July 2008 Archives

Everything...if your name is Senator John McCain. On the 4th of July, while many families were out barbequing and enjoying fireworks and their families, Senator McCain was on the campaign trail... err well...visiting Colombia extoling his support for the US passage of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and the so-called "benefits" of free trade.

McCain spent time with the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, playing up his undying support for the dormant Colombia deal, a NAFTA style trade deal that would not only follow in the foot steps of other failed trade deals but also turn a blind eye to a country who carries the title as the union murder capital of the world.  McCain's visit to Colombia came just three weeks after two more Colombian union members were found murdered. Over 2500 union members have been assasinated in Colombia since 1991.

During his visit, McCain poured ridiculous amounts of milk and honey praise for Colombia's drug erradication program Plan Colombia. (McCain must have missed the news in all his hubub in international campaigning)...as his visit came just days after the $5 billion dollar, US-backed program became the epicenter of scrutiny (for once...in corporate media) after a UN report showed that despite the multibillion dollar decade-long effort to eliminate drug production in Colombia, coca crops had increased by 27% in 2007. 

McCain's focus on trade and Colombia isn't too surprising... after undertaking a quick google search on his campaign staff and larger contributers' long time connections in the country. The New York Times reported that McCain's closest confidant, Charlie Black, earned more than $1.8 million representing Occidental Petroleum Corportation, Colombia's leading foreign producer of gas and oil. 

And, as the Huffington Post recently reported, the co-host of one of McCain's top fundraiser's recently plead guilty to paying approximately $1.7 million to a Colombian Paramilitary group -- a designated terrorist group in Colombia, "described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-geurilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."  

Meanwhile, the list linking McCain's campaign and Colombia trade honestly goes on.... McCain's fundraiser, Kristen Chadwick worked under the Bush Administration working directly on trade issues, promoting the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). She lobbies with the firm of Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, whose 2007 revenues were $7.4 million.

The Obama Campaign took no time to reproach McCain's Colombia trip, using it to draw out their ideological differences in trade and the US economy stating,  "Unlike John McCain and George Bush, Obama does not believe that free trade is not the goal in and of itself. The goal is to help Americans prosper and compete in the global market. Barack Obama believes that trade should work for American families. He'll fight for fair trade to help working people prosper." 

Other recent news on this subject:

On Free Trade, Big Differences Between McCain, Obama....
By Sean Mussenden, Media General News Service ....
July 09, 2008 ....
WASHINGTON-Recent international trade deals have given Americans easy access to cheap clothes and DVD players while sending manufacturing jobs in ..North Carolina.., ..Ohio.. and ....Michigan.... overseas.

Free-Trade Era May Be Nearing End Amid Food, Growth Concerns
By Matthew Benjamin and Mark Drajem....
(Bloomberg) -- After six decades of ever-expanding international commerce, the high tide of free trade is ebbing...
....

And for you uber trade junkies: You get a gold star for getting this far down my blog...and below is more of the latest news on Colombia regarding union murders and the failed drug war: 

Colombia's coca crop booms despite US-backed crackdown
Guardian.co.uk, UK - ....

Colombia's coca crop increased by 27% last year, a surge which has shocked the United Nations and raised fresh questions about Bogotá's US-backed "war" on drugs.......

Colombia coca farming is up, UN says....
Los Angeles Times, CA -
As the US Congress puts the Colombia free trade agreement on the back burner for next year, another form of trade in the country appears to be booming: Coca.......

Coca Cultivation Up In Colombia
Washington Post, United States - ..Jun 18, 2008..
By Juan Forero BOGOTA, Colombia, June 18 -- The amount of land devoted to production of coca, the leaf used to make cocaine, has grown at a dramatic pace...

Colombia: Two More Trade Unionists Assassinated
Colombia - ..Jun 24, 2008..
"These crimes are a further example of repression against the Colombian trade union movement," stated ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.......

Colombian House clashes with government over victim reparation fund
Colombia Reports, Colombia - ..Jun 19, 2008..
... the fund was used to repair not only the victims of violence by leftist guerrillas or paramilitary groups, but also by Colombia's own armed forces....

Trade deal with Colombia ignores union murders
National Union of Public and General Employees, Canada - ..Jun 9, 2008..
... are appalled to learn that trade union lives are being treated as tradable commodities in Canada's on-going negotiations with the Colombian government...

According to a recent CNN poll, people's fears about the possibility of a major terrorist attack are at an all time low. 

The irrational fear of death at the hands of a terrorist can be classified as an availability heuristic (more or less created by our government and media).  An availability heuristic is defined as "a phenomenon (which can result in a cognitive bias) in which people base their prediction of the frequency of an event or the proportion within a population based on how easily an example can be brought to mind" (definition courtesy of Wikipedia).

In this case, a terrorist incident can easily be brought to mind.  How many times have you seen the planes hit the World Trade Center or people running through the streets of Manhattan on that pleasant fall morning?  I bet you can see it right now.

The classic example of an availability heuristic is that, despite tragic fears, you are far more likely to die in your automobile than on a plane.  You are far more likely to die in your automobile than in a terrorist attack.  According to this article, you are more likely to meet your demise by a car crash, crossing the street, drowning, a fire, a fall, or homicide than you are to die in a terrorist attack. The mortality rate of Americans dying from a terrorist attack on domestic soil since after  9/11 has been 0.  So in the past 7 years, you have had no chance to die in a terrorist attack.  And yet, according to the CNN poll, 35% of people polled believe that a terrorist attack will occur in the next couple of weeks.  

What?  What is wrong with these people?  They're more likely to die from a heart attack or a self-inflicted gunshot wound or the flu than a terrorist attack. 

I can opinion that there is no radical Islamic terrorist threat whatsoever in this country.  I'm not going to say that some other yahoo group isn't going to come along and do something stupid (or that we're not going to have more idiotic people with guns on school campuses), but you're not going to have jihadists killing a single citizen on U.S. soil. 

Some might say that this is because our "war on terror" is working, but I say that it's because the tragedy of September 11 was created or aided by the complicity of U.S. officials to generate a fear in Americans unseen since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 9/11 served as the catalyst needed for involvement in a war that Americans didn't want to engage in (again, a WWII parallel), and now that they got what they wanted, there's no need to scare us again. 

There is no terrorist threat.