Sidebars are cool!

Well, I figured out how to make a sidebar. Now I have to make blogger friends to "blogroll"! Although I kind of feel like maybe I should write regularly before I try that...

Pretty much everyone I've met with that goes on the Hill to talk about CAFTA seems to think it's dead. I would be happy, except the Andean trade agreement is right around the corner. It is not an insignificant win, however. I definitely feel like people are starting to get it that free trade is a) not free and b) not beneficial to anyone other than corporations, especially not constituencies that most politicians care about. You could frame it as a big win for the triumph of the people over profit or something, but it's not. It's a temporary fix of who can shout the loudest happening to not support this particular agreement. I become less optimistic all the time that any real change is going to happen in the realm of trade agreements and big heads of states. I look around at our allies: hippies, anarchists, social justice groups, unions, environmental groups, etc. and I just have to think that we're all gasping at straws in a sort of pathetic way. I mean, of course we can't let stuff like CAFTA go on without doing anything, but what are we really doing?