On Monday, May 19, 2004, BillyBytes distributed in downtown Easton a newsletter criticizing U.S. Senator Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) for his deal with the White House, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Bush hatchet man, and Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

These politicians gave the green light to the nomination of Easton Federal Judge Franklin VanAntwerpen of Pennsylvania's Eastern Division to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Commonwealth Senior U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who chaired VanAntwerpen's nomination hearing said on Monday, when the deal was first announced, that the judge would be officially confirmed by the full Senate during the first three weeks of June.

The very next day, Tuesday, May 20, 2004, the Senate "fast-tracked" the VanAntwerpen nomination and confirmed it . VanAntwerpen's Inside-the-Beltway backers feared that if his official nomination was delayed until June, opponents would torpedo it.

Denied this opportunity, BillyBytes consoles itself by defeating the "fast-track" CAFTA, or Central America Free Trade Agreement, so-called. This trade giveaway follows fast on the heels of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), voted for by Daschle, that opened the flood gates to the outsourcing of millions of prized American jobs to Canada, Mexico, India, and even China.

CAFTA would continue and exacerbate this trend, disastrous not only to America's middle-class economy but also to its defenses. Most people are aware of the job drain, but the loss of manufacturing means that we will not have the capability to manufacture planes, tanks and other materiel necessary to defend our country in time of war.

Benefits of CAFTA will go to the corporations which will exploit the cheap labor and natural resources of Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, rather than the workers and their families in these countries.

Please contact Senators Specter and Santorum and urge them to lobby for CAFTA'S defeat.

Remind Senator Specter (arlen_specter@specter.senate.gov) that he stands for reelection this year while reminding Senator Santorum (santorum.senate.gov/emailrjs.html) he will be standing in his own reelection dock the following year.

In conclusion, e-mail your comments to CNN's Lou Dobbs at www.cnn.com/lou and support his valiant fight against the exporting of America.

Stay tuned.