| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Current Events > Topic: This is scaring the hell out of me... |
Topic: This is scaring the hell out of me...
| Author | Message |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/24/2008 3:05:20 PM | show profile I know this is off topic, but I've been reading a lot about the push to create a possible North American Union, a Trans-Highway from Mexico to Canada and completely open borders between all three countries. Please read the press release below. Better to be informed than not. Congress Tells Bush: 'Stop the Closed-Door Diplomacy and Allow Legislative Oversight' WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The House of Representatives sent a letter to President Bush this week advising him to stop all plans to advance the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America until there has been full congressional oversight. The letter, which was authored by Reps. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), is brief and simply states that the U.S. Congress "objects to a process that permits the executives of the respective countries to bypass constitutionally mandated review" and that all SPP negotiations should be halted until the details of this closed-door diplomacy "are made transparent and proper legislative oversight is established." The letter reached President Bush on the eve of the fourth North American summit, which will be held in New Orleans on April 21st and 22nd. Bush's SPP, which he first endorsed back in 2001 as a plan for "economic integration" with Mexico and Canada, is a possible prelude to a North American Union (NAU), similar to the European Union (EU), connected by a three-country superhighway. Last year, during the three-nation summit at Montebello, Quebec, Fox News reporter Bret Baier asked President Bush, "Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to the EU?" Instead of denying the claim, Bush ridiculed the question and said he was "amused" that anyone could believe in such a "conspiracy." "The major players all claim that SPP is simply 'economic integration,'but integration with Mexico and Canada is exactly what North American Union means," said Eagle Forum Executive Director Jessica Echard. "SPP explains why the Bush Administration refuses to build the fence that was mandated in the Secure Fence Act of 2006," Echard said. "It also explains why Bush thumbed his nose at the overwhelming congressional votes to exclude Mexican trucks from U.S. roads." "'We the people' of the United States were never asked if we wanted to be 'integrated' with Mexico and Canada," Echard said. "Even the Hudson Institute recently released a White Paper that freely admits that the U.S.Congress has been excluded from the plan and purposely kept in the dark. President Bush knows that SPP would never be successful via the legislative process because it is such an obvious violation of the U.S. Constitution." "The President certainly has some explaining to do. These closed-door negotiations have been going on for 7 years and the American people want answers," concluded Echard. "The public is outraged as they become more aware of the true meaning of SPP. We cannot allow the President to move another step forward without fully and openly disclosing the details of these plans to Congress." |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 4/24/2008 3:44:44 PM | show profile Interesting stuff, kajo. I consider myself fairly well informed, but I hadn't heard boo about the SPP until your post. I went to the US government site to check it out (spp.gov), and it makes for interesting reading. What was most entertaining was its special "Myth vs Fact" section. Rarely have I seen so much weasel-word doubletalk in a set of FAQs before. Which suggests to me that the "Myths" are closer to the facts than the SPP bunch care to admit. |
| JDC | Posted – 4/24/2008 4:47:33 PM | show profile start watching Lou Dobbs He has been all over this for quite some time. Thanks for posting, too. I think we are in for major change in America whether Obama wins, or not. And, it's not necessarily change many people want. Contact your representatives and tell them how you feel! |
| JackieRo | Posted – 4/24/2008 5:28:06 PM | show profile I hadn't heard anything about this, either. I didn't read the FAQs, but it's kid of ironic that we're building a fence with Mexico and requiring passports at Canadian borders, but they're negotiating an international road. Government is so weird. |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/24/2008 6:46:08 PM | show profile As former journalist, (I left so that I could make enough money to feed myself) I've been doing some serious research and putting my old skills to use on this issue. I'm not exaggerating when I state that I'm scared to death. That whole anti-immigration movement and the passing of a law to erect a fence between Mexico and the US is a complete sham, meant to placate the masses while Bush cozies up to Calderon (Pres. of Mexico) anticipating the day of allowing millions of Mexicans to work in this country LEGALLY. Can you just imagine what that's going to do to the middle-class? I have to step away from the computer for the next several hours, but I promise to post a concise report with links to legitimate sources that I've found. In the meantime, go crazy on youtube. Just type in North American Union or NAU. There?s some kooky stuff out there so use your judgment to separate the legitimate videos, but you?ll find most of Lou Dobbs? segments. Last, but not least, I used to be a self-proclaimed Obamaniac, but no more. People, I have to agree with some of the right-wingers here, but he really isn?t want you think. I?ll send you proof of that too. And believe me, it breaks my heart and my sense of betrayal is staggering. More to come. |
| JackieRo | Posted – 4/24/2008 8:13:21 PM | show profile I know I should look into this before posting, but was the thing that was modeled after the European Union, with one currency for all of North America? And that road...could that be I-35 that you are referring to? I, too, would be interested to see what you think the disaster would be. |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/25/2008 2:27:51 AM | show profile Research Here's a concise list with links of items that I've found detailing exactly what the SPP entails. I'd like to make it clear that I am as skeptical as the next person and am not quick to believe any radical conspiracy theory without extensive legitimate, supporting documentation. But as my J-school teachers used to drill into my head, the truth is in the obvious and don't discount anything until proven right or wrong. Hopefully, this is much to do about nothing, my research is inconclusive and all of what I'm suspecting is wrong. This first started about a week ago, when I came across this video on youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kjsy2Z3kdI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Li0Wa5rc0&feature=related These got me all a'twitter and off I went to Google. First stop was the SPP.gov website, which just dripped with government-ese gobbledy-gook. Ding, ding... if they have to draft a Myths vs Facts section, something is up. Next stop was coming across the press release I posted here. It was drafted by a member of the Eagle Forum, a right-wing organization akin to the John Birch Society. My skeptic alarm wentDEFCON 5, while I got passed the source and went on to find an actual copy of the letter to Bush signed by 14 members of Congress on GlobalExchange.com. See it here: http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/mexico/MOCltrSPP.pdf Check out the rest of the Global Exchange website on this issue: http://www.globalexchange.org/spp.html |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/25/2008 2:28:51 AM | show profile Research Continued Full disclosure; I did some volunteer work through Global Exchange a few years ago, so I'm confident in regard to their research and dissemination of facts. Next was several hours of visiting numerous websites. Some were clearly from those I suspected of mental illness or momentary bouts of paranoia. Many others were right on point and supported my nearing conclusion that theSPP is not the first stage of a New World Order, but further evidence of a corporate takeover of our government. The end goal of all of this is to round-up cheap labor on American soil to further the economic interests of big business. But we all know that big business in not beholden to protect the rights of anyone or pursue a policy of fairness and justice in their dealings. The working and middle classes of this country will suffer greatly. It's going to make this recession look like the gold rush. Here a couple of websites that I found of interest: http://www.judicialwatch.org/SPP.shtml Through the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch was able to acquire numerous documents from previous SPP annual meetings. Included on the site is an organizational chart of the partnership with Bush at the head. http://www.corridorwatch.com/ttc/index.htm Corridorwatch is a grassroots organization made up of many angry Texans doing their best to fight the Texas DOT on the proposed plan to start constructing the Trans-National Highway. An interesting tidbit from the site, each mile of the highway will take up 146 acres and will be approx. four football fields wide. There's much more, but I don't know what the word count limit is here. Finally I found this article: From NAFTA to the SPP: Here comes the Security and Prosperity Partnership, but?what security? whose prosperity? Written by Katherine Sciacchitano, a former labor lawyer and organizer. She currently teaches at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland. Here's a snippet of the lengthy article. I encourage you to read because the article was able to connect all the disparate information I have come across. "The SPP is not a North American version of the European Union. But it is a stealth plan?one aimed at bypassing the kind of international solidarity that halted the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment. The European Union emerged after years of public debate and a treaty ratified by member states. By contrast, the SPP is not a treaty and will never be submitted to the U.S., Mexican, or Canadian legislatures. Instead it attempts to reshape the North American political economy by direct use of executive authority. And while the European Union maintains an explicit role for government in addressing inequality within and between countries, the SPP?s foundation is an unequal alliance where the United States retains the political and economic trump cards." http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0108sciacchitano.html |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/25/2008 2:29:40 AM | show profile Research Final So what happens from here: Do your own research. It took about 10 hours total to find all this information and about an hour to compile. If you come to the same conclusion I have, then I advise the following: 1) If you are a journalist/writer, honor your craft has a member of the fourth estate and get to writing. 2) Contact your Senator and Representative, strangely enough they actually may be on our side this time. 3) Ask them to support H.C.R. 40: to block a NAFTA Superhighway System and to indicate the opposition of the Congress to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America that was declared by President Bush, Mexico's then-President Vicente Fox, and Canada's then-Prime Minister Paul Martin, at the conclusion of their summit meeting in Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005." http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.+Con.+Res.+40: 4) Go to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Competitiveness_Council to review a list of the corporations that are actively involved in theSPP . Send letters and revoke your patronage of them. Hurting their bottom line is the only way to get corporations to act responsibly. Some of the members areWalmart (surprise!), Chevron, Gillette and Whirpool . (I'm creating a database of contact information for all listed corporations and drafting a protest letter to forward to friends and associates who may want to voice their dissent, but don't have the time or the will to write something on their own) 5) If you intended to vote this November, think long and hard about McCain, Clinton and Obama. They are more similar than they are different. Analyze your choice and look beyond the campaign trail propaganda. 6) Be vigilant and spread the word. JackieRo: Some portions of 1-35 will be incorporated into the Trans National Highway, but a majority of it will be new construction. Lastly, let me know if you think that I'm overreacting, because more than anything, I want to be wrong about this. Peace and love, everyone. |
| Decorama | Posted – 4/25/2008 7:15:44 AM | show profile This is wild - thanks Wow! Thanks for a very provocative post. After reading OP's fab post last night, naturally I went onto YouTube and found a lot of fascinating vids (Lou Dobbs for Prez!). I can see that the conspiracy theorists who believe the world is controlled by the Illuminati (and maybe even lizards) are having a field day with this. Still and all, perhaps some of their paranoia is justified. I wonder if this will all lead to ONE currency, and that the devaluation of the dollar is indeed welcome to Bush and his pals. (And everyone's microchipped . . . . you know the scoop . . . the Apocalypse is nigh.) Somehow, this SPP will lead to far better methods of controlling the population than actually SECURING the borders! (And all to our own good, according to the SPP website - - note the section on influenza.) Once again, as with the 9/11 Truth movement, it's hard to separate fact from fiction in some of this. For example, the SPP "myth" section claims that the whole shebang was not begun at a meeting in Waco, TX, whereas one of the websites OP found says that it WAS. Anyhoo, great post. |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/25/2008 11:57:09 AM | show profile Decorama I know what you mean about the difficulty of separating fact from fiction. As I went from site to site, I found several discrepancies. However, I don't if it's more a reflection of the lack of government transparency and one having to fill the holes from secondary sources. Anyway, I figured I'd put it out there and let people determine for themselves if/when/how something like this will affect them. |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/25/2008 1:52:08 PM | show profile What I don't understand is why Lou Dobbs is the only one covering this? |
| JackieRo | Posted – 4/25/2008 2:04:01 PM | show profile Wow....lots of great information to look into and thanks for taking the time to post it. I called my grandfather about this and asked if he knew anything about it. He remembers some article in Time in '06, but nothing lately. I have a project for the weekend! And it will be a nice distraction from the political wars and the gas prices. :) |
| kajo13 | Posted – 4/25/2008 6:43:34 PM | show profile | email poster Jackie, you're welcome. Let me know if you find anything of substance after the weekend. You can email me off board. kajo13@hotmail.com |
