I was hoping for some Onion-y goodness. I am disappoint.
[sigh] Why is it that, even though I approached a serious subject with a serious attitude, readers are
disappointed that it doesn't end with a joke?
I can
understand the skepticism and criticism. After all, it
is a
ridiculously outrageous article title. (I'm sure it was designed to grab attention.) And, to be fair, the article approached it with an obviously very biased (e.g., conspiracy) slant. But it also seems clear that none of you took it seriously enough to actually click on the relevant links and
read.
Fine. Since readers can't be bothered, here's a summary of what's it's really about:
Joint Statement by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper of Canada on Regulatory CooperationToday, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have directed the creation of a United States-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), composed of senior regulatory, trade, and foreign affairs officials from both governments. In recognition of our $1 trillion annual trade and investment relationship, the RCC has a two-year mandate to work together to promote economic growth, job creation, and benefits to our consumers and businesses through increased regulatory transparency and coordination.
They have directed that the first meeting of the RCC be convened within 90 days by the relevant agencies in the United States and Canada.
That's quoted directly off the whitehouse.gov website.
Basically, it's about an agreement which laid the foundation for an "RCC" council, whose purpose is (supposedly) to promote economic growth and benefits to businesses "through increased regulatory transparency and coordination." It's about increased cooperation and some (myself included) worry that this could be the first step toward a dissolving of regulatory and government boundaries.
Can't you see how this trend looks?
NAFTA... RCC...
American Currency Union... Globalization... North American Union... One World Government...
If one bothers to do more research and dig into things deeper, it looks a lot scarier than the "onion-y" conspiracy-like surface might imply.
Also, it seems nobody wanted to talk about how over 99.99% of the world belongs to the U.N.. Nor on the alarming membership of the U.N. Human Rights council.
The President doesn't have that authority anyway.
The fact that the President doesn't have that kind of authority hasn't stopped the Presidency from reaching beyond it. There are a number of very frightening Executive Orders and other measures that the office has already enacted that goes way beyond what the Constitution or the Bill of Rights allows, beyond even the
Separation of Powers. Congress, too, has acted beyond it's authority, even recently. But then, these types of things get brushed off and ignored very easily. And they never get the kind of media attention they deserve.
People don't
want to believe how corrupt things haven gotten, myself included. But burying one's head in the sand isn't going to solve anything.
This common reaction to "conspiracy" talk (a brushoff and complete disbelief because it's too absurd or "wacky") reminds me of that starship in the
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of novels that's hidden in plain view of a bustling park. It resembled an upside-down gondola painted absurd colors (it had polka-dots, if I recall correctly) and because it was so outrageous, nobody
believed it could exist. And so it was
invisible to anyone who did not expect it and consciously look for it.
Another words, the situation may be so dire or outrageous that very few folks bother to look at it closely to see if there's actually something to it.