Last fall I did a diary on the NAFTA Superhighway (or NASCO Corridor) which is well under construction courtesy of the US taxpayer:
Allyn Hunt of the Guadalajara Reporter writes about the core project of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) between the US, Canada and Mexico in his 10/14 "South of North" column [who are]:
...building a giant limited-access "super highway" that will slice from the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, through the heartland of the US, to Canada, just north of Duluth, MN... Without any discussion or approval from Congress, and no public debate, the Bush administration foresees containers from the Far East - including China - entering the US from the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas aboard Mexican trucks. At Laredo the trucks will pick up what will be America's most modern limited-access "International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor" - described as four football fields wide, sporting ten lanes, as well as passenger and freight rail lines, bordered with gas and oiil lines running along its sides.
No surprise if you haven’t heard of it; the media has been mute, per usual. Here is a map of the proposed superhighway vertically cutting through the center of the US.
Again from my earlier diary:
The trucks' first customs stop will be the "Kansas City SmartPort,"... to be built with taxpayer money beginning next year. There, trucks with containers headed within the US - say, to Los Angeles or Atlanta - will be rerouted. All of this will be executed without the services of the Longshoreman's Union or the Teamsters Union. The Texas Department of Transportation is overseeing this first leg of the highway, called the Trans-Texas Corridor.
The Port Authority of San Antonio, TX, has been busy coordinating work with the Chinese to open and develop North American Free Trade shipping ports in Mexico. Present efforts include the ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo. This is part of the Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor's aim to use Mexican ports to ship containers of cheap goods produced by under-market labor in China and the Far East (undermining US jobs). It will use Mexican port labor to undercut US Longshoremen Union workers, Mexican railroad workers to undercut United Transportation Union railroad workers, and Mexican truckers to avoid using US Teamsters Union workers.
It is estimated, though strangely little noted in the mainstream media, that some 585,000 acres of productive farm and ranch lands will be abolished from the tax rolls permanently in Texas alone by the giant Mid-Continent Highway, while "upwards" of one million people will be displaced.
TXSharon previously had done what seems to be the most comprehensive diary on the subject. From a source she used:
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway...
Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman's Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation's most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new "SENTRI" system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex...
...The American public is largely asleep...
Once again the public is being savaged by the current administration. The taxpayer will foot the bill, a company from Spain will do construction and receive the toll money, and as for Texas...
The TTC Texas land grab (584,000 acres) is the single biggest eminent domain land grab in the history of the United States.
From this source:
"This project, if followed through and completed as planned, will be one of the biggest single exercises of forcible eminent domain in the history of the entire United States," said Van Os. "We are talking about 1/2 million acres of private property, mostly good farm and ranch land. If this huge thing goes through, no eminent domain project will be off limits. It will be a big green light. Private property will lose its sovereignty. This forcible eminent domain will destroy the proper balance between the individual and government with respect to the individual's ability to control his or her own property." Van Os urged those in attendance to fight against the proposal, which he called the "first leg of a NAFTA highway."
Outrages are endless, and I urge readers to consult the two diaries linked, which bear all kinds of links in the text and comments. It looks like most of the labor will be outsourced, and not many in the US will benefit with employment.
Which brings us to the reason for this urgent update: a diary was troll-rated today which told about a truckers’ protest, who will be blockading Washington, D.C. April 23-25 in protest of this.
From a comment on the ill-fated diary:
Angry truckers to encircle D.C. with 'blockade'
Protesting administration plan to allow Mexican long-haulers on U.S. roads
Posted: April 14, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
American truckers plan to circle the White House and state capitals in a "rolling blockade" to protest a federal government plan to allow Mexican long-haul rigs to operate throughout the U.S.
Drivers who participate in "Truck-Out" also are being asked to run their rigs at the minimum speed permitted by law.
The protest is scheduled for April 23-25 to coordinate with the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" rally and radio talk show marathon in Washington planned by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Unfortunately 1) the diarist chose a sole source which engaged in potentially racist rhetoric, beating the Mexican/immigration issue to death (the NAFTA deal favors Mexican truck drivers) and 2) the truckers themselves, evidently, are falling for the racist talking points by aligning themselves with the radio rally.
Here we go again, losing the war of understanding for the battle of talking points. It sounded from the diarist’s article that indeed the truckers are resorting to pushing the immigration buttons.
This diarist is not in sympathy with those points, does not support the building of the great wall, etc. We enjoy the Mexican people enough to have moved to Mexico, and I would steer this entire discussion away from bashing anyone.
Food for thought, on the way the media artfully employs divide and conquer techniques to keep the people at war with one another instead of reckoning with the external forces which molest us:
From Wikipedia
In politics and sociology, divide and rule (also known as divide and conquer) is a combination political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. In reality, it often refers to a strategy where small power groups are prevented from linking up and becoming more powerful, since it is difficult to break up existing power structures.
Effective use of this technique allows those with little real power to control those who collectively have a lot of power (or would have much more power, were they able to unite).
The phrase is attributed to Philip II, king of Macedon (382-336 BC), describing his policy toward the Greek city-states.
Typical elements of this technique involve
- creating or at least not preventing petty feuds among smaller players. Such feuds drain resources and prevent alliances that could challenge the overlords.
- aiding and promoting those who are willing to cooperate with the overlords, often by giving them the lands and wealth of rebellious local rulers.
- fostering distrust and enmity between local rulers.
- encouraging expenditures on personal frivolities (e.g., showy palaces) that leave little money for political manoeuvering and warfare. This technique requires a lot of skill and political finesse, as well as a good understanding of political science, history and psychology.
"Divide and rule" works only if the subjects of this technique are willing to go along with it (e.g., because it is to their personal advantage), or behave foolishly. It works best in societies where competition between noble families, clans or social classes was already fierce before the overlord took over.
United States
Many people view the increasing polarization of voting blocs between single issues as being an example of "Divide and Rule." Examples include the Abortion, Gun Control, and Gay Marriage. The key idea is that these issues prevent the public from thinking about, let alone addressing, potentially more objectively important issues, such as Global Warming, the erosion of Civil Liberties under the PATRIOT Act, and the negative effects of Lobbying on issues such as Campaign Finance Reform and Corruption.
With that having been said, please refer to the above-noted diaries for in-depth discussions of the NAFTA Superhighway and the Texas Corridor. And let us not imagine that the upcoming truckers’ blockade is strictly sprung from racism.