There’s no doubt that in urging the creation of something akin to a world government, he has established a landmark for his papacy and for Catholicism.
Pope Benedict’s encyclical on economic justice, delivered amid the global financial meltdown, is an extraordinary document, both in its tough challenges and in the remarkably radical solutions it prescribes.
The pontiff focuses on moral dimensions of markets, globalization, consumerism, environmental protection, the role of technology, workers’ rights and more. To call the document sweeping is an understatement.
Individually, many of Benedict’s teachings are profound ethical and social statements. A few examples:
- “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”
- “… there is no doubt that foreign workers, despite any difficulties concerning integration, make a significant contribution to the economic development of the host country.”
- “What is meant by the word ‘decency’ in regard to work? It means work that expresses the essential dignity of every man and woman in the context of their particular society: work that is freely chosen, effectively associating workers, both men and women, with the development of their community; work that enables the worker to be respected and free from any form of discrimination; work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for their children. …”
- “Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers.”
Cumulatively, Benedict’s diagnoses of global economic ills lead to a call for nothing short of “a profoundly new way of understanding human enterprise.”
He would move toward markets geared to “redistribute” wealth from advanced to poorer countries and sees “urgent need of a true world political authority” to, among other tasks, “manage the global economy.”
As we said, Benedict’s encyclical, titled “Charity in Truth,” is stunningly radical, notably in its prescriptions for the temporal order. There’s no doubt that in urging the creation of something akin to a world government, he has established a landmark for his papacy and for Catholicism.
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience on July 1, 2009 at St Peter’s square at The Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI will release a social encyclical on July 7, “Caritas in Veritae” (Charity in thruth). VATICAN CITY, Jul. 4, 2009
Pope Signs New Globalization Encyclical; Tells New Archbishops To Protect Their Flocks
He has said the downturn shows the need to rethink the whole global financial system.
(AP) Pope Benedict XVI signed his latest encyclical Monday, a text on ways to make globalization more attentive to meeting the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis.
The document, entitled “Charity in Truth,” is expected to be published soon.
The pope has said his third encyclical will outline the goals and values that the faithful must defend to ensure solidarity among all peoples.
Benedict has frequently spoken out on the financial crisis, urging leaders to ensure the world’s poor don’t end up bearing the brunt of the downturn even though they are not responsible for it. He has said the downturn shows the need to rethink the whole global financial system.
The pontiff announced he had signed the document Monday, a major Catholic feast day, after celebrating a Mass during which he told new archbishops they must be models for the faithful, guiding them and protecting them as shepherds care for their flock.
Thirty-four new archbishops, including the new archbishop of New York, Monsignor Timothy Dolan, received the pallium, a band of white wool decorated with black crosses that is a sign of pastoral authority and a symbol of the archbishops’ bond with the pope.
Benedict said the archbishops should be like Christ “who as a good shepherd carried on his back humanity – the lost sheep – to bring them home.”
Benedict has been working on “Caritas in veritate,” as the encyclical is known in Latin, since 2007 but held back on issuing it so that he could update it to reflect the global economic crisis.
An encyclical is the most authoritative document a pope can issue. Benedict has written two in his four years as pope: “God is Love” in 2006 and “Saved by Hope” in 2007.
Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleAndrew G. Marshall writes: From May 14-17, the global elite met in secret in Greece for the yearly Bilderberg conference, amid scattered and limited global media attention. Roughly 130 of the world’s most powerful individuals came together to discuss the pressing issues of today, and to chart a course for the next year. The main topic of discussion at this years meeting was the global financial crisis, which is no surprise, considering the list of conference attendees includes many of the primary architects of the crisis, as well as those poised to “solve” it.
The Agenda: The Restructuring of the Global Political Economy
Before the meeting began, Bilderberg investigative journalist Daniel Estulin reported on the main item of the agenda, which was leaked to him by his sources inside. Though such reports cannot be verified, his sources, along with those of veteran Bilderberg tracker, Jim Tucker, have proven to be shockingly accurate in the past. Apparently, the main topic of discussion at this years meeting was to address the economic crisis, in terms of undertaking, “Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty … or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.” Other items on the agenda included a plan to “continue to deceive millions of savers and investors who believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the economy. They are about to be set up for massive losses and searing financial pain in the months ahead,” and “There will be a final push for the enactment of Lisbon Treaty, pending on Irish voting YES on the treaty in Sept or October,”[1] which would give the European Union massive powers over its member nations, essentially making it a supranational regional government, with each country relegated to more of a provincial status.
Shortly after the meetings began, Bilderberg tracker Jim Tucker reported that his inside sources revealed that the group has on its agenda, “the plan for a global department of health, a global treasury and a shortened depression rather than a longer economic downturn.” Tucker reported that Swedish Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, “Made a speech advocating turning the World Health Organization into a world department of health, advocating turning the IMF into a world department of treasury, both of course under the auspices of the United Nations.” Further, Tucker reported that, “Treasury Secretary Geithner and Carl Bildt touted a shorter recession not a 10-year recession … partly because a 10 year recession would damage Bilderberg industrialists themselves, as much as they want to have a global department of labor and a global department of treasury, they still like making money and such a long recession would cost them big bucks industrially because nobody is buying their toys…..the tilt is towards keeping it short.”[2]
After the meetings finished, Daniel Estulin reported that, “One of Bilderberg’s primary concerns according to Estulin is the danger that their zeal to reshape the world by engineering chaos in order to implement their long term agenda could cause the situation to spiral out of control and eventually lead to a scenario where Bilderberg and the global elite in general are overwhelmed by events and end up losing their control over the planet.”[3]
On May 21, the Macedonian International News Agency reported that, “A new Kremlin report on the shadowy Bilderberg Group, who this past week held their annual meeting in Greece, states that the West’s financial, political and corporate elite emerged from their conclave after coming to an agreement that in order to continue their drive towards a New World Order dominated by the Western Powers, the US Dollar has to be ‘totally’ destroyed.” Further, the same Kremlin report apparently stated that, “most of the West’s wealthiest elite convened at an unprecedented secret meeting in New York called for and led by” David Rockefeller, “to plot the demise of the US Dollar.”[4]
The Secret Meeting of Billionaires
The meeting being referred to was a secret meeting where, “A dozen of the richest people in the world met for an unprecedented private gathering at the invitation of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to talk about giving away money,” held at Rockefeller University, and included notable philanthropists such as Gates, Buffett, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Eli Broad, Oprah Winfrey, David Rockefeller Sr. and Ted Turner. One attendee stated that, “It wasn’t secret,” but that, “It was meant to be a gathering among friends and colleagues. It was something folks have been discussing for a long time. Bill and Warren hoped to do this occasionally. They sent out an invite and people came.” Chronicle of Philanthropy editor Stacy Palmer said, “Given how serious these economic times are, I don’t think it’s surprising these philanthropists came together,” and that, “They don’t typically get together and ask each other for advice.” The three hosts of the meeting were Buffet, Gates and David Rockefeller.[5] [See: Appendix 2: Bilderberg Connections to the Billionaire’s Meeting].
Bilderberg founding member David Rockefeller, Honourary Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, Honourary Chairman and Founder of the Trilateral Commission, Chairman of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society, former Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan.
At the meeting, “participants steadfastly refused to reveal the content of the discussion. Some cited an agreement to keep the meeting confidential. Spokesmen for Mr. Buffett, Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Gates, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Soros and Ms. Winfrey and others dutifully declined comment, though some confirmed attendance.”[6] Reports indicate that, “They discussed how to address the global slump and expand their charitable activities in the downturn.”[7]
The UK newspaper The Times reported that these “leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world’s population,” and that they “discussed joining forces to overcome political and religious obstacles to change.” Interestingly, “The informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the billionaires’ aides were told they were at ‘security briefings’.” Further, “The billionaires were each given 15 minutes to present their favourite cause. Over dinner they discussed how they might settle on an ‘umbrella cause’ that could harness their interests,” and what was decided upon was that, “they agreed that overpopulation was a priority.” Ultimately, “a consensus emerged that they would back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat,” and that, “They need to be independent of government agencies, which are unable to head off the disaster we all see looming.” One guest at the meeting said that, “They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world government.”[8]
The Leaked Report
Bilderberg investigative reporter Daniel Estulin reportedly received from his inside sources a 73-page Bilderberg Group meeting wrap-up for participants, which revealed that there were some serious disagreements among the participants. “The hardliners are for dramatic decline and a severe, short-term depression, but there are those who think that things have gone too far and that the fallout from the global economic cataclysm cannot be accurately calculated if Henry Kissinger’s model is chosen. Among them is Richard Holbrooke. What is unknown at this point: if Holbrooke’s point of view is, in fact, Obama’s.” The consensus view was that the recession would get worse, and that recovery would be “relatively slow and protracted,” and to look for these terms in the press over the next weeks and months.
Estulin reported, “that some leading European bankers faced with the specter of their own financial mortality are extremely concerned, calling this high wire act “unsustainable,” and saying that US budget and trade deficits could result in the demise of the dollar.” One Bilderberger said that, “the banks themselves don’t know the answer to when (the bottom will be hit).” Everyone appeared to agree, “that the level of capital needed for the American banks may be considerably higher than the US government suggested through their recent stress tests.” Further, “someone from the IMF pointed out that its own study on historical recessions suggests that the US is only a third of the way through this current one; therefore economies expecting to recover with resurgence in demand from the US will have a long wait.” One attendee stated that, “Equity losses in 2008 were worse than those of 1929,” and that, “The next phase of the economic decline will also be worse than the ’30s, mostly because the US economy carries about $20 trillion of excess debt. Until that debt is eliminated, the idea of a healthy boom is a mirage.”[9]
According to Jim Tucker, Bilderberg is working on setting up a summit in Israel from June 8-11, where “the world’s leading regulatory experts” can “address the current economic situation in one forum.” In regards to the proposals put forward by Carl Bildt to create a world treasury department and world department of health under the United Nations, the IMF is said to become the World Treasury, while the World Health Organization is to become the world department of health. Bildt also reaffirmed using “climate change” as a key challenge to pursue Bilderberg goals, referring to the economic crisis as a “once-in-a-generation crisis while global warming is a once-in-a-millennium challenge.” Bildt also advocated expanding NAFTA through the Western hemisphere to create an American Union, using the EU as a “model of integration.”
The IMF reportedly sent a report to Bilderberg advocating its rise to becoming the World Treasury Department, and “U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner enthusiastically endorsed the plan for a World Treasury Department, although he received no assurance that he would become its leader.” Geithner further said, “Our hope is that we can work with Europe on a global framework, a global infrastructure which has appropriate global oversight.”[10]
“They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world government.”
SOME of America’s leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world’s population and speed up improvements in health and education.
The philanthropists who attended a summit convened on the initiative of Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, discussed joining forces to overcome political and religious obstacles to change.
Described as the Good Club by one insider it included David Rockefeller Jr, the patriarch of America’s wealthiest dynasty, Warren Buffett and George Soros, the financiers, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, and the media moguls Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey.
These members, along with Gates, have given away more than £45 billion since 1996 to causes ranging from health programmes in developing countries to ghetto schools nearer to home.
They gathered at the home of Sir Paul Nurse, a British Nobel prize biochemist and president of the private Rockefeller University, in Manhattan on May 5. The informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the billionaires’ aides were told they were at “security briefings”.
Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the summit was unprecedented. “We only learnt about it afterwards, by accident. Normally these people are happy to talk good causes, but this is different – maybe because they don’t want to be seen as a global cabal,” he said.
Some details were emerging this weekend, however. The billionaires were each given 15 minutes to present their favourite cause. Over dinner they discussed how they might settle on an “umbrella cause” that could harness their interests.
The issues debated included reforming the supervision of overseas aid spending to setting up rural schools and water systems in developing countries. Taking their cue from Gates they agreed that overpopulation was a priority.
This could result in a challenge to some Third World politicians who believe contraception and female education weaken traditional values.
Gates, 53, who is giving away most of his fortune, argued that healthier families, freed from malaria and extreme poverty, would change their habits and have fewer children within half a generation.
At a conference in Long Beach, California, last February, he had made similar points. “Official projections say the world’s population will peak at 9.3 billion [up from 6.6 billion today] but with charitable initiatives, such as better reproductive healthcare, we think we can cap that at 8.3 billion,” Gates said then.
Patricia Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gives more than £2 billion a year to good causes, attended the Rockefeller summit. She said the billionaires met to “discuss how to increase giving” and they intended to “continue the dialogue” over the next few months.
Another guest said there was “nothing as crude as a vote” but a consensus emerged that they would back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat.
“This is something so nightmarish that everyone in this group agreed it needs big-brain answers,” said the guest. “They need to be independent of government agencies, which are unable to head off the disaster we all see looming.”
Why all the secrecy? “They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world government,” he said.
President Bush meeting with President Vicente Fox and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the 2006 North American Security and Prosperity Partnership summit.
Vicente Fox headlines international summit at Kennesaw State on May 12
“Making North America Work – The Future of Canada, USA, Mexico Relations.”
Former President of Mexico and other thought-leaders discuss the future of Canada‚ U.S. and Mexico relations
KENNESAW‚ Ga. (May 7‚ 2009) — Kennesaw State University will host the inaugural summit of the Commission for North American Prosperity – also referred to as North America 2050 – on Tuesday‚ May 12. The event will feature a keynote address from Vicente Fox‚ former president of the United States of Mexico and president of Centro Fox.
WHO: Kennesaw State University is serving as the host facility for the meeting‚ in partnership with the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce‚ Centro Fox‚ and the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Center. Summit Leaders include:
• Vicente Fox‚ former President of Mexico and president of Centro Fox
• Al Zapanta‚ president‚ U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce
• Peter Appleton‚ president‚ U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce‚ SE Chapter
WHAT: “Making North America Work – The Future of Canada‚ USA‚ Mexico Relations.”
This Open Forum will provide an opportunity for leaders and dignitaries in the fields of business‚ government and academia from the United States‚ Canada and Mexico to discuss the future of relations between the three countries.
WHEN: Tuesday‚ May 12‚ 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Dr. Bobbie Bailey and Family Performance Center‚ on the campus of Kennesaw State University‚ 1000 Chastain Rd.‚ Kennesaw‚ Ga.
The forum is free and open to the public. For public attendance purposes only‚ please RSVP to Jeanette Eberhart at jeberhar@kennesaw.edu or phone (770) 423-6033. All media should contact the KSU Office of University Relations to arrange attendance.
WHY: The Commission for North American Prosperity was created in response to growing recognition of the importance of the evolving social and economic relationships between Canada‚ Mexico and the U.S. Its mission is to provide guidance to North American leaders in government‚ business and civil society in the formulation of public and private policies affecting the future development and relationships of the U.S.‚ Canada and Mexico and its citizens. It is composed of 150 representatives from the private and public sectors.
Contact: Director of University Relations
Frances Weyand Harrison
770-423-6203
fharris4@kennesaw.edu
Contact: Tammy DeMel‚ 770-423-6383 or tdemel@kennesaw.edu
###
Kennesaw State University is the third-largest university in Georgia‚ offering more than 65 graduate and undergraduate degrees‚ including new doctorates in education and business. A member of the 35-unit University System of Georgia‚ Kennesaw State is a comprehensive‚ residential institution with a growing student population of more than 21‚000 from 142 countries.
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Astir Palace Hotel Resort, reported site of this year's Bilderberg Group meeting
The 57th meeting of representatives from Western European and North American countries known as Bilderberg Group will be held next week at a five-star hotel in Greece, reports Daniel Estulin, an investigative author who has written a defining book on the secretive annual gathering.
Estulin says his sources in Greece have confirmed the meeting will be held at the Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni from May 14-17.
The Bilderberg Group is an elite invitation-only conference of influential members of the business, media and political community. Past attendees have included Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Tony Blair.
While the group claims its purpose is to facilitate discussion amongst western powers, many see the group as a means toward globalization.
This year, according to Estulin’s sources, the meeting’s talking points will focus on finances, namely the future of the U.S. dollar, the economy and unemployment levels.
Estulin also claims in a statement to have obtained a pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees that presents a discussion of two economic options: “Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty … or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.”
As WND reported, The Bilderberg Group meets at luxury hotels and resorts throughout the world. Last year’s conference was held at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Va. Every four years the conference is held in the U.S. or Canada. The group has an office located in Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands.
The highly secretive meeting is off limits to press, but past reports from sources that have managed to penetrate the high-security meetings have stated that the meetings emphasize a globalist agenda and dismiss national sovereignty as regressive.
The BBC declared it to be one of the most influential organizations in the world.
“It’s officially described as a private gathering,” BBC reported, “but with a guest list including the heads of European and American corporations, political leaders and a few intellectuals, it’s one of the most influential organizations on the planet.”
Attendees of the Bilderberg conference are not allowed to speak a word of what was discussed in the meeting outside of the group. The group has no website and no minutes are kept of the meetings to ensure secrecy.
Last year, however, the Bilderberg Group made a press release available listing topics of discussion and providing a general overview of the gathering.
“Approximately 140 participants will attend, of whom about two-thirds come from Europe and the balance from North America,” the release stated. “About one-third is from government and politics, and two-thirds are from finance, industry, labor, education and communications. The meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion.”
This year’s event, if held as expected, will be the 57th gathering of the Bilderberg Group, which began meeting in 1954. A scheduled meeting in 1976 was cancelled, but if added to the tally, leads some to count this year’s gathering as the 58th.
On April 30, China’s State Council banned “foreign financial information providers” from undertaking “news gathering activities” inside the country. The new measure appears inconsistent with Beijing’s agreement, reached last November with Canada, the European Union and the U.S., to withdraw rules that severely restricted the activities of foreign news organizations. The withdrawn rules were clearly in violation of China’s World Trade Organization obligations.
While Beijing was further restricting foreign media in China, the country’s Communist Party was launching its English-language Global Times newspaper. This publication, which joins an existing Chinese-language tabloid of the same name, is a product of Beijing’s latest initiative to create international media giants.
The primary beneficiaries of Beijing’s media-building efforts, first revealed this January by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post,will be state broadcaster China Central Television, better known as CCTV; the Communist Party’s flagship publication, People’s Daily, and state-run Xinhua News Agency.
In addition to the new Global Times, Beijing’s media initiative contemplates that Xinhua will almost double the number of its bureaus so that it will have offices in almost every country; CCTV will add Russian and Arabic channels to its Chinese and other language broadcasting and Xinhua will begin a worldwide 24-hour news channel on the model of Al Jazeera.
The new Global Times, in an editorial issued on its launch date, stated that it would “strive to reveal a complete and true picture of China” and that it is “dedicated to conveying the original voices of Chinese people,” but it is almost impossible for a Communist Party publication to do any of this. What the paper really meant is what Beijing said in January: Its goal is to “better convey a good image of China to the world.” That’s a difficult task for Beijing. Unfortunately for the one-party state, many of its messages sound off-key or, worse, belligerent.
So it’s no surprise that Beijing’s publications often appear propagandistic. Even when they don’t, they look bland, especially the official China Daily, which just launched a U.S. edition this February. Due to these disadvantages, if the Chinese people had a real choice, state media would be commercially unviable in China. And, despite recent improvements in presentation and content, some of it already is.
So how will the Communist Party’s media survive outside the Chinese homeland? To overcome the handicap, the Ministry of Finance will be supporting Beijing’s January plan to the tune of 45 billion yuan–about $6.6 billion–in grants and subsidies. Undoubtedly, the Chinese central government will be providing more assistance when this initial funding runs out.
The subsidies inevitably raise a trade issue. Xinhua, CCTV and People’s Daily all will be competing with privately owned media that is not supported by government grants. Moreover, there is an even more important trade question. The Chinese central government blocks Voice of America and Radio Free Asia and severely restricts CNN and other privately owned networks, of course. Yet at the same time, CCTV is allowed to distribute widely its English and Chinese programming on cable in the U.S. So should we allow any Chinese media–TV programming, books, newspapers or magazines–here? The buzz word is “reciprocity,” and we should be demanding it.
For far too long, however, the U.S. has not protected its own businesses from Chinese restrictions. In a series of agreements–especially the 1999 deal paving the way for China’s WTO membership–Washington has accepted less access to the Chinese market than China has to the American one. Worse, successive administrations have failed to hold Beijing to its trade promises–enforcement has almost always been lackadaisical–and neglected to take full advantage of the trade benefits previously negotiated.
At one time, not requiring reciprocity may have made sense, but in past years, China’s trading relationship with the U.S. has become unbalanced and unsustainable. The Chinese have run a trade surplus against the United States for every year since 1983. And the problem is getting worse: Beijing’s surplus with America was $232.6 billion in 2006, $256.2 billion in 2007 and $266.3 billion last year. The trade deficit with China was just $304 million in 1983.
Beijing’s “go global” media initiative raises more than just trade issues, of course. The U.S. is an open society, protected by the First Amendment, the core of American civil liberties. We have operated under the principle that a vigorous public debate is essential to a free society. Yet now an authoritarian state is seeking to influence that debate by spreading what it calls “external propaganda.”
Should we permit China to do that? Whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, the Chinese government views the U.S. as an adversary in much the same way the Soviet Union once did. Although Beijing’s acts are more subtle than those of Cold War-era Moscow, its tactics–like the covert spread of nuclear weapons technology to dangerous regimes–are often just as disruptive.
So, it is time to begin thinking about the national security implications of China’s trade practices. The first thing we can do is impose the same prohibitions on Chinese media in the American market that Beijing imposes on American media in China. We can do that within the framework of both WTO rules and our constitutional principles. After all, this is a trade issue, and the Chinese government does not have a First Amendment right to disseminate propaganda in the United States. As the Supreme Court has noted, “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.”
U.S. President Barack Obama greets his Venezuela counterpart Hugo Chavez with a brotherly handshake before the opening ceremony of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain April 17, 2009. Reuters
PORT OF SPAIN (AFP) — President Barack Obama defended on Sunday his amicable first encounter with Venezuelan leader and anti-US firebrand Hugo Chavez, which critics back home assailed as naiive and “irresponsible”.
“It’s unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interest of the United States,” Obama told reporters at the close of a Summit of the Americas.
But, he stressed he still had concerns about Venezuela and Chavez’s often heated rhetoric.
“I have great differences with Hugo Chavez on matters of economic policy and matters of foreign policy,” Obama said.
“There have been instances in which we’ve seen Venezuela interfere with some of the countries that surround Venezuela in ways that I think are a source of concern,” he added.
Obama and Chavez met here Friday at the opening of a 34-nation Americas summit and photos of the encounter showed the US leader smiling as he shook the Venezuelan’s hand and patted him on the shoulder.
Chavez was said to have told Obama: “I shook hands with (former US president George W.) Bush with this hand eight years ago. I want to be your friend.”
Obama responded by thanking Chavez, the official said.
US officials confirmed the encounter, but said Obama had simply presented himself to Chavez with a “How are you?” and left after shaking hands.
An opposition lawmaker on Sunday said Obama’s handling of the meeting confirmed conservatives’ concerns that the Democratic president would not be tough enough on the United States’ adversaries.
“I think it was irresponsible for the president to be seen kind of laughing and joking with Hugo Chavez,” said Republican Senator John Ensign on CNN Sunday.
“This is a person who is one of the most anti-American leaders in the entire world,” Ensign said, calling Chavez “a brutal dictator”.
“When you’re talking about the prestige of the United States and the presidency of the United States, you have to be careful who you’re seeing joking around with,” he said.
Obama said he’d heard such criticisms throughout his campaign for the US presidency and dismissed them as nonsense.
“The whole notion was that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness,” he said.
“The American people didn’t buy it. And there’s a good reason the American people didn’t buy it, it doesn’t make sense.”
Newspapers around the world ran the photo of the handshake with speculation that the long antagonism between Washington and Caracas might be overcome.
But Sunday Obama downplayed his interaction with Chavez as not particularly unique, noting conversations with other US critics, including Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
“I had meetings with all the leaders involved, including Ortega, who was the chair person of the Central American meeting,” he said.
“I had very cordial conversations with President Morales and I think it’s just that President Chavez is better at positioning the cameras,” he said.
Most of the drug shipments smuggled into the United States by the Mexican cartels are hidden in trucks that drive across U.S. border checkpoints in plain sight, with little fear of inspection, U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.
Only about 5 percent of trucks coming into the country from Mexico are inspected, according to U.S. officials.
“It is just too costly and too slow given the volume of trucks to actually try to stop and inspect each and every truck,” said Juan Zarate who dealt with the issue in the Geroge W. Bush White House as Deputy National Security Director.
The number of trucks coming into the U.S. has steadily increased since the passage of NAFTA in 1993. Almost 3,000,000 loaded container trailers crossed at border checkpoints last year.
“It does open up the potential for drug networks to take advantage, but I think it is something we have to find alternative ways of addressing,” said Zarate.
Any attempt to inspect all trucks crossing the border, “would have a hugely negative impact in terms of commercial traffic and trade between the United States and Mexico,” said Zarate, who also held the position of Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism.
“You would see lines like you wouldn’t believe,” he said.
The Mexican cartels’ fleet of 18-wheelers has long since replaced the Caribbean air drops and speed boats used by the Colombian cartels in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the era of “Miami Vice”.
And major cities at interstate highway junctions, like Atlanta, have become important hubs for the Mexican cartels.
“Atlanta is a central trans-shipment point for pushing narcotics to some of the largest distribution cells in the United States,” said Rodney Benson, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA office in Atlanta.
Drug Agents Stakeout Truck Stops and Trail 18 Wheelers
Instead of tracking fancy sports cars at glitzy night clubs in Miami, federal drug agents now spend a lot of their time trailing behind huge 18-wheel trucks and conducting surveillance at interstate truck stops.
Flying over Atlanta’s “Spaghetti Junction,” the intersection of interstates I-85 and I-285, Benson pointed out the truck stops and warehouses where his agents have made major arrests and drugs seizures.
“It’s also a major money collection point,” said Benson. “They do operate with a business-like efficiency,” he said.
Federal agents and local police say the Mexican cartels often rent homes in quiet, upscale suburban neighborhoods for their operatives.
“You couldn’t build a better environment to camouflage this activity,” said Gwinnett County district attorney Danny Porter.
In a major raid last week, aimed at the Atlanta operations of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, police and federal agents raided 16 locations and arrested 21 people.
Nearby residents were shocked to learn their neighbors might be connected to the Mexican cartels.
“Their daughter goes to school with my daughter,” said Amber Youngblood of Duluth, Georgia. “It makes you think twice about who your neighbors are,” she said.
St. Bernard Parish Fire Chief Thomas Stone talks with reporters in the den of his home which is being tested for the effects of suspected sulfur-emitting Chinese drywall in in Chalmette, Friday, April 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
CHALMETTE, La. (AP) — Thomas Stone and his wife rebuilt after their home was flooded by six feet of water during Hurricane Katrina, never dreaming they would face the agony of tearing it apart all over again.
They tapped Lauren Stone’s 401(k) retirement savings and saved $1,000 by installing Chinese-made drywall throughout their two-story home. Now the Stones are among hundreds of Katrina victims facing another, this time unnatural, disaster
Sulfur-emitting wallboard from China is wreaking havoc in homes, charring electrical wires, eating away at jewelry, silverware and other valuables, and possibly even sickening families.
“The bathroom upstairs has a corroded shower-head, the door hinges are rusting out,” said 50-year-old Thomas Stone, the longtime fire chief of St. Bernard Parish, outside New Orleans. And then there’s the stench, like rotten eggs, that seems to get worse with the heat and humidity.
“It makes me wish there would be another flood to wash it out,” said his wife Lauren, 49.
Chinese manufacturers flooded the U.S. market with more than 500 million pounds of drywall around the same time Katrina was flooding New Orleans, an Associated Press review of shipping records has found.
The boom in imported China-made building materials peaked in 2006, driven by domestic shortages created by the nationwide construction boom, as well as a series of Gulf Coast hurricanes.
That year, enough wallboard was imported from China to build some 34,000 homes of roughly 2,000 square feet each, according to the AP’s analysis and estimates supplied by the nationwide drywall supplier United States Gypsum. But experts and advocates say many homes may have been built with a mixture of Chinese and domestic drywall — which could push the number of affected homes to 100,000 or more, by some estimates.
The drywall apparently causes a chemical reaction that gives off the rotten-egg stench and corrodes metal. Researchers do not know yet what causes it, but possible culprits include fumigants sprayed on the drywall and material inside it. The Chinese drywall is also made with a coal byproduct called fly ash that is less refined than the form used by U.S. drywall makers.
The U.S. Product Consumer Safety Commission and a number of states are investigating the extent of the problem, what’s causing it, and whether it poses serious health risks. But it could be years before the full extent of the problem is known.
Meanwhile, the moist climate of the South has meant the impact is being felt here first — at least 350 people in Louisiana have already complained to the state health department in yet another unexpected twist for hurricane victims who have lived through more than three years of hardship.
“We’ve been through the storms, we heard about the formaldehyde,” Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals spokesman Renne Milligan said, referring to a previous housing nightmare in which tests showed elevated levels of formaldehyde in hundreds of FEMA-issued trailers.
“Some of our residents are still living through that, and now we’re talking about this drywall,” Milligan said.
Governors in Louisiana and Florida are asking for federal assistance, and members of Congress are calling for a recall and a ban on future imports.
Like hundreds of other homeowners from Florida to Texas, the Stones have signed on to a class-action lawsuit directed against the manufacturers, suppliers and builders of the drywall. The defendants in the Louisiana cases include Knauf Gips KG, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co., Taishan Gypsum Co., L&W Supply Corp. and USG Corp., a major U.S. drywall supplier.
“What we’re trying to do is get to the bottom of what is precisely going on,” said Ken Haldin, a spokesman for Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin.
The lawsuits contend the Chinese drywall is emitting sulfur, methane and other volatile organic chemical compounds that are ruining plaintiffs’ homes and harming their health.
Some of the companies told AP they are looking into the complaints, but downplayed the possibility of health risks.
The Chinese ministries of commerce, construction and industry and the Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the AP, although Chinese media have reported that AQSIQ, which enforces product quality standards, was investigating.
No U.S. agency regulates the chemical compounds used in imported drywall.
Attorney Daniel Becnel has filed about 15 lawsuits in federal court in New Orleans on behalf of hundreds of homeowners.
“And we’re getting more in every single day,” he said. “People are just distraught.”
Mississippi attorney Steve Mullins has also joined the cadre of court actions.
“Bloody noses, headaches, respiratory infections,” Mullins said, ticking off the list of health problems reported by his clients. “Over and over like a broken record.”
“But let’s ignore the personal injury aspect for a moment,” he added. “You know what, this stuff’s got to come out anyway.”
He said his research indicates the problem could exist in hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide, a conclusion echoed by other experts.
“I smell a government bailout,” he said.
David Sides, manager of River City Materials, a drywall supplier based in Jefferson, La., remembers when the Chinese product began saturating the U.S. market.
“Florida got hit with four hurricanes and that’s what started the importing from overseas,” said Sides, who says his company did not sell the tainted drywall. “So many people purchased board from overseas. So many people tried to cash in on shortages here.”
Mary Haindel’s home near Lake Pontchartrain was destroyed by Katrina’s floodwaters, so she bought a new, $320,000 town-home in an area known as the North Shore, where many hurricane victims relocated. Soon, the coils on her air conditioning system went out, and copper slowly turned black — telltale signs that the tainted wallboard was used.
Her neighbors noticed similar problems and many of them are now suing.
Haindel, a 45-year-old real estate agent and jewelry appraiser, moved out. She is now renting a condominium and says it will be difficult to sell the home.
“As I was leaving, I noticed downstairs that a stainless-steel chandelier I have is turning black,” she said. “You can’t live in it. Your lungs get congested. Would you stay in a house eating pipes?”
The town home’s builder, Leroy Laporte of Southern Star Construction Inc., declined to comment.
“It’s Katrina all over again,” Haindel said. “It was an immediate: You got to go, you pick up, and you leave.”
And like Katrina, she feels the government has been too slow to respond.
“I don’t see them protecting us at all,” she said. “I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore.”
Associated Press Writers Brian Skoloff in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Joe MCDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.
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