Wednesday September 12, 2012, 9:30 pm
Details are leaking of a top-secret, global corporate power grab of breathtaking scope -- attacking everything from a free Internet to health and environmental regulations, and we have just 4 days to stop it.

Big business has a new plan to fatten their pockets: a giant global pact, with an international tribunal to enforce it, that is kept top secret for years (even from our lawmakers!) and then brought down like a Death Star on our democracies. Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Walmart and almost 600 other corporate lobbyists are all in on the draft -- including limits on smoking laws, affordable medicines and free speech on the Net.

The latest round of negotiations ends in just 4 days -- but outcries in each of our countries could shake the confidence of negotiators and scuttle the talks forever. Let's get to a million against the global corporate takeover. Sign below and forward widely. Avaaz will project our petition counter on the walls of the conference so negotiators can see the opposition to their plan exploding in real time:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_corporate_death_star/?bfRGrab&v=17866

The deal, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is written to protect investors from government regulation, even if that regulation is passed in the public interest. Leaked versions suggest the TPP would undermine protections for air and water safety and reintroduce measures from the US Internet freedom attack as well as steamrolling efforts to produce generic affordable medicines. Worse still, lawmakers who fail to conform to the TPP’s rules face sanctions in an international tribunal -- a place where corporations can sue us for deals previous governments signed in secret!

Negotiators say this is just a trade agreement, written to facilitate investment and profit for all. But the leaked draft imposes so many limits on citizen protections, it's clear this "trade" agreement is skewed to put corporate profit above people's needs -- that's not surprising since it's been drafted in secret with almost 600 corporate lobbyists.

But there is hope: Australia is bucking against the international tribunal system, and New Zealand is objecting to the takeover of its medicine-pricing protections that keep drugs affordable. Massive public opposition, casting doubt over each country's ability to sell TPP at home, could derail the talks for good. Sign the petition now, and forward widely -- the delegates and lobbyists are watching the wave of opposition grow in real time:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_corporate_death_star/?bfRGrab&v=17866

US candidate for Senate, Elizabeth Warren in a recent speech said: “Corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters, because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people." Let’s reach one million to stop the corporate takeover of our governments.

With hope,

Iain, Pedro, Laura, Ari, Emma, Lisa, Luca, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team

Wednesday September 12, 2012, 9:34 pm
The goal is 500,000 signatures and at last look the signatures totaled just under 80,000. Please circulate amongst your friends.

I signed and left the following comment:

You cannot put a monetary value on my life or anyone else's.
You cannot cut me off from
the medicines I need;
the information flow on the internet;
the clean water I need to sustain my life;
the clean air I need to breathe to sustain my life;
the wholesome food I need.

You cannot cut we THE PEOPLE off!

It is clear this "trade" agreement is skewed to put corporate profit above people's needs

You cannot create a new world order based on greed and corporate profit!

As a citizen of this planet, I do not give my permission!

Wednesday September 12, 2012, 10:00 pm
I have already signed, shared and tweeted this as widely as possible, the second i got and read it earlier today...
My first thought was that someone really needed to put their stash away for awhile, then i started to get paranoid w/o any help...and as wild an idea as it may seem at first blush, i now don't doubt the the very real possibility at all...
Where the hell is Anonymous? we need all the help we can get cuz this shit is SCARY!, and if it's just "we the people", my finally learning how to cut and paste isn't going to be much help on this...:-( thanks Lynn

Wednesday September 12, 2012, 10:19 pm
Posted: 12 September 2012
Thanks for signing the petition to stop the corporate Death Star. Leave a comment on the right for the governments negotiating at the meeting right now. Our petition and messages will be projected on the walls of conference before final decisions are made.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 12:59 am
Already signed earlier this morning - and it has gone up about 8 thousand in a couple of hours! Thanks for sending me this Lynn - was going to try and put this together but you have done it for me - will forward to my friends list...

Thursday September 13, 2012, 6:48 am

Thanks for signing the petition to stop the corporate Death Star.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 6:59 am
Thanks for the email alert Lynn. Signed and noted.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 9:39 am
signed~

Thursday September 13, 2012, 11:32 am
I signed, please also sign a PETITION I had left a few months ago on this.
Trade Deal Worse Than NAFTA Sign Petition
It is not really that complicated. If you are a giant U.S. corporation, you can either make stuff here, or you can make stuff overseas where it is far, far less expensive to do so.

To greedy corporate executives, there are a lot of advantages to moving operations out of the country....

*It is legal to pay slave labor wages in many of these other countries. After all, why pay an American worker 10 or 20 times as much as a worker on the other side of the globe?

*In many of these other countries you do not have to provide any health care for workers.

*In many of these other countries there are virtually no environmental controls to worry about.

*In many of these other countries there are virtually no labor standards to worry about.

*In many of these other countries you only have to deal with a fraction of the "red tape" that you have to deal with in the United States.

By merging our economies with the economies of societies that are far different from our own, we have created a "race to the bottom" that is incredibly destructive to the U.S. economy.

In Vietnam, one dollar an hour is considered to be a very good wage.

So how do you plan to compete against that?

Apparently, one of the goals of the TPP is to reduce all trade tariffs among member nations to zero by the year 2015. The proponents of "free trade" are absolutely thrilled.

We are literally destroying the American economy and this TPP agreement is only going to hasten it along.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 11:59 am
The impetus for NAFTA actually began with President Ronald Reagan, who campaigned on a North American common market.

NAFTA was signed by President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1992.

It was ratified by the legislatures of the three countries in 1993. The U.S. House of Representatives approved it by 234 to 200 on November 17, 1993.

The U.S. Senate approved it by 60 to 38 on November 20, three days later. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1993 and entered force January 1, 1994.

Although it was signed by President Bush, it was a priority of President Clinton's.

So we can thank BOTH Parties for giving us this disaster that has come about since NAFTA has been signed in.

No one could of made a more clearer statement than Ross Perot when he said, NAFTA was not a two way street would create a “giant sucking sound” of jobs going south to the cheap labor markets of Mexico.

Perot has been vindicated in his opinion; expanded free trade has not been accompanied by an increase in jobs in the U.S. relative to the vast numbers of jobs created in the rest of the world as NAFTA became just a stepping stone on the pathway to global commerce.

Manufacturing jobs lost each year starting with 1992 are equivalent to the U.S. goods trade deficits over the past 19 years. There has been a cumulative job loss, amounting to almost 29 million jobs by the end of 2010.
Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-02-11/markets/30028586_1_nafta-goods-trade-cumulative-job-loss#ixzz1yTQN7J8s

And now we have TPP that is expected to be worse!

Thursday September 13, 2012, 2:33 pm
Signed.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 6:27 pm
2 sigs

Thursday September 13, 2012, 6:53 pm
Signed and shared already.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 7:08 pm
already signed, thanks Lynn and Dandelion for the forward

Thursday September 13, 2012, 7:49 pm
Lynn, thank you so much for exposing this! That treaty is scarier than Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort, Hannibal Lecter and the Wicked Witch of the West all in a Chevrolet Suburban!

Thursday September 13, 2012, 8:05 pm
Already signed and shared...Thanks Lynn

Thursday September 13, 2012, 8:22 pm
Signed, noted, and shared!

Thursday September 13, 2012, 8:41 pm
I have posted and signed several of these on the TPPA and never had more than a few people even note them. I am glad people are paying attention, finally. The copyright portion of the TPPA could make it illegal for us to post articles the way we do on C2NN. The copying of any picture or any part of the text for any purpose could be criminal.

Every one of us that posts on C2NN would be at risk. Anyone clicking on one of those posts could also be charged. This is why I have tried when possible to use my own photos on postings and not copy any. Understand that the strictest rule will be the operative one. Some of you have seen and signed the post when I put them up, thank you for that, and for signing those Dandelion has posted now. Spread to word and help push your government not to commit to this agreement.

Thursday September 13, 2012, 9:29 pm
Done

Thursday September 13, 2012, 9:44 pm
Done

Thursday September 13, 2012, 9:55 pm
noted

Thursday September 13, 2012, 11:17 pm
Both petitions were previously signed and noted, but I'm glad to see they're still circulating and getting signatures. Thanks, Dandelion!

Thursday September 13, 2012, 11:30 pm
Signed and noted, thank you!

Friday September 14, 2012, 1:20 am
Here is the link to another petition... http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/obama-free-tpp
And a not so minor thought i failed to share before...I am happier than s*** that they are NOT holding these "talks" anywhere near Seattle! ....
been there, done that :-(

Friday September 14, 2012, 4:18 am
Already signed TY Lynn

Friday September 14, 2012, 6:01 am
Already signed, Thanks, Lynn.

Friday September 14, 2012, 8:58 am
noted. signed.

Friday September 14, 2012, 9:52 am
Signed yesterday, glad to see the global signatures against it are building.

Transparency is key for FREEDOM.

Noted, Thank you Lynn, and Dandelion & Diane for the fwd.

Friday September 14, 2012, 10:06 am
Already signed earlierand have sent it around as well. The rootsaction one from June would only accept US valuable zips, sorry. But I have also sent around another action by JustForeignPolicy weeks ago where people were asked to pledge a donation to Wikileaks (in need of cash because much used up going to Assange support !) if they would leak the DETAILS/ text of that deadly TPP Agreement. I pledged, hope some others did as well.

Friday September 14, 2012, 10:24 am
done. Been having internet problems
thanks D

Friday September 14, 2012, 12:41 pm
This is not a deal that fits America - We need to get corporations out of politics and get the politicians out of their pockets!

Friday September 14, 2012, 2:33 pm
I'm sorry but this is the beginning of the END unless we the people DO something NOW. Ive heard this is where the one world govt is started and if your familiar with the Bible, then you know what that means. WE ARE SCREWED because GREED will win until we DO something about it.

THX Dandelion for the fwd and Lynn for the story
I signed a different one yesterday also..If people dont step up for this, we ARE screwed

Friday September 14, 2012, 4:31 pm
Thanks for taking action to stop the corporate government takeover.

The more people that sign, the greater our impact will be.

Friday September 14, 2012, 5:39 pm
Noted & Signed.

Friday September 14, 2012, 9:13 pm
This is a very important issue. I have posted several articles on the Trans-Pacific Paetnership. Signed. Thanks Lynn and Dandelion.

Here's the link to my most recent article/petition on this topic:


Meet the TPP: A Worldwide Corporate Power Grab of Enormous Proportions - TAKE ACTION!

Saturday September 15, 2012, 1:26 am
I have noted & signed

Saturday September 15, 2012, 11:23 am
Noted & signed. TY, Lynn for posting & Dandelion for FWD.

Sunday September 16, 2012, 7:28 pm
Signed & Noted. Thanks, Lynn....and Dandelion for the link.