"Yikes! I Might Be...Militia!"
I try to keep my readers at Bob McCarty Writes informed on major issues of the day, especially when it comes to legislative issues under consideration by the United States Congress. In recent months, I’ve blogged about the topics of immigration reform and so-called “hate crimes” legislation. Now, I want to ensure you’re aware of another measure coming to the fore in the form of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Treaty.
Two must-read pieces for The Heritage Foundation offer, among other things, explanations of why President Ronald Reagan refused to endorse the treaty after it first came to his desk in 1982 and why you should encourage President George W. Bush and your members of Congress to oppose it as well.
Links to the articles appear below:
The Law of the Sea Treaty by Carrie E. Donovan; and
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: The Risks Outweigh the Benefits by Edwin Meese III, Baker Spring and Brett D. Schaefer.
5 responses so far ↓
1 NoisyRoom.net » Blog Archive » Noisy News Around the Web - 07/10/07… // Jul 10, 2007 at 7:43 pm
[...] ‘Much to Lose, Little to Gain’ with Law of the Sea Treaty – Bob McCarty Writes [...]
2 Informed Lawyer // Oct 2, 2007 at 8:57 am
One of the most blaring omissions in the statements coming from the US military in support of the UN Law of the Sea Convention is a thorough analysis of the treaty’s more than 45 environmental articles, regulations and protocols, and numerous other standards that could be used to diminish the military’s right to freedom of navigation/ innocent passage.
In addition, recently released reports have described how the US military will be increasing its reliance on private contractors more than 50% during the next 5-10 years. The myriad activities of private contractors designing, formulating, producing, testing, delivering and deploying technologies for military application are highly unlikely to qualify for exemption as ‘military activities’ under the UNCLOS. The military brass is quite confident, at least publicly, about how they could unilaterally determine what is or is not a ‘military activity’ for purposes of qualifying for the treaty exemption. And, they believe that they could fit all such activities neatly under one ‘military activity’ tent. They are unlikely, however, to succeed in exempting their supply chains.
Furthermore, the environmentally-obsessed EU member states have 27 votes for every 1 vote cast by the US at the UNCLOS Secretariat meetings, which the administration has been less than forthcoming in explaining.
Lastly, there remains a quaint notion within US constitutional law which is commonly referred to as ‘due process’. In the context of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings that are now underway, this means transparency and a thorough publicly aired review. Unfortunately, this has not yet occurred considering that a number of house and senate committees possess oversight jurisdiction which they have yet to exercise to review the various dimensions of the UNCLOS that have not been considered in light of new international environmental law developments since the previous UNCLOS hearings. The American people are entitled to know from their elected representatives how this expansive treaty which will reach into US sovereign territory (land, internal waterways and air above) and into the US regulatory and free enterprise systems, will affect American pocketbooks, small businesses and daily lives.
The ‘LOST 45’ UN Environmental Restrictions on US Sovereignty
3 hotoffthepress // Oct 2, 2007 at 9:05 am
Informed Lawyer — Thanks for the info. Americans need to know about this!
4 Senator Warns About Law of the Sea Treaty « Bob McCarty Writes // Oct 31, 2007 at 6:20 am
[...] that appeared in the Washington Times yesterday and echoes the concerns I shared in a July 7 post, ‘Much to Lose, Little to Gain’ with Law of the Sea Treaty. Below is the text of his column that appeared on his Senate web site. What if I were to tell you [...]
5 hotoffthepress2 // Jan 20, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Below is more info I received from “Informed Lawyer” on the subject of LOST:
Please see the New & Improved ITSSD Journal on the UN Law of the Sea Convention (itssdjournalunclos-lost.blogspot.com) with more accurate information than Senator Biden’s recently released Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report.
There are three other ITSSD Journals that provide related background information concerning what is truly lying beneath the surface of the UNCLOS:
ITSSD Journal on Economic Freedom http://itssdeconomicfreedom.blogspot.com
ITSSD Journal on Intellectual Property Rights http://itssdinternationaliprights.blogspot.com
ITSSD Journal on Pathological Communalism http://itssdpathologicalcommunalism.blogspot.com
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