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Ollie North and the Bloated Bureaucracy
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Mark Goldberg and I had a funny conversation this morning about Ollie North's rant on the Law of the Sea over at Human Events. I won't be responding to every ridiculous opposing argument (that would take up far too much time), just the ones that strike the funny bone with special force.
North calls the International Seabed Authority "a bloated, multinational bureaucracy" and suggests it's going to tax Americans. Quick background on the ISA: it's a small outfit whose sole purpose is to administer mining companies' claims to sites in the deep seabed. And since deep seabed mining is mostly an issue for the future, there isn't even a whole lot for it to do right now.
Mark strikes back at UN Dispatch:
For the record, the International Seabed Authority has a budget of $5.8 million a year and about 40 employees. Human Events, by contrast, has a larger staff. Also, contra North, the International Seabed Authority does not have the authority to tax American citizens -- even so, that would require more employees!
Just another day in anti-LOS land.
-- Scott Paul
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Reader Comments (2) - post a comment
Someone,
That is the whole reason these folks are supporting LOST, they want to plant a seed for one world government by an unelected, unaccountable America-hating bureaucracy. The whole thing stinks to high heaven. I urge you to contact YOUR Senators and tell them to kill LOST by voting "NO!" All we need are 34 NO votes to kill a bad treaty, and most treaties are bad treaties because they are assaults on US national soveignty.
But folks at "Citizens for Global Solutions" don't care about US national sovereignty because THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN IT. And Senator who votes for this thing is a fool.
You don't need to be a kook to be wary indeed of "a small outfit whose sole purpose is to administer mining companies' claims to sites in the deep seabed"—especially given the rather pregnant implications of your conclusion "there isn't even a whole lot for it to do right now." (Is that a justification or a dismissal? I can't tell.) I happen to support the Law of the Sea, but here's some acronyms for you: ISO. WIPO. ICANN. Small outfits with nothing can turn into big outfits with lots to do—and some of them make a complete hash of it.
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