For those who think the protests in Seattle are great you will enjoy http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3014-1999Dec1.html

For an old Geezer like me, I have real trouble believing I would find myself on the side of the AFL-CIO, the Teamster, the green meanies, and asorted nuts and flakes of the left coast. Unless I know more, their support of an idea generally means I am against it.

For example I am old enough to remember when we had factories and produced stuff in this country, and now those jobs are gone, but of course that had nothing to do with union wages, union backed legislation and union work rules. Businessmen just prefer to do business in countries with undependible infrastructure, very corrupt and unstable regimes where the people went to school for a only few years if at all and speak languages that are hopeless to master.

Before getting in too solid with the American labor movement on this, look at your clothes and your computer and decide how much more your are willing to pay for them to be made in America.

That said, there is great reason to be wary of the WTO. My job requires me on occasion to enforce our treaties on all sorts of nice sounding subjects. I have yet to see one where we didn't give up a chunk of our national sovereignty. I know that many of you believe that Y2k will become an occasion for losing our liberty. I have prepared for something of a bad time because of computer failures, but if you are worrying about loss of rights don't worry nearly so much about the White House on 2000 January +20; worry about the US Senate, which approves treaties, the other days of the year.

-- Geezer (anon@sensative.job), December 01, 1999

Answers

---important points, geezer, especially the ones about treaties superseding national constitutional law, as the constitution requires it! weird but true. geezer, what do you think of my theory that at least 80% or so of congress critters get co-pted through blackmail, threats and bribes, and by bribes I mean REAL bribes, not "soft" money, which is close enough. Interested in your thoughts, if you have the time and inclination. thank you

zog

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.

Your percentange is about right or low, but the means of transfer is wrong. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutley. Our Reps, regardless party, are like dogs after bitches in heat for campaign money. Personal money follows in various ways and not direct ways. Sure, some take it directly, but not most. They want power and need money for campaigns. None of them want anyone to rock the boat. Notice the whisper campaign against McCain by the establishment Republicans. He ain't perfect, but he is his own man and that just won't do. On the subject of constitutional freedom, in the last few years the Republicans have done more to undo Federalism than the Demo's since maybe FDR. Robert Frost, commenting on politics, said that the flower must grow or die. When we send someone these days to Congress they try to solve all our problems with national legislation. I had a cousin that served in Congress for about 15 years. He use to tell us that his proudest accomplishement was that he never introduced a bill to create a new power for the federal government. I think he is a hero.

-- Geezer (anon@sensative.job), December 01, 1999.