Free Republic

If Bush could be blamed for isolating America on foreign policy, anti-NAFTA protectionism would make Obama just as guilty economically.

Campesinos tomaron el puente internacional Córdoba de las Américas en demanda de la reducción de costos de diesel y alimentos. El bloqueo que por espacio de dos horas realizaron agricultores a las líneas comerciales de importación del puente, ocasionó que unos 150 camiones con carga y vacíos tuvieran que ser desviados al puente internacional de Zaragoza, el cual se congestionó rápidamente. Manuel Sotelo, líder de la Asociación de Transportistas informó que lo anterior provocó pérdidas de tiempo y retrasos a la industria maquiladora que se tendrán que reponer con horas extras que cuestan, además de gastar más diesel.

Government Blocks Release of Documents on Secret IP Enforcement Treaty Despite Obama's Order for Openness, Americans Still Kept in the Dark About ACTA San Francisco, CA - infoZine - The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is withholding hundreds of documents about a secret intellectual property enforcement treaty currently under negotiation between the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries. In a pending federal lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge are demanding that background documents on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) be released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). But the USTR has...

'Buy American' - Sparks Fly A stimulus provision that bans the purchase of foreign construction materials for public works projects gets jeers from economists and European trade interests. A debate is brewing at home and abroad over an economic stimulus measure that would require materials used in the program's infrastructure projects to be purchased from American companies. In the $819 billion House bill passed Wednesday, the so-called "Buy American" provision would, with some notable exceptions, ensure that only U.S.-produced iron and steel be used for construction. It expands on a 76-year-old federal law. The Senate, which is likely to take...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Bimbo said on Thursday it had closed the $2.38 billion acquisition of the U.S. breadmaking unit of Canada's George Weston Ltd (WN.TO). The deal, announced early in December, will extend Bimbo's (BIMBOA.MX) U.S. presence coast to coast with one of the biggest acquisitions in its history.

Pity the poor global warming alarmists such as Al Gore, James Hansen of NASA, and the Weather Channel's Heidi Cullen. They went way out on the limb in promoting the absolute certainity of global warming and now Mother Nature is sawing it off behind them with the coldest weather in decades. To spare themselves complete embarrassment, you might have noticed that many media outlets and global warming promoters are backing off from that term and are now using "climate change" more frequently. Last Friday, one of the big global warming promoters on the Huffington Post, Kevin Grandia, publicly struggled over...

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.

On Tuesday afternoon El Paso Mayor John Cook vetoed a resolution unanimously passed by city council that would have asked the U.S. government to begin a serious debate on legalizing narcotics. Earlier in the day city council passed a resolution, rationing that the best way to stop the drug wars in Juarez may be to legalize the drugs here in the United States. It was part of a larger resolution outlining several steps for the United States and Mexico to take in order to cut down on the number of murders between rival drug cartels. Last year more than 1,600...

Trans Texas Corridor is dead, TxDOT says 10:50 AM CST on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News mlindenberger@dallasnews.com AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Transportation announced this morning that it has officially killed the Trans Texas Corridor, saying that despite the project's visionary aspects, "it is clearly not the choice of Texans." Direct link to article...

<p>Visiting Fellow John Yoo The Constitution's Treaty Clause has long been seen, rightly, as a bulwark against presidential inclinations to lock the United States into unwise foreign commitments. The clause will likely be tested by Barack Obama's administration, as the new president and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, led by the legal academics in whose circles they have long traveled, contemplate binding down American power and interests in a dense web of treaties and international bureaucracies.</p>

China, India, Russia factories slash output, jobs An employee of a luxury brand shop puts up a poster at a shopping district in Tokyo. Factories in China, India and Russia slashed output and jobs at a record pace last month in another sign the world's largest emerging markets were wilting under the recession that has gripped most industrialised nations. Factory activity surveys in the US and Europe are expected to show steeper contractions in December, as demand collapses at home and crushes growth in many of the developing nations that rely on Western consumption. Economists and policymakers had seen China,...

Manufacturing slows to lowest level since 1948, the ISM Survey showed By (AXcess News) Houston - The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) December Survey revealed that the manufacturing sector continued to show no sign of growth for the fifth consecutive month while the overall U.S. economy shrank for the third month in a row. ISM chairman of the Committee Survey Norbert J. Ore said manufacturers across the entire spectrum of companies saw a "significant decline" in activity during the month of December. "The decline covers the full breadth of manufacturing industries, as none of the industries in the sector report...

(English-language translation) Mexico - Former Mexican President Vicente Fox described Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez as a "jackass" for opposing free markets, and considers that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has to "set his feet on reality" regarding his commercial and immigration relationship with Mexico, the local press reported. During a conference held at the Fox Center, a democracy-studies organization the former President established in the State of Guanajuato in central Mexico, Fox indicated that "the worst thing we can do is listen to those who are saying the market economy does not work, what that jackass Hugo Chávez is saying." Fox,...

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Mexico's out of control drug cartel wars this year, so why is our government opening even more border crossings at this time with Mexico. Many elected officials are ignoring Mexico's raging war against the drug cartels and instead of focusing on safety and public security, trying to widen the openings in our border with Mexico strictly for commerce purposes. DOBBS: Disturbing new details emerging tonight from Mexico proving that the raging drug cartel wars there are far more deadly than the government of Mexico has previously admitted. The U.S. response, however, is...

Just a few days after signing a historic agreement that will see a Canadian company build a massive pipeline to flow natural gas from Alaska to Alberta, Gov. Sarah Palin says she is working to strengthen relations with Canada, and Barack Obama should too. Palin, who recently lost her vice-presidential bid on a shared ticket with presidential candidate John McCain, spoke to CTV's Canada AM from Fairbanks, Alaska, just after signing the deal with TransCanada pipeline. She granted the company US$500 million to plan the pipeline, with construction set to begin in 2011. She suggested the contract is an example...

The Obama Administration will end the Department of Transportation's cross border trucking program, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a staunch opponent of the project, predicted Friday. "Both President-elect Obama and Vice-President-elect Biden voted to end the program in 2007, and it is expected that the new administration will uphold the intent of Congress and shut down the program in 2009," Dorgan said in a statement. The program, which allows trucks from the United States and Mexico to drive beyond commercial border zones is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement but has garnered bi-partisan criticism from lawmakers and others on...

Latin jitters over Obama's free-trade policies Business elites and conservative governments worry about his opposition to free-trade deals. By Sibylla Brodzinsky Bogotá, Colombia; and Mexico City - As a "citizen of the world," Munir Rodriguez says he was thrilled to see Barack Obama win the US presidency. But as a consultant for Colombia's fresh-cut-flower industry, which has been counting on the approval of a free-trade deal between the two counties, the election outcome means uncertainty for the future of his clients. "With Obama, everything is up in the air," says Mr. Rodriguez. Throughout his campaign – which received significant support...

Here's a hint, it wasn't a Republican. Here's another question for you blame artists (democrats) who think you can blame your way out of this current economic mess: Who was it that "encouraged" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax their lending standards for lower income/sub-prime borrowers? Rhetorical question! It was Bill Clinton, the same person who passed the legislation that sent all of our middle class jobs to third world countries. So, it looks to me like you clowns should be the last ones casting stones in this glass house. This current mess is a direct result of Democratic,...

The leaker who "revealed" to Carl Cameron of FOX News that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent or which nations were in the North American Free Trade Agreement has outed himself. First of all the leaker turned out not to be Mitt Romney nor one of his associates as some have suspected. More importantly, the leaker's own revelation does not show that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent nor that she didn't know which countries were in the NAFTA. Okay, so who is the leaker? Drum roll please, maestro! And the leaker is....Martin Eisenstadt,...

MEXICO CITY Following President-elect Barack Obama’s triumph in the U.S. elections, the Mexican government hopes to enter a new stage in the country’s relations with its northern neighbour. But it will be no easy task, especially considering that Obama has said he is interested in renegotiating NAFTA in order to improve its labour and environmental standards. He also voted for the 2006 Secure Fence Act...although since then he has softened his support for the barrier. As soon as Obama’s victory was confirmed, Mexican President Felipe Calderón invited him to visit the country in the near future....the conservative Calderón also expressed...

U.S. Highway 281 Presentation >> Priority 1: Spend $75 million to build five overpasses in Falfurrias.>> Priority 2: A $13 million Ben Bolt overpass at Farm-to-Market Road 2508 is proposed to create a safer school zone and eliminate another traffic barrier.>> Priority 3: Dedicate anywhere from $40 million to $104 million to build tolled relief route around Premont or upgrade the existing route with tolled freeway lanes.>> Priority 4: A $50 million project in George West to build connectors to U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 37.McALLEN -- Whether the route is eventually called Interstate 69 or the Trans-Texas Corridor, four...

In Mexico's worst case of drug-related corruption in a decade, a drug cartel infiltrated the highest levels of Mexico's Attorney General's Office, paying as much as $450,000 a month to get sensitive information about anti-drug activities, Mexican officials said on Monday. The cartel even seemingly placed a mole inside the U.S. Embassy that fed the drug lords information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a copy of an arrest warrant seen by The Wall Street Journal and obtained by Mexican newspaper El Universal. A DEA spokesman said: "We are currently investigating this issue along with our Mexican counterparts."...

Mexico has offered the U.S. an opportunity to hold it to its word on labor, trade and immigration. The nation's 44th president will be welcomed to the Oval Office by a willing and able partner in Mexico. But that country's leadership will also greet the new commander in chief with a blunt message on trade and, by inference, immigration: Don't mess with NAFTA. The Mexicans deserve a careful hearing on this; NAFTA merits a less cavalier and more focused approach than generally shown on the presidential campaign trail. Despite the sniping of critics on both the left and right, NAFTA...

Barack Obama's promise to unilaterally rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement if Canada and Mexico won't go along with his ideas on labor and the environment has not gone unnoticed in Ottawa. If Canadians are going to have a tougher time selling their goods and services south of the border, who can blame them for looking east -- across the Atlantic to Europe. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France signed an agreement Friday to begin negotiations for a free trade pact between Canada and the European Union. A Canada-EU study released last week outlines the...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! We had a resounding victory in the House last night! Despite heavy threats from the White House and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, HR6630 passed with 395 lawmakers voting for it and only 18 voting against. HR6630 will require the immediate termination of the DOT’s crossborder trucking pilot program with Mexico and revoke the DOT’s ability to grant Mexico-domiciled carriers authority to operate beyond commercial zones without Congressional approval. During the debate regarding HR6630 on the House floor last night prior to the vote, half of the lawmakers who spoke mentioned that they have been hearing from truckers back...

We've all met Barack "Neville Chamberlain" Obama and Barack "Rev. God Damn America" Obama, so now let me introduce you to a third face: Barack "Herbert Hoover" Obama. Just as Sen. Obama learned nothing from Chamberlain and his talks with Hitler, and so proposes to talk without preconditions to Amadinejad, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and the rest of the axis of evil, by like token, he's learned nothing from the lessons of Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Hoover was long the great nemesis of the Democratic Party, but that was perhaps before Sen. Obama's time. But Hoover is credited...

WASHINGTON – The House overwhelmingly voted to end the disputed cross-border trucking pilot project yesterday, raising the possibility that Congress could shut down the program before year's end. In a 395-18 vote, the House approved legislation to bar the U.S. Department of Transportation from granting authority to Mexican carriers to travel into the United States beyond a narrow commercial zone along the border. To become law, the bill would need to be approved by the Senate and signed by President Bush before the end of the year. Only last month, the administration announced plans to extend the program for two...

WASHINGTON — Dismissing a White House veto threat, the House voted Tuesday to end a pilot program giving Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways. The Bush administration stressed that the United States is obligated, under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, to open up American roads to Mexican truckers, and that terminating the year-old demonstration project would have repercussions for American trucks allowed into Mexico. Passage of the House bill, it said "would pose significant and immediate risks to U.S. interests." But the pilot project, which permits up to 500 trucks from 100 Mexican companies access to U.S. roads,...

Denver -- Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisor for the Western Hemisphere, Frank Sanchez, said Wednesday it is natural that a new government would want to review an agreement that has been in operation several years. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will review the NAFTA free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada to improve it, once he is elected, Sanchez said. “We need to take a close look at NAFTA and see how to improve it...” The subject of NAFTA arose here in the Democratic National Convention within the framework of the Political Platform approved unanimously this past Monday. It authorizes...

WASHINGTON – A controversial one-year program allowing Mexican trucks to travel deep into the United States will be extended for two more years, federal officials announced Monday. John H. Hill, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the extension would allow for the collection of more data to determine whether Mexican trucks can operate safely in the United States. Opponents quickly denounced the move, which some had been expecting despite their protests that the program poses a danger on U.S. highways. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, accused U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary...

The salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and a serrano pepper at a Mexican farm, federal health officials said Wednesday. "We have a smoking gun, it appears," said Dr. Lonnie King who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

McALLEN - Barack Obama's statements that he would consider renegotiating the decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement are drawing criticism from Rio Grande Valley business leaders. The treaty, which removed most trade and investment barriers among the United States, Mexico and Canada, has quickly turned into a point of contention between Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and his Republican counterpart, John McCain, whose pro-free trade stance calls for even more NAFTA-like trade blocs - specifically with Colombia and South Korea. Obama has routinely denounced the treaty as a deal that "put special interests over workers' interests," as he said...

NYT shocked to find a politician instead of a virgin posted at 9:11 am on July 4, 2008 by Ed Morrissey Send to a Friend | printer-friendly The New York Times editorial board went to bed with a virgin and woke up with a … well, a pro, in milder terms, or so they seem to imply in today’s unhappy missive.  The editorial castigates Obama for his replacement of just about everything he has professed from January 2007 to May 2008 with his all-new, 50%-more-”centery” agenda that rejects everything that made him attractive to the Left in the first place. ...

(RTTNews) - Presidential hopeful John McCain is heading to Latin America this week to discuss a free trade, a touchy subject for many workers in the United States whose jobs have been shipped to countries with cheaper labor costs. He has said he wants to thank Latin American countries for their efforts in fighting drug trafficking, part of the reason he supports the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. "I want to go to Colombia as it is a vital ally in our struggle against the scourge of drugs, a great amount of cocaine that comes into the United States of America,...

It is a steel and concrete corridor that will run right through the Old Pueblo, connecting Mexico City to Edmonton, Alberta. Its purpose is to facilitate trade among the three countries and minimize traffic and congestion for residents. Or is it evidence of a move afoot to intertwine the three North American countries and blur the lines of sovereignty? That's a matter of opinion.

Election: Going to Canada to show appreciation doesn't seem an obvious way to win a U.S. election. But based on the fury it drew from Democrats, maybe John McCain was on to something.The Republican front-runner made an unusual trip to Ottawa, Canada, on Friday to extol the benefits of free trade with our largest trading partner. It was a gutsy way to get attention — and an obvious way to show statesmanship, given that Canada sold the U.S. $560 billion in goods and services in 2007. Not everyone agrees. Canada in fact has been stunned to find itself at the...

OTTAWA -- Sen. John McCain traveled to Canada on Friday to offer a vigorous defense of the North American Free Trade Agreement, as his campaign sought to portray rival Sen. Barack Obama as inconsistent on free trade. "For all the successes of NAFTA, we have to defend it without equivocation in political debate because it is critical to the future of so many Canadian and American workers and businesses," McCain told a crowd of several hundred at the Economic Club of Canada. "Demanding unilateral changes and threatening to abrogate an agreement that has increased trade and prosperity is nothing more...

Yesterday, I wrote about how badly the far left were disappointed over the House Democrats’ “cave” on the FISA bill (btw, the House officially voted today to pass it, and the WaPo reports that the Senate will likely follow their lead). Most lefty blogs were filled with bloggers expressing “betrayal” and “disgust” at how House Democrats “turned their backs” on them - and, supposedly, the Constitution. The big question after the initial shock for the left was, “What does our nominee think of this shameful compromise?” They got their answer earlier this afternoon after Obama had a day to consult...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Republican John McCain defended the North American Free Trade Agreement in Canada on Friday during an unusual foreign trip as a U.S. presidential candidate to draw a contrast with Barack Obama, his Democratic rival in the November election. McCain, an Arizona senator who has wrapped up his party's White House nomination, said the trip was not a political one and declined to mention Obama by name during remarks before a group of Canadian business leaders and policy makers. --snip-- Trade is one of several issues that has come to the forefront of the U.S. presidential campaign as...

American presidential hopeful Barack Obama appears to have moderated his opposition to NAFTA just ahead of Republican rival John McCain's extraordinary visit to Canada to praise the trade pact. Mr. Obama, who said in March he would renegotiate the North American free-trade agreement if he's elected, said he might have gone too far. “Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified,” the Democratic nominee told Fortune magazine in an interview. Were his attacks on NAFTA a product of that brand of campaign posturing? “Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself,” he answered.Mr.Obama said he believes...

Obama and NAFTA-More Lies of Just Flip-Flops ? You might remember that during the ramp-up to the Ohio Primary Senator Obama said that he would renegotiate the NAFTA treaty. The controversy that caused surrounded his lack of foresight into the effects of the renegotiation (like higher oil prices), and the side conversation one of his advisers had with the Canadian Government ( "don't worry guys this is just for show") See Canada Has Documentation That Obama Lied About NAFTA So what has the "good" Senator been doing about NAFTA since Ohio? Well that kind of depends whether you think he...

Republican John McCain is a most militantly pro-free trade presidential candidate. That fact, alone, should guarantee his defeat in Ohio and other industrial states where his strategists entertain hopes of surfing a "Reagan Democrat" crossover of working-class Democratic voters to the GOP column this fall. All that is required is that Barack Obama campaign as a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement and other deals that have battered workers, farmers, communities and the environment in the U.S. and abroad. Unfortunately, Democrat Barack Obama, who smart signals on trade issues when he was competing with Hillary Clinton for his...

The general campaign is on, independent voters are up for grabs, and Barack Obama is toning down his populist rhetoric - at least when it comes to free trade. In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine's upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn't want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA. "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA "devastating" and "a big mistake," despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone...

A retreat from the Texas Department of Transportation's plan to build a new multi-lane toll road through East Texas is a clear victory for Angelina County and Diboll, local officials said last week. "I'm glad they went back to the original plan," Diboll Mayor Bill Brown said. Instead of a new Trans-Texas Corridor toll road paralleling U.S. 59, Tx- DOT now plans to widen 59 with a new bypass around Diboll and Lufkin. The planned 59 bypass, needed to avoid the signalized intersections in Diboll and Lufkin, provides in the original plan four exits for Diboll. That will be good...

CONFER: The North American Union Over the past few years a majority of Americans have been quite disappointed with what’s happening at our Southern border. Millions of Mexicans have been allowed to illegally enter our nation and assimilate into our populace. Despite considerable uproar from legal, taxpaying citizens, our federal government has done almost nothing to rectify the situation. There has been some talk of increasing border security or maybe enforcing existing laws, but this “silent invasion” continues unchecked: For every one Mexican caught trying to illegally enter our nation, more than five make it through. This begs the question,...

Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday slammed Democrats in Congress and running for president for opposing free trade agreements and leading the country down a "very destructive path" to protectionism. In a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Cheney said Democratic lawmakers, by refusing to bring the Colombian free trade agreement to a vote, were dealing a "tremendous setback" to a close US ally and causing "severe damage to our nation's credibility in the region." Led by Democrats, the House of Representatives in April delayed a vote on the trade pact in a snub to the White...

OTTAWA - Republican presidential candidate John McCain will give a speech next week in Canada about free trade, which could pull the country into the presidential debate once again. His presence and subject matter is bound to revive the controversy over NAFTA that embarrassed his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, earlier this year. McCain, an avowed free-trader, is to speak to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa on June 20, the club announced Wednesday. Obama's sincerity was called into question last March after the leak of a Canadian diplomatic memo, which summarized a meeting between senior Obama adviser Austan Goulsbee...

McALLEN - While poor Mexicans cross the border to take advantage of higher wages and a social safety net, their wealthy countrymen are seizing on the slowing U.S. economy to achieve their own American corporate dream. Anyone unfamiliar with the U.S.-Mexico border region might expect that private investment only flows from north to south. The Mexican side of the border in south Texas is loaded with factories that American companies have opened since NAFTA cleared the way for them to take advantage of inexpensive labor. But between the two countries, billions of dollars are moving in both directions each year....

He pleads forgetfulness to it all, but an offhand comment by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff is blamed for kickstarting a brouhaha that briefly rattled the Democratic U.S. presidential campaign. The lingering question: Did the probe into the leak drive Ian Brodie from his job as Mr. Harper's most loyal advisor? It's doubtful, but the timing of the report's release sure is suspicious. Mr. Brodie's departure was announced internally just 48 hours before the bureaucratic arm of government cleared him of a deliberate diplomatic breach. Ironically, that news was promptly leaked. The investigation's final report had been filed...

UNION CITY — Lower corporate and capital-gains taxes and more immigration visas for skilled workers are the keys to keeping Silicon Valley and America's economy humming into the future, business leaders told Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Thursday. Flanked by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman, the Arizona senator listened to and shot questions back at high-tech executives in a global-competitiveness round-table talk on the production floor at Finelite, a maker of lighting systems for offices and schools. "I'm here to listen and learn, a lot more than I am to be talking to...