Coping: Call Your Congressman on TPP! Now!

This morning, run your flag up the poll…perhaps upside down (and in “distress”) because our nation is on the brink.

On Wednesday, I sent to our local Congressperson:  (Jeb Hensarling, Texas 5th R)

I’m sure, Congressman, that your staff has at least read some of the TPP/TPA and TISA files that have been posted on WikiLeaks.

I am appalled that “secret laws” are now in the works by our “leadership” in Washington.  Secret deals that will take trade out of American court and place it in the hands of “arbitrators” instead.  This is a continuing attack on contract law – one of America’s founding principles.

I don’t mind TPP et al coming to a vote.  What I strenuously object to is the secrecy surrounding the specific contents of proposed legislation. 

The D.C. crowd has broken fail with the People by not operating in an open, forthright, and fully disclosed manner.  Secret legislation doesn’t fly back home in the district.

Do we not live in a country where debating an issue on its merits means anything, anymore?  Or, are we Germany circa 1932?

I look forward to something other than a form letter response.

Sincerely,

George Ure
Palestine

I am asking you to just one thing today:  contact your member of congress and ask them to vote NO on any legislation that has not be read and made available to the public for comment.  A minimum of 30-days seems good.  60-better, and 120 days best.

The elitists in Washington have a nasty record of placing themselves above We the People…and demanding our place at the bargaining table on things like crooked trade deals is well within our rights as we’ll be the people getting the Astroglide subsidy when still more of our jobs are hijacked offshore.

To the credit of Congressman Jeb Hensarling’s staff, I did receive a reply from staffer:  Although it was of the “form letter” sort.  Appeasement doesn’t just work in trade…it works in congressional relations….

But in the interest of fairness…

June 10, 2015 Mr. George A. Ure *(they got my address wrong, lol) Palestine, TX 75801 Dear Friend: Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). I appreciate the benefit of your thoughts on this issue of great importance to our economy, businesses, and national security. Over the past several years, the United States has engaged in official talks over multiple Free Trade Agreements, including the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. As you may know, TPA – also known as Fast Track authority – grants the President the authority to enter into reciprocal trade agreements and have the requisite implementing legislation considered under expedited legislative procedures. Congress has previously exercised TPA fourteen times, most recently when considering free agreements with Colombia, Panama, Peru, and South Korea. The most recent TPA expired on July 1, 2007. Like you, I want to ensure that America remains a vibrant economy where workers can put in an honest day’s work for an honest wage, one that can help provide for them and their families.  That is why I support Free Trade Agreements (FTA) such as the one signed between the U.S. and Peru in November 2007.  FTAs allow Americans to have access to new and growing markets and will have even greater opportunity to market their goods and services worldwide. When trade grows, income grows, and free trade not only creates opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed, it helps increase wages and improves the standard of living of our workers and consumers at home and abroad.  I am confident that American workers and American goods will continue to thrive in the global marketplace, and I will continue my efforts to open the borders and markets abroad to American innovation and ingenuity. I understand your concerns about giving Fast Track Authority to the administration. The United States must work to ensure that in any agreement, American businesses and exports are given greater market access and will face less trade barriers as a result of the agreement. Congress, through the enumerated powers granted under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, is responsible for any agreements made with foreign nations in regards to trade and it is Congress which is ultimately responsible to render the final decision on these negotiations. While I disagree with the current administration on many issues, and will reserve judgment of both the TPP and TTIP agreements until a bill is presented to Congress, the issue of expanding market access and trade opportunities is not a Republican or Democrat issue, but an American issue. Although we may not see eye-to-eye, please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should any relevant legislation addressing TPA be brought before the full House for a vote. Thank you again for contacting me. I appreciate having the opportunity to serve you in the United States House of Representatives. I encourage you to visit my website at www.hensarling.house.gov where you can sign up for my e-newsletter. The website also provides links to my YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages, all of which will help bring my work in Washington, D.C., home to you. Yours respectfully, A JEB HENSARLING Member of Congress JH/[Staffer.Initials]

Yours respectfully, JEB HENSARLING Member of Congress

JH/rs

Keep my thoughts in mind?  Yeah, right, guffaw…FMTT

Going with “Dear Friend” is probably fair play, as I often refer to detached Congressoids.  In this case, however, I’m trying to remain on point and where’s my Roberts Rules of Order?  So I sent back…

“Thank you for your reply.

It is not responsive.

My question is:  If it is so good a deal, why are you and your colleagues keeping it secret?

I spent 13 years as a major market news director and I know a “trust us” when I see it.

Which is why secret legislation is universally bad legislation in the end.

Sincerely,

George Ure”

I am holding my breath waiting for a reply. 

Oh, alright, I gave up.  I’m not that fit.  And “Dear Friend” ain’t gonna pry any leftovers from the slim pickens of the Social Security scam from our hands, either. 

One of these days I need to ask my attorney:  “If a politician gets more than 1/2 of their financial support from outside a congressional district, are they legally representing the people of that district?”  Seems to me they’re not.

But lookie here…an email from another reader who’s getting it…

Found this on my facebook feed this afternoon. It’s on Robert Reich‘s fb page a few minutes ago,via a mutual friend. Thought you’d find this exchange interesting. I do not know this person or if it is real or not. However I see this post has over 10k shares at this point.

—
“I’d like to see the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal,” I told the person I reached in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “it’s classified.”

“But representatives from some 600 private corporations have access to it by way of a secured Internet portal,” I said. “I’d like the password to the secured portal, please.”
“That’s not possible,” she said.
“But I’m a former cabinet official. I had security clearance. Why can representatives from 600 private corporations have access to this text and not me?”
“I’m very sorry,” she said.
“Look, Congress will be voting shortly on whether to fast-track this deal without amendment or discussion. Several members of Congress have called me to get my advice before they vote. All I’m asking for is the same access to it that people who work for 600 corporations are getting.”
“I can’t help you,” she said.
“WikiLeaks has already published three leaked chapters and is selling the entire thing for $100,000. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and simpler just to give it to me?”
She laughed and said goodbye.
I don’t think this is a laughing matter.

No shit, Mr. Stockman.  This is an effing rip. TBS top to bottom.

If there are two people (barely) keeping the light of Freedom and Liberty on in America today, it would be former Labor Secretary Robert Reich (see YouTube for some dandy no bullshit straight-talk) …

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As long as you’re there look up David Stockman.

Some reads that are really worthy of your time:

• Beyond Outrage: Expanded Edition: What has gone wrong with our economy and our democracy, and how to fix it  (Reich)
• Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few (Reich’s clear thinking shines here)
• The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America  (Stockman’s marvelous views as Comptroller General as he saw through the corporate Kool-Aid.)
• And the book Rush Limbaugh hasn’t grokked yet:   The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed

Yeah, by the way, it did fail. 

Although there is a good chance that the ‘Merican eCONomy will have one more Master-Blaster meteoric rise into 20167-2017, there’s also the hell to pay a-coming.  The slip joint down to 2,040 to 1,740 on the S&P is just fore-play.  Then a rally, and then the big turd in the punchbowl shows up.

So what can we all do about it?

And I urge you to personally defund and unseat Congressoids who vote on “secret laws” which run counter to the Founder’s great principles.

Anyone who takes more than half their money from outside their home district is a local sellout, plain and simple.

Congressman?  What’s the goddam secret, Sir?

Thank you, Ures in Liberty, yada, yada…

(Published earlier than our usual posting time Thursday because I’m just too ticked and cranky about this to hold it till morning.  This piece will be updated with lighter items in the morning.  But this ‘un just p*sses me off something fierce.  And peaceful public reaction (shunning, dis-electing) may be the only answer.)

GMAFB, Honorable Member.   I’m not your “Dear Friend” when you aren’t open.

The last TPA was in 2007.  And guess what?  The world hasn’t ended.  Give it up…this is a corporate scam to greedster out of the American court system  and it’s another step in the Globalist Empire Building which doesn’t include any of your “Dear Friends” around here.

We can see the writing on the wall:  Corporations (that already have more rights than humans) and now opting out of Constitutional government of recourse to the courts.  How you can support this is (to put it mildly) mind-boggling.

Or has the Honorable Member forgotten what  “Bool shit” is?

Dual Citizenship and Pollyticks

No, Bernie Sanders is not a dual citizen.

But it brings up a question we like to revisit now and then:  Should people who hold a passport of any other country be allowed to hold public office?

My thinking is no.  The egalitarian in me keeps coming back to a “man can’t serve two masters.”  You’re either in the melting pot or you don’t hold office, is how I see this.

No, that’s note anti-Semitic, either.  The problem is that if allowed for Israel, how long before we have dual citizens of, oh, say China, or Iran, holding office, too?

Shouldn’t American Blacks, who were stolen from someplace like Nigeria, also be afforded dual citizenship?  I mean if we want to play “trump the atrocities…”    Do try to remember how the Chinese-Americans were treated, as well.  And while we’re at it, should Native Americans have their own passports?  They didn’t ask for an 80% die-off from small pox or to have their land seized at gunpoint, as I recall.

Or, should Ures truly hold a Danish or Scottish passport and still be able to hold public office?

No, methinks not.

If you don’t like the passport regulations in America, change the political overclass that makes up rules on the fly.

Until then, one per customer if you want to hold office.  Think of it as Loyal Oath 2.0.  But ,all in or all out…that’s how principle work.

Help A Retired Firefighter

You may not go shopping in Riverside, California, often.  But long-time UrbanSurvival reader, and retired firefighter Philip Kusnier sent me an email:

Hello George, I am reaching out to all of my LinkedIn Friends because I NEED YOUR HELP!
PLEASE HELP AND SUPPORT A RETIRED FIREFIGHTER AND U.S. VETERAN!
I NEED YOUR VOTE!
TO VOTE GO TO THIS SITE:
https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/vote
TYPE IN: “Firehouse Foods”
Enter VOTE, That’s it!

Done. 

I don’t usually pimp such things, but…

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of PJ’s Firehouse Foods products benefits the International Association of Fire Fighters Charitable Foundation

So if you wouldn’t mind a click and a type, that’d be fine by us.  Kind of like Newman’s Own thinking…and a welcome shift from the corporate approach.

Since Ures truly came up in a firefighter family, I can tell you that not only the common-sense values of firefighters ought to be more widely promoted (way superior to Common Core, lol) but the cooking is usually great.

So give a brother a click and let’s see if we can bootstrap his beef jerky to the next levels.  (With apologies to Art Oberto up in Seattle).

There just can’t be too much beef jerky to choose from, Art.

Father and Son Wiring

Ever wonder how tight are the genetics attached that get passed down from parents to their children?  Well, here is a fine example.

Before he left Palestine, after finishing up his C parachute license down at Skydive Spaceland on Tuesday, my son and I got to talking about the emergency CB radio that we keep in the Lexus.It’s also a weather radio and nice to have when driving – which we do now and then.

We stop at the Palestine Post Office.  G-II decided that it would make sense for him to use a flat-rate box or two and send some of his heavier clothing home.  In  case you missed the father-son airplane ride over on his website, wearing “urban black” may seem cool in the frozen north, but in Texas?

So he spent a good 10-minutes inside the Posta Office which left me with time to kill.  So, I popped the trunk and set up the mag-mount antenna and tried calling a few stations.

Here’s the important part:  I didn’t have a CB “handle” so I took the first thing that came to mind.  Skyrider.

OK…Junior gets back in from the PO, by now there’s no hint of me playing with the CB and wee swing by City Hall because the city is hiring five full-time firefighters.   Yes, G-II would move down here to be a firefighter/EMT/PM and leave his job in Seattle, but I don’t know how he would do the written which comes up in about three weeks. 

N’other story, that. 

After City Hall, out to the airport to pick up his helmet and such and then we settle in for the long ride up to Dallas since I will take two hours each way of air conditioned car over 454 minutes each way in 100-degree airplane…easy call to make this time of year.

G-II spied the CB.

“What are you going to use for a handle?”

“Hmmm… “

So he calls a station using his freshly minted callsign.  Remember, I hadn’t told him mine.

Skyrider.

With no verbal cueing or prompting he came out with precisely the same handle.  That is how “tightly coupled” our DNA is.

Even stranger?  I asked him why he picked this particular handle.

Well, I ride around the sky and we’re riding in a car and it just made sense.”

My selection of the word   Skyrider, was a little different…and probably dates back to an ancient tube-type shortwave radio. 

“Skyrider” was a special term for a lineage of Hallicrafters radios from 1934.  It was applied to the SX-17 as well as the SX-28 (video here).   A following video about the role of ham radio in wartime is pretty interesting, too, as long as we’re drifting off point.

A bit of SX-28A trivia:  This was reportedly the radio that Franklin Delano Roosevelt kept in the Oval Office back when, so he could listen to things like the BBC and other shortwave stations during World War II.  Few things are faster than radio intel, except that stuff NSA is still collecting.

Just some notes on how DNA may frame more of our thinking than we thought…and some radio history worth knowing if you are a radio aficionado.

The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree.

73 and write when you get break-even.

George   george@ure.net