James Silverton wrote:
>
> >
> > The US was supposed to convert to Metric along with everyone
> > else back
> > in the late 70s. Like many other international agreements,
> > they backed
> > out of it.
> >
> Typical simplistic, inaccurate anti-American nonsense! Jimmy the
> Unready did try but, like a lot of his efforts, it failed. The
> metric system has been *legal* in the US for more than 100 years
> but conservatism has always prevailed. The only place I've ever
> seen a US speed limit in km is on the grounds of NIST.
Of course it is simplistic. The fact is that the US had planned to go
metric along with the rest of the world, but it backed out. It was the
Reagan administration that cut the funding for the Metric Board. As for
it being anti American, it is typical of American action on the
international level. The US has a long list of agreements on which it
backed out. Look at the Treaty of Versailles for instance. The US,
despite having avoided involvement for most of the conflict, had an
inordinate amount of influence on the drafting of the treaty, but then
failed to ratify it. More recently it has backed on on a lot of
commitments to which it had been a party:
Ottawa Treaty (the land-mine ban)
Treaty on the Rights of the Child (only holdouts are the U.S. and
Somalia)
Protocol to enforce the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (vote was
178-1, the US the only holdout)
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Convention on Biological Diversity
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings
International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of
Terrorism.
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War
Crimes Against Humanity
Forced Labor Convention
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
Convention
Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention
Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age to Marriage and
Registration of Marriages
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Convention on the International Right of Correction
International Criminal Court
Kyoto Accords (greenhouse gas reductions)
UN Convention on Biological Diversity (regulating genetic engineering)
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty [prohibiting programs like "Stars Wars"]
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and
International Lakes
International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and
Training of Mercenaries
International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime
of Apartheid
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers (prohibiting sale of arms to human
rights violators & aggressors)
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and
Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, and Other Related Materials
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (bans toxic waste dumping, etc.)
UN Moon Treaty [declaring the moon part of the Common Heritage of
Mankind]
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Protocol to enforce the Convention Against Torture
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
http://vote.org/treaties
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