cafta

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the seemingly impossible goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960's.

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Just eight years later, Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon ultimately fulfilling President Kennedy's challenge. America and the world continue to reap the benefits of President Kennedy's inspiration and dedication to this day.

Just imagine America today had we enjoyed such leadership on energy independence the past eight years, rather than the failed energy policies of Bush, Cheney and my opponent Robin Hayes, the oil industry's #1 Representative in Congress.

"Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party." ~Winston Churchill

Three years ago today on July 21, 2005, the spokesperson of my opponent Robin Hayes told the Winston-Salem Journal,"Congressman Hayes is extremely pleased to create a fair and level playing field, but it still does not change the fact that CAFTA is not a good deal for 8th District businesses."

The week before on July 14, 2005, the Associated Press reported Hayes insisted he would vote against CAFTA: "I know there is no way I could vote for CAFTA." That same day in 2005, the Raleigh News and Observer reported Hayes said, "What does CAFTA sound like? NAFTA. It's not in the best interests of a core constituency I represent."

Despite recognizing in advance that the CAFTA deal was contrary to the interests of his constituents, Hayes broke his promise and supported the measure anyway. Hayes had then actually cast the deciding vote both in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement and Fast Track Trade Authority for President George W. Bush after saying he wouldn't support either of the trade deals.

I usually don't talk too much here about my real job, because it's seldom relevant to our discussions and it's not very "sexy", either. I've been in manufacturing for over 18 years, basically working my way up from driving a forklift to being a division head with 4-7 departments under my "banner", depending on the needs of our management structure.

Though Winston Churchill may have been right at the time he said “History is written by the victors," that may no longer be the case.

That was a time before the age of the Internet, C-SPAN, citizen journalists, and 24 hour news shows. As a civics and history teacher, Churchill's statement has long made me skeptical of how much we can believe of what we read and see reported by our media and leaders. As a candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 8th District, I have recently had a personal reminder to be vigilant.

My opponent Robin Hayes, who many of you may recognize as one of the 10 richest members of the entire House or Senate, has been experimenting lately with some revisionist history of his own about jobs and the economy, his support of oil interests, and his reversals on bad Free Trade deals.

Then there is this video I'm sure Robin Hayes wishes didn't exist.

Imagine if you can an economically devastated Congressional district in the South that has been ground zero for the collapse of the American textile industry. This district has five times elected the heir of what was once the world's largest textile company, Cannon Mills, as their representative in Washington. Who better to trust and understand the hardships that unfair trade deals were causing the families of the district?

The people in this District believe in second chances. Robin Hayes was forgiven by the voters of this District for his reversal on giving President Bush Fast Track Trade Authority in 2001 because Hayes cried on the floor as he changed his vote promising to never do it again.

Anyone can make a mistake, and Robin's saving grace was his public remorse.

Hayes was forgiven by good people, his remorse believed, and his promise to never again allow his party's arm twisting to render him more detriment than voice of North Carolina working families was accepted. Then comes this date in history just 3 short years ago and Robin Hayes' solemn promises to the people to vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

When did it become acceptable for Americans to allow

Torture? Yesterday, after congress failed to override a presidential veto of a bill outlwaing "Torture". The president referred to "Torture" as a valuable tool in America's ability to fight terrorism. Now it is absolutely our national policy.

Rendition; Where was the outrage?

When we all learned about the Secret prisons, where we took people to be tortured and that our President and Vice President had approved them; Why was our President not impeached?

We can argue about NAFTA (though you know where I stand on these trade deals), but we have to agree the legacy of the first two terms of President Bush and even greater damage done by nearly a dozen years of a Republican-controlled Congress grows clearer every day.

Dollar falls in Europe, Canada, Japan...

I worked in textiles 27 years. Now I don't. I teach school, praying my own kids and students can have some semblance of the life I and my parents enjoyed right here in some of the most beautiful country God ever created.

My opponent, multi-millionaire and mill owner Robin Hayes, still maintains his decisive flip-flop on CAFTA will make one of the poorest Districts in the nation and some of THE most unemployed counties in North Carolina, somehow better.

As the FREE people of Costa Rica go to the polls today to reject or ratify Hayes' singular shining contribution to American working families... Let's visit.

The White House is pushing to shift some of the tax burden from major airlines to smaller, private aircraft owners. And wouldn't you know it, the change is opposed by Robin Hayes. After years of marching in lock-step with King George II, Hayes has finally broken ranks.

Representative Robin Hayes, Republican of North Carolina and a private pilot, said higher taxes might discourage race-car drivers from using the Nascar fleet of private jets in his district.

Why would Flipper cross the Preznit on a policy issue like this? One reason: Greed. This proposal would take money out of Robin Hayes' own damn pocket. Too bad he wasn't working in a textile mill when it came time to vote on CAFTA.

A lot of attention has been paid to the effect of Bush, the war, etc. on the outcome of the election. In North Carolina, I think it is clear that trade was a much bigger issue than anything else in the Shuler and Kissell races. Now Public Citizen is attempting to link the gains nationwide to the issue of trade.

Public Citizen put together a report detailing a number of races where fair-trade candidates won in districts where they were underdogs, such as NC-11.