Today in the House of Legislative, Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Illinois, 11th District) urged the acceptance of the United States/Columbia Promotion Trade Agreement (USCPTA). In his speech, he commented on the benefits that will result out of the agreement's fruition and what noticeable effects (if any) it will have on his home state of Illinois, "It's good for the state that I represent; it's good for Columbia; it's good for the United States; it's good for Illinois farmers; it's good for Illinois workers; it's good for Illinois manufacturers." Discernibly, Rep. Jerry Weller is overly enthusiastic about the trade agreement's "incontrovertible" benefits, which he believes the residents of Illinois will undoubtedly experience as an end result from the USCPTA's acceptance.
Rep. Jerry Weller states that he has 8,000 Caterpillar workers (CAT) working in Illinois. Now, wait just a minute, that is an interesting piece of information. I never knew about CAT before, so today I decided to look up its history. I checked out Wiki's definition of what CAT was and why in the world Rep. Weller would urge this trade agreement to go through. Apparently, he wants to cut down the costs of the corporate companies' manufacturing costs even though they make more than enough in revenue and assets.
Wiki explains this in its introduction and throughout its webpage:
"Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is a United States-based corporation headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. Caterpillar (commonly referred to simply as Cat or CAT) is, according to their corporate website, "the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines.
Famous for their products featuring caterpillar tracks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme, Caterpillar produces a wide range of heavy equipment, mainly engineering vehicles, including the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. Caterpillar (CAT) is one of the 30 companies whose stock is tracked in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It is a Fortune 100 company ranked first in its industry, with more than $40 billion in assets."
Let's take a look at what he is saying very carefully.
I presumed, with all the talks about change on Capitol Hill, that we, the American people and the individuals who represent us, would want to turn in the direction of a more environmentally friendlier means of powering our automobiles and protecting the environment. As you can see here, the information about CAT provided by Wiki states,
"Caterpillar has been criticized by many environmental groups. Products produced by the company includes forestry equipment, mining equipment, and diesel engines. While providing higher fuel efficiency than gasoline engines, diesel engines usually produce higher levels of NOx and particulates." However, in an attempt to dissway all the bad publicity, CAT took it upon itself to contribute more to environmental organizations for over a decade.
The real confrontation is this: Rep. Weller supports corporate businesses that aid Israel, who, in all honesty, provide their government with state-of-the-art military weapons, which are, of course, manufactured by CAT. A law suit was brought up a few years ago, when a woman wanted to sue the company from Illinois for selling weapons to Israel. If you're not familiar with our government's involvement in Isreal, then I would advise you to look into it, and how we, the American people, continue to let our government get away with all this.
"The suit was dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge in Tacoma in 2005. The dismissal was upheld on appeal to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 17, 2007, saying it is not the court's role to criticize foreign policy. "The executive branch has made a policy determination that Israel should purchase Caterpillar bulldozers," the appeals court decision stated. "A court could not find in favor of the plaintiffs without explicitly questioning, and even condemning, United States foreign policy toward Israel."
This year, it's no wonder why I am suspecting the motives of the Republican Party and its representatives therein. Rep. Jerry Weller, being a Republican himself, is in full support of the same trade agreement (USCPTA) that president bush himself tried to urge into passing.
Shocking, isn't it? I know, I'm quite surprised myself - NOT. To be honest with all you, I don't, and never will, trust president bush. Furthermore, I don't see a point in capitalizing his title anymore, because it already lacks any ounce of respectable meaning. Anyway, aside from my distrust in the president, this FTA has already been denied by Congress. Congress viewed the country of Columbia as still being unstable; also noting that further progress is needed in the country's development before any trade agreement can be settled (2007).
Yet, here we are, with the Republicans once again trying to push this FTA down the throats of Congress. The majority of Republicans are indeed for bigger government, higher spending, and making the wealthy even wealthier.
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