screenshot from RT TV of Polish street Protests of ACTA
Now, the White House is asking the senate to ratify the agreement.
It will be a lot easier for the Senate to ratify and accept ACTA as already done deal as an executive agreement, than to pass SOPA and PIPA. That may actually satisfy the big Media firms that have been lobbying for its passage and even threatening to stop donating to Obama if he blocks it.
But if the Senate does ratify the agreement, avoiding lobbyist and constituent ire, it will be handing over more power to the Executive branch, further weakening the balance of powers established by the constitution, setting further precedent that reduces true democracy in America.
Last week, Wikipedia, Google and many other websites took a stand in opposition to SOPA and PIPA. Unless a similar stand is taken, educating the public on ACTA, it is likely that the senate will slip ratification in on some low media visibility late Friday afternoon, or during a day of high media activity that draws attention away from it.
The next sign of ACTA will be when the Justice Department, responding to a DEMAND by China or some other signatory to ACTA, shuts down a website or forces it to pull an article critical of that country, or of some group in that country -- maybe settlers in Israel or an Islamic group in Malaysia.
It'll be too late then.
This is not just about ACTA. It's about the continuing pattern of congressional cowardice -- of members of congress allowing, even handing over to the Executive Branch, powers that should be retained and protected by congress. We've seen it with the Libyan war, the rights of corporations related to corporate personhood, and in countless other examples where Bush and Obama used signing statements to neutralize the will of congress -- of the people's elected officials. It's time for this to stop.
For more details, check this out...
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