Treaty Threatens to Destroy National Sovereignty

[Huey P. Long]

Treaty Negotiated In Secret – Hidden Even from Congressmen Who Oversee Treaties – Threatens to Destroy National Sovereignty
Submitted by George Washington on 06/14/2012

Democratic Senator Wyden – the head of the committee which is supposed to oversee it – is so furious about the lack of access that he has introduced legislation to force disclosure.
Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is so upset by it that he has leaked a document on his website to show what’s going on.
What is everyone so furious about?

An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would actually destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and all other signatories.

It is called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Wyden is the chairman of the trade committee in the Senate … the committee which is supposed to have jurisdiction over the TPP. Wyden is also on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and so he and his staff have high security clearances and are normally able to look at classified documents. And yet Wyden and his staff have been denied access to the TPP’s text.

This is similar to other recent incidences showing that we’ve gone from a nation of laws to a nation of powerful men making laws in secret.
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As University of California Berkeley Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott warned:

If members of the Homeland Security Committee cannot enforce their right to read secret plans of the Executive Branch, then the systems of checks and balances established by the U.S. Constitution would seem to be failing.

To put it another way, if the White House is successful in frustrating DeFazio, then Continuity of Government planning has arguably already superseded the Constitution as a higher authority.

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http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-06-14/international-treaty-negotiated-secret-%E2%80%93-hidden-even-congressmen-who-oversee-

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012
Obama Plans to Put Foreign Companies Above the Law
Yves Smith

Zach Carter has a must-read new article up at Huffington Post on leaked documents from trade negotiations that have been posted at the website Public Citizen. You should read his entire article, pronto, but here is the money quote:

The newly leaked document is one of the most controversial of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. It addresses a broad sweep of regulations governing international investment and reveals the Obama administration’s advocacy for policies that environmental activists, financial reform advocates and labor unions have long rejected for eroding key protections currently in domestic laws.
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This is an active effort to undermine US laws and make certain US laws subordinate to non-US tribunal that sits outside any democratic process. President Obama took an oath to uphold the land. I’d like to throw this out to readers. As much as trade agreements (which were approved by Congress) have sometimes run into friction with existing laws, this move by Obama looks to be a far more radical effort to increase the power of multinational companies. And US companies would argue for, and likely eventually get, similar breaks, assuring a legal/regulatory race to the bottom (if you think what we have is bad now, do not underestimate how much worse it could get).
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http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/06/obama-plan-to-put-foreign-companies-above-the-law.html

[Huey P. Long]

1. Well, I guess this thread will sink, much like the nation.

Much more pain ahead, this is obvious. Eventually people will wake up, when everything turns to shit.

[msongs]

2. must not criticize the dear leaders nt

[sakabatou]

3. There's not enough facepalms in the world...

[Posteritatis]

6. Facepalms are a renewable resource. (nt)

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. It would all come spilling out once it was sent to the senate for ratification

However, if you look like you're ashamed to share it with the public there's probably a reason why.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. If signing another "free-trade" agreement is beneficial to Democrats and the country as a whole,

why not make it part of the Democratic platform?

If it is not, and if both President Obama and Rmoney are in favor of it, is there any realistic way to stop it?

[Huey P. Long]

9. I didn't think you'd get an attempted spin/answer on that question.

The plan is to hide it and just bow to corporate control.

[Huey P. Long]

7. Much appreciated...

those who are concerned and replied.

The decent will be horrific and severe. Prepare yourselves.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

13. These are the good old days.

[limpyhobbler]

8. du rec nt

[Autumn]

10. K/R that's all I can say n/t

[closeupready]

11. This isn't all that alarming, IMHO. Reason is,

US presidents seem to unilaterally disregard treaties they dislike, with impunity.

It alarms me that Congress is so corrupt, but this particular aspect of it is just a sidebar of a much larger problem - the very pay-to-play process we have of electing our public officials.

[Huey P. Long]

12. This must be what he meant by 'renegotiating NAFTA'.

[jwirr]

14. That is exactly what globalization is all about - erasing borders.