October 16, 2007

We have been fighting for years to prevent Senate ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This very objectionable treaty would put the United States in a de facto world government; it went into effect in 1994 but was never ratified by the U.S. Senate. Shocking as it is, President Bush is lobbying hard for passage of this massive, unprecedented redistribution of wealth from the United States to other countries. The Senate held a hearing last week, and is now poised to approve this treaty sometime before Congress' Christmas break. Please help us stop this very real threat to our sovereignty, security and economic health.

As you no doubt remember, this very dangerous treaty will seriously diminish our national sovereignty by transferring jurisdiction over the world's oceans and everything in them to United Nations agencies and bureaucrats. Yet I would remind you of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Black's admonition in Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957), when he reminded us that our civil liberties cannot be subordinated by a treaty, by stating:

"It would be manifestly contrary to the objectives of those who created the Constitution, as well as those who were responsible for the Bill of Rights - let alone alien to our entire constitutional history and tradition - to construe Article VI as permitting the United States to exercise power under an international agreement without observing constitutional prohibitions. The court has regularly and uniformly recognized the supremacy of the Constitution over a treaty."

Yet today several U.S. Supreme Court justices are on record as using, and urging other justices to use, foreign law in deciding U.S. cases!

The LOST convention's purpose it to benefit Third World countries by fining and punishing the wealth and technological advantages of the industrialized West. The convention would subject our governmental, military and business operations to mandatory dispute resolution. Any disputes would be decided by the U.N. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a 21-member body representing 155 countries envious of American ingenuity and prosperity. The United States would have only one vote with which to protect American investment, and the transfer of sensitive, militarily useful and proprietary private technologies, and forced compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.

The LOST convention would be an open invitation to activist judges to interpret the convention's intentionally vague provisions against our national security and economic interests. In point of fact, were our Senate to approve the LOST convention, the odds are roughly 155 to 1 that the LOST tribunal would vote to cede U.S. claims to the North Pole and its oil riches to the Russians.

The LOST convention is a global tax mechanism, by which greedy U.N. hands will grab for billions of primarily American dollars to benefit corrupt nations around the world. The convention sets up a scheme to facilitate bribes and payoffs to U.N. officials that could make the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal look like child's play. The Law of the Sea Treaty must be sunk!

ACTION TO TAKE

1. Contact your Senators (www.thomas.gov).

2. Contact Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader. Senator McConnell leads a block of 49 Republican votes - we only need 34 to stop LOST. Pressure on Senator McConnell is one of our best chances to stop this treaty.

3. Contact the White House (www.whitehouse.gov/contact/).

Tell them the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) remains a seriously flawed document, designed to transfer wealth and technology from industrialized states to those of the Third World. It is anathema to our Founding Principles and will threaten our national sovereignty.

Tell them the best protection of U.S. interests in the world's oceans is the U.S. Navy, which should not and must not be subject to orders or regulations made by any international tribunal.

Phone calls are the most effective way to contact your elected representatives. We may not have time to submit written letters. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. The switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request. To contact the White House, you have the choice of leaving comments at (202) 456-1111, or talk with a live switchboard operator at (202) 456-1414, or fax at (202) 456-2461.

E-mails and faxes are many times ignored. Members of Congress have been changing their e-mail addresses and fax numbers when we send out alerts. If you prefer, though, you can send an e-mail by going to each member's website at www.thomas.gov.

If you choose to write, and do not know your Senators' mailing addresses, you may simply address your letters as follows:

Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510


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