dr-cafta passed

early this morning the house passed the dominican republic & central american free trade agreement, better known as CAFTA making this another very sad day in world history. 15 democrats broke ranks and voted for it too, adding insult to injury. i guess the public doesn't care much for world-changing political events, since i had to dig three layers deep on cnn.com to find it, whereas 'billboard's hottest summer songs' made the front page.

here is a primer for those of you not too familiar about CAFTA, taken from oxfam's stephanie weinberg's comments at a press-confrence.

...The regional trade agreement will require these developing countries to open their markets to dumping of US rice and other commodities and forbid use of adequate safeguards to ensure food and livelihood security and rural development. The agreement also blatantly ignores the fact that US farmers receive extensive subsidies and domestic supports, estimated to be around $24 billion this year alone. DR-CAFTA imposes strict new rules that extend the monopoly held by brand-name pharmaceuticals, which will limit generic competition and reduce access to affordable medicines in the future. The trade agreement also provides special rights and privileges to foreign investors that can create major new liabilities to governments and undermine efforts to protect public health, the environment, and workplace safety...

and now for toaday's installment of:

FUCK YOU!

henry kissinger. has to plan his travels carefully because so many countries have arrest warrants out for him. specializes in having democratically elected leaders assasinated. also loves plane crashes.






FUCK YEAH!

omar torrijos. president of panama 1968 - 1981. had the strange idea that panama was a sovereign country. was assasinated in 1981 by the cia, oh no wait: it was a plane crash...