"Softwood" Sounds Like Porn Set Vernacular

I'll give you
Black sensations up and down your spine
If you're into evil you're a friend of mine
See my white light flashin' as I split the night
'Cause if good's on the left
Then I'm stickin' to the right.
--AC/DC

In regards to Softwood, it is high time the Canucks started playing strategically to get the US to follow American trade laws.

I wonder if Martin had that in mind when he made this pitch:

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (CP) - The Summit of the Americas wraps up in Argentina today as 34 heads of state try to reach consensus on trade and social issues.

Prime Minister Paul Martin has urged other leaders to move faster to set up a Free Trade Area of the Americas stretching from Alaska to the tip of South America.

He says the hemisphere is being eclipsed by economic growth in China and India.

For Canada, South America is hardly an important market. It represents trade partners in Equador and Brazil, who account for our bananas and some other food stuffs, but think of it this way: Mexico (already a NAFTA partner) is our biggest trade partner in Latin America with under 2% of our total trade.

Which is not to say that Canada should ignore South America-not at all. Expanding our trade partners beyond the trade outlaw to the south of us is a priority. I only point out that currently, SA is not important to us (trade-wise).

By contrast, this agreement is extremely important for Bush.

I hope that showing up for Bush and shilling for this trade agreement means some leeway will be shown in regards to Softwood. In fact, I suspect that is exactly why Rice showed up in Canada recently: to secure our support for this unimportant (to Canada) trade agreement. Canada is supposed to add credibility to Bush on free trade, where he has as much credibility as Miers' Supreme Court qualifications. If Martin is doing this pro bono, then he has missed an opportunity.

Meanwhile, we should be moving ahead with our own response to the Softwood Intransigence on the part of the US:

1. Don't negotiate-at all
2. Threaten oil supplies
3. Support new trade agreements with the EU and ASEAN
4. Begin a PR campaign in the US to embarrass Bush
5. Bring the US government to court in New York
6. Proceed legally with tariff retaliation on US goods from politically sensitive states.