Thread: Dobbs sees evil in N. American partnership (DUH!)

I apologize if this has posted previously but this kind of opinion article is aimed at tearing apart arguments opposing the SPP, illegal immigration and global trade to the point of American citizens' detriment. I'm forwarding to Dobbs, I'm sure he'll find some of her comments interesting.

MARCELA SANCHEZ: Dobbs sees evil in N. American partnership
By Marcela Sanchez
07/13/07 04:39:08

WASHINGTON -- Those who celebrated immigration reform's defeat last month as "a glorious victory for the American people" have a new issue to exploit. Their target: the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, launched in March 2005 by the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Haven't heard of it? Well, those merchants of fear and exaggeration wish you had. According to them, the SPP will lead to a host of undesirable consequences, from a 10- to 12-lane highway splitting America's heartland from Mexico to Canada, to the elimination of America's borders and an "end [of] the United States as we know it," said CNN's Lou Dobbs.

Dobbs and others believe that the SPP is a "blueprint for the North American Union" and that next month's summit in Montebello, Canada, between President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon will further consolidate the agreement and lead to the dissolution of U.S. sovereignty.

As it turns out, the agenda for that meeting isn't so apocalyptic.

The three North American leaders are expected to announce an integrated strategy to combat pandemics, with avian flu one of the central motivations. Also finalized should be what organizers call a "trilateral regulatory cooperation framework meant to enhance competitiveness, while maintaining high standards of health and safety."

As far as an attempt to dissolve the U.S. and establish a North American Union, don't look for it in the summit's plans. There is no mention of erasing borders and establishing a separate legal system, adopting a single currency or creating a secret police. Unless, of course, the team of disease-fighting scientists somehow takes a wrong turn in Kansas City and transforms into a revolutionary army for the North American Union. In sum, the SPP doesn't pose much of a threat.

Not only is the SPP wrongly maligned for doing things it doesn't, it is given credit for having the power to do things it simply cannot.

The partnership's stated initiatives and aims are simply far too ambitious for an organization that has mostly proved it can do one thing very well -- get together for meetings to discuss potential agreements.

So far, the representatives from the U.S., Canada and Mexico have used the SPP framework to discuss the development of e-commerce in North America. They have taken steps that decreased transit times at the Detroit/Windsor border crossing by 50%. They have even delved into environmental affairs by signing a trilateral agreement (nonbinding, of course) to cooperate in conserving the continent's bird species and habitat.

But in Dobbsian logic, all of these steps smack of integration and therefore the loss of sovereignty. To this end, perhaps one of the SPP's most pernicious achievements has been an agreement to discuss how to harmonize care instructions on apparel labels. One can imagine no greater threat to U.S. sovereignty than consumer confusion over "Dry Clean Only" or "Only Dry Clean." Yes, the sky is falling.

You have to give Dobbs and those of his ilk some credit for creativity. They have grafted onto the government initiative some of the more forward-looking elements of a theory proposed by Robert Pastor of American University.

Pastor, director of the school's Center for North American Studies, has envisaged what he calls a North American Community, an affiliation of sovereign states whose economic, social and security ties are so intertwined that they require deepening cross-border cooperation.

Pastor has no official connection to the SPP and, in fact, has often criticized it as too weak. "The truth is that [the SPP] is a timid bureaucratic operation that measures progress by the number of meetings that are held," Pastor told me.

One Canadian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of how sensitive the issue has become, said that what is missing in any search for deeper North American integration is "the vision thing" -- a leader, or leaders, asking how integration can work, rather than, as it is today, a line of lawyers on either side of the borders, listing why it can't. As long as that leadership is missing, the result is "a void that people like Lou Dobbs ... are rushing to fill," the official said.

In a Dobbsian world, the U.S. will always be under siege, whether it be from illegal immigrants or those trying to address crucial economic and security concerns by involving decision-makers across the continent. There are trilateral threats that do need to be taken seriously. But even if there weren't, rest assured that Dobbs and his followers are vigilant and will let no fact stand in the way of vitriol and paranoia.
Marcela Sanchez is a columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group (1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071). Her e-mail address is desdewash@washpost.com.

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/wo/story/84693.html

Those who celebrated immigration reform's defeat last month as "a glorious victory for the American people" have a new issue to exploit. Their target: the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, launched in March 2005 by the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

This article proves there is an idiot born every minute.

This reporter is obviously an idiot because she sees no correlation between the illegal immigrant/border security issue and the SPP, which is very possibly the first serious step to organizing a North American Union (NAU).

I'm afraid this article ticked me off. Here is the email I sent that imbecile!!!!


I would suggest before you attempt to write about something, you INVESTIGATE IT FIRST. Apparently you left you head at home the day you wrote about the evil Dobbs. Do you actually think that just because Lou Dobbs says something, that we citizens do not know enough to research it? If so, you are more of an idiot then your writing indicates.

This article was posted here yesterday. The comment section of this story at wapo has many responders who ripped her a new one including me.

USPatriot wrote:

The comment section of this story at wapo has many responders who ripped her a new one including me.

Can you provide a link to the responses. By the way, what's wapo?

Originally Posted by MW

Can you provide a link to the responses. By the way, what's wapo?

Wapo is short for Washington Post MW. I didn't see the previous post; thanks USPatriot! Here's the link Patriot was referring to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ments.html

You have to register to read them or participate. I'm checking it out now.

"Merchants of fear and exaggeration"? I was tired of being called a fearmonger anyway. Merchants of Fear and Exaggeration...MOFAE...Just thinking of it makes me want to put on my boots, grab my flag, and start marching.

Her "Dobbsian logic", "Dobbs and those of his ilk", "Dobbsian world", "Dobbs and his followers" I get the feeling she really has the hots for Lou.

http://www.spp.gov/
"The SPP is based on the principle that our prosperity is dependent on our security and recognizes that our three great nations share a belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions."

Ok, if Mexico is so democratic as far as their "belief in freedon and economic opportunities" tell us why, Mr. Fox or Mr. Calderon why is your entire population so intent on invading the United States?

"The Council will: Offer ideas on the private sector's role in promoting North American competitiveness."
Sure they will. Just like they offered the "private sector" the opportunity to offer input when they came up with this scheme. I think they really mean "Offer their own interpretation of ideas they would like to get from the private sector."

http://www.spp.gov/report_to_leaders/in ... to_leaders
"To make North America prosperous for the future, we need to improve the efficiency of the movement of people, goods and services crossing our borders."
Improve the effeciency of PEOPLE crossing our borders. Geeze...how much more effecient can these swimfluegels get?

http://www.spp.gov/factsheet.asp?dName=fact_sheets
"The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), launched by the leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States in March 2005,......
To increase border security, Mexican and U.S. agencies are harmonizing risk assessment mechanisms, exchanging information, and establishing protocols to facilitate detection of fraud and smuggling.
Yes, and that works quite well. Just ask Mr. Ramos and Mr. Compean. (That part really pisses me off )

"To strengthen the integrity and security of asylum and refugee status determination systems, the United States and Canada launched a pilot project to share information on refugee and asylum claimants based on a comparison of fingerprint records.
Canada? Fingerprints? What? Mexicans don't have fingers?

"To address border violence, United States and Mexico signed an Action Plan to Combat Border Violence and Improve Public Safety. Officials of the two countries in Nogales, AZ- Nogales, Sonora and Laredo, TX- Nuevo Laredo completed protocols on border security and public safety."
Border violence. Yea, ok, don't shoot the poor unarmed drug-smuggling Mexican. Public safety? 40,000+ victims of illegal aliens in the U.S. can tell you just how much safer they feel thanks to the S.P.P.....from the grave.