Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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May 25, 2007 10:44 AM
AP: Clinton Aides Being Paid By Colombian Government to Push Trade Deal
Well, it's a bad week, and the hits just keep on coming. In a stunning new report from the Associated Press, we find out that the Colombian Government - the government that the Washington Post notes collaborates with paramilitary gangs to execute union leaders - is now paying top aides to Sen. Hillary Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to help get Congress to pass the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement:
"According to Justice Department filings, Colombia agreed this month to pay $300,000 to public relations firm Burson-Marsteller - whose president, Mark Penn, is a senior advisor to Sen. Clinton - to help "educate members of the U.S. Congress and other audiences" about the trade deal and secure continued U.S. funding for the $5 billion anti-narcotics program Plan Colombia.The filings also show that last month Uribe’s government put The Glover Park Group, a Washington D.C.-based lobbying firm that includes former Clinton spokesman Joe Lockhart, on a $40,000 a month retainer."
AP reports that "last month, former Vice President Al Gore backed out of an environmental conference in Miami to avoid appearing alongside Uribe, who has struggled to defend himself against charges that members of his family and government supporters collaborated with murderous right-wing militias." Yet on June 8, former President Clinton will attend a Colombian government gala in his honor. AP says that "prominent Democrats on the guest list include former Clinton strategists Dick Morris and Vernon Jordan, former Clinton Cabinet members Lawrence Summers and Madeleine Albright, and several Democratic congressmen." Morris, by the way, just penned an article referring to the scandal-plagued, paramilitary-connected Uribe as a "democratic beacon."
Again, this is a government that actively colludes with paramilitary gangs to execute union organizers, and is now pushing the United States Congress to give it a gift in the form of a free trade agreement. I really have nothing more to add other than to say again that we really do live in dark times.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
I have a few things to say. I have always thought this Clinton gang are as dumb and crocked as the Bush gang. Whoever the architect (M.A.?)of our foreign policy that choose to alienate Russia to kowtow to Easter Europe made the dumbest blunder in U.S. history for my money. And their trade policies are a disaster for America. I for one will not vote if I have to vote for Clinton. Now we know for sure they're no better than Republicans. God help this country. The merger of the government and corporations has turned this country into a corrupt swamp from which there is no escape.
Hillary is The Tri-Lateralist Commission Corporate Judas Goat, for Democrats..!
Naay..!
And how slimy was it when her and Obama waited until after the vote was decided, refusing to answer their supporters beforehand, to finally vote against caving to Bush on war funding.
To me, that is more disgusting than if they had just voted "yes".
All readers need to make damn sure you are reciting your mantra at least twice per day:
"I will never, ever, ever, EVER vote for a Clinton. EVER."
Not even if Chelsea runs on a ticket with a returned Jesus...
Well since Clinton, both Hillary and Bill, are funded and supported by the Corporatocrisy, I am not surprised by this one iota.
Who gave us NAFTA? Oh yeah..Bill Clinton's administration.
The Clinton crowd is utterly shameless, but the national mood about "trade" deals (more accurately labeled as job outsourcing and corporate supremacy agreements) has changed considerably since 1993.
Back then, when Bill, Hillary, and Al Gore rammed through NAFTA with the help of $25 million in lobbying money from the Mexican government and Mexican corporations,they faced 64% public opposition to NAFTA. But labor was led by the hapless and clueless Lane Kirkland, the NAACP was led by the double-dealing Ben Chavis (the organization opposed NAFTA while he lobbied for it), and the Clinton White House decided to promote Ross Perot as the most significant anti-NAFTA voice, ignoring those of Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader.
A significant number of college-educated people imagined that NAFTA-type deals would help to end poverty in Mexico and the Third World. But clearly, poverty has intensified in Mexico as US government-subsidized Big Agribusiness blew away 2 million Mexican corn farmers, Wal-Mart and other US big-box firms wiped out some 27,000 small businesses, and wages have plunged downward in Mexico. At the same time, as many as 42 million white-collar jobs are now vulnerable to outsourcing to places like India and China, according to ardent free-trade economist Alan Blinder. A University of Maryland poll at their PIPA institute showed about 55% of Americans with incomes above $110,000 now believing that NAFTA-type deals are bad for American. Moreover, all 32 of the new Democrats elected to Congress were elected as supporters of "fair trade," not the preposterously-labeled "free trade."
In one recent year, Colombia accounted for 88% of the assassinations of labor leaders in the world.
I look forward to Hillary Clinton and her team explaining how a trade deal with Colombia will halt rather than reward their murderers.
Roger Bybee, Milwaukee
Well its looks like its business as usual in the Democratic blogosphere, no more outrage over the betrayal on Iraq, trade or immigration. Over at Dkos its like none of these issues exists anymore. At HuffPost - what Iraq capitulation? best sums up the airy celebrity blog.
No signs of a protest march on Washington or protesting outside of the representatives homes this Memorial day, nothing. No outrage.
No wonder the Democratic reps despise their base. They truly are a bunch of saps worthy only of disdain.
All in all the liberal blogosphere proves that one doesn't need the gov't to censor what people read.
I may as well read the WaPo or WSJ given their paucity of coverage. One gets the distinct impression the liberal/progressive blogosphere is putting party loyalty above truth and reporting. Its like most are operating as a arm of the DNC.
That said, the liberal blogopsphere should STFU about gov't censorship and such rot. They are doing a fine job themselves at censoring.
I don't know about Dkos, but at HuffPost, if you want outrage over the Iraq vote go to Murtha's entry and you'll see lots of outrage.
Attention Immigrants: Thanks for Your Hard Work. Now Leave.
What Could Be Better For Business Than A Workforce That Toils For Next To Nothing, Drives Down Wages For Everyone Else, Can’t Protest or Unionize, Then Goes Away When You’re Done With Them? Your Guide To The Guest Worker Program.
by James Ridgeway
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/26/1470/
Of course, that's how US born natives are laid off too.
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