NAFTA Partners Take Steps to Boost Trilateral Relationship
by Dana Gabriel
BE YOUR OWN LEADER
April 9, 2012
While bilateral initiatives have dominated North American issues over the last couple of years, the trilateral relationship has suffered. With a series of high-level meetings, the U.S., Canada and Mexico are taking steps to boost the NAFTA partnership. First, the defense ministers met to discuss shared continental security threats. This was followed by a leaders summit which pledged to deepen trade, regulatory, energy and security cooperation. The recent meetings have caused some to once again take notice of the incremental efforts to merge all three countries into a North American Union.
In what was hailed as an historic event, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, Mexican Secretary of National Defense Guillermo Galvan, and Mexican Secretary of the Navy Mariano Mendoza recently held the Inaugural Meeting of North American Defense Ministers. As part of a framework they agreed to, “ Develop a joint trilateral defense threat assessment for North America to deepen our common understanding of the threats and challenges we face. Explore ways to improve our support to the efforts of civilian public security agencies in countering illicit activities in our respective countries and the hemisphere, such as narcotics trafficking. Explore how we can collaborate to increase the speed and efficiency with which our armed forces support civilian-led responses to disasters. Continue to work together to strengthen hemispheric defense forums.” The ministers also committed to enhancing cooperation in the fight against transnational criminal organizations. The trilateral defense meeting is part of the ongoing efforts to establish a fully integrated North American security perimeter.
On April 2, President Barack Obama hosted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon for the sixth North American Leaders Summit. In a joint statement they reaffirmed their, “commitment to further develop our thriving political and economic partnership with a consistent and strategic long-term vision.” The leaders acknowledged that, “continued North American competitiveness requires secure supply chains and efficient borders. We remain committed to achieving this through co-operative approaches.” With respect to regulatory initiatives, they agreed to move forward trilaterally in areas such as “vehicle emission standards, railroad safety, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Workplace Chemicals, and aligning principles of our regulatory approaches to nanomaterials.” They also announced the creation of the North American Plan for Animal and Pandemic Influenza. Following the leaders summit, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk engaged in discussions with Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast and Mexico’s Secretary of the Economy Bruno Ferrari, as part of the NAFTA Commission Meeting.
In their joint communique, the leaders recognized, “the growing regional and federal cooperation in the area of continental energy, including electricity generation and interconnection and welcome increasing North American energy trade.” They emphasized the need to deepen, “cooperation to enhance our collective energy security, including the safe and efficient exploration and exploitation of resources.” There was no mention of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project which would carry oil from western Canada to the Texas gulf coast. President Obama has blocked the plan pending further environmental review. While speaking at the Woodrow Wilson Center following the leaders summit, Prime Minister Harper made it clear that even if the pipeline is approved, Canadian oil will be heading for Asian markets. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been pushing Mexico to further open up its oil sector to private investment. In February, they signed an agreement regarding, “the development of oil and gas reservoirs that cross the international maritime boundary between the two countries in the Gulf of Mexico.”
The leaders joint statement also noted that, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) provides an opportunity to further deepen our trade relationship and create jobs. The United States welcomes Canada’s and Mexico’s interest in joining the TPP.” During a press conference with his NAFTA counterparts, Obama confirmed that, “Consultations with our TPP partners are now underway on how new members can meet the high standards of this trade agreement, which could be a real model for the world.” The U.S. is spearheading TPP negotiations which also include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Japan has also expressed interest in being part of the TPP process. The door is also open for other countries to join which is why many consider it to be a building block for an Asia-Pacific free trade zone.
Robert Pastor who has been a leading advocate for deeper North American integration described the TPP as a flawed strategy. He explained Canada and Mexico’s decision to join, “as a defensive measure to ensure that they protect what they gained from NAFTA.” Pastor warned how, “the TPP will divert scarce political capital and attention from North America.” In contrast, the Council of the Americas are of the opinion that it would boost the integrated North American economy. They view the TPP as a “promising vehicle to support the updating of our bilateral and trilateral trading relationships within North America to the high standards of twenty-first century free-trade agreements.” While on a visit to the U.S. in March, Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast proclaimed that, “As neighbours and friends, we can and should build the TPP together. As like-minded allies, we can ensure that high standards are included in the TPP on such issues as investment, regulatory cooperation, state-owned enterprises and labour provisions.” If Canada and Mexico are accepted into the TPP fold, it could be used to renegotiate and expand NAFTA.
The U.S., Canada and Mexico have also agreed to launch a consolidated Central America Integration System-North America Security Dialogue to deepen regional coordination and cooperation. This includes working closer together in the fight against transnational organized crime, arms trafficking and money laundering. During the leaders joint news conference, President Obama praised Mexico’s courage in standing up to the drug cartels, and added, “today each of us reaffirmed our commitment to meeting this challenge together — because that’s the only way that we’re going to succeed.” President Calderon went on to say, “The security of North America is absolutely tied to each of its member states.” The Merida Initiative has expanded the U.S.-Mexico security partnership. It has provided military equipment, training, infrastructure development, along with border security and information technology enhancement. At the 2009 North American Leaders Summit, Prime Minister Harper announced Canadian support for Mexico’s fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.
Mexico’s drug war is increasingly being seen as a continental problem that requires continental solutions which is further pushing the NAFTA partnership into a common security front. This is escalating the militarization of the borders, integration in areas of law enforcement and the military, as well as advancing the development of a North American security perimeter.
Related articles by Dana Gabriel
Canada and Mexico to Join U.S. in NAFTA of the Pacific
Pretext for a North American Homeland Security Perimeter
Indoctrinating a New Generation to Think North American
The North American Leaders Summit and Reviving Trilateral Integration
Dana Gabriel is an activist and independent researcher. He writes about trade, globalization, sovereignty, security, as well as other issues. Contact: beyourownleader@hotmail.com Visit his blog at beyourownleader.blogspot.com
Police defend handcuffing, arresting six-year-old for alleged temper tantrum
A still image from video of six-year-old Salecia Johnson explaining how she was handcuffed by police (Image credit: Still image captured by Madison Ruppert from WMAZ video footage)
by Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
April 18, 2012
In yet another instance of children being criminalized for exhibiting childish behavior, a six-year-old was hauled out of school in handcuffs for allegedly throwing a temper tantrum in class.
Salecia Johnson, a kindergartener, was taken away from her small Georgia school in steel handcuffs after being accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing books in an outburst at Creekside Elementary in Milledgeville and now the school system and the police are both defending how they handled the incident.
According to WMAZ, police “took the child to the police station where she was charged with simple assault and damage to property. Because of her age, she will not be prosecuted.”
The family of Johnson said that she was badly shaken by her treatment while Geneva Braziel, the superintendent for Baldwin County schools, characterized Johnson’s behavior as “violent and disruptive.”
“The Milledgeville police department was ultimately called to assist due to safety concerns for the student, other classmates and the school staff,” Braziel claimed in a statement.
Police refused to say what actually set off the alleged tantrum, but they did accuse Johnson of also throwing a small shelf which hit the principal on the leg along with jumping on a paper shredder ant attempting to break a glass frame.
Unfortunately, Johnson’s experience is far from isolated as this troubling trend is something that occurs across the United States.
In California, for instance, over 40% of public school suspensions are issued for dubious reasons such as “willful defiance” and disruption.
Ultimately, in many of these cases, the policies end up hurting the students the most, as evidenced by the fact that according to Johnson’s mother, Constance Ruff, Johnson was suspended and is not allowed to return to school until August.
Milledgeville Chief of Police Dray Swicord defended the police’s decision to haul Johnson out of school in cuffs by claiming that it was standard operating procedure and that when an officer tried to calm her, she resisted.
“Our policy is that any detainee transported to our station in a patrol vehicle is to be handcuffed in the back. There is no age discrimination on that rule,” Swicord said.
“She has mood swings some days, which all of us had mood swings some days. I guess that was just one of her bad days that day,” Ruff explained, painting a picture of a child throwing a temper tantrum, as children are wont to do, which police responded to by treating her like a hardened, violent offender.
According to The Washington Post, civil rights advocates and criminal justice experts across the United States are observing how frustrated teachers and school administrators are calling police to resolve even the most minor conflicts.
“Kids are being arrested for being kids,” Shannon Kennedy, a civil rights attorney said.
Kennedy is currently suing the Albuquerque, New Mexico school district due to hundreds of children being arrested over the last few years for offenses as minor as refusing to switch seats or having cell phones in class all the way up to the high crimes of burping and destroying a history book.
In one case, a 14-year-old boy was actually arrested for inflating a condom in the classroom. I don’t know about you, but I know that I would get a kick out of reading that police report.
Other cases include another kindergartener being arrested in Florida for an allegedly throwing a temper tantrum during a jelly bean counting contest several years ago.
In fact, a bill was proposed just this year in Florida in an attempt to restrict the ability for police to arrest children for minor misdemeanors or other acts which do not pose a serious threat to safety.
Annette Montano of Albuquerque also said that her 13-year-old child was arrested just last year for the absurd crime of burping in gym class.
While Albuquerque school officials will not comment on the arrests in their school system, the president of the Albuquerque teachers union, Ellen Berstein, claims that students’ bad behavior is more extreme now than it once was.
She claims that there are cases of sexual harassment in elementary and middle school as well as cases of children throwing furniture. “There is more chronic and extreme disrespect, disinterest and kids who basically don’t care,” she added.
Thankfully, not all are blind enough to buy the flawed logic put forth by schools and police. Darrel Stephens, a former police chief in Charlotte, North Carolina and executive director of the Major Cities Chief Association is one of those who does not see this trend as promising.
“I have had some concern for a while that the schools have relied a little too heavily on police officers to handle disciplinary problems,” Stephens said.
In Texas alone, a nonprofit public interest group called Texas Appleseed found that an estimated 100,000 children are ticketed each and every year for misdemeanors ranging from violations of the school dress code to truancy to swearing.
One Texas state lawmaker, Senator John Whitmire, wants to get rid of student ticketing entirely. He says that teachers and police need to draw more distinct lines between students who they are actually afraid of and students who they are mad at.
“If you are afraid of someone because they bring a gun or drugs, of course we come down hard,” Whitmire said. “It’s the kids that just make you mad that you don’t need to make a crime.”
This seems like a wholly logical statement and yet somehow it doesn’t seem to be shared by some administrators, teachers, police and legislators.
If we continue to turn our children into criminals by treating them as such, we can expect a culture of criminality and a large customer base for the private prison industry to continue into the foreseeable future.
I’d love to hear your opinion, take a look at your story tips, and even your original writing if you would like to get it published. Please email me at Admin@EndtheLie.com
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Related posts:
- Cop throws a temper tantrum over being filmed
- Massachusetts police confiscate cell phone of witness, destroy evidence of alleged police brutality
- Police Dog Brutalizes Innocent 56-Year-Old Bystander
- Dad goes to jail for 4-year-old daughter’s drawing
- Supreme Court upholds jail strip searches with no suspicion regardless of alleged crime
Woman Sobs During TSA Grope Down [video]
Pat down most likely triggered rape-related PTSD
by Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
April 16, 2012
A video clip shot at a security line at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison shows a woman, most likely suffering from some kind of rape-related post traumatic stress disorder, quietly sobbing as she is subjected to a TSA grope down.
As the National Center for Victims of Crime website highlights, rape-related post traumatic stress disorder can be triggered by the victim “re-experiencing the trauma,” specifically, “any event that symbolizes the trauma of rape,” which is a very real possibility given the scope of TSA security procedures.
A retired police officer with experience of rape cases who contacted the Gateway Pundit blog said the woman in the video was probably sobbing because the TSA grope down triggered her PTSD.
“That kind of response is from a woman who was traumatized before,” he remarked, adding, “It makes my old retired cop blood boil. The TSA isn’t the police, but they play them in airports and the real police take it in the shorts. There would have been NO police officer on my department that would have allowed such treatment of a crying woman like that. None!”
According to the FBI’s new definition of rape, an act of rape occurs when there is “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
As we have previously covered, advanced TSA pat downs now include screeners literally touching people’s genitals as part of the process.
In November 2010, we reported the story of how radio host Owen JJ Stone was told by a TSA screener that his pat down would include the screener putting his hands down Stone’s pants. The TSA worker directly patted down his testicles, penis and backside while his hand was inside Stone’s pants. Stone was initially embarrassed to reveal the full scope of the groping but related the details of what amounted to nothing less than outright sexual molestation.
Also in November 2010, blogger Erin Chase went public to reveal how she literally had her vagina groped by a TSA screener, who touched both her labia as well as her buttocks and breasts during a pat down.
Former Miss USA Susie Castillo also revealed how a TSA worker touched her vagina during a pat down at Dallas-Fort Worth airport in April 2011 after she refused to go through a body scanner.
During the height of the national op-out day backlash against the TSA, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was told by a TSA agent directly that pat downs were made increasingly invasive not for any genuine security reason, but to make the experience so uncomfortable for the traveler that they would be forced to use the body scanner, which in itself has been proven to be completely useless for security purposes yet poses a major health threat.
This latest video is yet another drop in the ocean of evidence which mandates that airports should take advantage of recently passed legislation which enables them to opt out of the TSA and replace them with private security.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
Who Cares About 9/11? [video]
The Truther Girls
April 10, 2012
The TSA, DHS, patriot act, police state, and all the rest wouldn’t be where they are now if it hadn’t been for 9/11, but people seem to forget that. Do you still care? Are you still truthing about 9/11?
The Secret Service and the 9/11 Stand Down – Kevin Ryan on GRTV [video]
Global Research TV
April 9, 2012
Kevin Ryan, a former site manager for Environmental Health Laboratories and a whistleblower on Underwriters’ Laboratories involvement in the discredited NIST report on the WTC destruction, joins us to discuss his latest article on the anomalous actions of the secret service on 911, and what it tells us about possible government foreknowledge of the attacks.
Read Kevin Ryan’s article here:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/03/secret-service-failures-on-911-a-call-…
BP’s Corexit Oil Tar Sponged Up by Human Skin
Corexit® dispersed oil residue accelerates the absorption of toxins into the skin. The results aren't visible under normal light (top), but the contamination into the skin appear as fluorescent spots under UV light (bottom). Credit: James H “Rip” Kirby III, Surfrider Foundation
by Julia Whitty
Mother Jones
April 17, 2012
The Surfrider Foundation has released its preliminary “State of the Beach” study for the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s ongoing Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Sadly, things aren’t getting cleaner faster, according to their results. The Corexit that BP used to “disperse” the oil now appears to be making it tougher for microbes to digest the oil. I wrote about this problem in depth in “The BP Cover-Up.”
The persistence of Corexit mixed with crude oil has now weathered to tar, yet is traceable to BP’s Deepwater Horizon brew through its chemical fingerprint. The mix creates a fluorescent signature visible under UV light. From the report:
Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists [video included]
by Dahr Jamail
Al Jazeera English
April 18, 2012
New Orleans, LA – “The fishermen have never seen anything like this,” Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. “And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I’ve never seen anything like this either.”
Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University’s Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010.
Cowan’s findings replicate those of others living along vast areas of the Gulf Coast that have been impacted by BP’s oil and dispersants.
Gulf of Mexico fishermen, scientists and seafood processors have told Al Jazeera they are finding disturbing numbers of mutated shrimp, crab and fish that they believe are deformed by chemicals released during BP’s 2010 oil disaster.
Along with collapsing fisheries, signs of malignant impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: horribly mutated shrimp, fish with oozing sores, underdeveloped blue crabs lacking claws, eyeless crabs and shrimp – and interviewees’ fingers point towards BP’s oil pollution disaster as being the cause.
PN 