Is Kelly Ayotte...Lost? - Granite Grok

Is Kelly Ayotte…Lost?

LOST

Word is spreading around the globe that NH Senator Kelly Ayotte is likely to support the “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea” (UNCLOS, aka “LOST”) treaty that Hillary Clinton has been pushing for years, John Kerry (D-MA) is cheerleading, and President Obama has already pledged to sign.  This, in and of itself, is reason enough to look at this treaty askew.

Yet, apparently siding with the entire contingent of 53 Democrats in the Senate, along with a possible 17-19 other Republicans (not surprisingly including John McCain, Susan Collins, Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, and Lindsey Graham), Ayotte has not yet signed a letter from a group of Senators who pledge to block the bill.

Note: This week, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) both went on the record opposing this treaty, adding their names to the letter.

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Here is a breakdown of the sovereignty-eroding LOST treaty, a concept that was first drafted by the former Soviet Union in a purported attempt to weaken US power in the world:

  • The UN would have 71% control over the Earth’s surface (global governance)
  • The UN would have the authority to tax the United States (global taxation, violating the Constitution)
  • US Energy companies would be forced to pay royalty to the “International Seabed Authority”, based in Jamaica
  • These royalties would be distributed to “developing states”, such as SomaliaZimbabwe, and Burma
  • The UN would regulate deep sea exploration in US waters, adding global environment oversight and overhead
  • Creates an international tribunal (ITLOS:Germany) to oversee these regulations – expect “climate change” lawsuits

At this point, we already pay a decent amount of foreign aid, which, invariably, ends up in the hands of dictators or warlords, not helping the people it was intended to.  Now, we are poised to add the UN as a useless new layer in this offensive corruption.

At its base, LOST is just a backdoor approach to the ill-fated Kyoto Protocol treaty, which was even rejected by George W. Bush (and originally rejected by Ronald Reagan).  Kyoto was predicted to raise energy prices by about 86%, and would have raised gasoline prices by about 66-cents per gallon, putting rising pressure on the prices of just about everything else we buy.  Sounds like a great idea, particularly in today’s economic conditions.

When you look at the three main parties who are pushing support for LOST (US Navy, multi-national oil companies, and environmental lawyers), you have to become suspicious and wonder what Kelly is thinking:

  • LOST codifies, through the folly of UN protection, US Naval access to places like the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to block, in the event we decide to open another front on the expensive, lucrative, and debt-inflating “war on terror”; it is clear that this portion of the treaty is what appeals to Senator Ayotte – the rest of the treaty be damned – based on her 2-year history of “hawkishness” in the Senate.  The point Senator Ayotte is missing is that the US Navy may now be forced to do the UN’s maritime bidding and enforcement, as it has no navy.
  • The litigious nature of this treaty, and the expansion of governance to the global scale, is a windfall for enviro-lawyers.
  • Lastly, large oil companies, such as Shell Oil, are salivating over the new UN jurisdiction of the continental shelf, beyond the existing 200-mile limit; the 1-7% royalty is much smaller than the gains they would experience exploiting this new playing field.

* An additional factor that may be drawing Kelly Ayotte towards this bill is the perception that this treaty can be used to “weaken China’s international legitimacy“, as they apparently violate the UNCLOS that they ratified in 1982.  I understand the benefit of putting rules on the books, as a means to diplomatically challenging a country like China, but at what cost?

Fortunately, in May, the US House successfully passed a bill that would bar the millions of dollars from going to the UN; at least one segment of our Federal government had a temporary affliction of common sense.

With Republicans like Kelly Ayotte, with others who are willing to support treaties such as LOST – at the risk of eroding US Sovereignty – it won’t matter much if Barack Obama wins a second term or not.  The outcome of this election will only determine the speed in which the United States fails to be the United States we know and that the Founders designed.

Contact Senator Ayotte’s office today (web comment form, or call her DC office 202-224-3324), expressing your desire to retain US sovereignty.

7/12/12: Made corrections to the names of Sens. Toomey and McConnell.

Update 7/16/12:  Senators Ayotte and Portman both signed a letter today, in opposition to LOST, effectively killing it.  Thank You Senator Ayotte, for maintaining US sovereignty.

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