North American Union

The Ten AlterNet Stories from 2008 That Outraged Readers the Most January 1, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/story/116394/

"From our coverage on Sarah Palin's gaffes to Matt Taibbi's battles with the 9/11 Truth movement."

The Ten AlterNet Stories from 2008 That Outraged Readers the Most
By AlterNet

Posted on December 31, 2008, Printed on January 1, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/116394/

Immigration, gender, LGBT rights, race in America, equality, fair drug laws, the dangers of corporate power in America ... these are just a few of the subjects we feature every day here at AlterNet.

Below, we've assembled the 10 stories that most enraged commenters this year -- the articles that were linked to by conservative sites, ranted about on conspiracy blogs, and inspired people to send some downright nasty notes to AlterNet. They cover topics ranging from the facts about Sarah Palin, to the truth behind America's Marijuana laws, to the backwards thinking behind various conspiracy theories.

Here are the top ten AlterNet stories that outraged readers this year:

10. Over the Top Fed Actions Feed Conspiracy Thinking

By Scott Thill, AlterNet

Government of Canada Officials To Address U.S.-Canada Security Partnership in Colorado Springs

Consulate General of Canada To Host Canadian Defense and Security Organizations at Homeland Defense Symposium 2008, Oct. 28-30

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Demonstrating the level and depth of the joint Canada-U.S. defense and security partnership, the Consulate General of Canada in Denver returns to the Homeland Defense Symposium for the fourth year in a row. During the Symposium, the Consulate will host a Canadian Pavilion (booths 67 – 72 and 76 – 81), from Tuesday, October 28 to Thursday, October 30, at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

The Pavilion will feature eight Canadian exhibitors, including government and trade organizations focused on national defense and security policies and technologies. During the Consulate’s annual wine and cheese reception, which will be held at the Pavilion on Wednesday, October 29, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., guests — including U.S. conference participants and industry leaders — will have the opportunity to meet the Canadian exhibitors and discuss the importance of this bilateral relationship

THE NEW TRUTHER.ORG WEBSITE IS FINALLY HERE!!!

After months of delay, the highly anticipated www.truther.org is finally here! The brand-new website, built from the ground up, is probably the most interactive 9/11 Truth website on the internet to date. Along with easy to access evidence that put truther.org on the map, the new site is full of videos, photos, slide shows, and need to know information concerning 9/11 Truth, the New World Order, the North American Union, MSG, Vaccines, Fluoride, and Truther events. Log on and tell us what you think…

Robert Pastor in Foreign Affairs: Still Pimpin' for a North American Union

From "The Future of North America" by Robert Pastor:

"North America's leaders should deepen economic integration by negotiating a customs union. They should establish a North American investment fund to narrow the income gap between Mexico and its northern neighbors.... And they should create a lean, independent advisory commission to prepare North American plans for transportation, infrastructure, energy, the environment, and labor standards." (page 86 in the print version)

"in 2006, the three North American leaders invited a group of CEOs from some of the largest corporations in North America to establish the NACC (North American Competitiveness Council). They focused on 51 recommendations, which included eliminating pesky regulations, and agreed on the need to work 'under the radar screen' of public attention." (page 87)

Pastor also attacks critics of deep integration, such as Lou Dobbs and others. The rest of the article contains Pastor's ideas for integration, and it's disturbing. Near the end, he writes,

The NAFTA Superhighway is DEAD (at least for now)

Source: http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?article-Paul-Calls-TTC-Decision-%E2%80%9CA-Major-Victory-For-Texas%E2%80%9D%20...

I realize this is not exactly 9/11 truth related but it does deal with the NAFTA Superhighway (Trans Texas Cooridor [TTC]) and, in a sense, the North American Union (NAU). As a delegate to the 2008 Texas Republican State Convention, I can say first hand that resolutions against the TTC and the NAU were turned in, voted upon, passed and are now part of the Texas Republican Party platform. It just goes to show that if you fight hard enough, significant battles here and there can be won (even amongst a slew of close-minded capitalists). Nothing is impossible. The TTC has effectively been killed (the government's first attempt at it, that is).

EU Treaty Officially Rejected By Irish!!

Only one nation put the vote for the Lisbon Treaty to their people, and the people said NO! The Lisbon Treaty would have stolen what's left of sovereignty from the European Union nations and hands it to the owners of the corporation (European Union). But beware, it's not dead yet. - Bruno

From SKY NEWS
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91211-1318932,00.html?f=rss
Friday June 13, 2008

Irish voters have thrown the future of the European Union into doubt by rejecting a major reform package.
Members of the anti-Lisbon Treaty Group Coir (Justice) celebrate

The No camp reacts to the result

Official results of the Lisbon treaty referendum showed 53.4% voted No, while 46.6% voted Yes.

The result, which means the treaty will no longer enter force as planned on January 1, 2009, was met with loud cheering from supporters of the 'No' campaign in Dublin.

"In theory this should kill the treaty dead," said Sky's political correspondent Glen Oglaza.

"The European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said during the course of this campaign that there is no Plan B. We are now in uncharted territory.

9-11 Truth in Ottawa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-blSj0iMGOk

Former Prime Minister Jean Chrètien is asked about 9-11, the North American Union and Bilderberg at a book signing in Ottawa.

We Are Change - Austin Confronts Fred Thompson

THE DEAFINING SILENCE.

We Are Change - Austin Confronts Fred Thompson

Thompson held a private luncheon at the Driskill Hotel in Austin for fund raising with a cost of $1000 a plate. You could also have your photograph taken with him for only $2300. Thompson, a CFR member, is asked if he supports the North American Union? He refuses to answer the question. Absolutely no Fred Thompson supporters showed up, but he gives a big wave to all the Ron Paul supporters that came.

RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2007

RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership

The Council of Canadians has been told it will not be allowed to rent a municipal community centre for a public forum it had planned to coincide with the next Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec on August 20 and 21.

The Municipality of Papineauville, which is about six kilometres from Montebello, has informed the Council of Canadians that the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the U.S. Army will not allow the municipality to rent the Centre Communautaire de Papineauville for a public forum on Sunday August 19, on the eve of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership Leaders Summit.

Sibel Edmonds blows her whistle in May/June issue of Mother Jones

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/05/dont_whistle_while_you_work.html

I just saw this in the periodical section in Barnes and Noble. It's only a small mention of Sibel, and of course the implications of her charges are obscured or ignored, but I guess it's better than nothing.

There was also a small blurb on the NAU. Of course it's just a benign free trade agreement, and anyone who says different or does deeper research is a conspiracy nut.

What amazes me about the print media is their ability to take drastically different combinations of words and make the theme, the subtext, the same no matter what. Whether the you're reading Time magazine, Mother Jones, The New Yorker, Utne, Foreign Affairs, The Economist, or Dissent, the message is:

North American Union just one crisis away

Stoplying.ca noticed this one:

North American Union leader says merger just crisis away

Posted: December 15, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Robert Pastor, a leading intellectual force in the move to create an EU-style North American Community, told WND he believes a new 9/11 crisis could be the catalyst to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Pastor, a professor at American University, says that in such a case the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP – launched in 2005 by the heads of the three countries at a summit in Waco, Texas – could be developed into a continental union, complete with a new currency, the amero, that would replace the U.S. dollar just as the euro has replaced the national currencies of Europe.

In May 2005, Pastor was co-chairman the Council on Foreign Relations task force that produced a report entitled "Toward a North American Community," which he has claimed is the blueprint behind the SSP declared by President Bush, Mexico's then-President Vicente Fox, and Canada's then-Prime Minister Paul Martin.

At American University in Washington, D.C., Pastor directs the Center for North American Studies where he teaches a course entitled "North America: A Union, A Community, or Just Three Nations?" As WND previously has reported, Pastor is on the board of the North American Forum on Integration, the NAFI, a non-profit organization that annually holds a mock trilateral parliament for 100 selected students drawn from 10 universities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

U.S. Arms Great Lakes Boats

Knowing what we know about the supposed terrorist threat to the United States, what is the true motive for this?

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/webapp/sitepages/search/results.asp?contentID=210159&catname=Canada&type=search&search1=g...

The Canadian Press     
For: www.niagarafallsreview.ca

Canada - Thursday, September 28, 2006 @ 02:00

HALIFAX — The U.S. Coast Guard’s plans to arm boats on the great lakes with machine-guns — a measure that has drawn fire from Canadian residents — were sanctioned by Ottawa three years ago, officials from both countries confirmed today.

Earlier this year, the American coast guard started training exercises on the lakes with live .30-calibre machine-guns attached to several small boats.

The practice was temporarily suspended until November after complaints from residents and Canadian politicians, including Toronto Mayor David Miller who claimed the move violated a treaty signed after the War of 1812.

But the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard said it’s become necessary to protect the border that runs through the lakes, and he said the treaty no longer applies.

Most Canadians don't benefit from free trade: Report

So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer under these rules, big surprise.  I guess if Free Trade was nothing but a bust for the average Joe, the North American Union will be a killer:

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/webapp/sitepages/search/results.asp?contentID=210457&catname=World&type=search&search1=free%20trade

Beth Gorham
For: www.niagarafallsreview.ca

World - Friday, September 29, 2006 @ 02:00

free trade in North America has resulted in sharp gains for the rich at the expense of the average Canadian worker, says a report from the U.S. Economic Policy Institute released Thursday.

In fact, lower-income Canadians are worse off than they were before free trade and cuts to federal social programs at the same time have compounded the problem, said co-author Bruce Campbell, executive director at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The Ottawa-based think-tank is an independent non-partisan organization that promotes research on economic and social policy "from a progressive point of view" - according to its website - and concerns about social and economic justice.

Similarly, the U.S. institute carries out economic research and education, with a "concern for the the living standards of working people."

While trade between the NAFTA partners has grown rapidly, the free trade deals have not helped all workers, the report says.

"The most striking feature of this growing inequality has been the massive gains of the richest one per cent of income earners at the expense of most of the population," said Campbell, who called for a major assessment of the costs and benefits of the North American free trade Agreement.

"Economic and political elites promised that free trade would usher in a golden era of prosperity for Canada. It clearly has not delivered the goods."

The institute's report found similar problems in Mexico and, to a lesser extent, the United States.

"In each nation, workers' share of the gains from rising productivity fell and the proportion of income and wealth going to those at the very top of the economic pyramid grew," said Jeff Faux, founder of the Washington-based think-tank.

NAFTA came into effect in 1994, five years after the Canada-U.S. free trade deal. In 2005, two-way trade between Canada and the United States approached nearly $US500 billion, while U.S.-Mexican trade amounted to about US $290 billion, both figures sharply higher than when the trade deals began.

Campbell said both agreements were supposed to boost living standards, help close the productivity gap with the United States, create a more efficient economy and strengthen Canada's social safety net. Yet, there is no evidence Canada gained a special advantage in the American market, said Campbell, and the country's share of U.S. imports actually fell after 1994.

Big business, though, has done well. A study of 40 non-financial member companies of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives found their combined revenues jumped 105 per cent between 1988 and 2002, while their overall workforce shrank by 15 per cent.

The wealth hasn't trickled down, said Campbell, despite steady productivity growth in the Canadian economy. "If free trade was supposed to usher in a new era of rising living standards, reversing the sluggishness of the 1980s, the record reveals quite the opposite."

 

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