All the news that's fit to print...

A month too late, of course. The NY Times has an article today focussing on the damage that CAFTA is likely to cause to small farmers in Central America as subsidized, mechanized, genetically-modified US crops flood the markets there. Of course, they "balance" the quotes from poor farmers, representing millions, with quotes from wealthy manufacturers and exporters, representing hundreds, who think CAFTA will benefit them. And, of course, they point out some of the problems with CAFTA one month AFTA Congress "approved" it (with the help of all the bribes, threats and arm-twisting the Bushies could muster).

But the treaty has not yet been ratified in Costa Rica, Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic. If it is, you can be sure that that's a true sign that those countries are not even remotely democratic. The people in Latin America know what Clinton/Bush/Kerry style free trade means for them--losing their land and their ability to survive. That it passed here shows that our democracy isn't much to shout about, either.