Sirota on CAFTA: Immoral, not inept

[antigop]

http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/10/immoral_not_inept.html

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The Bush administration and the Republican Party are often criticized for refusing to aggressively use the "soft power" of international diplomacy. But alas, the attacks are misguided. This crew is more than willing to use "soft power" — not in Iraq, but in Central America, and not in an effort to bring American troops home, but in a ploy unfolding this weekend to enrich its big campaign contributors through the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

CAFTA, you may remember, was lobbyists' biggest trophy in the last Congress. Its language gives corporations the right to challenge American environmental and consumer protection laws in international courts; compels Central American countries to privatize public services; forces American and foreign workers into a wage-cutting race to the bottom; and extends medicine patents allowing pharmaceutical companies to keep drug prices artificially inflated in the developing world.

This was a deal so inherently corrupt that when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., offered a modest amendment to make CAFTA's worker and human rights protections as strong as its protections for pharmaceutical patents, he was voted down.

Just before the final CAFTA vote in the U.S. Congress in 2005, a nationwide Ipsos poll showed a majority of Americans opposed the deal. Unfortunately, the pressure to pass the pact from well-heeled lobbyists was too much and it was muscled through on a close vote.

That's when the diplomatic onslaught started.
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[BridgeTheGap]

1. Stop the bleeding...Just say "NO" to CAFTA

reverse NAFTA and GATT too!

[ProSense]

2. That was a solid amendment.

CAFTA Information