I call upon anyone with access to the TPP documentation to fully leak it to the public.

[Fire Walk With Me]

Last edited Fri Aug 23, 2013, 01:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Representatives, congresspeople, legislators...those who have seen it have called it a corporate coup de'tat. It must be stopped. Please reveal to the people of this country exactly what sort of monstrosity is being forced upon us and the people of several other sovereign nations =without neither our knowledge nor choice=.

Restore democracy to the legislative process. End corporatism.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini

If you wish to leak it anonymously out of fear of reprisal (which is enough of a fact in and of itself that it MUST be leaked), use cryptome.org.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Exactly right. n/t

[MotherPetrie]

2. K&R

[Mnemosyne]

3. Sharing is good! So is doing the right thing. nt

[Lint Head]

4. I've been screaming Theocratic Corporate Fascism on DU ever since I joined. Frank Zappa was right.

We need an uprising in this country or we are doomed as a civilization. It is coming on faster every day now. Modern digital technology has facilitated the take over by corporate fascists because they can simply buy control. It used to be newspapers and books and prior to that papyrus and stone that contained the propaganda to control the people. Now we all are slaves to information we are fed and our own personal information that is stolen to further the goals of corporate fascism. It's a fungus that appears to grow a new tentacle every week. We are being squeezed and it's becoming very uncomfortable to many people and not everyone will go quietly into that good night. So far we have been able to use social networking to the advantage of the common person but I fear soon that available avenue will be bought and shut down. International security is the guise that will be used to shut it down.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Amen. n/t

[RKP5637]

27. The gates are closing around all of us, the electronic cage is being locked. Democracy, LOL. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Don't forget us media

The meeting here in San Diego was strange

[tritsofme]

7. While it would provide an interesting insight, I am very certain that such an agreement will never

ultimately be signed by the Obama administration.

Obama will simply never win Trade Promotion Authority from House Republicans, and without that, a trade deal of this magnitude could never move through Congress, and the president would be left unable to negotiate with his partners in good faith.

[pampango]

10. You are right, tritsofme. Clinton could not get TPA despite having pushed through NAFTA.

Obama is distrusted by House republicans even more than Clinton was. No way they trust him enough to give him TPA.

[tritsofme]

16. And House Republicans barely gave Bush TPA in 2002, when he was at his height.

It was only two votes from being rejected. I just don't see how Obama gets TPA, unless it is in the context of a much larger deal, which we already know is unlikely with this Congress.

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. Corporations are the rule of law, they make the laws. The Obama administration has a history

of giving them exactly what they want, which is power and our tax dollars:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022445620

I have little to no doubt that he will sign this monstrosity. Even Bill Clinton is saying "It's time to build the KeystoneXL pipeline" (the Koch brothers are its biggest supporters and representatives both democratic and republican own stock in it and surrounding companies; tar sands mining is destroying the ecosystem and we are warned that full tar sands processing will in fact destroy the ecosystem).

[tritsofme]

17. Sure whatever you say. But they need Congress to pass TPA.

And that isn't going to happen.

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022445620

And it's called the TPP. Are we speaking of the same thing, or are you adding noise to signal?

[tritsofme]

19. TPA is Trade Promotion Authority

It is the law that needs to be in place for the president to submit a trade agreement to Congress that is guaranteed a timely up or down vote in both houses of Congress, while shielded from amendments.

Without TPA, the bill could be buried on the calendar, filibustered in the Senate, and amended at will on the floor of each house. House Republicans need to give Obama this power in order for him to even be taken seriously as a good faith negotiator on something like TPP. That is very unlikely to happen, thus so is this trade agreement.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. House Republicans are (however unlikely) actually more corporate-owned than Obama.

Corporations WANT this. It is being decided IN SECRET. The citizens of this country DO NOT GET A VOTE REGARDING CORPORATIONS WRITING LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION.

That, as the dictator Mussolini said, is Fascism.

We're all against Fascism, correct? We're all against corporatism and lawless capitalism, right? Against corporations writing laws (as ALEC already does within the US) ? ALEC should be your red flag, because it's already happening. The TPP is an international ALEC of sorts and given the corporate-owned nature of the government, is basically a done deal in one form or another.

And none of this excuses that it is happening in secret without the consent of the public. This should be considered treason.

I'm also sure Obama would never support the racist Ray Kelly to head DHS, or wall street lackey and misogynist Summers to head the Fed, or to ever appoint billionaire and legendary worker's rights foe Penny Pritzker to a government office, or a Monsanto executive to a government food position.

[tritsofme]

21. In 2002 Bush won TPA by only two votes in the House.

House Republicans refused to empower Clinton, even after signing NAFTA.

It may not fit the narrative you're pushing, but the complicated politics of this issue make it very unlikely that TPA will pass.

And if this is no big deal, why doesn't Obama have TPA right now?

[Fire Walk With Me]

22. There are no politics. There is only corporate will upon politicians. And none of that matters:

THIS IS OCCURRING IN SECRET. It must be stopped and a precedent set against secret voting by OUR representatives.

[tritsofme]

24. You seem more interested in this narrative than political reality.

Without TPA, these talks are completely pointless, and Obama's negotiating partners know this too.

If it is all a fait accompli, why doesn't Obama have TPA now?

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. I have no idea if he has it or not. A great deal of this is occuring IN SECRET.

Perhaps this aspect is also occurring in secret? Where is your outrage against secret votes for corporate empowerment? That this is happening at all?

[pampango]

28. TPP negotiations have been secretive; the strategy for TPA (fast track authority) quite public.

White House still looking to get fast-track trade authority through Congress

The Obama administration continues to work with Congress to get fast-track trade authority into law as soon as possible, the top U.S. trade negotiator said Tuesday.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that he's “cautiously optimistic” that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a pending trade deal with Pacific rim countries, will be finalized this year. The administration wants to have Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), or so-called fast-track powers, in order to bring the negotiations to a close.

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/global-economy/314315-white-house-still-looking-to-get-fast-track-trade-authority-through-congress-by-years-end

Executive-power-wary Tea Partiers and labor-aligned Democrats could block "fast-track" authority for two huge agreements.

It is generally agreed that the Obama will not be able to conclude the TPP and TTIP negotiations unless Congress grants him Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) -- commonly known as "fast-track" -- which guarantees that Congress will hold a straight up or down vote on any trade agreement the president negotiates.

When Congress grants TPA to a president, the authorizing legislation always includes negotiating objectives. This is a reminder to the president that he is acting as a delegate from Congress. The negotiating objectives themselves, however, often become the major point of contention. It was a battle over labor and environmental standards, for example, that prevented the House from granting President Clinton fast-track authority in 1998.

In the Senate, Democrat Max Baucus is already leading the charge for the renewal of TPA. He can expect significant Republican support, but may have some trouble corralling members of his own party. Democrat Sherrod Brown, whose power base in Northeast Ohio's Rust Belt remains upset about the 1994 NAFTA, has already expressed reservations. And since fast-track authorization is subject to filibuster, Obama may need all the votes he can get.

The battle in the House might be even more interesting. ... One can easily see an odd alliance in the House between progressive Democrats, who reflect the concerns of organized labor, and Tea Party Republicans, who don't want to give power away to the president. Even Rep. Darrell Issa, usually a free-trade advocate, might oppose it because of suspicions about the secretive nature of the TPP negotiations.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/the-odd-bipartisan-coalition-that-could-sink-obamas-free-trade-legacy/276938/

[Fire Walk With Me]

31. Thank you; hadn't seen your reply and was just going to post this myself.

[leftstreet]

8. DURec

[Joe Shlabotnik]

9. K&R

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. Kick!

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Kick!

[Enthusiast]

14. But but, the TPP is a state secret!

You know. We can't know about the TPP, because if we knew it could compromise our freedom.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. But, avoid Heathrow when flying.

[forestpath]

23. K&R

[cantbeserious]

26. But, But - Wouldn't The Leaker Have To Be Thrown Under The Bus Like Snowden And Greenwald?

eom

[Lint Head]

29. They need Congress and Congress is bought and paid for.

Legislation moves slowly and the corporations are hoping the People go to sleep.

[Fire Walk With Me]

30. That it is occurring in secret, denying US citizens the right to vote in their own interest

is proof of the end of democracy. Representatives, you are NOT representing the interests and freedom and democratic right to decide of the people of this country. Please leak this monstrosity and end secret corporate favoratism and influence!

[Fire Walk With Me]

32. Return the country to Democracy and the will and voice of The People! n/t