I think it would be a good idea to have Ray Stevens be invited to Lopez Tonight, or 'The View' or Colbert Nation, or The Daily Show? ...... and maybe he might be asked to address the SPP (Security and Prosperity Program???) See his youtubes, k?

I think it's time that the SPP is addressed, don't you, and I think since Ray Stevens is supporting the Arizona thingy thru his videos he could be questioned???

Deeper look at the Security and Prosperity Program (Canada)
18 May 2007 - 11:59am
1.Why We Need to Take a Closer Look at Continental Integration
2.Learn More about the SPP
3.SPP Countersummit to the SPP Montebello Summit
4.Countersummit Program Highlights - New Information
5.SPP Countersummit Reports
6.Post Montebello Summit Analysis (Coming Soon)
7.Recent Press Releases

Why We Need to Take a Closer Look at Continental Integration
Most Canadians would be shocked to learn that the federal government has entered a partnership with the US and Mexico that further integrates the military, security, trade, economic, regulatory and foreign polices of the three countries.

This agreement will make it even easier for the US to access Canadas natural resources, weaken Canadian food safety regulations to fall into line with those of the US and force Canada to adopt US homeland security policies and other measures that erode Canadian sovereignty.

Flying under the radar of public and parliamentary scrutiny, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America is moving Canada, the US and Mexico swiftly towards North American Union.
Since coming to power in January 2006, the Harper government has been advancing the SPP through budgetary commitments and participation in cross–border working groups limited to business leaders in strategic sectors.

With no public announcements and little media coverage, governments are making administrative changes beyond public purview. This incremental approach operates in the shadows because the government knows that Canadians would reject an agreement to further integrate our economy with those of the US and Mexico.

The Green Party believes that trade deals must be open and democratic, reflecting a commitment to "fair trade" above "free trade." Fair trade means that economic, social and ecological justice must not succumb to investor rights. The government’s responsibility to protect its citizens and the environment must trump short-term economic interests.

Ray Stevens God Save Arizona

Ray Stevens - Come to the USA

Security and Prosperity Partnership of North American
EXCERPT:
Criticism
In 2006, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs argued that the SPP was part of a plan to merge the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a North American Union similar to the European Union,[12] which has been referred to in other news reports as "mythical" and a "conspiracy theory".[1] Dobbs claimed at the time that US President Bush, who left office on January 20, 2009, was to have bypassed Congress and ultimately create a Union based on a Texas highway corridor.[13] One variation of this theory was that President Bush would declare a state of emergency to avoid leaving office, which, in fact, never came about; on January 20, 2009, his successor, Barack Obama, who had openly voiced misgivings about NAFTA, the predecessor to SPP, let alone SPP itself, took office as US President, but his anti-NAFTA views soon disappeared from his public persona.

The Council of Canadians claimed that the SPP extended the controversial "no fly list" of the USA, made Canadian water a communal resource, and forced Canada and Mexico to adopt the USA's security policies - one of which would allow foreign military forces to neglect sovereignty in the case of a "civil emergency". In addition, it also touched on the issue of Albertan tar sands expansion to five times its current size.[14]

On May 10, 2007, Conservative MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade, prevented University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer from testifying that SPP would leave Canadians "to freeze in the dark" because "Canada itself – unlike most industrialized nations – has no national plan or reserves to protect its own supplies" by saying Laxer's testimony was not relevant, defying a majority vote to overrule his motion, shutting down the Committee meeting, and leaving with the other three out of four Conservative members; the meeting later continued presided by the Liberal vice-chair.[15] After these disruptions, the National Post reported on a Conservative party manual to, among other things, usurp Parliamentary committees and cause chaos in unfavourable committees.[16][17] The New Democratic Party also criticized SPP for being undemocratic, not open to Parliament, and opaque.[18] New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton described the process as not simply unconstitutional, but "non-constitutional", held completely outside the usual mechanisms of oversight.[19]

Some thirty US-based organizations also sent an open letter to Congress on April 21, 2008 criticizing the secrecy and lack of any sort of democratic oversight:

"What differentiates the SPP from other security and trade agreements is that it is not subject to Congressional oversight or approval. The SPP establishes a corporate/government bureaucracy for implementation that excludes civil society participation. ... Facing a worrisome pact pushed forward in secrecy, it is time for Congress to halt this undemocratic approach and establish a process based on openness, accountability, and the participation of civil society.[20]

[edit] Cancellation
In August 2009, the SPP website was updated to say: "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is no longer an active initiative. There will not be any updates to this site."[21] Subsequent to this the website link does not connect and the cache website links do not work.

Currently, the website calls itself an archive for SPP documents and announces: "Going forward, we want to build on the accomplishments achieved by the SPP and further improve our cooperation."[22]

The NDP has called this a "victory" which is "the result of the active and sustained efforts across the country, and across North America, of Canadian, Mexican and American activists from the labour movement, civil society, progressive legislators and all those concerned and committed to build a better quality of life in our Canada and throughout North America."[23]