The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) was addressed by former Sen. John Warner and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue in a June 7 op-ed titled "Manifest Destiny is back--under the sea." It shows how out of touch with reality many current and past people in Washington really are.

A treaty can be signed by the president, approved by two-thirds of the Senate, and have force of law in the U.S., without recourse.

President Reagan rejected LOST, written on Dec. 10, 1982, and the Senate never confirmed it. Now the White House champions this old treaty, and Senate hearings were held on May 23.

Proponents of the treaty say that it "brings order to the world's oceans and defines the rights and responsibilities of nations." This is a lie. What LOST does is regulate 70 percent of the Earth's surface by placing it under a bureaucracy known as the International Seabed Authority located in Jamaica. Don't take my word for it--go read the treaty.

LOST Article 82 requires America to forfeit royalties generated by oil and gas production on the outer continental shelf with funds distributed by ISA to "developing states and peoples who have not attained full independence"--states like Iran, Cuba, or Somalia.

Further, LOST cedes U.S. Navy sovereignty to ISA, allows global taxation, and makes mandatory dispute resolution on all international business contracts, forcing U.S. business to release strategic technologies to Third World and corrupt nations, when directed by ISA.

This is one of 34 treaties pending before the U.S. Senate. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?

The LOST treaty has economic effects and potential impacts on every citizen and business in America.

I contend that two signature accomplishments of the Obama administration are, first, to make Congress irrelevant (such as incompetence at stopping actions considering LOST), and, second, to use administrative instead of legislative processes to coerce "change" upon U.S. society.

This debacle is aided and abetted by the two idiots who wrote that op-ed endorsing LOST.

R. Barry Ashby

Spotsylvania