FORD's Issues Poll #1: Do you support the Trans Pacific Partnership?

[FORD]

OK, I've been threatening to do these issue polls for weeks now, but this seems like a good time and a good issue to start with.

And if you don't know what the Trans Pacific Partnership is, there's room for that in the poll too. But I'll probably follow up later with more info on it........

[lesfunk]

What the hell is that?

[FORD]

Like I said, I'll post more details a little later. The fact that so many have heard very little or nothing at all about it is half the problem.

Short answer... imagine NAFTA on steroids, crossbred in a MonSatan laboratory with RIAA/MPAA fascist "intellectual property" nightmares.

And that's only part of it........

[Nitro Express]

I don't support it. It's another gimmick to flank the US Congress and replace our national sovereignty with an international organization that will only cater to multi-national corporations. The big loser at the end of the day is the average citizen who's main source of power in the system is their congressmen and senators. Things change as soon as congress fears the citizens. A trade organization has no skin in the game. They aren't elected and you can't fire them.

[LoungeMachine]

What the hell is that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Strategic_Economic_Partnership

:gulp:

[Nitro Express]

What the hell is that?

You gave the exact answer the TPP wants to hear. Oh the citizens don't know, let's get busy and pass this thing!

[Nitro Express]

Out of public view the Obama administration is negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a US-led free trade deal with several Pacific Rim countries. Six hundred US corporate advisers have had input, but so far the text hasn’t been shared with the public or media.

The level of secrecy is unprecedented. During discussions paramilitary teams guard the premises, helicopters loom overhead, and there’s a near-total media blackout on the subject. US Senator Ron Wyden, who chairs the congressional committee with jurisdiction over TPP agreement, was denied access to the negotiation texts.

Looks like our transparent Obama Administration is at it again.



We need to go back to this kind of White House.

[knuckleboner]

i'm down with T.P.P...

protectionist trade policies aren't always the best for an economy.

[LoungeMachine]

i'm down with T.P.P...

protectionist trade policies aren't always the best for an economy.

Agreed.

But being anti-TPP [or anti CAFTA/NAFTA] doesn't make one a "protectionist", per se.

:gulp:

[knuckleboner]

true. definitely true. i like the concept of trade agreements, assuming both sides gain equally. it doesn't mean all trade agreements are made equal.

[FORD]

None of them have been since NAFTA. It's time to roll all of that shit back.

International trade is inevitable, and neccessary. Corporate sweatshops, outsourcing, tax shelters, and shitty quality products, not so much.

And corporations having any sort of "veto" power over the laws of any nation, that's literally fascist bullshit.

[LoungeMachine]

true. definitely true. i like the concept of trade agreements, assuming both sides gain equally. it doesn't mean all trade agreements are made equal.

Exactly.

And even if they are "made" equally, enforcement is another issue.

Anyone remember reading about when we used to fund this country almost entirely on tariffs?

Of course that was before we became the world's police force and went nation-building....

:gulp:

Even more than trade agreements, how about we concentrate on our BRAIN DRAIN??. Fucking fucked up policies regarding education and immigration.

[knuckleboner]

Exactly.

And even if they are "made" equally, enforcement is another issue.

Anyone remember reading about when we used to fund this country almost entirely on tariffs?

Of course that was before we became the world's police force and went nation-building....

:gulp:

Even more than trade agreements, how about we concentrate on our BRAIN DRAIN??. Fucking fucked up policies regarding education and immigration.

exactly. i only support them if the enforcement's sincere. we need to be able to sell more cars to japan. American manufacturing doesn't really benefit by bringing back hanes t-shirt manufacturing from new dehli. if japan joining TPP helps that, great. if japan is able to continue limiting our access, then i'll happily reconsider.

[Kristy]

Like I said, I'll post more details a little later. The fact that so many have heard very little or nothing at all about it is half the problem.

Short answer... imagine NAFTA on steroids, crossbred in a MonSatan laboratory with RIAA/MPAA fascist "intellectual property" nightmares.

And that's only part of it........

Just promise you won't go all Alex Jone$-ish with this.

[FORD]

Just promise you won't go all Alex Jone$-ish with this.

Nah, I'm not much of an Alex Jones fan. Listened to some of his stuff back in the Chimp years, but it's sort of like Limbaugh in the early 90s..... dude went totally off the cliff with his batshit insanity. We know with Mush it was the oxycontin. I don't know what happened to Alex yet.... maybe there's something in that "Super-Tang" stuff he (and Elvis) are always shilling for which shouldn't be there? Considering it was developed by a veterinarian, maybe he put some ketamine (cat tranquilizer) in it?

[Kristy]

I don't know what happened to Alex yet...

I'd say apart from suffering with a paranoid personality disorder (or paranoid delusional disorder) Jone$ is a one-trick pony whose act is more than wearing thin. I'll give him credit in that he has turned fear into profit even if he has no solid documentation or relies upon junk science to support his ludicrous claims. What gets me is that many of his "theories" are not of his own research but he doesn't need to be. His asinine "Info Snores" is the counter Fox news for the perpetually stupid in that he distorts the angle just enough to be believable to his uneducated, fuck-in-the-head Libertarian, emotionally needy gun fetish fringe followers. Alex Jone$ is the modern day Jim Jones of the information age.

[LoungeMachine]

I'd say apart from suffering with a paranoid personality disorder (or paranoid delusional disorder) Jone$ is a one-trick pony whose act is more than wearing thin. .

Are we talking about ELVI$ now?

:gulp:

[sadaist]

Like I said, I'll post more details a little later. The fact that so many have heard very little or nothing at all about it is half the problem.

Short answer... imagine NAFTA on steroids, crossbred in a MonSatan laboratory with RIAA/MPAA fascist "intellectual property" nightmares.

And that's only part of it........

Cool man. Looking forward to some good education on something important. I have high hopes for this thread so you do maybe a weekly version.

Maybe allow us to vote agan at the end of the thread if possible.

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsfumZVTOVk

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfErQ6b56_A

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtBUL_rgG1k

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anhP_NzX5DY

[ELVIS]

What the hell is that?

It's how they plan to poison the worlds food supply with GMOs and other cancer causing and fertility reducing frankenfoods and poison pharmaceuticals...

[FORD]

Posted: 06/18/2013 11:24 am EDT | Updated: 06/18/2013 5:20 pm EDT (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/alan-grayson-trans-pacific-partnership_n_3456167.html)



WASHINGTON -- Progressive Democrats in Congress are ramping up pressure on the Obama administration to release the text of Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secretive free trade agreement with 10 other nations, amid intensifying controversy over the administration's transparency record and its treatment of classified information.

The only publicly available information on the terms of the deal has come from leaks, some of which have alarmed public health experts, environmentalist groups and consumer advocates. According to a document leaked in the summer of 2012, the deal would allow corporations to directly challenge government laws and regulations in international courts.

Members of Congress have been provided with only limited access to the negotiation documents. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) told HuffPost on Monday that he viewed an edited version of the negotiation texts last week, but that secrecy policies at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative created scheduling difficulties that delayed his access for nearly six weeks. The Obama administration has barred any Congressional staffers from reviewing the full negotiation text and prohibited members of Congress from discussing the specific terms of the text with trade experts and reporters. Staffers on some committees are granted access to portions of the text under their committee's jurisdiction.

"This, more than anything, shows the abuse of the classified information system," Grayson told HuffPost. "They maintain that the text is classified information. And I get clearance because I'm a member of Congress, but now they tell me that they don't want me to talk to anybody about it because if I did, I'd be releasing classified information."

How and why the administration decides to make information classified has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, after the Associated Press learned that the Department of Justice had been monitoring the records of more than 20 phone numbers -- including the personal phones of reporters and editors -- as part of a government leak investigation. Edward Snowden's recent disclosures of two broad National Security Agency surveillance programs to The Guardian and The Washington Post have sparked a heated debate over what kinds of leaks should be prosecuted as criminal.

"What I saw was nothing that could possibly justify the secrecy that surrounds it," Grayson said, referring to the draft Trans-Pacific deal. "It is ironic in a way that the government thinks it's alright to have a record of every single call that an American makes, but not alright for an American citizen to know what sovereign powers the government is negotiating away."

The Trans-Pacific deal would be one of the largest trade deals in U.S. history, with 11 nations including Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and Australia involved in the talks. The Obama administration has been leading negotiations on the deal for roughly three years.

When the intellectual property chapter of the deal leaked online more than a year ago, internet freedom advocates criticized the provisions as problematic for tech companies and free speech, while public health experts said it would dramatically restrict access to lifesaving medicines in poor countries. It is not clear if those terms have changed over time.

"Having seen what I've seen, I would characterize this as a gross abrogation of American sovereignty," Grayson told HuffPost. "And I would further characterize it as a punch in the face to the middle class of America. I think that's fair to say from what I've seen so far. But I'm not allowed to tell you why!"

Unelected corporate officials are given access to negotiation documents by virtue of their positions on U.S. Trade Representative advisory panels. Corporate representatives account for about 500 of the "cleared advisors" on those panels, while representatives of organized labor, environmental and other groups account for about 100 others. These cleared advisers are not permitted to discuss provisions with the press or the public. On Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Michael Froman, Obama's nominee to head USTR, asking the agency to release negotiation documents to the public. In the letter, Warren noted that the head labor advisory committee had complained of "severe restrictions" USTR had imposed on the panel's access to negotiation information.

USTR spokeswoman Carol Guthrie told The Huffington Post that her office is discussing Warren's request with the senator.

Guthrie said that the text reviewed by such members of Congress, "does not indicate which countries have proposed which text" a process that is "consistent with negotiating practice."

"When Members view text, USTR officials, often negotiators themselves, have always been provided to discuss the details and to answer their questions," she said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "Our bottom line is to negotiate the best deal for American workers and businesses. As with virtually any negotiation, a certain degree of confidentiality is necessary in order to allow frank, substantive, and productive conversations with other countries on sensitive issues and to work strategically to advance U.S. interests."

Grayson told HuffPost that the agreement would be very appealing to multinational corporations, but had very negative implications for the public interest on a variety of fronts.

"It's all about tying the hands of democratically elected governments, and shunting authority over to the nonelected for the benefit of multinational corporations," Grayson said. "It's an assault on democratic government."

[ELVIS]

Look for his plane to crash soon...

[FORD]

I don't think he has a plane, but he better pay close attention to his car. And considering he's from Florida, he's probably even more at risk down there. :(

[FORD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXEHRDo5JTM

[ELVIS]

TERRORISTS !!!

Send in the drones !!!

[FORD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=p3KlrfjcjV4&feature=endscreen

[Never was]

Your poll is very arrogant.
It assumes that no one can be for it unless gaining personal benefit or ignorant.
That smells of being so embedded with your own bias you can't possible conceive of the oppossing side.
So its an opinion to reflect your view but not per se a poll. Kinda an intellectually weak way of dressing up a rant as something open ended.
Not voicing any opinion on the subject itself just the framing and presentation.

[FORD]

No, the poll is not arrogant....


What's arrogant is MonSatan claiming they have the right to patent fucking plant genes, while at the same time insisting that we, the people do NOT have the right to have labels warning us that their mutant shit is polluting our food.

What's arrogant is an ever shrinking number of media companies overcharging ridiculously for music and/or video content, and then once you have paid for it and now OWN it, still believing they have the right to determine how you use what you own, and in some cases, have tried to get you to pay over and over again for the same thing.

What's arrogant is a fucked up treaty which will impact the entire fucking planet being written and negotiated BY GODDAMNED CORPORATIONS in secret, and even when one of the few decent honorable human beings still in Congress attempts to tell the American people about it, he is threatened with "national security" bullshit.

There is NO defense for any of the above.

[ELVIS]

No, but your poll is still arrogant...;)

[Never was]

Thanks Ford you made my point. Embedded
You can't conceive of any valid oppossing point on the topic.
Therefore you were not conducting a poll on an open ended question to debate, you were just looking to make a rant because any oppossing view must be based on greed or ignorance it is simply not a possibility of a valid counter point that you you may feel is overwhelmed, your "poll" dictates that possibility can not exist because you can not conceive it. That is arrogant.

[FORD]

Thanks Ford you made my point. Embedded
You can't conceive of any valid oppossing point on the topic.
Therefore you were not conducting a poll on an open ended question to debate, you were just looking to make a rant because any oppossing view must be based on greed or ignorance it is simply not a possibility of a valid counter point that you you may feel is overwhelmed, your "poll" dictates that possibility can not exist because you can not conceive it. That is arrogant.

Then please, by all means..... if you have a defense of this TPP thing, let's hear it.

And if you have one, then also please explain HOW, since the top secret nature of this whole clusterfuck certainly doesn't leave much to defend, that I can see.

So knock yourself out. Seriously... I have yet to see anybody defend it, at least not specifically (just the generic "Obama did it and therefore it's GOOD" talking points on a formerly great website that's still called "Democratic Underground" even though all the Democrats were kicked off the site in early 2009)

[Never was]

If you had a valid debate set up it would make sense to engage but you have a rant set up so by all means rant.

For the record I am neither defending or attacking the subject matter.

[Blaze]

Today, 15 January 2014, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Environment Chapter and the corresponding Chairs' Report. The TPP transnational legal regime would cover 12 countries initially and encompass 40 per cent of global GDP and one-third of world trade. The Environment Chapter has long been sought by journalists and environmental groups. The released text dates from the Chief Negotiators' summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013.

The Environment Chapter covers what the Parties propose to be their positions on: environmental issues, including climate change, biodiversity and fishing stocks; and trade and investment in 'environmental' goods and services. It also outlines how to resolve enviromental disputes arising out of the treaty's subsequent implementation. The draft Consolidated Text was prepared by the Chairs of the Environment Working Group, at the request of TPP Ministers at the Brunei round of the negotiations.

Read the full press release here. (http://wikileaks.org/tpp-enviro/pressrelease.html)
http://wikileaks.org/tpp2/static/gfx/wl-tpp-cartoon.jpg

Executive Summary: Doesn't matter, got Profits!

[Satan]

Joint analysis from the National Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and World Wildlife Fund.

http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/TPP_Enviro_Analysis.pdf?docID=14842

[Satan]

Danielle Wiener-Bronner (http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/01/obama-trades-environment-trade-deal/357026/)


The Obama administration could be selling out environmental protections in order to cement a complex international trade deal, according to new documents revealed on Wednesday by WikiLeaks. Today, the whistle-blowing organization published the Environment Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a bilateral agreement that has been in the works since 2010 — confirming critics' fears that the plan will be bad news for the planet.

The TPP would establish a trade agreement between 12 countries — the U.S., Japan and a number of other Pacific Rim nations. An expansion of the 2005 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, the TPP aims to promote free trade between more nations in a move that would ideally boost each country's economy. The trade negotiations were cloaked in secrecy, however, until WikiLeaks published the deal's Intellectual Property chapter back in November. At the time, IT specialists voiced concern that the provisions would boost corporate interests over individual rights, much like the disputed anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA that were ultimately shut down.

Now, WikiLeaks has unveiled the proposed environmental chapter, and says the Obama Administration's environmental demands are weak:


When compared against other TPP chapters, the Environment Chapter is noteworthy for its absence of mandated clauses or meaningful enforcement measures. The dispute settlement mechanisms it creates are cooperative instead of binding; there are no required penalties and no proposed criminal sanctions. With the exception of fisheries, trade in 'environmental' goods and the disputed inclusion of other multilateral agreements, the Chapter appears to function as a public relations exercise.


The Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Program director Ilana Solomon told The New York Times that the draft deal, if confirmed, would undo environmental protections enacted by the U.S. Solomon said, "it rolls back key standards set by Congress to ensure that the environment chapters are legally enforceable, in the same way the commercial parts of free-trade agreements are."

According to the Times, the draft agreement is different from other recent international trade deals because the language used in the environmental section is not legally binding. Since 2007's "May 10 Agreement" between Senate Democrats and George W. Bush, free-trade deals have included strict environmental provisions. Regulators say this round is different because because a bilateral trade among 12 countries is, naturally, more complicated than a two-way deal. The Times reports:



The report indicates that the United States has been pushing for tough environmental provisions, particularly legally binding language that would provide for sanctions against participating countries for environmental violations. The United States is also insisting that the nations follow existing global environmental treaties. But many of those proposals are opposed by most or all of the other Pacific Rim nations working on the deal, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Peru. Developing Asian countries, in particular, have long resisted outside efforts to enforce strong environmental controls, arguing that they could hurt their growing economies.

Environmental groups had suspected that the chapter would be problematic. The Sierra Club warned on its website that the fact that the TPP had been developing under wraps was a red flag, noting that the public has been shut out of important decisions: "600 corporate advisors have access to the negotiating text while the public — even Members of Congress — are being kept in the dark." Specifically, the Sierra Club feared the TPP would give "unfettered rights to corporations" and promote fracking:


The TPP may allow for significantly increased exports of liquefied natural gas without the careful study or adequate protections necessary to safeguard the American public. This would mean an increase of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the dirty and violent process that dislodges gas deposits from shale rock formations. It would also likely cause an increase in natural gas and electricity prices, impacting consumers, manufacturers, workers, and increasing the use of dirty coal power.

The WikiLeaks document shows that the U.S. is easing up on pollution and logging regulations, and walking back opposition to the controversial shark-finning practice, in which poachers mine sharks for their fins and leave them in the ocean to die. The weakened environmental standards may be pushed through as Obama scrambles to close the deal, which officials had hoped would be completed by 2013, as part of an Asia pivot designed to show America's commitment to the continent.

[Blaze]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U02rrxb4Dls/Utba4O7Z1MI/AAAAAAAAD28/3Gq-FJX2oY8/w532-h616-no/Cost+of+Enviro+damage.jpg

A collection of TPP memes. Updated often. Suggestions welcomed. Like, Use, and Share. (https://plus.google.com/photos/+JuliaClark/albums/5969092283890499601)

[Blaze]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lC_wiZW2Ccg/UtZ55MSFWmI/AAAAAAAADyk/2fzWSPJx97A/w500-h333-no/fire-BP-oil-spill_WikiCommons_USDefenseGOV1.jpg

[Blaze]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tU43ZLZv2lc/UtZ6_kT9NKI/AAAAAAAADzs/p2phSc2YYCs/w927-h616-no/dv197018.jpg

[Satan]

Beelzebump ^..^

[Blaze]

Your poll is very arrogant.
It assumes that no one can be for it unless gaining personal benefit or ignorant.
That smells of being so embedded with your own bias you can't possible conceive of the oppossing side.
So its an opinion to reflect your view but not per se a poll. Kinda an intellectually weak way of dressing up a rant as something open ended.
Not voicing any opinion on the subject itself just the framing and presentation.
Just curious, how could you have not been ignorant before Wikileaks released the TPP docs?

Thread: Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) - Environment Consolidated Text (http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?70168-Secret-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Agreement-(TPP)-Environment-Consolidated-Text)

[Satan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yl6Y3ycscY

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcP02X69fuk

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv-wFbyPYdY

[Satan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znjfn0mZ33c

[FORD]

Obama Nominates SOPA Lobbyist for TPP Trade Post
Lee Fang on February 27, 2014 - 5:28 PM ET
This post was originally published at RepublicReport.org



This morning, President Obama nominated Robert Holleyman as deputy US trade representative. If confirmed by the US Senate, Holleyman will help lead the effort to pass the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Notably, Holleyman is a former lobbyist who led efforts to pass the Stop Online Privacy Act legislation, better known as SOPA, when he was leader of the Business Software Alliance. The SOPA debate (along with its sister legislation, PROTECT-IP, in the Senate) brought a spotlight on industry efforts to undermine Internet freedom through what many considered to be draconian intellectual property policy.

Critics have pointed out, the leaked TPP documents relating to TPP negotiations reveal that the United States is seeking to resurrect portions of the SOPA bill through the TPP, namely, holding Internet Service Providers liable for hosting copyright infringement and extending the copyright life of certain corporate-owned copyrights. As Washington Post blogger Henry Farrell noted, the proposed TPP provisions suggest the deal will advance intellectual property rules that “could not [be] achieved through an open democratic process.”

During the SOPA debate, Holleyman was chief executive of the Business Software Alliance, a trade group for software companies including IBM. Holleyman commended then–Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith for his work in sponsoring SOPA and for pushing for its passage. In 2012, as the bill worked its way through Congress, the BSA spent over $1.6 million on lobbying. After widespread outrage against the bill, which eventually failed, BSA withdrew official support and sought similar policy changes through other legislation.



If the Senate approves Holleyman as the next deputy trade representative, he will have another opportunity to advance SOPA-style policy.

Last week, Republic Report broke several stories regarding the TPP, including bonuses paid by CitiGroup and Bank of America to officials also tapped by the administration to lead the TPP deal. We also reported on media companies and their lobbying efforts on the bill—which have been extensive, despite the lack of coverage media outlets are devoting to the issue.

[Nitro Express]

What the hell is that?

A big secret they don't want you to know about.

[Nitro Express]

The TPP is about taking the regulatory authority away from our elected officials (not that they actually do their jobs but we still can replace them with elections). In other words, it's another gimmick to steal our republic from us.

The problem is the Federal Reserve Bank and it's participating corporations have bought up about half of the the companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The congress participates in insider trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission probably could throw a good chunk of the US congress in jail if they did their jobs. It's monopoly on steroids and it's bought up all the media so the average person doesn't know a thing about it.

There is no free press in the United States anymore and a lot of things aren't being exposed. If you actually do some investigative reporting, your car blows up with you in it.

It's to the point where we probably are going to have to have the states call a constitutional convention and clean sweep the federal government and start over. It's too riddled with corruption to fix itself. I think this is why they are trying to push us into a war. They need a distraction and an excuse to clamp down. Our meddling in the Ukraine has me concerned. We just need to stay out of it.

[FORD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_G8J29iFmM

[Southpaw]

Why waste our time discussing this? If the real owners of this country want this to take place, and they do, it will happen. Its funny how all of us, me included, want to think we can have a choice or make a difference. Just hope that you are not one of those personally affected. Unfortunately everyone reading this will be affected. Empty pockets never stopped me from singing a blue streak...

[FORD]

Well then maybe it's time we solved the problem of the assholes who proclaimed themselves to be the "real owners of this country" while having no right to do so

:fighting0043:

99 vs 1? I like those odds.

[DONNIEP]

It's to the point where we probably are going to have to have the states call a constitutional convention and clean sweep the federal government and start over.

This will never happen because the vast majority of the country wants everything handed to them. Freebies. Entitlements. Hell, most people in this country will fight to get to the front of the line for the free train ride and complimentary "spa treatment"..

[sadaist]

Fuck me...this site is hard to read on a smartphone. Especially with already bad eyes.

[FORD]

I wouldn't want to see a Constitutional Convention in this country unless there was a way to block any participation from corporations AND from idiots who have no idea what the fuck they are talking about, and cannot possibly add any ideas of substance to save the country.

Most of the reason this country is fucked up right now is because the first of those groups has already fooled the second into voting against their own self-interests for the past 33 years.

[FORD]

Fuck me...this site is hard to read on a smartphone. Especially with already bad eyes.

Isn't everything hard to read on a smartphone?

The main reason I haven't bothered to get one.... My "dumb" phone is fine for phone calls, and a smart phone is inadequate for net use. And so far, I've resisted becoming a "texting" junkie. Shit, it's hard for me to type on a standard laptop, let alone a goddamned phone.

[Nitro Express]

Well then maybe it's time we solved the problem of the assholes who proclaimed themselves to be the "real owners of this country" while having no right to do so

:fighting0043:

99 vs 1? I like those odds.

I would just like to push them out of an airplane over Antarctica and say,"Ok assholes, you wanted to own a country here's a whole continent for you. I hear there is a lot of mineral wealth under that ice pack here, here's a shovel for you."

[FORD]

http://www.utsa.edu/lrsg/antarctica/simba/pictures/album/antarctic%20sea%20animals/emperor%20penguins/slides/Sad%20Penguin.JPG

What did the penguins ever do to you? :(

[FORD]

<div class="post-message">
Recently, ABC infohack Cokie Roberts, doyenne of the D.C. Establishment, attacked me in her nationally syndicated column. Why? Because <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">I dared to speak the truth about the Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> (TPP), a so-called "free trade agreement" that has lobbyists and Washington insiders alike <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">clamoring to stuff their pockets with corrupt corporate cash.</a> And because <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">I dared to speak the truth about “Fast Track,” legislation whose sole purpose is to cram TPP and other corporate rip-offs down our throats.</a>
<br />
<br />By attacking me, Cokie Roberts unintentionally has provided a fascinating case study in how Washington, D.C. really works. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank"> Her attack on me was really an attack on the American middle class. Her attack on me was an attack on you.</a>
<br />
<br />Let’s look at the facts. Our corporatized “free trade” policy has been an abject failure. It began with NAFTA, which impoverished workers in both the United States and abroad, solely for the benefit of wealthy corporate special interests. So has every “free trade” deal since. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">For the past dozen years, every year, the United States has run the largest trade deficits of any country, anywhere in the world, at any time in history.</a> Since NAFTA went into effect, our trade deficits total $10,000,000,000,000.00, or one-sixth of our national net worth. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">We are buying foreign goods and assets, putting foreigners to work. Instead of buying our goods and services, they are buying our assets, driving us deeper and deeper into debt.</a> We lose – twice.
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<br />For five years now, our so-called “Trade Representative” has conspired in secret with multinational corporations to give away our sovereignty, refusing even our elected representatives access to negotiations. “Fast Track” legislation simply is a ploy to jam the resulting surrender to multinational corporations through Congress, without hearings, without mark-ups, without amendments and even without significant debate. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">The real problem today is our towering trade deficit, and both “Fast Track” and TPP would make that worse. </a>
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<br /><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">But that’s not how Cokie Roberts, the daughter of two Members of Congress and a consummate Washington insider, sees it.</a> She quoted some of what I’ve said, and then she said: “Liberal ideologues like Grayson are flat-out wrong.”
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<br />Let’s take a look at the evidence that Cokie Roberts offers to try to prove that she’s right and I’m wrong. She touts the fact that the United States exports $2 trillion in goods and services each year. While she ignores the fact that the United States has been importing nearly $3 trillion in goods and services each year. (Note to Cokie: three is more than two.) She touts the “fact” that trade supposedly “supports” almost 10 million jobs in the United States. While she ignores the fact that imports cost us even more jobs; in fact, we’ve lost five million manufacturing jobs to “free trade” during the past two decades.
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<br /><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">Are you disgusted by this crooked and underhanded attack by Cokie Roberts? Do you oppose “free trade” giveaways? If so, please pledge $10 per month to our campaign now</a>, to “honor” of the “almost 10 million jobs” that Cokie Roberts claims "free trade agreements" support in the imaginary world that she lives in.
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<br />To top it all off, Cokie Roberts then quoted this vapid and inane remark by the U.S. Trade Representative: "Trade is critical to America's prosperity." It would be far more accurate to say that trade is critical to the prosperity of America’s lobbyists. Lobbyists like Cokie Roberts’s brother, for instance.
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<br />And now we get to the heart of the matter, today’s lesson in how Washington, D.C. works – for people like Cokie Roberts. And her brother.
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<br />Why is Cokie Roberts ignoring the trade deficit, that 800-billion-pound gorilla in the room? Could it possibly be because <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">her brother’s law firm represents a slew of multinational corporations and foreign governments who stand to benefit from the TPP?</a> In just the Middle East, that firm’s client list includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">That was good enough for Cokie’s brother’s firm to take in a whopping $40 million in lobbying fees in 2013 alone.</a>
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<br />Cokie’s brother’s firm has represented scads of multinational corporations who just can't get enough of "free trade agreements." Last year alone, Goldman Sachs poured $480,000 into the coffers of that firm. Citigroup tossed in another $300,000. And Halliburton and Exxon Mobil shelled out tens of thousands of dollars, too.
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<br />(If you question whether Cokie Roberts would bend over backwards to help her brother’s lobbying firm, then consider this: Dianna Ortiz is an American nun who was tortured and raped by the Guatemalan junta. Cokie Roberts’s brother’s law firm represented the Guatemalan junta. Cokie Roberts claimed on the air, with no basis whatsoever, that Ortiz had fabricated her story. Ortiz then proved it in court, and won a $5 million judgment.)
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<br /><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">Cokie Roberts's attack against me is designed to discredit not only me, but also to discredit the concerns of ordinary Americans -- like you -- in order to protect the Washington elite</a>: corporate lobbyists, corrupt insiders, millionaires and billionaires, multinational corporations, big banks, the Halliburtons and Exxon Mobils of the world, and other economic aristocrats who would benefit from these "free trade" giveaways. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">In short, the people who think that they own us.</a>
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<br />The D.C. Establishment doesn’t know what to do about me, because I am unbossed and unbought. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">Lobbyists don't like me, because I stand against their "free trade" giveaways, their bailouts, their no-bid contracts and their tax breaks. Billionaires fund my opponents' campaigns. Not mine.</a>
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<br />If you don't like the TPP and other "free trade" giveaways, then invest in our campaign right now. If you don't like multinational corporations who try to buy laws that benefit them, then invest in our campaign now.
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<br /><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">Washington's corporate elite relies on people like Cokie Robert to attack people like me, because I'm speaking for people like you.</a> If you think that Cokie Roberts is wrong, that the way that the Washington, D.C. elite do business is wrong, then invest in our campaign now. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">With only $10 or $25 or $50 from you, every month, I can afford to keep standing up for us.</a>
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<br /><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">Monday marks our Federal Election Commission report cut-off date.</a> We are under attack. And when I say “we,” I don’t just mean “me.” I mean that the American middle class is under attack. I mean that you’re under attack. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">When I say “we,” I mean you and me.</a>
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<br /><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">We are fighting for justice, equality, and peace.</a> We are paying attention, we are working hard, and we are getting things done. And because of that, <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">I am under attack. I need your help</a>, and I need it today. Every dollar counts. Our deadline is midnight on Monday. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/cokierobertstpp?refcode=CWG032914%%listtracking%%&amount=20.14&recurring=48" target="_blank">Please contribute today.</a>
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<br />Courage,
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<br />Rep. Alan Grayson</div>