Reactions to story from http://cnn.com

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  McCain's magical free trade adventure

  http://globalwire.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-magical-free-...
  45 days ago in Global Wire · Authority: 17

  Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain finished his "free trade is fabulous" tour of Mexico and Colombia this week, following a stint in the Midwest where many Americans have lost work due to NAFTA. BTW, not to be a conspiracy theorist, but is it me or is it just coincidence that three U.S. government contractors captured by FARC, just so happen to be "rescued" by the Colombia government while McCain is in the country. It smells of McCain and Uribe trying to look like they are defending "freedom and patriotism" the same week of July 4th. I'm just saying... But back to the subject at hand, just like his "I'm down with Negroes" tour a few months back, where he tried to fool Americans into believing that he actually cares about black people, McCain's Latin American trip is designed to convince Americans about the benefits of globalization. From The Wall Street Journal: ...He was also highlighting his support for the pending free-trade agreement with Colombia, which he says is needed to support a vital partner in the region. Sen. Barack Obama and many Democrats say there are still too many human-rights abuses, particularly against labor activists, to allow the pact to go through. Sen. McCain declined to mention Sen. Obama by name, even though his host, Mr. Uribe obliquely said he was pleased with recent comments by Sen. Obama. "The only discussion I had concerning the presidential campaign was that I believe that any partisanship ends at the water's edge," he said. The partisan skirmish persisted in the air en route to Colombia, though. Aboard his plane, the Arizona senator told reporters that Sen. Obama would represent a step backward for trade that could endanger the U.S. economy. "He's a protectionist and anti-free trade," he said. Sen. McCain told reporters that he raised human rights with Mr. Uribe and said he was assured that progress is being made. Mr. Uribe appeared with Sen. McCain at the evening news conference but declined to answer any questions. Earlier in the week, Sen. McCain said that the abuses are not bad enough to hold up the agreement. "I balance [human-rights abuse] against Uribe and his administration's rescue of Colombia from a failed-state status," he told reporters in Pennsylvania Monday. The abuses do not justify the need "to throw out the entire theory of free trade..." For the record, Obama also has a NAFTA problem. However, let me get this straight, according to McCain and the Bush Administration (one in the same), FARC are human rights abusers because they captured Americans, but Colombia's abuse of its own people is not bad enough for the United States to rethink its trade policy with the country. God bless America!
• 

  a follow-up on the Ingrid Betancourt story I posted months back…

  http://mpovelaitis.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/a-follow-up-on-t...
  45 days ago in Lawyers, Labrats, and The Like · Authority: 1

  She’s free! Along with many others, check this story out! Old-fashioned fake out results in freedom for hostages (source: CNN) Betancourt reunited with her “beautiful” children (source: CNN) Video from the rescue (source: CNN) Man, this is a great story.  Ingrid Betancourt is such an astounding woman, someone who truly cares for the well-being of her countrymen and all those in abject poverty.  Like Ernesto Guevara, she has lived her life to its fullest capacity, and hopefully will continue to do so.  She’s a world mover and shaker.  I hope to live my life half as fully as both of these individuals have lived theirs.            __________________________________________ “      “Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.” - Ernesto “Che” Guevara
• 

  links for 2008-07-04

  http://www.haroldfudge.com/blog/2008/07/04/links-for-2008-07...
  46 days ago in hxf148 · Authority: 3

  Old-fashioned fake-out results in freedom for hostages - CNN.com George Washington’s Boyhood Home Found by Archaeologists | LiveScience CrunchGear » Archive » Interview: James Dyson loves and hates on the iPhone, BlackBerry WTFurls » My mom said I could Anti-terrorist drill in Shangdong_English_Xinhua Colombia rescue hinged on rebel disarray, payback - Yahoo! News Where The Hell Is Matt? - Videos How a Giant Solar Tower Could Power the Future | LiveScience Team finds language without numbers (7/3/2008) The Tiger Temple In Thailand Cave Men Loved to Sing - Yahoo! News Venecia [PIC] Apple - Trailers - The Day the Earth Stood Still - Medium globeandmail.com: Bell undercuts iPhone plans with unlimited Instinct
• 

  Straight Out of the Movies…

  http://allsufficientgrace.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/straight-...
  46 days ago in Allsufficientgrace · Authority: 15

  This story of rescue and undercover convert stuff, is crazy cool. Do I smell the making of a movie?? I think so… Here is an excerpt from CNN: The Colombian government’s bloodless rescue of the hostages Wednesday was the product of a perfectly executed ruse that depended on old-school spy games rather than high-tech gadgetry. Agents spent months worming their way into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, an insurgent force that has waged war on the Colombian state for 40 years, Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon told CNN. The agents gained the rebels’ trust and rose to the top of FARC’s leadership council as well as a team assigned to guard the hostages. When the time was ripe, the moles used the authority they’d gained within the group to order the 15 hostages moved from three separate locations to one central area, and the game was on. Read the rest of this awesome story here ht: Already and Not Yet

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