By Henry Lamb
Monday, August 27, 2007
There is a difference between stupid and ignorant. The talking heads at FOX News are not stupid. But the three guests on Brit Hume's Tuesday night telecast, who snickered at the "conspiracy nuts" who are concerned about the emergence of a North American Union are either ignorant, or deceitful. Here's the question: is the NAU a fact, or fiction?
Ridicule is a time-proven way to discredit opponents, and redirect attention away from the issue at hand. Consider how Mr. Bush avoided answering a direct question during a press conference in Canada on Tuesday. When asked, "Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union?" Bush didn't say yes, or no, he hemmed and hawed and told reporters:
"I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings, and by what some are trying to say takes place."
Were the meetings not held in secret, and were the press allowed to observe and report, the President would certainly not be amused. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Judicial Watch secured documents from a previous meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partners, and learned that in secret, the participants discussed "...evolution by stealth...," (www.judicialwatch.org/6123.shtml) referring to the advancement of the SPP. But the President insisted that references to a North American Union were nothing but "political scare tactics."
The president is not ignorant about what the SPP is doing; he, and the other heads of state, are the current contractors charged with building the NAU. The chief architect is one Robert Pastor, and the (www.cfr.org/publication/8102/) Council on Foreign Relations Task Force.
Michael Medved, a talk show host who calls those who are concerned about the NAU, a "...shameless collection of lunatics and losers; crooks, cranks, demagogues and opportunists...," is also either ignorant or deceitful. He also claims that "[Robert]Pastor is a loony leftist, slightly unhinged professor at American University... who bears no connection whatever to the Bush administration, or the dreaded Security and Prosperity Partnership...an addled academic with zero power in the government."
The FOIA documents secured by Judicial Watch from the secret SPP meeting, revealed that in September, 2005, (www.judicialwatch.org/5979.shtml) Robert Pastor conducted a seminar for the participating agencies of the three governments on "The Future of North America." Obviously, Pastor was invited by the Bush administration. Obviously, Medved was either ignorant of this fact, or he is deliberately trying to deceive his audience.
Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said: "There's not going to be any NAFTA Superhighway connecting the three nations, and it's not going to go interplanetary either."
But Canada's Deputy Minister of Transportation, Andrew Horoskok, is a regional vice president of the North American SuperCorridor Coalition, along with other prominent Canadians.
Is Harper ignorant, or deceitful?
In his defense of the secret SPP meetings, and in an effort to further distract attention from the NAU, President Bush told reporters that NAFTA generated
$884 billion in trade. But he failed to report that last year alone, NAFTA also produced a U.S. trade deficit of $136.1 billion. Is Mr. Bush ignorant of this fact, or deceitful?
President Bush, Harper, Medved, and the three talking heads at FOX News can deny all they want, but it does not alter the facts on the ground. NAFTA is the legal framework upon which Robert Pastor's North American Community is being constructed. The Security and Prosperity Partnership provides a mechanism for accelerating the progress.
Few people are aware that the NAFTA Commission consists of three appointed individuals - the Trade Representative, or equivalent, from each country - who are charged with implementing the NAFTA Agreement. The Commission appoints a Secretariat to oversee the details. Article 511 requires that each nation adopt NAFTA's "Uniform Regulations" by 1994, and that changes or additions to these Uniform Regulations be adopted by each nation, within 180 days.
In plain English, this means that appointed individuals are creating trade policy, and elected officials must conform laws to NAFTA's "Uniform Regulations" within 180 days. Shouldn't this be the other way around? To wit: Mexican trucks will deliver freight throughout the United States, despite the efforts of Congress to prevent it, because NAFTA's international dispute resolution machinery has ordered the U.S. to allow Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways.
Every day, working groups consisting of appointed individuals from the agencies of these three governments meet, to find ways to "harmonize," and "integrate," the policies, rules, and laws of the three nations. This is a major object of Robert Pastor's North American Community.
Another of Pastor's goals is the creation of a "North American Advisory Council." President Bush, and the other two "contractors" created the North American Competitiveness Council in 2006.
Pastor also wants annual "North American Summits," which have occurred each year since the creation of the SPP.
Pastor's plan calls for a single security border around all three nations, which is a good explanation for why only 18 miles of the more than 800 miles of border fence has been built. The goal of the NAU - or the North American Community, if you prefer - is to effectively erase the borders between Mexico and Canada, not strengthen them.
Pastor also wants a North American Parliamentary group. Hmmmm...what could possibly be the purpose of a tri-lateral parliamentary body, if it is not to create legislation for all three nations?
The deniers can deny all they wish. If they are not ignorant, they must be deceitful. If it looks like a skunk, and smells like a skunk, it's probably a skunk - regardless of what you call it.
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