Citizens Demand To See Secret ACTA Treaty 223
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "One hundred groups of concerned citizens have united to demand a look at the secret ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) treaty and have drafted a letter to their representatives asking for information. We've discussed ACTA before, including what are believed to be parts of ACTA that lawmakers are trying to get a head start on."
FOIA (Score:5, Interesting)
I requested it via FOIA and they danced around it and eventually refused. It'd be nice to see it come out, although I hope this "citizen's group" collectively sent in a few FOIA requests on this one.
Re:Brave New World, 1984 (Score:5, Interesting)
Um... Most schools I'm aware of still teach at least one of the ones you listed, and most 2. The others usually show up on a list of books for something like a book report as homework across a break. The problem is far from a lack of education. It's a mix of stupid 'journalism' and apathy.
Just look at this year. You can't turn on the damn TV or open a newspaper or magazine, etc. without hearing about the presidential race. Every four years it's always the same old "get out the vote" BS, and the other three (and their primaries) are barely even reported, let alone discussed. People (that aren't totally out of it) know that congress passes the laws, and the laws are what actually affect you, but they just never seem to realize that means their congressmen matter, even more than the president. Sure, if, say, Jesus were to show up and appoint someone to the presidency who knew what the hell was going on and actually cared about the people and their rights, then the veto power could be used for some good, but I'm certainly not holding my breath.
The other problem is that people don't understand that the law isn't "The Law". They never realize that it's not some ancient black tome with gold letters that's been the sitting at SCOTUS for 200 years, but rather that it is a living reflection of their will. Most people just think that congress passes laws and they have to obey them. It's pathetic really, and primarily the result of the centralization of power at the federal level. (And at the state level for those powers the constitution expressly forbids the federal government from having. I'm looking at you drinking age!)
It used to be that the most power rested with the local government and the people would get together and decide how they wanted their community to run. That is why schools are run by local governments. They were set up by the community to teach kids what they thought they should know. Now we see massive pressure from the states to teach a precise curriculum and even more regulations on top of those. (e.g. public school is so damn expensive now because they are required to educate _everyone_ because it's apparently important to force children who are medically retarded through the same mold as those that aren't). Things like these make people feel powerless. The further up the power goes, the less their vote counts, and the more beholden to the higher-ups for funding for the regulations that are forced upon them (e.g. see above).
I was visiting a friend a couple months back and he warned me about a school zone (15MPH speed limit for those who don't know) they had just put in. Nothing on that road had changed in 20+ years, including the fact that it had no sidewalks, nor anything but forest opposite the school. But for some reason the township had recently declared it a school zone and stationed a police officer there. The result being high school students being hit with tickets for $200+ for going only 25MPH or so on a road that normal 35MPH. Nobody liked it, so I hold him to get together with a group of people and tell the commissioners something to the effect of "This is our community and if we don't want a school zone with camped out officer then we better not have one, and sure as hell better not be paying for one". I don't know if that ever happened, but regardless, it hasn't changed.
I've gone a bit far off the path, but the point is these are all things that reasonably intelligent (i.e. not on Jaywalking) people _know_, they just don't _understand_. The challenge is actually getting them to realize that _they_ are the solution and voting for the best turd sandwich every four years is not.
Re:You'll never get your money back (Score:1, Interesting)
Yes, they stole your money and used it to build roads we don't need while failing to repair what we have correctly, build hospitals that sub-contract everything so they can dodge regulations on billing etc while collecting more from the patients, maintain and strengthen a military to pick fights that lower the world's view of our country, make criminals out of everyone they can via silly laws, stacking charges till a person decides to plea bargain cause they can't afford to defend themselves and wish to save their families from financial ruin, attempt to train the young to blindly accept authoritary and go to work for existing corporations or the government instead of following the American dream, lead the public to believe the government can stop threats against the country while inspiring more threats, and create an environment where people are guaranteed to suffer in misfortune so the government can drive them into more misfortune with free as in beer fish.
That might be easily viewed as fixing your statement for you, but much easier just to say they are laundering our money in pork barrels.
Re:FOIA (Score:1, Interesting)
can you post the refuse document somewhere ? It could be helpful for friendly lawyers...
Re:Brave New World, 1984 (Score:3, Interesting)
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
- Benjamin Franklin
Of course, Franklin never actually said that. It's more likely from the late 20th century.
What about the *really* secret treaties? (Score:2, Interesting)
Because the public knows about ACTA, means that they can try to do something about it.
What about the secret treaties, of which we know nothing?
They might be trying to ban civilian use of tinfoil, or something like that.
Re:You'll never get your money back (Score:2, Interesting)
actually, it would. in that case, the amount of money for certain operations would be directly related to how many people care for it.
at the very least, we'd have less wars, and shorter ones, too.
Re:ACTA?! (Score:2, Interesting)
That their power exists only so long as we grant it to them.
No, that power exists only so long as the media, large corporations and the rich grant it to them. As you'll discover if you try to take it away from them.
Remember, whoever you vote for, the government gets in.
Re:You'll never get your money back (Score:5, Interesting)
"They seem to be more interested in locking down society, and protecting corporate issues and interests."
In fairness, "protecting corporate issues and interests" is and should be one of the most important jobs of government in order to have a well-functioning and fair economy ("fair" in that businesses compete on a reasonably even playing field, consumers have some basic protections, and employers do not exploit their workers too greatly). That being said, it could be argued that rather than having these interests at heart, many of the laws that governments have been passing recently are designed more to enrich corporations and let them take advantage of people (whether consumers or workers).
I mean, sheesh, the recent mortgage meltdown is a perfect example. No income, no job, no asset loans (so-called "ninja" loans)? Why in the hell was this ever legal? Where were the government regulators as mortgage companies were making money off these obviously risky schemes? And now U.S. taxpayers are out >$200 billion dollars in bailouts, hundreds of billions of dollars of investments worldwide have evaporated, and the economy tanks. It's the "Savings and Loan" fiasco all over again.
All we hear from corporations is that they want less regulation of the things that keep them honest, and more regulation (like parts of ACTA) that will hose competitors and consumers. The reality is, they don't really give a !@#$%^! what happens as long as they make their money and don't end up in jail. That's why government needs to be involved in "protecting corporate issues and interests", because in the long/whole economy view, the corporations sure don't care. They only care about *their* individual bottom lines.
Re:You'll never get your money back (Score:5, Interesting)
Less government regulation + greed of big corporations = our present situation
On a political side note, guess where Mr. Gramm is now...
Yep, he's the economics advisor to John McCain, who doesn't like regulation. Guess what will happen if McCain is elected...
Re:The lack of MSM reports on this is Damning. (Score:3, Interesting)
Erm, they are the media cartels. Obviously, they're going to ignore it.
The internet is a great threat to them, and in more than one way. That's why they want to control it with treaties such as this.