Immigrants Enlisted for Trade Pact

Washington Post ^ | April 7, 2005 | Krissah Williams

[1rudeboy]

What do you mean, "traditionally?" Many of the dual-citizens in this country became that way without having to lift a finger. It doesn't make anyone any more of a traitor than, say, some long-haired granola-munching peacenik from Berkeley with only one passport.

[monkeywrench]

Where, exactly, did I use the word traitor?

[1rudeboy]

The article didn't say "citizens."

You are correct. Of any country. Why are you so quick to assume that these folks are foreign nationals? Do you realize how hard it is for a foreign national to legally operate a business in the U.S.?

[1rudeboy]

Sorry, you did not use the word. Someone else did.

[hedgetrimmer]

They are not looking for domestic support they are looking for people who can lobby on behalf of foreign countries. That makes them agents for foreign countries. That diminishes their opinion in my view because they are not speaking as US citizens but as agents for their home countries.

I have shown in numerous posts that these trade agreements are setting up for the FTAA and hemipsheric government. Why do you continuously defend the unconstitutional treaties corrupt officials are using to acheive this? "Free trade" is the means to the globalist's ends.

[hedgetrimmer]

Why are you so quick to assume that these folks are foreign nationals?

Are you serious? They can't be native they're immigrants.Let me spell it out for you. Immigrants come from f-o-r-e-i-g-n countries.

[1rudeboy]

Let me spell it out for you. My parents are immigrants. They are also U.S. citizens.

[hedgetrimmer]

Which countries does she mean in "our countries"? I only have one country. How many do you have?

[1rudeboy]

Do you understand you are playing semantics with someone who likely speaks English as a second language?

[hedgetrimmer]

Do you realize how hard it is for a foreign national to legally operate a business in the U.S.?

Since the adminstration is has no desire follow its constitutinal duty and curb illegal immigration and prosecute employers who hire illegal immigrants, why would they bother about a foreign national operating a business? Your statement makes no sense in the context of this administration, or the last for that matter.

[Dog Gone]

They're looking for people who can speak out in favor of the agreement that will diffuse the argument that CAFTA will be bad for other countries. The leftists think that if American products flood those countries it will be bad for the subsistence farmer or some such rot.

And I'm just not buying the paranoid delusions that these agreements lead to hemispheric governance. Any country may withdraw from CAFTA be providing notice to the others, I think six months in advance. So, it will again be possible for governments to interfere in the free flow of goods, cut off trade, raise the prices of products for their citizens, and generally raise unemployment as a result.

I can't imagine why those are your goals, but we probably don't read the same propaganda.

[1rudeboy]

It is not easy for a foreign national to legally operate a business in the U.S. I was not speaking in the context of illegal immigration, or sunspots, for that matter.

[hedgetrimmer]

The United States co-chairs the Western Hemisphere Transportation Initiative (WHTI)
US STATE DEPARTMENT

OAS Western hemispheric transportation initiative
The Organization of American States OAS in case you didn't know is a hemspheric parliament that enforce the summit of the americas directives

The U.S. and the Summit of the Americas: An Update on U.S. Actions to Implement the Hemisphere's Agenda

US STATE Department again.

Western Hemispheric Integration
University of Iowa, not the New American as you would have everyone believe.

The 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas initiated the uniting of the southern and northern halves of the Americas
University of Florida

Industry Objectives for Hemispheric Integration
the Summit of the Americas provide nothing less than the comprehensive framework and organizing principles for the social, economic and political relations among the community of nations of the hemisphere in the XXI century. The FTAA is not just one more initiative among the 23 initiatives launched in the Summit of the Americas. It is the pillar, the foundation of the grand project of hemispheric integration contained in the Summit vision

Note for you. It is the "free traders" who are pushing for hemispheric integration.

[Dog Gone]

What do you mean by "hemispheric integration"? If you mean the concept of a trading block consisting of the entire western hemisphere, then Free Traders would like to see it.

If you mean some sinister reduction in sovereignty ultimately leading to some sort of hemispheric supernation, I don't think you'd find many Free Traders supporting that.

[hedgetrimmer]

The proposed free-trade agreement between the United States, the nations of Central America and the Dominican Republic is vital to the economic well-being of the participating countries but its implications reach far beyond the realm of commerce, Christopher Padilla, assistant U.S. trade representative for intergovernmental affairs said at the State Department-hosted dialogue on the potential benefits of the accord April 6.

As the U.S. Congress considers whether to approve the agreement, which is commonly known as CAFTA-DR, "nothing less than the future of our relationships with the region's democracies is at stake," Padilla said.

CAFTA-DR "is about much more than trade," Zoellick added. By creating more economic opportunity throughout the region while increasing transparency and accountability, CAFTA-DR has great potential to ease poverty, fight corruption, boost democratic institutions, and strengthen the rule of law in countries that may need reinforcement in those areas, he said.

[hedgetrimmer]

U.S.-Central American Trade Agreement High on Hemispheric Agenda

In September 16 remarks to the Institute of the Americas, Noriega said the negotiation of CAFTA "is one of the biggest items on the hemispheric agenda."

"CAFTA is big also because of the huge potential benefits in both the economic and political spheres for the countries involved and for the hemisphere as a whole," Noriega said.

He said the ultimate goal of the CAFTA will be to open and integrate the seven member economies, but added that he expects the benefits will be broader.

"The potential impact of the agreement will likely go far beyond trade, giving a major impulse to economic development and political maturity," he said.

[Dog Gone]

Yes, it does have beneficial side effects, but I'm at a loss as to why those would be bad things.

It wasn't all that long ago that the region was run by tin-pot dictators or commies. If CAFTA brings further stability to these pro-American governments, increases their economic growth, and makes them more desirable neighbors, why on earth would you oppose that? This is the very thing America has promoted since its inception. Freedom and democracy should be spread and strengthened everywhere.

[hedgetrimmer]

What do you mean by "hemispheric integration"?

What do they mean by hemispheric integration. If you read the links and visit the sites, you can clearly see they are planning for supranational hemispheric government. Most "free trade" cheerleaders seem to have never read the trade agreements or understood that the broad powers granted in them are to allow the transformation of the western hemispheric countries into a single bloc.

If you truly don't agree with the creation of a hemispheric supernation(especially without the debate or consent of the American people), then you most oppose CAFTA, NAFTA-plus and the FTAA.

[Dog Gone]

I did visit all the links you provided above. I must have missed the one that was scary. And I have read CAFTA in its entirety and there's nothing in it scary at all.

Your fear that any agreement with another country reduces our sovereignty is simply misplaced, especially when we can withdraw from those agreements pursuant to their terms.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Well, I heard Simon Bolivar created the WTO to control our hemisphere.