Fighting Back Against (LOST) The Law Of The Sea Treaty
By Steve Foley Posted in Policy — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Our Friend Cliff Kincaid penned an excellent article yesterday that ran in GOPUSA entitled Senate Republicans May Sink Bush's U.N. Treaty which highlights a few brave Republican Senators who are willing to stand up to the White House and other "World Federalists" to put and end to this treaty.
Wednesday, which btw was United Nations Day, top Republican senators participated in a dramatic news conference in the Senate Press Gallery to declare that they would actively oppose the treaty and defeat it on the Senate floor. This press conference got little to no coverage or mileage but here is the list of Senators who are opposing this treaty.
Read On...
1) Mitch McConnell
2) Trent Lott
3) Jon Kyl
4) Jim DeMint
5) John Ensign
6) Jeff Sessions and
7) James Inhofe
This is starting to make some supporters of this treaty a bit nervous given the fact that most Senate Democrats remain silent on this issue. Citizens for Global Solutions offered this:
Yesterday, Republican Senate leadership celebrated October 24th, United Nations Day, by engaging in one of their favorite sports, base pandering. At the expense of our nation's security they took the opportunity to bash the Law of the Sea convention and the United Nations. At a press conference, Minority Leader McConnell declared his opposition to the treaty saying it would “subjugate the rights and interests of the United States.” His sidekick, the senator from South Carolina, Jim DeMint added in, "We have seen with our involvement in the United Nations, the … many times countries involved with these bodies don't vote in our interest.”
-Snip-
So yesterday, Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue weighed-in on our nation’s important relationship with the only global forum where all countries can work together to solve the problems that we cannot solve alone. And what did Democratic Senatorial leadership have to say?
Well, nothing. Not one word about the United Nations or the Law of the Sea
I’m not sure what’s worse for our nation; misinformation from Republican Senate leaders or silence, and the complicity that it signals, from the Democratic leadership. What do you think?
And Scott Paul from The Washington Note said:
This does make the fight a little bit tougher, but Lott's prediction that the 67 votes aren't there rings hollow; finding 67 votes on the Senate floor will not be much of a problem. What we should be worried about is the will of Harry Reid and Dick Durbin to spend floor time on this issue. This is a good time to pick up the phone and let them know that this matters.
In the end, going up against the White House, environmentalists, the military, oil and gas, and every other ocean industry is going to leave Lott, McConnell, and the rest of their troupe looking way out of touch with U.S. interests.
In the end this is a fight worth fighting... According to Rob Bluey two Republican presidential candidates have expressed opposition to this treaty Fred Thompson & John McCain!
John McCain:
"Sen. John McCain told bloggers this morning that he would oppose the measure if it came to the Senate floor as it currently exists."
Fred Thompson says No to Law of the Sea Treaty:
I oppose the ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty at this time. The Treaty threatens U.S. sovereignty and gives a U.N.-affiliated organization far too much authority over U.S. interests in international waters. The American people also deserve ironclad assurances that the problems with the treaty highlighted by President Reagan more than two decades ago have been fixed. At a time when customary international law in this area has proven sufficient, I believe the efforts of treaty proponents would be better spent reforming an ineffective, unaccountable, and corrupt United Nations. Until such reforms are complete, I see little reason for the U.S. to move forward on the Law of the Sea Treaty
I'm not entirely sure what interests Citizens for Global Solutions believes the most powerful navy in the world cannot defend.
Exactly what problems can't we solve for ourselves on our own?
Would it be nice to have a collaborative organization that would allow multi-lateral discussion and negotiation of "thorny" issues that might arise? Sure. But LOST is not about cooperation, it is about subjugation - subjecting the U.S. to a binding decision-making body that has the power to impose, through "fees," "revenue sharing," and technological confiscation, the effective equivalent of international taxation, without any recourse to anyone - and failure to abide by the decisions of the ruling bodies would subject us to the binding jurisdiction of an international court.
For those that may read my "real"ness comment on another thread - this is a clear case of separating the "real" Republicans from the RINOs - a "real" Republican seeks to defend and sustain the sovereignty of the United States and does not seek to siphon it away through membership in international organizations such as those created by LOST. I'm glad to see the leadership in the Senate behind the effort to sink LOST again.