form below! Send an email letting us know you call and telling us what they said at padler@citizen.org "
OK yall, now I'm throwing in TODAY's alert from the other great (IMHO) trade activist group: Citizens Trade Campaign;
...sure it may seem obsessed to give u 2 email org's campaigns in my 1 post today,
but u really must see some of the crappola below, it's priceless and
of course even more foolish methods to keep
other countries' workers in classic poverty wages while adding to the domino effect of outsourcing that's of course ravaged US jobs to hell n back...
"Yesterday the Bush administration formally sent the Oman Free Trade Agreement [ http://www.democracyinaction.org/... ]
to Congress.
They are seeking a final vote as soon as possible. Now is the time to take action to stop them!
Please add your voice to the
416 organizations who released a letter to Congress yesterday opposing the deal.
OFTA is as bad as NAFTA and CAFTA in that it includes no meaningful enforcement for labor or environmental protection.
The lack of labor protection is particularly significant in light of recent revelations of massive labor abuses - including widespread human trafficking - in Jordan since that country entered into a free trade agreement with the United States five years ago.
OFTA would turn Oman into a sweatshop apparel export platform in the same way,
and with Oman's exceptionally sub-standard
labor laws, similar severe abuses can be expected. Sweatshop conditions there mean more lost jobs here."
[...and now for some truly horrific details,
from the same email update]::
"OFTA is worse than NAFTA and CAFTA in two ways.
First, it restricts access to medicines for national health emergencies,
such as HIV/AIDS, even MORE severely than CAFTA does.
Additionally, it goes even further than NAFTA and CAFTA in explicitly giving foreign investors
the right to challenge virtually any U.S. government decision about a federal contract, lease or concession agreement.
Areas covered include natural resource contracts (including exploration, extraction, refining, transportation, distribution, or sale);
services contracts (including power generation or distribution, water treatment or distribution, or telecommunication);
and infrastructure projects (including construction of roads, bridges, canals, dams, or pipelines).
Under such rules, the United States would have had to pay Dubai Ports World millions of U.S. taxpayers' dollars for cancelling that company's contract to run U.S. ports."
... From Citizens Trade Campaign's website is this additional lowly tidbit:
"The Oman Free Trade Agreement requires, with a limited level of enforcement,
only that Oman enforce its existing labor law.
However Oman's labor law actually
denies workers the right to form or join unions,
and to bargain collectively.
Further, as the Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy report on the Oman Free Trade Agreement details,
virtual indentured servitude and trafficking of foreign workers is common."
...Gee, wonderful news as usual when it comes to our trade scenarios.
Also, you can add weight by clicking to send an email or fax to Congress as well as your phone call by clicking "Please take action now" at the bottom of their page/report:
http://www.citizenstrade.org/...
And lastly folks, I ask you to please help me keep
TRADE on the burner here at Kos...
I don't post as much as the active Kossaks here, as health issues have severely hampered my activism in recent years, and to be honest, I'm quite worried that since Trade agreements/outcomes aren't sexy enough for campaign debates, well,
one of the most relevant problems on the planet is typically buried during election cycles
(and nearly all the time inbetween, Oy-- yet again).
--Thanx + keep in mind that toll free number above---it's rediculous to think how much money an activist has to waste via phone just to tell our government our opinions when we're already paying their salary, ey?
P.S. personally, I always feel this web-guilt when I make long posts taking up valuable reading time, so I can only offer a mild piece of candy for treading through all this, it's my little pun of the day...
since Bu$hCo & friends haven't LITERALLYet put us in the Dark Ages,
I've decided to name these last 6 years of $hrubnicant rule the 'DIM Ages'...
partly cause it's not yet as horrific as the original
Dark Ages & partly because I'm an old Kubrick & Anthony Burgess fan (Dim was the portly schmuck in their gang in Clockwork Orange).
And gee, u can chalk all this up to Repubnicant DIMAGES to our system (OY again, just couldn't resist some pun).
Trade my friends, it runs the planet.