BUSH SEEKS FOREIGN HELP IN PRESSURING SPEAKER PELOSI ON FREE TRADE WITH COLOMBIA

Now we have George Bush asking Felipe Calderon president of Mexico and Stephen Harper of Canada to come out and publicly ask Nancy Pelosi to reconsider not holding a vote on the Colombia free trade pact.

Stephen Lee Myers writes in today's The New York Times:

"President Bush pulled the leaders of Mexico and Canada into an unusually direct involvement in his domestic political efforts to expand free trade on Tuesday when his two North American allies joined him in a foray into both Congressional politics and the presidential campaign.
President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada lent their weight to what has been something of a lonely campaign by the president as he has traveled the country to make pro-trade speeches and angry statements about the “petty politics” that he sees threatening one of his administration’s major legacies. They joined Mr. Bush in sharply criticizing a decision by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to scuttle a vote on a free trade agreement with Colombia."

This shows how impotent has become the Boy King. Not able to admit defeat for his lack of meaningful negotiations with Congress on other pressing national needs, Bush appeals to outside authorities to petition Speaker Pelosi.

Consider what is being sought. A free trade with Colombia, a country that on this past March 1st, launched an illegal intrusion into neighboring Ecuador to shoot and kill some 25 "members" of the FARC as they slept in their beds. The dead included four visiting Mexican college students who happened to be the camp to judge for themselves what was happening with the insurgent Colombian group.

The same Colombia which has a history of killing farmers by right-wing militias and justifying it by saying that the campesinos were FARC members. Just yesterday, Mario Uribe, cousin of Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, was arrested by Colombian prosecutors and charged with complicity in the doings of the death squads. Mario immediately tried to seek refuge in the Costa Rican embassy, lending basis to the speculation that he did not want to answer questions about his cousin Alvaro.

So again, I say to Speaker Pelosi, don't be bullied by Bush to rush into this Colombian agreement. If George Bush is so desirous of the Colombian free trade pact, let him first agree to an expansion of the S-CHIP program granting health insurance to children. Let Bush first get serious about helping New Orleans, a project that he has forgotten about almost as soon as the flood waters receded.

NY TIMES GETS IT WRONG ON COLOMBIA FREE TRADE

Contrary to the opinion expressed in the lead editorial in today's The New York Times, Congress and Speaker Pelosi should not allow Bush to push through his free trade agreement with Colombia. There are several reasons:

One. We need first to make Bush come up with a plan to rescue the two million families that are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure in the sub-prime mess. Bush so far allows the financial markets to be be bailed out by the Fed but refuses to offer any rescue line to those in foreclosure. What needs to be done is a readjustment of the mortgage principal so that people don't owe more for their mortgages than the amount of their home equity. So before Congress even considers a free trade pact with Colombia, Bush needs to do something about homeowners in peril.

Second. Colombia still suffers from death squads targeting trade union members and other campesinos. The extra-judicial killings of workers and farmers originally caused the FARC to come into existence to fight Colombia's injustice to the lower economic classes. Even today, campesinos are being killed by Colombia's army in an effort to show Bush/Cheney how much progress the government is making against FARC.

Third. The agreement between Bush and Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, is just a proxy for U.S. battle against Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. Bush is still fuming from Chavez calling him "Satan" and the greatest threat to peace in the whole world. That's why Condoleeza Rice recently termed Chavez "a very hostile" threat to the U.S. It is not because Chavez or Venezuela has actually done anything bad, it is all because Chavez insulted Bush during a U.N. forum. Bush's silly and amateurish foreign policy must not be allowed to succeed. Stop the campaign against Hugo Chavez. Don't allow the free trade pact with Colombia to be passed. It is only a slap at Venezuela.

Congress and Speaker Nancy Pelosi did the right thing to block Bush's scheme. The NY Times has got it wrong on Colombia.

NANCY PELOSI STOPS BUSH'S DISASTROUS FREE TRADE PACT WITH COLOMBIA

What Nancy Pelosi did with regard to George Bush's free trade pact with Colombia was ingenious and brilliant. Thank you, Madame Speaker, for resisting that bully Bush in his push to reward his crony, Alvaro Uribe who is president of Colombia.

Paul Kane and Dan Eggen write in today's The Washington Post:

"The House today voted to delay consideration of a free trade agreement with Colombia despite fierce opposition from the Bush administration and accusations from Republicans that Democrats were subverting long-standing laws regarding bilateral trade pacts.

"On a mostly party line vote of 224 to 195, the House approved an internal rule change that altered the statutory timeline for congressional approval of trade deals negotiated by an administration. The rule, which was supported by all but 10 Democrats, gives House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as much time as she wants to bring the agreement to the floor, rather than the 60-day standard for previous trade deals."

Colombia and Uribe allow the Colombian military to kill Innocent campesinos and then claim they were members of the FARC, the Colombian revolutionary group fighting the government. Colombia has not put a stop to these killings, nor has it stopped the extra-judicial killings of trade union members.

However, Bush sees Uribe as a counter-weight to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a person Bush intensely dislikes. Condi Rice claims Chavez is very hostile to the U.S. Why? Chavez' mistake was calling George Bush "Satan" at a United Nations convocation. Because he called Bush the "devil," Rice and Bush now imply that Chavez and his Venezuelan government are the "enemy."

This is the worst form of diplomacy where George Bush uses his personal likings and animosities to decide which country is friend or foe. Which country to reward and which to bomb.

To stop this madness, Nancy Pelosi put a hold on the free trade deal. Again, thanks and kudos to Speaker Pelosi.

On a negative note, Rep. Jim Matheson, Second Dist. Utah, was one of 10 Democrats who voted against revising House rules. Shame on you, Jim Matheson.

BUSH CITES "NATIONAL SECURITY" AS REASON FOR APPROVING TRADE AGREEMENT WITH COLOMBIA

George Bush claims that Congress should quickly okay the free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia because it involves "national security." This is a joke. The implication is that Hugo Chavez is going to attack the U.S. and that Bush needs Alvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia, to protect American interests.

See what happens when you call George Bush "the devil" at a U.N. convocation! You make yourself and your country Venezuela "enemies" of the United States.

But another thing that appears ridiculous in Bush's tossing around of the words "national security" is that Venezuela is one of Colombia's largest trading partners.

AP's Christopher Toothacher writes on ABC News website:

"Venezuela is Colombia's second-largest trading partner after the U.S. Trade between the nations totaled $5.7 billion from January through November 2007, according to Colombian government statistics.

"Venezuela imported $4.4 billion in goods from its neighbor, nearly doubling from 2006 because of high demand for Colombian-made vehicles, car parts and clothing. Colombia, meanwhile, purchased only $1.2 billion worth of Venezuelan goods, mostly petrochemical products and plastic goods."

So if it is important for Bush to want to finalize a trade agreement with Colombia, doesn't this mean that Bush's United States will be indirectly trading with Bush's nemesis, Hugo Chavez? Whatever might be the benefits for Colombia from a trade agreement, they would appear just as substantial for Venezuela, only indirectly. So with this trade agreement, Bush is really adding to Venezuela's bottom line.