Globalization/U.S. Decline Right on Schedule Courtesy Obama Backdown…Summer 2010 Projected Completion of Integration of NAFTA with EU to Counter BRIC/ASEAN Bloc

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

A couple of days ago I posted some thoughts on “Globalization in Pictures: Courtesy AT & T”.

Then I stumbled across an update of a something far more “under the radar” that I had found back in March of 2009. See below for the link to that post, specifically the section titled “Canada-EU Free Trade?”

The gist of that tidbit from March follows:

Friday I received the daily newsletter from Radio Canada International and once again there were squibs included that I couldn’t find at either the RCI site or when I searched around the CBC’s news area.

Read these with an eye to several posts that will be starting tomorrow, with American Lassies’s post entitled “THE PROPOSED NORTH AMERICAN COMMUNITY/NORTH AMERICAN UNION: 2010 Is Just Around the Corner.”

OTTAWA: CANADA, EU AGREE ON FREE-TRADE AGENDA

Canada and the European Union have agreed on a framework for negotiation of a free-trade accord after six months of discussions. Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day says the two parties will discuss goods and services, investment rules, intellectual property and free circulation of workers. The minister says Canada’s provinces will take part in the negotiations. Bilateral trade last year was worth $90 billion, an increase of seven per cent over 2007.

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Well, guess what? Things have been moving along…and  include MORE than Canada and the EU.

From Fortune at money.cnn.com:

Plotting the biggest trade deal of the 21st century

Tax-free Champagne, anyone?

European and North American politicians are plotting the biggest trade deal of the 21st century: a $35 trillion, duty-free region encompassing the E.U., the U.S., Canada, and Mexico

by Erik Heinrich, contributor

Last Updated: October 29, 2009: 2:17 PM ET

TORONTO (Fortune) — Not even Franz Kafka could have dreamed this one up.

This past spring, prime ministers Stephen Harper of Canada and Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic met with European Union mandarins from Brussels. The setting was Prague’s medieval castle — made famous by Kafka in what is perhaps the darkest novel in his moody oeuvre — where they hatched a plan for the biggest free-trade deal of the 21st century.

How could a development of this magnitude result from a fairly routine conference between Canada and the EU? (At the time, the Czech Republic was responsible for the trading bloc’s presidency, which rotates between member states every six months.) The short answer is that after decades of spinning their wheels, Canada and the EU finally agreed to begin negotiating a free-trade agreement (FTA).

Immediately after declaring these talks as “hatching” the plans for “the biggest free-trade deal of the 21st century,” the reporter immediately shifts gears:

That’s far from a Bond-villain plot for world domination. But fast forward to last week in Ottawa, Canada, where the first round of Canada-EU negotiations reached a successful conclusion, with both sides optimistic that a deal can be signed as early as the summer of 2010.

Wow, I’m so relieved! No “plot for world domination” here!

But it all boils down to trying to save the neck of the U.S. apparently (my bolding):

When that happens, a push will begin for the ultimate goal behind the Prague agreement: a NAFTA-EU trade zone to counterbalance the growing economic power of Fortress Asia, and the ascendancy of the so-call BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) group of countries.

“The U.S. will lose its leadership position in trade unless it comes up with a new strategy,” says Steven Schrage, a specialist in international business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. “It makes sense to integrate NAFTA with the EU.”

Annual two-way trade between Canada and EU is about $100 billion, less than 20% of the total between Canada and the U.S. under NAFTA. But a trans-Atlantic NAFTA-EU trade zone would encompass nearly 1 billion people and account for $35.2 trillion in annual GDP, more than half the world’s total.

The article continues by noting that  China, India, and the 10 ASEAN nations (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are “not standing still.” Our buddies at Goldman Sachs opine that “by 2050 the world’s three biggest economies will be China, the U.S. and India in that order, compared to the U.S., Japan and Germany today. That represents a clear shift away from the G7.”

A NAFTA-EU trade deal may get stiff opposition here in the U.S.  Why?

However with protectionist sentiment in the U.S. gaining momentum, helped in part by President Obama’s controversial Buy-American position, getting the world’s biggest economy to expand its free-trade frontier could be an uphill battle. At least for the near term.

But wait a minute…

Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic provided a transcript of Obama’s musings in his piece of February 3, 2009 titled  Obama Wants “Buy American” Out Of Stimulus Bill and you can find more stories on the “back down” below!

So, the Fortune report seems to have “forgotten” what went on in February.  Which begs the question–how “uphill” will be this “battle” to integrate NAFTA with the EU in the “near term”?

In my last post I listeda series of posts related to globalization and here’s the link to the post by American Lassie titled  THE PROPOSED NORTH AMERICAN COMMUNITY/NORTH AMERICAN UNION: 2010 Is Just Around the Corner (March 9, 2009) that was mentioned above.

So, do you think all this NAFTA-EU “conflict” will be settled sometime next year?

Well, silly me!  The Fortune article actually informs us that “both sides optimistic that a deal can be signed as early as the summer of 2010.”

DUH!

Everything right on schedule!!!

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Related Post on Canada-EU Free Trade from March 2009:

The Past Week: March 1-7, 2009 (More on Sinclair Lewis; Canada-EU Free Trade?; China Eyeing the Big Three Automakers’ “Juicy Bits”?; Palin’s “Troopergate” Foe Winds Up In Obama Administration)

Related Posts from February 2009 on Obama’s backdown on “Buy America”:

President Obama to water down ‘Buy American’ plan after EU trade war threat (The Times, UK)

Obama backs down over ‘Buy America’ after EU warns him not to start a global trade war (Daily Mail, UK)

Don’t worry about ‘Buy American’: Obama (Rediff India Abroad)

My Apologies to Terry O’Neill, President of NOW, Who Actually Has Been Doing What She Said She Would Do

~~By  InsightAnalytical-GRL

In my previous post, Surprise, Surprise: Obama Advisor (Female) Thinks Sharia Law is “Misunderstood”, I made this caustic comment:

What’s up with this willingness by “liberal” women to sell out women?  We saw it with Ms. Magazine and all many female Democrats during the primaries.  Supposedly NOW chose a woman to head the organization who is ready for a fight, but I haven’t heard a peep out of her, have you?

I still feel the same way about Ms. Magazine and other so-called “progressive/liberal” women’s publications and Obama supporters who have managed to excuse the misogynistic vein which runs through the Obama crew.

However, I must update some of what’s going on with NOW and offer a bit of an apology to Terry O’Neill of NOW.  Today I saw in the a story in the Albuquerque Journal that piqued my interest in revisiting NOW.

This story was an AP piece, which means I can’t quote it nor link to it under penalty of legal action.

The gist of the story is that NOW’s new President , Terry O’Neill (elected in June 2009), has been working on trying to assess what health care “reform” will mean to women. (More on this further down)

But, the old story of creepy men has become a top concern due to the Roman Polanski arrest and David Letterman’s revelations about his dalliances with women employees.  O’Neill has been quick to respond to those who try to makes excuses for these louses. See below for links to O’Neill’s statements on both of these clods.

Amazingly the AP article reports that while O’Neill has recieved a surge of emails to NOW about the latest Letterman revelations, many of them criticize HER, calling her a “man-hater.”

Sigh.

O’Neill has been on Letterman’s case since June, when he spewed this, as described in the Atlantic:

Jun 12 2009, 9:50 am by Chris Good

NOW Condemns Letterman

After this week’s flap between Sarah Palin and David Letterman, which started when Letterman cracked a joke about Palin’s “slutty flight attendant look” and another about her daughter getting “knocked up” by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, the National Organization for Women has condemned Letterman’s jokes and is asking its supporters to write to CBS and voice criticism.

Letterman was added to NOW’s Media Hall of Shame after this incident (see page 5). (You might be interested to see the latest additions to the list…Glenn Beck is currently the most recent addition, but lo and behold, there’s a dig at the Huffington Post for their games with women’s chests right underneath…)

On the subject of these crappy “reform” plans, I heard a two-second blurb on the radio “news” a few weeks ago about the restoration of funding for “abstinence only” education, which has been called a complete failure.  The Senate Finance Committee actually restored funding to this crap at the behest of Sen. Orrin Hatch with the help of two Democrats, Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) joining with all the Republicans on the Committee. JERKS!!

Read more about it at NOW’s call to action so that this garbage will be out of the final bill when reaches the Senate floor: Abstinence-Only Education Shouldn’t Make the Cut and also check out the Center for Public Integrity on who’s behind Sen. Hatch’s move for restoration and the kinds of money wasted on the lie-laden program.

Another Action Alert includes a broader discussion of  the “reform” plans and their impact on women: Bad Health Care Bill Penalizes Women: More Amendments Limiting Reproductive Health Care and Excessive Premium Rates for Older Women .

NOW is also supporting a single-payer system.

After the debacle of the 2009 Democratic primaries and NOW’s support of Obama, it’s good to see that Terry O’Neill seems to be more on target with a message that really is pro-women. This older “war horse” is doing exactly what she said she would do.

Of course, you may not see or hear much of her unless you look at the paper for a story buried under a piece about bears favoring minivans when they go out steal food at the national parks (yes, on page D4 of the Albuquerque Journal).

And for sure, you won’t see Terry O’Neill on TEE VEE very often, either.  After all, she’s OLD and her chest probably not up to snuff…

***

O’Neill Statements:

The Latest Letterman Controversy Raises Workplace Issues for Women (October 6, 2009)

NOW President Terry O’Neill Calls Polanski Furor “Dangerous Talk” That Could Set Back Women’s Rights/”Celebrity Culture Gone Haywire” Blurs Case, O’Neill Says (October 2, 2009)

THE PAST WEEK: Recaps and Rambling Thoughts–August 10-16 (Howard Dean Does a Jackass Proud; A Note on The Atlantic’s Josh Green; Shipler/Shipley; Saddleback)

Who could forget…

Howard Dean on Women and Whites…

When Andrew Cuomo and a few other Hillary surrogates made remarks that were deemed “racist” the media went crazy.  Howie plays a race card, and insults women as an added bonus, and what happens? Saturation coverage at the same level as his “scream”?  I wonder…

Watch him embarrass himself in this clip of his remarks on Friday.  Oh, and don’t forget, the GOP is the “white” party.  I think I liked “the scream” better…

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The “Hillary Campaign Memos” were released by The Atlantic and Tennessee Guerrilla Women had this great tidbit on Tuesday, 8/12:

Author of Atlantic’s Hit Job on Hillary Lied About Al Gore Too

Joshua Green has worked for some serious publications, like the Washington Monthly and American Prospect, where he has fed readers lies such as: Al Gore is a serial exaggerator who said he invented the internet. In fact, Green is one of the irresponsible ‘journalists’ who helped put Bush, instead of Gore, into the White House.

Joshua Green, senior editor at The Atlantic and author of the latest hit job on Hillary Rodham Clinton, inadvertently reminds readers that he once wrote for The Onion (seriously) when he actually suggests (on page one) that his hit job is “empirical truth.”

I checked out Green’s bio and he has won several prestigious awards for his work. It’s pretty sad that a guy who can twist words as well as Green is considered an up and coming “journalist.”

****

Nicolas Stix Uncensored provided some interesting information in a comment about kenoshaMarge‘s July 31 post last week entitled “PUT THAT RACE CARD DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE DECK!.

He wrote:

I stumbled onto your site looking for an older race card round, and I’m glad I did.I was looking for an Obamanoid Timesman (if you’ll pardon the redundancy) named Shipler, but misspelled his name “Shipley,” and instead got a totally different, Obamanoid Timesman. Shipler is the guy who wrote an LA Times op-ed on April 16. Ten years ago, he wrote an unreadable book promoting “racial dialogue,” whereby groups of apologetic whites would meet with groups of inconsolable blacks, so that the whites could practice apologizing, and the blacks could practice refusing to accept their apologies.

Shipley, meanwhile, is the current op-ed editor, the guy who gave op-ed space to Obama for a free ad, while refusing it to McCain. (Note: David Shipley is Deputy Editorial Page Editor and Op-Ed Editor of the New York Times and former Special Assistant to the President and Presidential Speech Writer for Bill Clinton.  David K. Shipler wrote the LA Times op-ed piece, The Resonance of Racism, in which he opined that the word “elitist” now connotes racism.)

***

On Saturday, there was a great post over at Alegre’s Corner on the continuing intimidation of delegates.  Read it and be fed up…

And Dr. Lynette Long has launched her site, CaucusFraud. It’s a MUST VISIT…

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Last but not least, Saturday night the Saddleback Forum hosted Obama and McCain, “on the same stage,” but not at the same time!  McCain was on for the second hour, which means Obama couldn’t do his standard “I agree with ……..” game.  I didn’t watch any of it, but caught clips. Frankly, from what I saw, I think McCain did very well and I think his maturity is a refreshing after having Obama being shoved at us non-stop.  The relaxed setting suited McCain just fine.  I find McCain is easier, in terms of style, to listen to at this point. That doesn’t mean that I’ll vote for him (I’m definitely NOT voting for Obama), but at least I can stand watching him for more than 2 minutes, unlike Obama, whom I can’t watch at all.

***

In spite of the rain we’ve had again this week, the toad didn’t reappear.  But the hummingbirds seem a lot more active now and orioles seem to have moved on. Tonight, there was a touch of fall’s coolness here in the low desert…

THE WEEK’S POSTS

*Posted by kenoshaMarge

THE PAST WEEK:Recaps and Rambling Thoughts–August 3-August 9, 2008 (Highlights: A Great Post by Soldier4Hillary on the Fall of the Democratic Party; Rocky Mtn. News Reports O’s “Dual Citizenship” and Much More! (Update 1X)

Part I: New Mexico “Progressive” Voter Registration Groups in Trouble: ACORN Again…Surprised?? (UPDATE 1X) Part II: NM AG, “Gutsy Gary” King, Fighting for Transparency re: Non-Profits Like the League of Young Voters and ACORN

*The “Meaning” of America

CHANGE–Anybody Can Do It!! (How to Buck “The System”…)

Update on Non-Profit “Advocacy” Groups in NM…AG Gary King Squelched by Richardson?

Don’t Let the Edwards Story Let This Get By You…Next Week, “The Atlantic” is Possibly Publishing “Leaked Clinton Campaign Memos” on the Internet (Updated 3X)

OK, I’m so disgusted by John Edwards that I can’t express it strongly enough.  I was an Edwards supporter originally…another one goes down the tubes…Enough said.  Onward with this:

The Atlantic is supposed to be publishing on the internet “leaked” memos from the Clinton campaign next week. Josh Green is the reporter. Green is a SENIOR EDITOR at The Atlantic.  According to Limbaugh, who broke this today, there are a couple of hundred of them, and about 150 are going to be released.  Some are written by Mark Penn and other people in the campaign.

Some of the quotes from them include remarks about Obama’s “unelectability” and a few others that I can’t recall at the moment.

I will admit that I heard this on Limbaugh, but quite by accident, since I never tune into him willingly. But I don’t doubt it. The Atlantic is a big enough publication that unfounded rumors about what they were doing wouldn’t go down very well. Limbaugh said he got the info from an insider. We know it’s a center-right publication. On this matter, I am inclined to believe him.

Now, the big question is:  WHO LEAKED THESE MEMOS if this is all true?? My mother, who listens to Limbaugh regularly, has told me that he has been saying that the Clinton team has a plan in place.  He speculated today that it was the Clinton camp that leaked these memos.

Frankly, when he first said they were going to be published next week, MY FIRST REACTION was that it may very well have been the Clinton camp.  When Limbaugh read the purported quotations, which were all negative about Obama, I thought it sounded like even more of a possibility.  They were the sort of comments that most people would not find all that shocking, considering how the Obama team has been screwing up lately.  They sounded like logical conclusions reached by people who could see a train wreck coming.

(UPDATE–Hat tip to SUGAR for reminding me of another quote…”The only person Obama could beat is Attila the Hun”!!!)

My other reaction was “Why not release them all? Why are some being held back?”  Maybe we’ll be figure that out once the released memos come out, maybe not.

I am simply offering this info as food for thought. I know nothing else about this leak, other than what I heard today.  We’ll have to see what comes down the pike next week.

As for the Edwards story…who knows if the Obama camp originally floated it to get Edwards out of the primary race?  Whoever was behind it may never be known. It’s just really disgusting that it turned out to be true. My heart goes out to Elizabeth and the kids.  Their oldest daughter must be as devastated as her mother must be. She listened to him talk about morals and trust throughout the primary season. It is a very, very sad situation all around.

What an AWFUL political season this has been…

UPDATE 3

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic: announcement on August 8, 2008 about the upcoming memo release…

UPDATE 2

I did hear right the first time. He did tell Elizabeth about the affair back in 2006. Sigh.  And she listened to him talk about morals and trust during the campaign.  Not my business about their relationship.  But, I don’t know….I just don’t know anymore…

UPDATE

I was under the impression that Elizabeth had known about this in 2006.  I heard Hannity reading the story as it broke and I thought he said “the family knew about it in 2006.”  I can’t verify this, so I’ve deleted the mention of Elizabeth knowing about it then…