Free Republic

Given the sad state of affairs in today's affairs of state — record federal budget deficits, record trade deficits, illegal domestic eavesdropping, the sale of key U.S. ports — one would think the U.S. House of Representatives has more important problems to address than a proposal to virtually wipe out state food labeling laws. Well, no actually; the biggest fish fried by the House March 8 was just that: the National Uniformity for Food Act of 2005. The uniformity act is a fat, old carp multinational food firms have been selling Congress for years. The goal is to override nearly...

Washington, DC – “Buy American” laws and similar state and federal legislation would be gutted by CAFTA procurement rules that prohibit all laws that give a preference to domestic or local businesses according to U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, who says CAFTA Article 9 overturns every state and federal law that requires federal, state, and local government agencies to buy American products, or use American workforces. CAFTA Article 9.2. No Party (Nation) may treat a locally established supplier any less favorably than another locally established supplier on the basis of degree of foreign affiliation or ownership, or …on the basis that...

TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- "CAFTA is NAFTA on steroids," said Kent Snyder, executive director of The Liberty Committee, a group whose motto is "Political Action From Principle." Affiliated with congressional representative Ron Paul, R-Texas -- who also opposes the Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic -- the committee holds that CAFTA-DR, like the decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement isn't really about true free trade; it's about global managed trade. "Think about it," Snyder said. "Why does it take over 1,000 pages to define free trade?" In administrative works for several years CAFTA would create a NAFTA-like free trade zone...

CAFTA, the “Central American Free Trade Agreement” is being sold as a “free trade agreement” between the US and several nations in the Central American region. What is it and what does it matter to you? CAFTA is really not about “free trade.” “Free trade” is the bait. The hook, the catch, is regional government. Free trade is really unregulated, unimpeded trade. This is not what CAFTA is about. CAFTA will increase trade regulation between the US and Central America, not decrease it. Take a look at the hundreds of pages of regulations listed in the CAFTA charter. This is...

June 21, 2005 Dear Mr. President: We the undersigned represent companies and industries that have made an outsized contribution to America’s national security and prosperity. We are a critical part of America’s domestic manufacturing base. Our enterprises support a large segment of the broad middle class, one of America’s singular economic and political achievements. Today our companies in particular and the nation’s middle class in general are under constant attack from predatory foreign trade practices. Our companies and industries still make most of their products in the United States, ensuring that our revenues flow to American working families in the...

July 13, 2005 Will the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) finally force you to get a doctor's prescription just to buy vitamin C, or E, or other dietary supplements you currently pick up "over the counter" in America? Powerful special interests are banking on it. Since 1995, Big Medicine has spent billions of dollars trying to get Washington to regulate your dietary supplements just as European governments do. So far, that effort has failed in America. But you may lose the battle for health freedom if CAFTA entangles the U.S. in Europe's infamous Codex Alimentarius (Codex). And if you...

Hispanic workers accounted for more than 1 million of the 2.5 million new jobs created by the U.S. economy in 2004. But Hispanics are the only major group of workers to have suffered a two-year decline in wages and they now earn 5 percent less than two years ago, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau. Despite strong demand for immigrant workers, their growing supply and concentration in certain occupations suggests that the newest arrivals are competing with each other in the labor market to their own...

How deceit is integral to the development of the EU was admitted frankly by Italian prime minister Guiliano Amato in an interview with Barbara Spinelli of La Stampa on 13 July 2000. Since then Amato became vice-president of the convention that drafted the EU constitution. Here are some things he said: "The project of the European constitution is daring, but to overcome obstacles in politics it is necessary to conceal them. In Europe one needs to act 'as if' - as if what was wanted was little, in order to obtain much, as if states were to remain sovereign to...

The early returns are in: A number of retired U.S. diplomats, George Soros and the renamed World Federalist Association (now doing business as Citizens for Global Solutions) think what is needed now is less an American ambassador to the United Nations than an advocate for the U.N.'s dismal status quo assigned as a representative to the Bush administration. Fortunately, President Bush believes very differently. He understands that the United Nations needs -- now more than ever -- the United States to have as its ambassador there someone who is not only a seasoned and highly skilled diplomat, deeply knowledgeable about...

March 14, 2005-Three former high-ranking government officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States are calling for a North American economic and security community by 2010 to address shared security threats, challenges to competitiveness, and interest in broad-based development across the three countries. Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance John P. Manley, former Finance Minister of Mexico Pedro Aspe, and former Governor of Massachusetts and Assistant U.S. Attorney General William F. Weld make policy recommendations to articulate a long-term vision for North America in a Chairmen's Statement of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North...

Maisto offers suggestions to improve draft Summit declaration Preparations for the Fourth Summit of the Americas, to be hosted by Argentina in November, are off to a good start, but work still remains for Western Hemisphere nations as they craft a summit declaration and plan of action, according to U.S. National Summit Coordinator John Maisto. In March 25 remarks at the Civil Society Task Force "Summit in Focus" Program in Washington, Maisto said that a recent Summit Implementation Review Group meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, marked the beginning of negotiations toward a summit declaration and plan of action. The U.S....

A battle is heating up over the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, which could come before Congress for a vote as early as this spring or summer. The nation's 19-state cane and beet sugar industry, including sugar cane growers and processors in Palm Beach County, say the pact threatens the 146,000 jobs created by U.S. sugar production. "We are doing everything we can to defeat CAFTA," said Carolyn Cheney, Washington representative for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida in Belle Glade. "We believe CAFTA is another NAFTA in disguise." Meanwhile, the debate is expected to begin in earnest...

"Does accepting the European Constitution mean a surrender of member states' sovereignty? Absolutely." Miguel Ángel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister and Special Envoy to the Middle East for seven years, invited us into his home to tell us about his take on the EU Constitution Surrounded by trinkets he has gathered from all the corners of the world, he tells us why a united Europe is the only way forward The Constitutional Treaty dedicates itself to coordinating foreign affairs: what benefits does this guarantee for the EU as a whole? The post of European Minister for Foreign Affairs is revolutionary;...

Representatives to the Organization of American States (OAS) from Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States signed an agreement Feb. 18 creating an Environmental Commission designed to complement the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA). Supporters of the trade pact say the commission will help strengthen conservation efforts and allay the fears of environmentalists in the United States and other CAFTA signatory nations. Environmental groups argue the trade pact weakens Central American countries' ability to enact new environmental legislation and defend local resources against multinational companies. The new agreement will “address some of the concerns...

The World Trade Organization, which the United States joined in 1994, has been disastrous for American sovereignty. A tax bill passed last year provides a vivid example of just how blatantly Congress is surrendering our sovereignty to quasi-governmental bodies like the WTO. For years, high-tax Europe has objected to how we tax American companies on their overseas earnings. The EU took its dispute to the WTO grievance board, which voted in favor of the Europeans. The WTO ruling was clear: Congress must change American law to comply with European rules. Make no mistake about it: WTO ministers tell Congress to...

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 16 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION urging the Congress of the United States to place a moratorium on new free trade agreements, to investigate and review current free trade agreements and policies of the United States, to investigate and review participation of the United States with international trade organizations, and to ensure that the agreements, policies, and participation are in the best interests of the citizens of Indiana and the United States. Whereas, Between January 2000 and January 2004, Indiana lost approximately 102,000 manufacturing jobs; Whereas, Manufacturing results in three to seven jobs created for each manufacturing job;...

Our standard of living is being deliberately undermined to merge our nation into a centrally directed global economy.As part of his September 2001 visit to the U.S., Mexican president Vicente Fox accompanied President Bush to Toledo, Ohio, where they addressed a carefully selected crowd of 8,000 people. Toledo was chosen because of its large and growing Mexican immigrant population. This changing demographic in America’s heartland was presented as symbolic of the growing interdependence created by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The New York Times described how both Presidents Fox and Bush "praised the contributions of Mexican immigrants and...

I am going to tell you a story about Europe and America. It is a true story about tyranny and freedom, about hope, folly, deception and betrayal. It is also a warning about grave danger. Alarmed at the trends I see, I feel obliged to tell this story. Now in my 91st year, I am one of the few living souls who have experienced the major events of the last century. Being both European and American, I have witnessed and studied these events from opposite sides of the Atlantic. I am Lithuanian by birth and saw my small country suffer...

We live in a global world – a world in which all of the walls or barriers between countries have been effectively torn down. In 1945, the political walls were torn down when the United Nations was birthed as each country ceded sovereignty to a global organization. In 1980, the Monetary Deregulation Act was passed, which made it legal for Americans to invest overseas. At the same time, the Group of Seven developed countries passed similar laws beginning the integration of currencies, securities, money and investments. Now, all the nations of the world effectively invest in each others country. In...

Vol. 20, No. 20October 4, 2004Table of Contents   Who Will Watch the Watchers?by Christopher S. BentleyMexico’s emerging surveillance state offers a sobering look into the future if the Power Elite’s proposal for a "continental security" perimeter becomes reality. Order This IssueVol. 20, No. 20October 4, 2004Surveillance State I.D.: Implantable VeriChip Launches in MexicoPDF Version - $1.95 - [Order] [Checkout]Requires Adobe Acrobat ReaderPrint Copies - Online purchases of the print version will receive a complimentary link to the PDF version also.1 copy - $2.95 - [Order]10 copies - $12.50 - [Order]25 copies - $22.50 - [Order]100 copies - Call...