added 1/24/14: This next link leads to more links to authoritative sources on the
problems with the TPP:
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Is a Horrible Rip-off and a Direct Threat to Democracy Itself January 22 by Glen Anderson, Alliance for Global Justice
http://afgj.org/trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-is-a-horrible-rip-off-and-a-direct-threat-to-democracy-itself
-------------------------------
Subject: from 350.org and RTNews While you're at it, please help keep up the pressure against the TPP also
The well known 350.org site (Wikipedia link) once led by Bill McKibbon, a major follower of scientist James Hansen, has taken on a brand new and different sort of mission from the missions to which they are more accustomed: OPPOSING THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP ("TPP") AGREEMENT. I got an email from 350.org today. I will copy in some of that email below.
But first, here is a great article that I found right after that email came from 350.org, an article that does a great job of explaining why 350.org would set out in opposition to the TPP. It's about a new Wikileaks leak.
"'Toothless!' WikiLeaks reveals secret draft of TPP environment chapter"
http://rt.com/news/tpp-envirnoment-criticism-wikileaks-643/
Ok, now here is some of the email I received today from 350.org. If you're lucky maybe you received a copy of it also. :-)
Larry
P.S. Reminder, instead of or in addition to the link that 350.org offers below, you also have an excellent link at the FCNL to use to contact your Federal legislators. I will repeat information about that down at the very end after this next:
--email from Phil Aroneanu of 350.org January 18, 2014----
Friends,
A confession: I hesitated to even send this email.
The thing I’m writing about today -- a trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP -- is a bit outside 350.org's wheelhouse. When it came down to it though, I couldn’t NOT send this email, since the TPP is shaping up to be the worst kind of corporate power grab.
This week, Wikileaks released newly leaked documents that confirm the worst: the United States' TPP negotiating team is walking away from supporting strong environmental safeguards. Without protections for land use, logging, and climate pollution, the TPP has gone from a bad deal to a disastrous one. It's time to take action:
Click here to tell your Members of Congress to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership. [link cleaned so it doesn't point back to me, you're on your own :) --LS]
The TPP is an expansive, highly secretive international free trade agreement. It's being negotiated by delegates from twelve Pacific Rim countries, including the United States, along with hundreds of industry leaders. Elected officials, civil society, and the press have largely been shut out of negotiations, but these leaked documents reveal disturbing provisions.
The TPP would empower corporations to directly sue governments over laws and policies that they claim reduce their profits. Legislation designed to address climate change, curb fossil fuel expansion, and reduce air pollution could all be subject to attack as a result of the TPP.
Right now, our best chance to stop this train wreck is to stop Congress from giving “fast-track” authority to President Obama, allowing him to push the agreement through without a public debate.
Click here to tell your Congressional representatives to reject “fast track” and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. [link cleaned so it doesn't point back to me, you're on your own :) --LS]
In Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and here in the U.S., citizens have taken to the streets in mass protest. Last year, 130 members of Congress voiced concerns about the TPP, and opposition is growing now that a fast-track bill has been introduced in the Senate. Let's make sure those Senators and Representatives who may be on the fence get our message loud and clear:
We oppose the "fast-track" bill, and we reject the TPP. [link cleaned so it doesn't point back to me, you're on your own :) --LS]
Any trade agreement that gives corporations unfettered power is a bad one, but a trade agreement like this would be a disaster for people and the planet.
Onward,
Phil
350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by making a donation.
-----end of 1/18/14 email from 350.org----------------------
To find and call my member of Congress I use:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/
You can call or you can have the FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) send each of your representatives a FAX from you, which saves having to use paper if you want to write a letter. By the way, the FCNL also offers to send a paper letter for you if you like, with your text, just as if you had sent it yourself. At the above linked page, put in your zip code, get your representatives' pictures, click on a picture, and click the second tab on the next page to see the link for using the FCNL's automation. Click. It's easy once one gets used to it.
I use simple letters, like:
Please help make this viral.
Thank you for your help!
Larry
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Is a Horrible Rip-off and a Direct Threat to Democracy Itself January 22 by Glen Anderson, Alliance for Global Justice
http://afgj.org/trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-is-a-horrible-rip-off-and-a-direct-threat-to-democracy-itself
-------------------------------
Subject: from 350.org and RTNews While you're at it, please help keep up the pressure against the TPP also
The well known 350.org site (Wikipedia link) once led by Bill McKibbon, a major follower of scientist James Hansen, has taken on a brand new and different sort of mission from the missions to which they are more accustomed: OPPOSING THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP ("TPP") AGREEMENT. I got an email from 350.org today. I will copy in some of that email below.
But first, here is a great article that I found right after that email came from 350.org, an article that does a great job of explaining why 350.org would set out in opposition to the TPP. It's about a new Wikileaks leak.
"'Toothless!' WikiLeaks reveals secret draft of TPP environment chapter"
http://rt.com/news/tpp-envirnoment-criticism-wikileaks-643/
Ok, now here is some of the email I received today from 350.org. If you're lucky maybe you received a copy of it also. :-)
Larry
P.S. Reminder, instead of or in addition to the link that 350.org offers below, you also have an excellent link at the FCNL to use to contact your Federal legislators. I will repeat information about that down at the very end after this next:
--email from Phil Aroneanu of 350.org January 18, 2014----
Friends,
A confession: I hesitated to even send this email.
The thing I’m writing about today -- a trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP -- is a bit outside 350.org's wheelhouse. When it came down to it though, I couldn’t NOT send this email, since the TPP is shaping up to be the worst kind of corporate power grab.
This week, Wikileaks released newly leaked documents that confirm the worst: the United States' TPP negotiating team is walking away from supporting strong environmental safeguards. Without protections for land use, logging, and climate pollution, the TPP has gone from a bad deal to a disastrous one. It's time to take action:
Click here to tell your Members of Congress to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership. [link cleaned so it doesn't point back to me, you're on your own :) --LS]
The TPP is an expansive, highly secretive international free trade agreement. It's being negotiated by delegates from twelve Pacific Rim countries, including the United States, along with hundreds of industry leaders. Elected officials, civil society, and the press have largely been shut out of negotiations, but these leaked documents reveal disturbing provisions.
The TPP would empower corporations to directly sue governments over laws and policies that they claim reduce their profits. Legislation designed to address climate change, curb fossil fuel expansion, and reduce air pollution could all be subject to attack as a result of the TPP.
Right now, our best chance to stop this train wreck is to stop Congress from giving “fast-track” authority to President Obama, allowing him to push the agreement through without a public debate.
Click here to tell your Congressional representatives to reject “fast track” and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. [link cleaned so it doesn't point back to me, you're on your own :) --LS]
In Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and here in the U.S., citizens have taken to the streets in mass protest. Last year, 130 members of Congress voiced concerns about the TPP, and opposition is growing now that a fast-track bill has been introduced in the Senate. Let's make sure those Senators and Representatives who may be on the fence get our message loud and clear:
We oppose the "fast-track" bill, and we reject the TPP. [link cleaned so it doesn't point back to me, you're on your own :) --LS]
Any trade agreement that gives corporations unfettered power is a bad one, but a trade agreement like this would be a disaster for people and the planet.
Onward,
Phil
350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by making a donation.
-----end of 1/18/14 email from 350.org----------------------
To find and call my member of Congress I use:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/
You can call or you can have the FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) send each of your representatives a FAX from you, which saves having to use paper if you want to write a letter. By the way, the FCNL also offers to send a paper letter for you if you like, with your text, just as if you had sent it yourself. At the above linked page, put in your zip code, get your representatives' pictures, click on a picture, and click the second tab on the next page to see the link for using the FCNL's automation. Click. It's easy once one gets used to it.
I use simple letters, like:
Dear Representative xxx:If you need a toll free number to call using a landline, the number the FCNL provides seems to be working: 1-855-686-6927. With that you wait and get routed from there to the various congressional offices.
It is seriously important to me that you work to the full extent that it is possible for you to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership ("TPP") and particularly the proposed fast-tracking of it through Congress. As you must be aware, there is massive opposition mounting against the TPP, and I am part of that. The TPP has a number of evil provisions, and I mean grossly un-American. The combination of some business trade court taking jurisdiction over local legal issues together with so-called environmental protection provisions that have no enforcement mechanisms is a killer.
It seems that any local concerns over such things as the quality of the drinking water, just for example, could be preempted, leaving residents with nowhere at all to turn for help with poisons in the water. That would be bad.
Thank you for your good help to your constituency including me.
Respectfully,
Please help make this viral.
Thank you for your help!
Larry
