Scuttle LOST

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/archive/s_536618.html



Pittsburgh Tribune Review


Wednesday, November 7, 2007


Any day now, the full U.S. Senate could approve the Law of the Sea Treaty, better known as LOST. But should the required two-thirds majority adopt this abomination, lost will be a large chunk of U.S. sovereignty and wealth.


The treaty, reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week and supported by President Bush, is rife with contradictions that render it a nightmare for America but a gold mine for the United Nations bureaucracy that designed it.


Worse, many in the Bush administration, pressed in congressional hearings, were poorly versed in the treaty's nuts and bolts and abysmally ignorant of its ramifications.


A treaty sold as the kumbaya of better seabed management, more liberal navigational rights and streamlined dispute resolution truly is a godsend for the one-worlder aficionados. Largely drafted by an avowed Marxist, there are world taxes, restrictions on land-based activities in the U.S. and rules that actually make it more difficult for this country to defend itself against attack.


Even worse, a treaty that further empowers a U.N. that regularly abuses its power can be amended without the approval of the signatories.


LOST is a blank check that places this nation in jeopardy. And approval by the full Senate would be nothing less than an abdication of the senators' oaths of office. The Law of the Sea Treaty must be scuttled.