George_Bush
09-17-2007, 03:31 PM
http://www.greatdreams.com/political/NAFTASUPERHIGHWAY.jpg
Bush Administration Quietly
Plans NAFTA Super Highway
By Jerome R. Corsi
Human Events
6-14-6
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.
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, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.
As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming "North American Union" that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
Just examine the following websites to get a feel for the magnitude of NAFTA Super Highway planning that has been going on without any new congressional legislation directly authorizing the construction of the planned international corridor through the center of the country.
* NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc., is a "non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world's first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America." Where does that sentence say anything about the USA? Still, NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.
* Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an "investor based organization supported by the public and private sector" to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway. At the Kansas City SmartPort, the containers from the Far East can be transferred to trucks going east and west, dramatically reducing the ground transportation time dropping the containers off in Los Angeles or Long Beach involves for most of the country. A brochure on the SmartPort website describes the plan in glowing terms: "For those who live in Kansas City, the idea of receiving containers nonstop from the Far East by way of Mexico may sound unlikely, but later this month that seemingly far-fetched notion will become a reality."
* The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an "SPP office" http://www.spp.gov/ that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that "(m)ethods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented." The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2007
RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership
The Council of Canadians has been told it will not be allowed to rent a municipal community centre for a public forum it had planned to coincide with the next Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec on August 20 and 21.
The Municipality of Papineauville, which is about six kilometres from Montebello, has informed the Council of Canadians that the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the U.S. Army will not allow the municipality to rent the Centre Communautaire de Papineauville for a public forum on Sunday August 19, on the eve of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership Leaders Summit.
“It is deplorable that we are being prevented from bringing together a panel of writers, academics and parliamentarians to share their concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership with Canadians,” said Brent Patterson, director of organizing with the Council of Canadians. “Meanwhile, six kilometres away, corporate leaders from the United States, Mexico and Canada will have unimpeded access to our political leaders.”
As well as being shut out of Papineauville, the Council of Canadians has been told that the RCMP and the SQ will be enforcing a 25-kilometre security perimeter around the Chateau Montebello, where Stephen Harper will meet with George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón on August 20 and 21. According to officials in Montebello, there will be checkpoints at Thurso and Hawkesbury, and vehicles carrying more than five people will be turned back.
Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. The organization works to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians. -
For more information, contact:
Stuart Trew, media contact: Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 228; Cell: (613) 292-2218; strew@canadians.org.
For more information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, visit IntegrateThis.ca.
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2007
Atlantica will harm Canadian economy says Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians, is speaking in Halifax today to warn Atlantic Canadians of the dangers of Atlantica – a proposal by the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce (APCC) and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) to integrate the easternmost provinces with northeastern United States.
“This scheme will give the United States greater access to Canadian resources without benefiting Canadians,” says Barlow.
Local union representatives have stated that there is no advantage to the local economy when unrefined oil, gas and other materials are sent to the United States to be refined by American workers.
U.S. business interests will be central to this agenda given that just this week the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce appointed American business executive Jonathan Daniels as its chairman.
The Council of Canadians warns that Atlantica is part of a larger agenda led by corporations to integrate the economies of Canada, the United States and Mexico known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership of Canada (SPP). All three governments have confirmed that they will be using the SPP to further the Atlantica agenda.
The Council of Canadians is asking Atlantic Canadians to speak out against this regional integration plan that will weaken Canada’s ability to protect jobs, natural resources and the public interest.
Maude Barlow will being speaking against Atlantica this coming Wednesday June 13 at 6:30 pm at the Scotiabank Auditorium, Dalhousie University Hall along with Scott Sinclair of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Alejandro Villamar of Red Mexicana de accion frente al libre comercio.
For more information, contact: Kyle Buott: (902) 422-7811; (902) 444-9437; kbuott@canadians.org.
SECTIONS
Deep Integration - 2007
[11-July-07] RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership
[13-June-07] Atlantica will harm Canadian economy says Maude Barlow
[01-May-07] Maude Barlow addresses Parliament on the Security and Prosperity Partnership
[16-Apr-07] Council of Canadians challenges Environment Minister on bulk water exports
[13-Apr-07] Leaked document reveals bulk water exports to be discussed at continental integration talks
[30-Mar-07] Organizations make election plans to oppose Security and Prosperity Partnership
[29-Mar-07] Citizens not fooled by TILMA: Demands grow for shelving April 1 implementation
[27-Mar-07] First civil society gathering on Security and Prosperity Partnership to be held in Ottawa
[14-Feb-07] Trade agreement could terminate B.C.'s climate plan
[09-Feb-07] High-level meeting aimed at integrating North America, says Council of Canadians
TAKE ACTION!
Deep Integration
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
* The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road.
The details of the NAFTA Super Highway are hidden in plan view. Still, Bush has not given speeches to bring the NAFTA Super Highway plans to the full attention of the American public. Missing in the move toward creating a North American Union is the robust public debate that preceded the decision to form the European Union. All this may be for calculated political reasons on the part of the Bush Administration.
A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.
Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
NAFTA SUPER HIGHWAY BATTLE
Posted in the Oklahoma Forum
The front page of the Spring 2007 OKLAHOMA CONSTIUTION carries a story about this 1200 ft wide corridor from Mexico to Canada,
problems already happening with eminent domain in Texas, and Senator Randy Brogdon's efforts to head it off before it gets here. This
'corridor' is a spin-off from NAFTA and CAFTA and efforts to create a NORTH AMERICAN UNION similiar to the EU
Senator Brogdon has introduced an ammendment to HB1819 that will “…prohibit the state’s department of transportation from
participating or entering in any negotiation or agreement with NASCO.”(North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition) and SCR-10 urging
the United States Government to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and any activity which seeks
to create a North American Union.
How NAFTA superhighway is built under radar screen
Officials say they see no budget ‘earmarks,’ because they don’t know where to look
Ask some members of Congress about plans to build a “NAFTA superhighway” connecting Mexico and Canada via the U.S. and you
might hear snickers. Some officials will tell you they have seen no “earmarks” for such a plan and question whether it even exists.
But the plan does exist and the NAFTA superhighway is being built – under the radar screen.
Congressman: Superhighway about North American Union
Paul says goal is common currency, borderless travel, bigger bureaucracy
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Posted: October 30, 2006
12:41 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas
WASHINGTON – Rep. Ron Paul, a maverick Republican from Texas, today denounced plans for the proposed "NAFTA superhighway" in his state as part of a larger plot for merger of the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a North American Union.
"By now many Texans have heard about the proposed 'NAFTA Superhighway,' which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor," he said in a statement. "What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention."
Paul explained that most members of Congress are unaware of the plans because only relatively small amounts of money have been spent studying the plans and those allocations were included in "enormous transportation appropriations bills."
The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a quasi-government organization called the 'Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,' or SPP," he explains. "The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco."
No treaties were involved, and Congress was not included in discussions or plans, he says.
"Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments," according to Paul. "One principal player is a Spanish construction company, which plans to build the highway and operate it as a toll road. But don't be fooled: The superhighway proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit politically connected interests."
Paul says, however, the real issue raised by the superhighway plan and the SPP is national sovereignty.
"Once again, decisions that affect millions of Americans are not being made by those Americans themselves, or even by their elected representatives in Congress," says Paul. "Instead, a handful of elites use their government connections to bypass national legislatures and ignore our Constitution – which expressly grants Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade."
The ultimate goal, he says, is not simply a superhighway "but an integrated North American Union – complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy and virtually borderless travel within the union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether."
Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., has introduced a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the U.S. should not engage in the construction of a NAFTA superhighway, or enter into any agreement that advances the concept of a North American Union.
"I wholeheartedly support this legislation and predict that the superhighway will become a sleeper issue in the 2008 election," says Paul. "Any movement toward a North American Union diminishes the ability of average Americans to influence the laws under which they must live. The SPP agreement, including the plan for a major transnational superhighway through Texas, is moving forward without congressional oversight – and that is an outrage. The administration needs a strong message from Congress that the American people will not tolerate backroom deals that threaten our sovereignty."
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Related offers:
For a comprehensive look at the U.S. government's plan to integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada into a North American super-state – guided by the powerful but secretive Council on Foreign Relations – read "ALIEN NATION: SECRETS OF THE INVASION," a special edition of WND's acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine.
Get Tom Tancredo's new book, "In Mortal Danger," from the people who published it – WND Books.
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Previous stories:
'North American Union' major '08 issue? Resolution seeks to head off union with Mexico, Canada Documents reveal 'shadow government'
Tancredo: Halt 'Security and Prosperity Partnership' North American Union threat gets attention of congressmen Top U.S. official chaired N. American confab panel
N. American students trained for 'merger' North American confab 'undermines' democracy Attendance list North American forum
North American Forum agenda North American merger topic of secret confab Feds finally release info on 'superstate'
Senator ditches bill tied to 'superstate' Congressman presses on 'superstate' plan Feds stonewalling on 'super state' plan?
Cornyn wants U.S. taxpayers to fund Mexican development No EU in U.S. Trans-Texas Corridor paved with campaign contributions?
U.S.-Mexico merger opposition intensifies More evidence of Mexican trucks coming to U.S. Docs reveal plan for Mexican trucks in U.S.
Kansas City customs port considered Mexican soil? Tancredo confronts 'superstate' effort Bush sneaking North American superstate without oversight?
Related columns:
Coming soon to U.S.: Mexican customs office Merger with Mexico
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Texas governor clears way for NAFTA superhighway
Vetoes legislation to delay big transportation corridor
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Posted: June 22, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The path has been cleared for the state of Texas to begin building the new Trans-Texas Corridor, a project that is designed to be four football fields wide, along Interstate 35 from Mexico to the Oklahoma border, according to a new report from WND columnist Jerome Corsi, the author of "The Late Great USA."
The way was opened when Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, vetoed a series of proposals the Texas Legislature
assembled to slow down the work on what is considered to be a key link in a continental NAFTA superhighway network.
Perry's latest veto was of a plan to add a number of requirements to the Texas eminent-domain procedures, under
which governments can grab and use private property.
But, Corsi reported, Steven Anderson of the Institute for Justice's Castle Coalition, objected. He said Perry's action
"left every home, farm, ranch and small-business owner vulnerable to the abuse of eminent domain."
Earlier, Corsi reported, Perry vetoed a plan to impose a two-year moratorium on the TTC project.
As WND previously reported, these measures were approved overwhelmingly by the Texas Legislature.
On learning that Perry had vetoed the eminent-domain legislation, Corridor Watch, a public advocacy group that
opposes the TTC project, responded immediately.
"It sure didn't take TxDOT long to shake off the legislative session and resume their headlong rush to use every
available loophole, exception and remaining authority to build toll roads and grant toll road concessions just as
fast as possible," the organization said.
Corridor Watch also noted that in the 49 bills Perry vetoed June 15 were measures that would have required TxDOT
to consider using existing highway routes for future TTC routes and a bill that called on the Texas attorney general
to study the impact of international agreements on Texas.
An override of Perry's vetoes is unlikely, since the governor threatened to call a special session of the lawmakers to
handle transportation issues if his veto fell by the wayside.
As WND has previously reported, the $180 billion needed to build the 4,000-mile TTC network planned for
construction over the next 50 years will be financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A.,
a foreign investment consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the leasing and operating rights on TTC highways
for 50 years after their completion is complete.
WND also has reported Perry has received substantial campaign contributions from Cintra and Zachry Construction
Company, the San Antonio-based construction firm selected by TxDOT to build out the TTC.
And WND has established that Cintra is represented in the United States by Bracewell and Giuliani, Republican Party
presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's Houston-based law firm.
Just this week, WND reported TxDOT already is moving to apply its four-football-fields-wide NAFTA superhighway
plan of building new train-truck-car-pipeline corridors to the states of Oklahoma and Colorado in a design that stretches
from the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, to Denver, Colo.
WND has documented a significant reason for the projects is to connect truck traffic from Mexican ports on the Pacific,
such as Lazaro Cardenas, to U.S. roads. Mexican ports are being increasingly used as an alternative to West Coast ports
such as Los Angeles and Long Beach as a cheaper, non-union alternative for the import of millions of containers from
China.
WND also has reported the Department of Transportation plans to start a Mexican truck demonstration project as early
as Aug. 15, despite continuing objections from Congress.
'I propose a North American Community'
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Posted: May 9, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Robert A. Pastor
Lou Dobbs, Patrick Buchanan, Jerome Corsi and many of their readers have repeatedly accused me of:
Promoting a North American Union;
Promoting a North American currency called the "Amero";
Seeking to dissolve the United States, erase our borders and discard the Constitution; and
Being the principal author of the Bush administration's "Security and Prosperity Partnership" and strategy toward
North America.
Some have written that they have drawn these conclusions from reading my book, "Toward a North American Community"
(Institute for International Economics, 2001), my article, "North America's Second Decade" (Foreign Affairs, January/
February 2004), and the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force Report, "Building a North American
Community," of which I was one of six co-chairs.
If they had read what I have written, they would know that all the accusations above are false. I don't want to speculate as to
why these individuals would repeat unfounded charges, or why this news site would continue to repeat them. Instead, let me
summarize my views on the future of North America, recognizing that my brief distillation does not adequately capture my
analysis or proposals, but at least it is a fair summary. (This stands in contrast with those who twist my work to make their
points rather than mine. For those who want to review my work, visit the website of the Center for North American Studies
and its publications.)
First, while some want to build formidable barriers to keep out Mexico and Canada, I would argue the opposite: We need to
find new ways to relate in a positive way to our two neighbors. The reason is simple: No two nations are as important to the
United States as Canada and Mexico. Our two largest trading partners are not England and China, but Canada and Mexico.
The two largest sources of energy imports are not Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, but Canada and Mexico. For the past three
decades, Mexico has been, by far, the largest source of both legal and illegal migration to the United States. There are roughly
500 million legal crossings of both borders each year, and the preferred tourist destination of Canadians, Mexicans and
Americans is their neighbors in North America.
Second, while some view the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, as a failure that should be repealed, I believe
it was a success for what it was designed to do, but it is no longer enough to cope with the challenges of an enlarged market and
a more competitive international system. NAFTA succeeded in reducing barriers and tripled trade and investment among the
three countries, making it the largest free-trade area in the world in terms of gross product. It failed because we need to do
more than just reduce trade and investment barriers. It did not address the problem of illegal migration; it ignored the issue
of border security; it failed to reduce the income gap between Mexico and its northern neighbors; it created no institutions
or consultation procedures that would manage the problems in the relationship and improve people's lives in a demonstrable
way. That is why I propose a "North American Community," whose premise is that all three sovereign countries benefit when
each of the countries makes progress, and all suffer when one fails. Trade benefits all three countries, and a more prosperous
Mexico in the long-term means less illegal migration. But "trade" is not enough to address problems that emerge from an
expanding market.
Third, I do not propose a North American Union; I propose a North American Community. They are very different. A Union –
like the United States – is a merger of states into a unified central government. A Community is composed of three sovereign
governments that seek to strengthen bonds of cooperation. Each government – according to its constitutional procedures –
retains the power to decide whether and how to cooperate. A "North American Union" could not be created by "stealth,"
as some fear. Indeed, any significant initiative to strengthen cooperation would require a wide-ranging and public debate and
approval by Congress of all three countries.
Fourth, because of the asymmetry in power and wealth, Mexico and Canada have always been wary of getting too close to the
United States, while Washington has often treated its neighbors with arrogance. For these reasons, the real problem in North
America is the opposite of what worries Dobbs, Buchanan and Corsi. The problem is not that a North American Union will
suddenly emerge; the problem is that there will be little or no progress on a continental-wide agenda that could help the region
become more secure and economically competitive. The critics claim that the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on North
America prompted the three governments to begin the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" in the spring of 2005. If so, that
would be a compliment, except that initiative is very timid, little more than an administrative exercise that measures progress by
the number of meetings bureaucrats schedule.
Fifth, I have offered numerous proposals to build a North American Community, which would be very different from the European
Union, and I welcome debate on any or all. First, we need an institution – not the supra-national, intrusive bureaucracies of Europe,
but a lean advisory group of five senior leaders from each of the three countries. It could be called a North American Commission
or Council. Its members could be selected by Congress and the president, and its function would be to propose an agenda,
proposals and ideas for the governments and people of the three countries to debate and consider at annual summit meetings.
Such proposals could include a Customs Union (common external tariff) to eliminate needless rules of origin, a North American
Investment Fund to reduce the development gap with Mexico, a North American Competition Commission to prevent continental
monopolies, a North American Tribunal on Trade and Investment to replace the ad hoc and weak mechanism set up under
NAFTA, a North American Plan for Infrastructure and Transportation, and more effective way to stop illegal migration while
facilitating the legitimate flow of people.
I know some desperately fear a North American Super-Corridor, but two-thirds of all the trade among the three countries are on
roads, and despite the fact that trade has tripled, there have been almost no new roads built. We need to coordinate closely with
our neighbors to build more roads – not fewer – as part of a wider transportation plan.
With regard to currencies, there is little prospect of a unified currency because all three governments are too committed to the
status quo, but this is a good moment to study alternative options. Europe took decades and made many mistakes before they
implemented the euro. We ought to learn from those lessons and discuss the issues at some length before considering any proposal.
In summary, there is no prospect of a North American Union or currency, but there are compelling needs for the three sovereign
nations of North America to modernize their relationships, and there are good reasons to explore new paths to improve the lives
of all the peoples of North America. The greatest tragedy would be if the fear-mongers were to discourage people from imagining
a better relationship with our neighbors and a North American Community.
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
U.S. parkway leased to Aussie firm
Opponents see tie to feds' sell-off of infrastructure to foreigners
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Posted: January 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A decision by the Virginia Department of Transportation to lease the Pocahontas Parkway to an Australian
investment consortium is drawing sharp criticism from opponents of public-private partnerships promoted by
the Federal Highway Administration.
The VDOT signed a comprehensive agreement June 29, 2006, to lease the 8.8 mile Pocahontas Parkway toll road
for 99-years to Transurban, an Australian investment consortium, for a one-time payment of $548 million and an
agreement to construct a 1.58 mile, four-lane extension to Richmond International Airport.
The extension of the Pocahontas Parkway is pending a decision of the of the U.S. Department of Transportation
to provide a $150 million construction credit to Transurban under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act, or TIFIA.
Kenneth White, president of the Virginia Taxpayers Association, testified Monday before the Virginia House and
Senate Joint Budget Committees he objected that the VDOT had paid a $2,000 fee, plus expenses, for Barbara Reese,
VDOT's chief financial officer, to attend a September 2006 conference by EuroMoney Seminars at the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in New York City.
WND previously reported EuroMoney Seminars, a UK-based company, intends to hold a seminar in Miami
March 19-21 entitled "PPP: The North American Private Partnerships Intensive Seminar," designed to teach a small
number of state and local government officials how to lease a wide range of public assets – including highways and
water departments – to international and foreign private investment groups. The cost of attending the March 2007
EuroMoney seminar in Miami is $3,500 per person.
White, who has led his group for 34 years, objected to the Virginia congressional committees that Reese "was a
programmed speaker at an unpublicized conference, the unlawful purpose of which was to expedite selling
highways in Virginia and elsewhere in the United States to private commercial interests, many of them foreign."
In an e-mail to WND, Jeff Caldwell, VDOT assistant director of Public Affairs explained:
Barbara Reese is recognized nationally as an expert in public-private transportation financing as well as
other innovative financing methods. Ms. Reese served on a panel at the September 2000 EuroMoney's
North American PPP 2006 conference on infrastructure, along with other government experts from around
the country. Ms. Reese did not pay any conference registration fee. Travel costs totaled $581 in accordance
with state guidelines.
White told WND his group objects to VDOT using state funds to send any VDOT employee to the planned
March 2007 EuroMoney seminar in Miami, even if the expenses were limited to travel, hotel and meals.
The Virginia Taxpayers Association's fundamental objection is that the VDOT has no right to lease to foreign
interests state highways built with taxpayer money. White made this claim in his testimony to the Virginia House
and Senate Budget Committees:
Virginia citizens were not told that the Pocahontas Parkway – which last June was leased to Transurban of
Australia for 99 years – would be an opening wedge for a wholesale foreign consortium takeover of major
U.S. interstates, under the NAFTA Superhighway System, with several south-north Mexico to Canada
corridors, where foreigners would levy tolls without review by any U.S. elected officials and would even
have eminent domain to grab millions of acres of valuable farm and urban land for the corridors.
Virginia is celebrating its 400th birthday this year – the Jamestown settlement, from which Pocahontas became
famous, was founded in 1607.
The Virginia Taxpayers Association contends it is "clearly unlawful for any state government, as a separate entity,
to take money from the sale of highways which have been fully paid for by, and which belong to, state and federal
taxpayers, and not to the state government itself."
The Federal Highway Administration currently features the Pocahontas Parkway lease as a case study on its newly
created website promoting what is becoming widely known within international investment banking as "PPP," or
"Public-Private Partnerships."
The FHWA website provides detailed "how-to" information for state legislators and department of transportation to
follow in making decisions to lease state highways to foreign investment groups.
White's testimony also supported Senate Joint Resolution No. 387, which has been introduced into the Virginia Senate
by state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds. The resolution calls on the Virginia General Assembly to oppose any connections with
Virginia highways that may be made in connecting a NAFTA Superhighway corridor through Virginia.
Reynolds' resolution also specifies support for H.C.R. 487, which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., to
the House of Representatives in the previous Congress, calling for the House to oppose both NAFTA Superhighways
and the creation of a North American Union.
As reported by WND, the resolution was co-sponsored by Reps. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.; Ron Paul, R-Texas; and
Walter Jones, R-N.C. WND also has reported Goode is preparing to re-introduce the resolution to the new Congress.
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the USA into a North American Union.
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NAFTA Superhighway
Another Nail in the Coffin for U.S. Border Security
By Mark Stuart ELLISON
Published Sep 07, 2006
Click to contact me
At the time of this writing, there’s a story just below radar that’s poised to explode onto front pages all over America: the NAFTA
Superhighway. And it should scare the hell out of everyone
Jerome Corsi, who earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard, describes the Superhighway in a June 12, 2006 article in
Human Events Online, a conservative website. According to Dr. Corsi, the mammoth road system is being quietly pushed by the
Bush Administration. The proposed superhighway would be about 400 yards wide and run along U.S. Interstate 35 from the
Mexican border at Loredo, Texas to the Canadian border above Duluth, Minnesota.
According to the Ambassador Bridge website, the Superhighway would facilitate commerce between Mexico, Canada, and the
U.S. pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was signed by the leaders of those three nations
in 1994. Ambassador Bridge, owned by the Detroit Bridge Company on the U.S. side, and the Canadian Transit Company on the
Canadian side, is the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Canada, according to the website. The owners of Ambassador Bridge
are members of the NAFTA Superhighway Coalition (NASCO).
According to Ambassador Bridge, NAFTA trade among the three countries is expected to reach $ 1.5 trillion by 2010, and 75
percent of trade between the U.S. and Canada, America’s primary trading partner, is by truck. The website says that the
Superhighway is good for the economies of all three nations and will provide jobs in towns near Highway 401, which serves the
Canadian side of the Bridge.
Ambassador Bridge also says that the parties to NAFTA are obliged to build the Superhighway to “safely and efficiently” handle
the increased road traffic projected over the next few years. Traffic safety is fine and dandy, but what about the safety of
American borders?
In his Human Events article, Dr. Corsi writes that the proposed superhighway would allow containers from our good buddy China,
and other parts of the Far East, to enter the U.S. through a Mexican port without assistance from American longshoremen, a
situation which has their union up in arms.
Mexican trucks, without Teamsters Union help, would cross the U.S. border in express lanes scanned only by a new electronic
technology called the SENTRI System. The first customs stop for the trucks would be at a yet-to-be-built Mexican customs office
in Kansas City, whose three-million-dollar cost would be paid for by Kansas City taxpayers, according to Dr. Corsi.
The border at Loredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump” for trucks coming from our good neighbor to the south carrying Far
Eastern items, writes Dr. Corsi. According to a July 14, 2006 commentary by Teamsters president Jim Hoffa, most Mexican drivers
interviewed by an independent investigative reporter said they had used illegal drugs to stay conscious while driving, and many said they
were involved in fatal crashes. Hoffa also said that Mexican trucks are uninsured.
In this age of terrorism and porous borders, the NAFTA Superhighway is yet another nail in the coffin for U.S. domestic security. American
sovereignty should not be for sale. Our border security is being sacrificed on the altar of the NAFTA Superhighway to gain a perceived
economic advantage which may prove elusive.
In contrast to the rosy economic picture painted by Ambassador Bridge, the Teamsters fear layoffs. According to Hoffa, NAFTA has caused
the loss of three million American manufacturing jobs and one million Mexican farms. Hoffa says that under NAFTA, Mexican wages have
dropped significantly, fueling illegal immigration to the U.S.
Whenever a Teamsters boss and a conservative commentator agree on anything, we’re all in trouble.
Dr. Corsi notes that President Bush has been silent on the issue, and that Congress has not drafted any legislation authorizing construction
of the Superhighway. In other words, American leaders are out to lunch on the biggest proposed revamping of the U.S. interstate system
since the Eisenhower Administration.
In his Human Events article, Dr. Corsi strongly suggests that the NAFTA Superhighway is a backdoor plan to create a North American
Union similar to the European Union, but without the open debate that occurred prior to the formation of the latter entity.
The U.S. already has open borders with Canada, a stable, prosperous nation with which it shares a common heritage and culture. Given the
widely reported attempted Canadian border crossings by several terrorists in recent years, we may have to modify that arrangement. In
this climate, it is the height of insanity to have a superhighway which would create a de facto open border with Mexico, a country that has
serious issues of corruption, poverty, and civil unrest.
In a June 5, 2006 article in World Net Daily, Dr. Corsi sites the Kansas City SmartPort website, which notes that in March 2005, Kansas
City signed an agreement with the Mexican state of Michoacan, in which the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas is located. The agreement is
intended to facilitate commerce between Lazaro Cardenas and Kansas City. Under this arrangement, Far Eastern goods would be quickly
moved into America’s heartland with cheap, non-union, Mexican labor.
According to the World Net Daily article, shipments would be monitored by intelligent transportation systems (ITS), including GPS and
radio frequency identification, between Kansas City and other parts of the U.S. The agreement calls for prescreening cargo in Southeast
Asia and repeatedly scanning it with X-rays and gamma rays upon arrival in Mexico before it is sent to the U.S.
Sounds good on paper, except when you consider that there are already massive holes in current security systems employing similar
technology for items arriving in the U.S. If the United States can’t trust its own systems to keep Americans safe, how can it possibly rely
on dubious partners?
Another major problem is expense. An article in the August 3, 2006 online edition of the Duluth News Tribune notes that the Superhighway
will cost Texas alone $ 145 billion to $ 183 billion. The Minnesota DOT, which, according to the News Tribune, is in “preservation-only mode”,
has budgeted $ 800 million in new road construction over the past decade. The DOT is considering whether to join NASCO, but has no idea
of how it would raise the required funds.
The News Tribune reports that the Texas DOT is holding public hearings this summer. At least somebody’s waking up. It’s about time.
Rumour of 'NAFTA superhighway' has Americans fearing for sovereignty
Are North American governments secretly conspiring to build a "NAFTA superhighway," four football fields wide, from Mexico
to Canada to bypass regulatory controls and whisk goods swiftly to market?
If you believe some right-wing websites in the United States, it's all but a fait accompli. They insist a gargantuan project is in the
works that will carve a 365-metre-wide swath through the continent's heart, with 10 traffic lanes, rail lines for freight and
passenger trains, fibre-optic cable lines and pipelines carrying oil, gas and water.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...1-0c93f24478b9
PREMEDITATED MERGER
NAFTA superhighway extends north
Plan under way in Texas will extend to Oklahoma, Colorado
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: June 21, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A NAFTA superhighway plan under way in Texas will be extended to Oklahoma and Colorado, stretching the four-lane,
train-truck-car-pipeline corridor from the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, to Denver, reports WND columnist Jerome
Corsi, whose new investigative book, "The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada," has just
been released.
As WND has reported, the Federal Highway Administration is promoting public-private partnership projects to expand
superhighway projects, consistent with extending the Trans-Texas Corridor network north.
The plan is for the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado to apply the TTC toll road concept first developed by the
Texas DOT to largely rural areas along the Ports-to-Plains Corridor.
To advance this plan, the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition – sponsored by the consulates of Mexico and Canada
along with the Texas and Colorado transportation departments – is co-sponsoring a "Great Plains 2007" international
conference Sept. 19-21 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Denver.
The brochure recommends the conference be attended by real estate developers, transportation planners, highway
services business executives, as well as state, local, county and municipal public officials and international trade
professionals.
An April Texas DOT study on the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition website documents the tie between the
two groups.
The study says the Ports-to-Plains Corridor offers an opportunity to apply the Trans-Texas Corridor technology to
NAFTA superhighway development in rural settings. It concludes by recommending new highway construction be
undertaken parallel to the existing Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor route in order to apply the superhighway design
north through Oklahoma into Colorado.
As WND previously reported, the $180 billion needed to build the 4,000 mile Trans-Texas Corridor network over the
next 50 years will be financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a foreign investment
consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the leasing and operating rights on TTC highways for 50 years after
construction is complete.
A press release on the Texas DOT website confirms the agency is looking for a public-private-partnership to help
finance the construction of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor.
WND also has reported Texas Gov. Rick Perry has received substantial campaign contributions from Cintra and
Zachry Construction Company, the San Antonio-based construction firm selected by the Texas DOT to build the
TTC.
The homepage of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor Coalition website proclaims, "Together, the communities along the
Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor are becoming the Gateway to trade throughout the nation and with Mexico and
Canada."
The homepage also links the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor to the millions of containers from China that are
planned to enter North America through Mexican ports, commenting, "The Trade Corridor will allow for the
development of less congested ports of entry along the Texas/Mexican border."
About Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, Inc:
Welcome to www.OK-SAFE.com.
Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, Incorporated (OK-SAFE) is a non-profit 501 c4 Oklahoma
Corporation made up of individuals and coalition groups dedicated to the Principles of American Free
Enterprise and the Constitutional Sovereignty of Oklahoma and the United States of America.
OK-SAFE sees a concerted, dedicated and well funded effort by Social and Economic Elites to transition the
United States from a Representative Republic to a Socialist Group Democracy and finally into a World
Governmental Structure.
We find evidence to conclude the following Institutional transitions are well underway:
Political – Servant to Master
Monetary – Asset Credit to Outcome Credit
Intellectual – Education to Indoctrination
Ecclesiastical – God to Religion
OK-SAFE seeks to advance and defend the American principles of sovereignty and free enterprise through
Public education, Issue advocacy and Governmental lobbying and is actively addressing the following areas:
Illegal Immigration,
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPPNA),
North American Competitiveness Council (NACC),
Public Private Partnerships (PPP or 3P’s),
North America SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO),
Trade Agreements (NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA etc),
North American Community/Union (NAU) and
United Nations Agenda 21
Accordingly we issue a call for American Patriots to come together, to unite the citizens and statesmen of the
Republic of the United States of America, for the purpose of maintaining our nation's sovereignty, to reinstate
our Constitutional and Natural Rights, and to free the American people from institutional servitude. We pursue
this cause with Honor, Dignity, and Courage, while acknowledging that unless God keeps our nation and guides
her steps, we will have labored in vain.
Constitution & Law
See other Constitution & Law Articles
Title: NAFTA Superhighway Ready To Roll
Source: Worldnetdaily
URL Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp? ARTICLE_ID=56304
Published: Jun 22, 2007
Author: Jerome Corsi
Post Date: 2007-06-24 19:14:39 by wudidiz
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has vetoed a series of bills passed by the Texas Legislature, clearing the way for the
Texas Department of Transportation to begin construction on the four-football-fields-wide new Trans-Texas Corridor along
Interstate 35 (TTC-35) from the Mexican border at Laredo north to the Oklahoma border south of Oklahoma City.
On Friday, June 15, Perry vetoed an eminent-domain reform bill passed by the Legislature. Provisions in the bill would have
made prohibitively expensive the acquisition of the thousands of acres of private land needed to construct the Trans-Texas
corridor.
In vetoing the bill, Perry's office issued a press release claiming House Bill No. 2006 "would vastly expand the cost to Texas
taxpayers of public projects to the point where they grossly outweigh the bill's benefits."
Steven Anderson, director of the Institute for Justice's Castle Coalition, objected.
"With this veto, Governor Perry has left every home, farm, ranch and small-business owner vulnerable to the abuse of eminent
domain," Anderson said in a press release.
Anderson's organization is a national grass-roots advocacy group that works to block private-to-private transfers of property
using eminent domain.
A month earlier, on May 18, Perry vetoed House Bill No. 1892, a measure that would have imposed a two-year moratorium on
beginning construction on the Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to Interstate 35.
In that veto message, Perry claimed the bill "jeopardizes billions of dollars of infrastructure investment and invites a potentially
significant reduction in federal transportation funding."
As WND previously reported, these measures were approved overwhelmingly by the Texas Legislature, with HB 1892 passing
the Texas House by a 137-2 margin. HB 2006 passed with 125 of the 150 votes in the House and unanimously in the Senate.
When HB 2006 cleared the Texas Legislature, the Federal Highway Administration Chief Counsel James D. Ray wrote a letter
to the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, threatening to hold federal highway funds from the state if Perry signed
the bill into law.
Perry's veto message strongly suggests the FHWA's threat was heard loud and clear in Austin.
On learning that Perry had vetoed the eminent-domain legislation, Corridor Watch, a public advocacy group that opposes the
TTC project, responded immediately.
Corridor Watch posted on its website: "It sure didn't take TxDOT long to shake off the legislative session and resume their
headlong rush to use every available loophole, exception and remaining authority to build toll roads and grant toll road
concessions just as fast as possible." http://www.corridorwatch.org/ttc/index.htm
Corridor Watch also noted that in the 49 bills Perry vetoed June 15 were measures that would have required TxDOT to consider
using existing highway routes for future TTC routes and a bill that called on the Texas attorney general to study the impact of
international agreements on Texas.
To ward off the possibility the Texas Legislature would fight back, Perry threatened to call a "Special Session" to resolve
transportation issues should members vote to override his veto on HB 1892, the moratorium issue.
The 80th Texas Legislature wrapped up its 140-day session May 29, immediately after Memorial Day.
Now, sponsors would have to reintroduce these bills in the next legislative session and start all over again. The Texas
Legislature only meets every other year, unless the governor calls a special session for a specific agenda.
According to Bloomberg.com, the last time the Texas Legislature overrode a governor's veto was more than a quarter of a
century ago, in 1979.
As WND has previously reported, the $180 billion needed to build the 4,000-mile TTC network planned for construction over
the next 50 years will be financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a foreign investment
consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the leasing and operating rights on TTC highways for 50 years after their
completion is complete.
WND has also reported Perry has received substantial campaign contributions from Cintra and Zachry Construction Company,
the San Antonio-based construction firm selected by TxDOT to build out the TTC.
WND has established that Cintra is represented in the United States by Bracewell and Giuliani, Republican Party presidential
candidate Rudy Giuliani's Houston-based law firm.
Even though TTC superhighways will be built by a private investment consortium from Spain, Texas conveniently can make use
of the recent Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005).
In this case, the Supreme Court decided that eminent domain could be used to seize private property from U.S. citizens even
though the purpose of the land seizure was to benefit a private corporation. The Supreme Court case said nothing that would
imply the private corporation involved would have to be a U.S. firm.
In a question-answer format on the TTC website, a "myth vs. reality" answer explains how TxDOT plans to use what is known
in Texas as "quick-take" eminent domain authority.
The site explains that a Texas state law (passed as HB 3588) allows a quick-take seizure of private property "if TxDOT and
the property owner cannot reach an agreement" on just compensation for the land involved.
Under this law, TxDOT can seize a property on the 91st day after the landowner is served with an official notice of quick-take,
regardless how vociferously the landowner protests.
WND has reported TxDOT is moving moving to apply its four-football-fields-wide NAFTA superhighway plan of building new
train-truck-car-pipeline corridors to the states of Oklahoma and Colorado in a design that stretches from the Mexican border
at Laredo, Texas, to Denver, Colo.
WND has also documented that NASCO (North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc.), a Dallas-based trade association
supporting the development of Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94 as international trade corridors, has the state of Oklahoma,
the Minnesota Department of Transportation and TxDOT as members.
The Federal Highway Administration has designated the Ports-to-Plains Corridor as a "High Priority Corridor" on the National
Highway System.
WND repeatedly has reported the Federal Highway Administration is promoting public-private partnership projects to bring
private capital to expanding superhighway projects, consistent with extending the TTC network north into Oklahoma and
Colorado.
The Federal Highway Administration has constructed a section of its government website dedicated to explaining to the states
and the highway construction industry how laws and investment banking structures with foreign capital investors can be designed
to work along the public-private partnership model.
WND has documented that a major purpose of the TTC projects is to connect U.S. roads with Mexican ports on the Pacific,
such as Lazaro Cardenas.
Mexican ports are being increasingly used as an alternative to West Coast ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach as a
cheaper, non-union alternative for the import of millions of containers from China.
WND has reported the Department of Transportation plans to start a Mexican truck demonstration project as early as Aug. 15,
despite continuing objections from Congress.
Click for Full Text!
Bracewell & Giuliani, the ‘guiding’ law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor
Jun 8, 2007, 00:32
What, you didn’t know a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is a partner in the Dallas law firm,
Bracewell & Giuliani? It’s among the nation’s largest, with 400 attorneys and nine offices worldwide. And now
B&G is exclusively representing the Spanish company Cintra through the privatization of Texas State
Highway 121. Anybody want to call Congress and let them know? It’s right here in the linked March 26 Dallas
Business Journal.
Yup, Rudy’s at it again, milking the old cash cow, the 9/11 sheriff routine to those sympathetic (rich and wannabe richer)
Texans. The client, Cintra, has signed an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to finish the State
Highway 121 toll road by 2011, a quarter century faster than possible through traditional sources (i.e. American workers),
according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). What you should also know is that the toll road is part of
the NAFTA Superhighway and construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).
Independent Journalist Cliff Kincaid nails it in his article Giuliani Linked To “NAFTA Superhighway”: “Evidence s
hows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded
without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North
American Union.” This is “the project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms.”
Kincaid quotes freelance writer Dianne M. Grassi, who originally broke the story of Rudy’s law firm on the TTC
toll-road project. She comments, “Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Giuliani’s involvement in the
NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a
mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top
Republican candidate running for President of the United States.”
Grassi also points out that “Cintra joined with San Antonio, TX-based Zachry Construction Corp. to help land the contracts,
in which Zachry owns a 20% interest. The Cintra-Zachry proposal for TTC-35 includes a private investment of up to $6
billion in upfront payments for the complete construction, design and operation of a 316-mile toll road between Dallas and
San Antonio, giving Cintra the right to set tolls and keep toll road profits for a period of 50 years, as it will for each road it
has contracted..”
Grassi goes on to say, “The NAFTA Superhighway and its corridors will run from Southwestern Mexico through Laredo,
Austin and Dallas, TX, into Kansas City, KS, serving as an inland customs port. The corridor will split in Kansas with one
leg going to Winnipeg, Canada, through Omaha, NE. The other leg goes to Toronto, Canada, through Des Moines, IA,
Chicago, IL, and Detroit, MI. . . .”
Additionally, Terry Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that “Giuliani
clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign.
“This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas
Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President.”
The big irony here is that Giuliani was opposed to NAFTA, that is, before he became a private business dude with global clients.
This kind of conflict and mixing of interests rolls into the criminal. Especially, as Australian journalist Mark Coultan points out
that Cintra is a financial partner with an Australian company, Macquarie, on a toll-road project in Indiana. It seems
that Macquarie acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors,
which sold, according to the Washington Post, “for an undisclosed amount as Giuliani was preparing his run for president.”
The amount is between $76 and $100 million, Coultan writes. This for a bank that ran up a net loss of $1.4 million after generous
salaries to partners. The senior staff, who own about 30 percent of the stock, “will come with the deal.”
Coultan also points just how greedy Rudy can be: “Giuliani has also been criticized for taking excessive fees at charity events.
One occasion involved the Queen Elizabeth Research Hospital in Adelaide, where his reported $200,000 fee left only $15,000
in net proceeds. After criticism, he held a fundraiser in New York which raised $75,000.”
Additionally, Dan Collins and Wayne Barrett pointed out, in an Alternet article,
Why Rudy Giuliani Can’t Stop Cashing in on 9/11.” They wrote, “Giuliani had never seemed particularly concerned about
money -- he wouldn't have been scheming so desperately for a third $195,000-a-year term as mayor if wealth had been his top
priority. But his sudden riches came in handy. His settlement with his former wife, Donna Hanover, in the summer of 2002
called for him to pay her $6.8 million over three years as well as child support. Hanover's lawyers estimated that Giuliani's income
in 2002 was $20 million, a little more than half from speaking fees and book advances . . .”
Yet once Rudy got a taste of living large . . .”he quickly adapted to his new lifestyle, demanding first-class flights and
accommodations for himself and his posse when he traveled and purchasing a $4 million summer house in the Hamptons for
himself and Judy Nathan, whom he married in 2003. The couple also have an apartment on Manhattan's East Side worth more
than $5 million, complete with Rudy's Yankee diamond rings displayed in wooden boxes, a lithograph of Winston Churchill above
the fireplace, two white Churchill porcelain figures and a Joe DiMaggio shirt encased in glass. . . .”
So it all runs together. Rudy’s profiting from a great tragedy, selling out American interests to foreign interests, major conflicts
of interest between his law firm activities and the funding of his potential run for the presidency, etc. A half dozen writers point
out a common theme: Giuliani’s insatiable greed as a last step into a bent American Dream.
And once more I ask you as I did in Ground Zero illnesses come back to haunt Giuliani, is this really the man you want to
be the Republican presidential candidate, let alone your president? But then look at that clown race and you find the second runner,
Mitt, making his own Times’ headlines, Romney’s Political Fortunes Tied to Riches He Gained in Business. Is this déjà vu
all over again, or just time for a major change in the kind of people we elect to lead this country? I sincerely hope the latter, as well
as for a clean election for once.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer living in New York City. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
Email Online Journal Editor
s article Giuliani Linked To “NAFTA Superhighway”: “Evidence shows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North American Union.” This is “the project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms.”
Kincaid quotes freelance writer Dianne M. Grassi, who originally broke the story of Rudy’s law firm on the TTC toll-road project. She comments, “Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Giuliani’s involvement in the NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top Republican candidate running for President of the United States.”
Grassi also points out that “Cintra joined with San Antonio, TX-based Zachry Construction Corp. to help land the contracts, in which Zachry owns a 20% interest. The Cintra-Zachry proposal for TTC-35 includes a private investment of up to $6 billion in upfront payments for the complete construction, design and operation of a 316-mile toll road between Dallas and San Antonio, giving Cintra the right to set tolls and keep toll road profits for a period of 50 years, as it will for each road it has contracted..”
Grassi goes on to say, “The NAFTA Superhighway and its corridors will run from Southwestern Mexico through Laredo, Austin and Dallas, TX, into Kansas City, KS, serving as an inland customs port. The corridor will split in Kansas with one leg going to Winnipeg, Ca
Bush Administration Quietly
Plans NAFTA Super Highway
By Jerome R. Corsi
Human Events
6-14-6
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.
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, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.
As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming "North American Union" that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
Just examine the following websites to get a feel for the magnitude of NAFTA Super Highway planning that has been going on without any new congressional legislation directly authorizing the construction of the planned international corridor through the center of the country.
* NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc., is a "non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world's first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America." Where does that sentence say anything about the USA? Still, NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.
* Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an "investor based organization supported by the public and private sector" to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway. At the Kansas City SmartPort, the containers from the Far East can be transferred to trucks going east and west, dramatically reducing the ground transportation time dropping the containers off in Los Angeles or Long Beach involves for most of the country. A brochure on the SmartPort website describes the plan in glowing terms: "For those who live in Kansas City, the idea of receiving containers nonstop from the Far East by way of Mexico may sound unlikely, but later this month that seemingly far-fetched notion will become a reality."
* The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an "SPP office" http://www.spp.gov/ that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that "(m)ethods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented." The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2007
RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership
The Council of Canadians has been told it will not be allowed to rent a municipal community centre for a public forum it had planned to coincide with the next Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec on August 20 and 21.
The Municipality of Papineauville, which is about six kilometres from Montebello, has informed the Council of Canadians that the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the U.S. Army will not allow the municipality to rent the Centre Communautaire de Papineauville for a public forum on Sunday August 19, on the eve of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership Leaders Summit.
“It is deplorable that we are being prevented from bringing together a panel of writers, academics and parliamentarians to share their concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership with Canadians,” said Brent Patterson, director of organizing with the Council of Canadians. “Meanwhile, six kilometres away, corporate leaders from the United States, Mexico and Canada will have unimpeded access to our political leaders.”
As well as being shut out of Papineauville, the Council of Canadians has been told that the RCMP and the SQ will be enforcing a 25-kilometre security perimeter around the Chateau Montebello, where Stephen Harper will meet with George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón on August 20 and 21. According to officials in Montebello, there will be checkpoints at Thurso and Hawkesbury, and vehicles carrying more than five people will be turned back.
Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. The organization works to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians. -
For more information, contact:
Stuart Trew, media contact: Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 228; Cell: (613) 292-2218; strew@canadians.org.
For more information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, visit IntegrateThis.ca.
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2007
Atlantica will harm Canadian economy says Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians, is speaking in Halifax today to warn Atlantic Canadians of the dangers of Atlantica – a proposal by the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce (APCC) and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) to integrate the easternmost provinces with northeastern United States.
“This scheme will give the United States greater access to Canadian resources without benefiting Canadians,” says Barlow.
Local union representatives have stated that there is no advantage to the local economy when unrefined oil, gas and other materials are sent to the United States to be refined by American workers.
U.S. business interests will be central to this agenda given that just this week the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce appointed American business executive Jonathan Daniels as its chairman.
The Council of Canadians warns that Atlantica is part of a larger agenda led by corporations to integrate the economies of Canada, the United States and Mexico known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership of Canada (SPP). All three governments have confirmed that they will be using the SPP to further the Atlantica agenda.
The Council of Canadians is asking Atlantic Canadians to speak out against this regional integration plan that will weaken Canada’s ability to protect jobs, natural resources and the public interest.
Maude Barlow will being speaking against Atlantica this coming Wednesday June 13 at 6:30 pm at the Scotiabank Auditorium, Dalhousie University Hall along with Scott Sinclair of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Alejandro Villamar of Red Mexicana de accion frente al libre comercio.
For more information, contact: Kyle Buott: (902) 422-7811; (902) 444-9437; kbuott@canadians.org.
SECTIONS
Deep Integration - 2007
[11-July-07] RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership
[13-June-07] Atlantica will harm Canadian economy says Maude Barlow
[01-May-07] Maude Barlow addresses Parliament on the Security and Prosperity Partnership
[16-Apr-07] Council of Canadians challenges Environment Minister on bulk water exports
[13-Apr-07] Leaked document reveals bulk water exports to be discussed at continental integration talks
[30-Mar-07] Organizations make election plans to oppose Security and Prosperity Partnership
[29-Mar-07] Citizens not fooled by TILMA: Demands grow for shelving April 1 implementation
[27-Mar-07] First civil society gathering on Security and Prosperity Partnership to be held in Ottawa
[14-Feb-07] Trade agreement could terminate B.C.'s climate plan
[09-Feb-07] High-level meeting aimed at integrating North America, says Council of Canadians
TAKE ACTION!
Deep Integration
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
* The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road.
The details of the NAFTA Super Highway are hidden in plan view. Still, Bush has not given speeches to bring the NAFTA Super Highway plans to the full attention of the American public. Missing in the move toward creating a North American Union is the robust public debate that preceded the decision to form the European Union. All this may be for calculated political reasons on the part of the Bush Administration.
A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.
Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
NAFTA SUPER HIGHWAY BATTLE
Posted in the Oklahoma Forum
The front page of the Spring 2007 OKLAHOMA CONSTIUTION carries a story about this 1200 ft wide corridor from Mexico to Canada,
problems already happening with eminent domain in Texas, and Senator Randy Brogdon's efforts to head it off before it gets here. This
'corridor' is a spin-off from NAFTA and CAFTA and efforts to create a NORTH AMERICAN UNION similiar to the EU
Senator Brogdon has introduced an ammendment to HB1819 that will “…prohibit the state’s department of transportation from
participating or entering in any negotiation or agreement with NASCO.”(North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition) and SCR-10 urging
the United States Government to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and any activity which seeks
to create a North American Union.
How NAFTA superhighway is built under radar screen
Officials say they see no budget ‘earmarks,’ because they don’t know where to look
Ask some members of Congress about plans to build a “NAFTA superhighway” connecting Mexico and Canada via the U.S. and you
might hear snickers. Some officials will tell you they have seen no “earmarks” for such a plan and question whether it even exists.
But the plan does exist and the NAFTA superhighway is being built – under the radar screen.
Congressman: Superhighway about North American Union
Paul says goal is common currency, borderless travel, bigger bureaucracy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: October 30, 2006
12:41 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas
WASHINGTON – Rep. Ron Paul, a maverick Republican from Texas, today denounced plans for the proposed "NAFTA superhighway" in his state as part of a larger plot for merger of the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a North American Union.
"By now many Texans have heard about the proposed 'NAFTA Superhighway,' which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor," he said in a statement. "What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention."
Paul explained that most members of Congress are unaware of the plans because only relatively small amounts of money have been spent studying the plans and those allocations were included in "enormous transportation appropriations bills."
The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a quasi-government organization called the 'Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,' or SPP," he explains. "The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco."
No treaties were involved, and Congress was not included in discussions or plans, he says.
"Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments," according to Paul. "One principal player is a Spanish construction company, which plans to build the highway and operate it as a toll road. But don't be fooled: The superhighway proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit politically connected interests."
Paul says, however, the real issue raised by the superhighway plan and the SPP is national sovereignty.
"Once again, decisions that affect millions of Americans are not being made by those Americans themselves, or even by their elected representatives in Congress," says Paul. "Instead, a handful of elites use their government connections to bypass national legislatures and ignore our Constitution – which expressly grants Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade."
The ultimate goal, he says, is not simply a superhighway "but an integrated North American Union – complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy and virtually borderless travel within the union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether."
Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., has introduced a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the U.S. should not engage in the construction of a NAFTA superhighway, or enter into any agreement that advances the concept of a North American Union.
"I wholeheartedly support this legislation and predict that the superhighway will become a sleeper issue in the 2008 election," says Paul. "Any movement toward a North American Union diminishes the ability of average Americans to influence the laws under which they must live. The SPP agreement, including the plan for a major transnational superhighway through Texas, is moving forward without congressional oversight – and that is an outrage. The administration needs a strong message from Congress that the American people will not tolerate backroom deals that threaten our sovereignty."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related offers:
For a comprehensive look at the U.S. government's plan to integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada into a North American super-state – guided by the powerful but secretive Council on Foreign Relations – read "ALIEN NATION: SECRETS OF THE INVASION," a special edition of WND's acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine.
Get Tom Tancredo's new book, "In Mortal Danger," from the people who published it – WND Books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous stories:
'North American Union' major '08 issue? Resolution seeks to head off union with Mexico, Canada Documents reveal 'shadow government'
Tancredo: Halt 'Security and Prosperity Partnership' North American Union threat gets attention of congressmen Top U.S. official chaired N. American confab panel
N. American students trained for 'merger' North American confab 'undermines' democracy Attendance list North American forum
North American Forum agenda North American merger topic of secret confab Feds finally release info on 'superstate'
Senator ditches bill tied to 'superstate' Congressman presses on 'superstate' plan Feds stonewalling on 'super state' plan?
Cornyn wants U.S. taxpayers to fund Mexican development No EU in U.S. Trans-Texas Corridor paved with campaign contributions?
U.S.-Mexico merger opposition intensifies More evidence of Mexican trucks coming to U.S. Docs reveal plan for Mexican trucks in U.S.
Kansas City customs port considered Mexican soil? Tancredo confronts 'superstate' effort Bush sneaking North American superstate without oversight?
Related columns:
Coming soon to U.S.: Mexican customs office Merger with Mexico
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Texas governor clears way for NAFTA superhighway
Vetoes legislation to delay big transportation corridor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: June 22, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The path has been cleared for the state of Texas to begin building the new Trans-Texas Corridor, a project that is designed to be four football fields wide, along Interstate 35 from Mexico to the Oklahoma border, according to a new report from WND columnist Jerome Corsi, the author of "The Late Great USA."
The way was opened when Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, vetoed a series of proposals the Texas Legislature
assembled to slow down the work on what is considered to be a key link in a continental NAFTA superhighway network.
Perry's latest veto was of a plan to add a number of requirements to the Texas eminent-domain procedures, under
which governments can grab and use private property.
But, Corsi reported, Steven Anderson of the Institute for Justice's Castle Coalition, objected. He said Perry's action
"left every home, farm, ranch and small-business owner vulnerable to the abuse of eminent domain."
Earlier, Corsi reported, Perry vetoed a plan to impose a two-year moratorium on the TTC project.
As WND previously reported, these measures were approved overwhelmingly by the Texas Legislature.
On learning that Perry had vetoed the eminent-domain legislation, Corridor Watch, a public advocacy group that
opposes the TTC project, responded immediately.
"It sure didn't take TxDOT long to shake off the legislative session and resume their headlong rush to use every
available loophole, exception and remaining authority to build toll roads and grant toll road concessions just as
fast as possible," the organization said.
Corridor Watch also noted that in the 49 bills Perry vetoed June 15 were measures that would have required TxDOT
to consider using existing highway routes for future TTC routes and a bill that called on the Texas attorney general
to study the impact of international agreements on Texas.
An override of Perry's vetoes is unlikely, since the governor threatened to call a special session of the lawmakers to
handle transportation issues if his veto fell by the wayside.
As WND has previously reported, the $180 billion needed to build the 4,000-mile TTC network planned for
construction over the next 50 years will be financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A.,
a foreign investment consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the leasing and operating rights on TTC highways
for 50 years after their completion is complete.
WND also has reported Perry has received substantial campaign contributions from Cintra and Zachry Construction
Company, the San Antonio-based construction firm selected by TxDOT to build out the TTC.
And WND has established that Cintra is represented in the United States by Bracewell and Giuliani, Republican Party
presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's Houston-based law firm.
Just this week, WND reported TxDOT already is moving to apply its four-football-fields-wide NAFTA superhighway
plan of building new train-truck-car-pipeline corridors to the states of Oklahoma and Colorado in a design that stretches
from the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, to Denver, Colo.
WND has documented a significant reason for the projects is to connect truck traffic from Mexican ports on the Pacific,
such as Lazaro Cardenas, to U.S. roads. Mexican ports are being increasingly used as an alternative to West Coast ports
such as Los Angeles and Long Beach as a cheaper, non-union alternative for the import of millions of containers from
China.
WND also has reported the Department of Transportation plans to start a Mexican truck demonstration project as early
as Aug. 15, despite continuing objections from Congress.
'I propose a North American Community'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: May 9, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Robert A. Pastor
Lou Dobbs, Patrick Buchanan, Jerome Corsi and many of their readers have repeatedly accused me of:
Promoting a North American Union;
Promoting a North American currency called the "Amero";
Seeking to dissolve the United States, erase our borders and discard the Constitution; and
Being the principal author of the Bush administration's "Security and Prosperity Partnership" and strategy toward
North America.
Some have written that they have drawn these conclusions from reading my book, "Toward a North American Community"
(Institute for International Economics, 2001), my article, "North America's Second Decade" (Foreign Affairs, January/
February 2004), and the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force Report, "Building a North American
Community," of which I was one of six co-chairs.
If they had read what I have written, they would know that all the accusations above are false. I don't want to speculate as to
why these individuals would repeat unfounded charges, or why this news site would continue to repeat them. Instead, let me
summarize my views on the future of North America, recognizing that my brief distillation does not adequately capture my
analysis or proposals, but at least it is a fair summary. (This stands in contrast with those who twist my work to make their
points rather than mine. For those who want to review my work, visit the website of the Center for North American Studies
and its publications.)
First, while some want to build formidable barriers to keep out Mexico and Canada, I would argue the opposite: We need to
find new ways to relate in a positive way to our two neighbors. The reason is simple: No two nations are as important to the
United States as Canada and Mexico. Our two largest trading partners are not England and China, but Canada and Mexico.
The two largest sources of energy imports are not Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, but Canada and Mexico. For the past three
decades, Mexico has been, by far, the largest source of both legal and illegal migration to the United States. There are roughly
500 million legal crossings of both borders each year, and the preferred tourist destination of Canadians, Mexicans and
Americans is their neighbors in North America.
Second, while some view the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, as a failure that should be repealed, I believe
it was a success for what it was designed to do, but it is no longer enough to cope with the challenges of an enlarged market and
a more competitive international system. NAFTA succeeded in reducing barriers and tripled trade and investment among the
three countries, making it the largest free-trade area in the world in terms of gross product. It failed because we need to do
more than just reduce trade and investment barriers. It did not address the problem of illegal migration; it ignored the issue
of border security; it failed to reduce the income gap between Mexico and its northern neighbors; it created no institutions
or consultation procedures that would manage the problems in the relationship and improve people's lives in a demonstrable
way. That is why I propose a "North American Community," whose premise is that all three sovereign countries benefit when
each of the countries makes progress, and all suffer when one fails. Trade benefits all three countries, and a more prosperous
Mexico in the long-term means less illegal migration. But "trade" is not enough to address problems that emerge from an
expanding market.
Third, I do not propose a North American Union; I propose a North American Community. They are very different. A Union –
like the United States – is a merger of states into a unified central government. A Community is composed of three sovereign
governments that seek to strengthen bonds of cooperation. Each government – according to its constitutional procedures –
retains the power to decide whether and how to cooperate. A "North American Union" could not be created by "stealth,"
as some fear. Indeed, any significant initiative to strengthen cooperation would require a wide-ranging and public debate and
approval by Congress of all three countries.
Fourth, because of the asymmetry in power and wealth, Mexico and Canada have always been wary of getting too close to the
United States, while Washington has often treated its neighbors with arrogance. For these reasons, the real problem in North
America is the opposite of what worries Dobbs, Buchanan and Corsi. The problem is not that a North American Union will
suddenly emerge; the problem is that there will be little or no progress on a continental-wide agenda that could help the region
become more secure and economically competitive. The critics claim that the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on North
America prompted the three governments to begin the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" in the spring of 2005. If so, that
would be a compliment, except that initiative is very timid, little more than an administrative exercise that measures progress by
the number of meetings bureaucrats schedule.
Fifth, I have offered numerous proposals to build a North American Community, which would be very different from the European
Union, and I welcome debate on any or all. First, we need an institution – not the supra-national, intrusive bureaucracies of Europe,
but a lean advisory group of five senior leaders from each of the three countries. It could be called a North American Commission
or Council. Its members could be selected by Congress and the president, and its function would be to propose an agenda,
proposals and ideas for the governments and people of the three countries to debate and consider at annual summit meetings.
Such proposals could include a Customs Union (common external tariff) to eliminate needless rules of origin, a North American
Investment Fund to reduce the development gap with Mexico, a North American Competition Commission to prevent continental
monopolies, a North American Tribunal on Trade and Investment to replace the ad hoc and weak mechanism set up under
NAFTA, a North American Plan for Infrastructure and Transportation, and more effective way to stop illegal migration while
facilitating the legitimate flow of people.
I know some desperately fear a North American Super-Corridor, but two-thirds of all the trade among the three countries are on
roads, and despite the fact that trade has tripled, there have been almost no new roads built. We need to coordinate closely with
our neighbors to build more roads – not fewer – as part of a wider transportation plan.
With regard to currencies, there is little prospect of a unified currency because all three governments are too committed to the
status quo, but this is a good moment to study alternative options. Europe took decades and made many mistakes before they
implemented the euro. We ought to learn from those lessons and discuss the issues at some length before considering any proposal.
In summary, there is no prospect of a North American Union or currency, but there are compelling needs for the three sovereign
nations of North America to modernize their relationships, and there are good reasons to explore new paths to improve the lives
of all the peoples of North America. The greatest tragedy would be if the fear-mongers were to discourage people from imagining
a better relationship with our neighbors and a North American Community.
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
U.S. parkway leased to Aussie firm
Opponents see tie to feds' sell-off of infrastructure to foreigners
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A decision by the Virginia Department of Transportation to lease the Pocahontas Parkway to an Australian
investment consortium is drawing sharp criticism from opponents of public-private partnerships promoted by
the Federal Highway Administration.
The VDOT signed a comprehensive agreement June 29, 2006, to lease the 8.8 mile Pocahontas Parkway toll road
for 99-years to Transurban, an Australian investment consortium, for a one-time payment of $548 million and an
agreement to construct a 1.58 mile, four-lane extension to Richmond International Airport.
The extension of the Pocahontas Parkway is pending a decision of the of the U.S. Department of Transportation
to provide a $150 million construction credit to Transurban under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act, or TIFIA.
Kenneth White, president of the Virginia Taxpayers Association, testified Monday before the Virginia House and
Senate Joint Budget Committees he objected that the VDOT had paid a $2,000 fee, plus expenses, for Barbara Reese,
VDOT's chief financial officer, to attend a September 2006 conference by EuroMoney Seminars at the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in New York City.
WND previously reported EuroMoney Seminars, a UK-based company, intends to hold a seminar in Miami
March 19-21 entitled "PPP: The North American Private Partnerships Intensive Seminar," designed to teach a small
number of state and local government officials how to lease a wide range of public assets – including highways and
water departments – to international and foreign private investment groups. The cost of attending the March 2007
EuroMoney seminar in Miami is $3,500 per person.
White, who has led his group for 34 years, objected to the Virginia congressional committees that Reese "was a
programmed speaker at an unpublicized conference, the unlawful purpose of which was to expedite selling
highways in Virginia and elsewhere in the United States to private commercial interests, many of them foreign."
In an e-mail to WND, Jeff Caldwell, VDOT assistant director of Public Affairs explained:
Barbara Reese is recognized nationally as an expert in public-private transportation financing as well as
other innovative financing methods. Ms. Reese served on a panel at the September 2000 EuroMoney's
North American PPP 2006 conference on infrastructure, along with other government experts from around
the country. Ms. Reese did not pay any conference registration fee. Travel costs totaled $581 in accordance
with state guidelines.
White told WND his group objects to VDOT using state funds to send any VDOT employee to the planned
March 2007 EuroMoney seminar in Miami, even if the expenses were limited to travel, hotel and meals.
The Virginia Taxpayers Association's fundamental objection is that the VDOT has no right to lease to foreign
interests state highways built with taxpayer money. White made this claim in his testimony to the Virginia House
and Senate Budget Committees:
Virginia citizens were not told that the Pocahontas Parkway – which last June was leased to Transurban of
Australia for 99 years – would be an opening wedge for a wholesale foreign consortium takeover of major
U.S. interstates, under the NAFTA Superhighway System, with several south-north Mexico to Canada
corridors, where foreigners would levy tolls without review by any U.S. elected officials and would even
have eminent domain to grab millions of acres of valuable farm and urban land for the corridors.
Virginia is celebrating its 400th birthday this year – the Jamestown settlement, from which Pocahontas became
famous, was founded in 1607.
The Virginia Taxpayers Association contends it is "clearly unlawful for any state government, as a separate entity,
to take money from the sale of highways which have been fully paid for by, and which belong to, state and federal
taxpayers, and not to the state government itself."
The Federal Highway Administration currently features the Pocahontas Parkway lease as a case study on its newly
created website promoting what is becoming widely known within international investment banking as "PPP," or
"Public-Private Partnerships."
The FHWA website provides detailed "how-to" information for state legislators and department of transportation to
follow in making decisions to lease state highways to foreign investment groups.
White's testimony also supported Senate Joint Resolution No. 387, which has been introduced into the Virginia Senate
by state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds. The resolution calls on the Virginia General Assembly to oppose any connections with
Virginia highways that may be made in connecting a NAFTA Superhighway corridor through Virginia.
Reynolds' resolution also specifies support for H.C.R. 487, which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., to
the House of Representatives in the previous Congress, calling for the House to oppose both NAFTA Superhighways
and the creation of a North American Union.
As reported by WND, the resolution was co-sponsored by Reps. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.; Ron Paul, R-Texas; and
Walter Jones, R-N.C. WND also has reported Goode is preparing to re-introduce the resolution to the new Congress.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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the USA into a North American Union.
If you wish to order by phone, call our toll-free order line at 1-800-4WND-COM (1-800-496-3266).
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NAFTA Superhighway
Another Nail in the Coffin for U.S. Border Security
By Mark Stuart ELLISON
Published Sep 07, 2006
Click to contact me
At the time of this writing, there’s a story just below radar that’s poised to explode onto front pages all over America: the NAFTA
Superhighway. And it should scare the hell out of everyone
Jerome Corsi, who earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard, describes the Superhighway in a June 12, 2006 article in
Human Events Online, a conservative website. According to Dr. Corsi, the mammoth road system is being quietly pushed by the
Bush Administration. The proposed superhighway would be about 400 yards wide and run along U.S. Interstate 35 from the
Mexican border at Loredo, Texas to the Canadian border above Duluth, Minnesota.
According to the Ambassador Bridge website, the Superhighway would facilitate commerce between Mexico, Canada, and the
U.S. pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was signed by the leaders of those three nations
in 1994. Ambassador Bridge, owned by the Detroit Bridge Company on the U.S. side, and the Canadian Transit Company on the
Canadian side, is the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Canada, according to the website. The owners of Ambassador Bridge
are members of the NAFTA Superhighway Coalition (NASCO).
According to Ambassador Bridge, NAFTA trade among the three countries is expected to reach $ 1.5 trillion by 2010, and 75
percent of trade between the U.S. and Canada, America’s primary trading partner, is by truck. The website says that the
Superhighway is good for the economies of all three nations and will provide jobs in towns near Highway 401, which serves the
Canadian side of the Bridge.
Ambassador Bridge also says that the parties to NAFTA are obliged to build the Superhighway to “safely and efficiently” handle
the increased road traffic projected over the next few years. Traffic safety is fine and dandy, but what about the safety of
American borders?
In his Human Events article, Dr. Corsi writes that the proposed superhighway would allow containers from our good buddy China,
and other parts of the Far East, to enter the U.S. through a Mexican port without assistance from American longshoremen, a
situation which has their union up in arms.
Mexican trucks, without Teamsters Union help, would cross the U.S. border in express lanes scanned only by a new electronic
technology called the SENTRI System. The first customs stop for the trucks would be at a yet-to-be-built Mexican customs office
in Kansas City, whose three-million-dollar cost would be paid for by Kansas City taxpayers, according to Dr. Corsi.
The border at Loredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump” for trucks coming from our good neighbor to the south carrying Far
Eastern items, writes Dr. Corsi. According to a July 14, 2006 commentary by Teamsters president Jim Hoffa, most Mexican drivers
interviewed by an independent investigative reporter said they had used illegal drugs to stay conscious while driving, and many said they
were involved in fatal crashes. Hoffa also said that Mexican trucks are uninsured.
In this age of terrorism and porous borders, the NAFTA Superhighway is yet another nail in the coffin for U.S. domestic security. American
sovereignty should not be for sale. Our border security is being sacrificed on the altar of the NAFTA Superhighway to gain a perceived
economic advantage which may prove elusive.
In contrast to the rosy economic picture painted by Ambassador Bridge, the Teamsters fear layoffs. According to Hoffa, NAFTA has caused
the loss of three million American manufacturing jobs and one million Mexican farms. Hoffa says that under NAFTA, Mexican wages have
dropped significantly, fueling illegal immigration to the U.S.
Whenever a Teamsters boss and a conservative commentator agree on anything, we’re all in trouble.
Dr. Corsi notes that President Bush has been silent on the issue, and that Congress has not drafted any legislation authorizing construction
of the Superhighway. In other words, American leaders are out to lunch on the biggest proposed revamping of the U.S. interstate system
since the Eisenhower Administration.
In his Human Events article, Dr. Corsi strongly suggests that the NAFTA Superhighway is a backdoor plan to create a North American
Union similar to the European Union, but without the open debate that occurred prior to the formation of the latter entity.
The U.S. already has open borders with Canada, a stable, prosperous nation with which it shares a common heritage and culture. Given the
widely reported attempted Canadian border crossings by several terrorists in recent years, we may have to modify that arrangement. In
this climate, it is the height of insanity to have a superhighway which would create a de facto open border with Mexico, a country that has
serious issues of corruption, poverty, and civil unrest.
In a June 5, 2006 article in World Net Daily, Dr. Corsi sites the Kansas City SmartPort website, which notes that in March 2005, Kansas
City signed an agreement with the Mexican state of Michoacan, in which the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas is located. The agreement is
intended to facilitate commerce between Lazaro Cardenas and Kansas City. Under this arrangement, Far Eastern goods would be quickly
moved into America’s heartland with cheap, non-union, Mexican labor.
According to the World Net Daily article, shipments would be monitored by intelligent transportation systems (ITS), including GPS and
radio frequency identification, between Kansas City and other parts of the U.S. The agreement calls for prescreening cargo in Southeast
Asia and repeatedly scanning it with X-rays and gamma rays upon arrival in Mexico before it is sent to the U.S.
Sounds good on paper, except when you consider that there are already massive holes in current security systems employing similar
technology for items arriving in the U.S. If the United States can’t trust its own systems to keep Americans safe, how can it possibly rely
on dubious partners?
Another major problem is expense. An article in the August 3, 2006 online edition of the Duluth News Tribune notes that the Superhighway
will cost Texas alone $ 145 billion to $ 183 billion. The Minnesota DOT, which, according to the News Tribune, is in “preservation-only mode”,
has budgeted $ 800 million in new road construction over the past decade. The DOT is considering whether to join NASCO, but has no idea
of how it would raise the required funds.
The News Tribune reports that the Texas DOT is holding public hearings this summer. At least somebody’s waking up. It’s about time.
Rumour of 'NAFTA superhighway' has Americans fearing for sovereignty
Are North American governments secretly conspiring to build a "NAFTA superhighway," four football fields wide, from Mexico
to Canada to bypass regulatory controls and whisk goods swiftly to market?
If you believe some right-wing websites in the United States, it's all but a fait accompli. They insist a gargantuan project is in the
works that will carve a 365-metre-wide swath through the continent's heart, with 10 traffic lanes, rail lines for freight and
passenger trains, fibre-optic cable lines and pipelines carrying oil, gas and water.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...1-0c93f24478b9
PREMEDITATED MERGER
NAFTA superhighway extends north
Plan under way in Texas will extend to Oklahoma, Colorado
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: June 21, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A NAFTA superhighway plan under way in Texas will be extended to Oklahoma and Colorado, stretching the four-lane,
train-truck-car-pipeline corridor from the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, to Denver, reports WND columnist Jerome
Corsi, whose new investigative book, "The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada," has just
been released.
As WND has reported, the Federal Highway Administration is promoting public-private partnership projects to expand
superhighway projects, consistent with extending the Trans-Texas Corridor network north.
The plan is for the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado to apply the TTC toll road concept first developed by the
Texas DOT to largely rural areas along the Ports-to-Plains Corridor.
To advance this plan, the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition – sponsored by the consulates of Mexico and Canada
along with the Texas and Colorado transportation departments – is co-sponsoring a "Great Plains 2007" international
conference Sept. 19-21 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Denver.
The brochure recommends the conference be attended by real estate developers, transportation planners, highway
services business executives, as well as state, local, county and municipal public officials and international trade
professionals.
An April Texas DOT study on the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition website documents the tie between the
two groups.
The study says the Ports-to-Plains Corridor offers an opportunity to apply the Trans-Texas Corridor technology to
NAFTA superhighway development in rural settings. It concludes by recommending new highway construction be
undertaken parallel to the existing Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor route in order to apply the superhighway design
north through Oklahoma into Colorado.
As WND previously reported, the $180 billion needed to build the 4,000 mile Trans-Texas Corridor network over the
next 50 years will be financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a foreign investment
consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the leasing and operating rights on TTC highways for 50 years after
construction is complete.
A press release on the Texas DOT website confirms the agency is looking for a public-private-partnership to help
finance the construction of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor.
WND also has reported Texas Gov. Rick Perry has received substantial campaign contributions from Cintra and
Zachry Construction Company, the San Antonio-based construction firm selected by the Texas DOT to build the
TTC.
The homepage of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor Coalition website proclaims, "Together, the communities along the
Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor are becoming the Gateway to trade throughout the nation and with Mexico and
Canada."
The homepage also links the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor to the millions of containers from China that are
planned to enter North America through Mexican ports, commenting, "The Trade Corridor will allow for the
development of less congested ports of entry along the Texas/Mexican border."
About Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, Inc:
Welcome to www.OK-SAFE.com.
Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, Incorporated (OK-SAFE) is a non-profit 501 c4 Oklahoma
Corporation made up of individuals and coalition groups dedicated to the Principles of American Free
Enterprise and the Constitutional Sovereignty of Oklahoma and the United States of America.
OK-SAFE sees a concerted, dedicated and well funded effort by Social and Economic Elites to transition the
United States from a Representative Republic to a Socialist Group Democracy and finally into a World
Governmental Structure.
We find evidence to conclude the following Institutional transitions are well underway:
Political – Servant to Master
Monetary – Asset Credit to Outcome Credit
Intellectual – Education to Indoctrination
Ecclesiastical – God to Religion
OK-SAFE seeks to advance and defend the American principles of sovereignty and free enterprise through
Public education, Issue advocacy and Governmental lobbying and is actively addressing the following areas:
Illegal Immigration,
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPPNA),
North American Competitiveness Council (NACC),
Public Private Partnerships (PPP or 3P’s),
North America SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO),
Trade Agreements (NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA etc),
North American Community/Union (NAU) and
United Nations Agenda 21
Accordingly we issue a call for American Patriots to come together, to unite the citizens and statesmen of the
Republic of the United States of America, for the purpose of maintaining our nation's sovereignty, to reinstate
our Constitutional and Natural Rights, and to free the American people from institutional servitude. We pursue
this cause with Honor, Dignity, and Courage, while acknowledging that unless God keeps our nation and guides
her steps, we will have labored in vain.
Constitution & Law
See other Constitution & Law Articles
Title: NAFTA Superhighway Ready To Roll
Source: Worldnetdaily
URL Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp? ARTICLE_ID=56304
Published: Jun 22, 2007
Author: Jerome Corsi
Post Date: 2007-06-24 19:14:39 by wudidiz
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has vetoed a series of bills passed by the Texas Legislature, clearing the way for the
Texas Department of Transportation to begin construction on the four-football-fields-wide new Trans-Texas Corridor along
Interstate 35 (TTC-35) from the Mexican border at Laredo north to the Oklahoma border south of Oklahoma City.
On Friday, June 15, Perry vetoed an eminent-domain reform bill passed by the Legislature. Provisions in the bill would have
made prohibitively expensive the acquisition of the thousands of acres of private land needed to construct the Trans-Texas
corridor.
In vetoing the bill, Perry's office issued a press release claiming House Bill No. 2006 "would vastly expand the cost to Texas
taxpayers of public projects to the point where they grossly outweigh the bill's benefits."
Steven Anderson, director of the Institute for Justice's Castle Coalition, objected.
"With this veto, Governor Perry has left every home, farm, ranch and small-business owner vulnerable to the abuse of eminent
domain," Anderson said in a press release.
Anderson's organization is a national grass-roots advocacy group that works to block private-to-private transfers of property
using eminent domain.
A month earlier, on May 18, Perry vetoed House Bill No. 1892, a measure that would have imposed a two-year moratorium on
beginning construction on the Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to Interstate 35.
In that veto message, Perry claimed the bill "jeopardizes billions of dollars of infrastructure investment and invites a potentially
significant reduction in federal transportation funding."
As WND previously reported, these measures were approved overwhelmingly by the Texas Legislature, with HB 1892 passing
the Texas House by a 137-2 margin. HB 2006 passed with 125 of the 150 votes in the House and unanimously in the Senate.
When HB 2006 cleared the Texas Legislature, the Federal Highway Administration Chief Counsel James D. Ray wrote a letter
to the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, threatening to hold federal highway funds from the state if Perry signed
the bill into law.
Perry's veto message strongly suggests the FHWA's threat was heard loud and clear in Austin.
On learning that Perry had vetoed the eminent-domain legislation, Corridor Watch, a public advocacy group that opposes the
TTC project, responded immediately.
Corridor Watch posted on its website: "It sure didn't take TxDOT long to shake off the legislative session and resume their
headlong rush to use every available loophole, exception and remaining authority to build toll roads and grant toll road
concessions just as fast as possible." http://www.corridorwatch.org/ttc/index.htm
Corridor Watch also noted that in the 49 bills Perry vetoed June 15 were measures that would have required TxDOT to consider
using existing highway routes for future TTC routes and a bill that called on the Texas attorney general to study the impact of
international agreements on Texas.
To ward off the possibility the Texas Legislature would fight back, Perry threatened to call a "Special Session" to resolve
transportation issues should members vote to override his veto on HB 1892, the moratorium issue.
The 80th Texas Legislature wrapped up its 140-day session May 29, immediately after Memorial Day.
Now, sponsors would have to reintroduce these bills in the next legislative session and start all over again. The Texas
Legislature only meets every other year, unless the governor calls a special session for a specific agenda.
According to Bloomberg.com, the last time the Texas Legislature overrode a governor's veto was more than a quarter of a
century ago, in 1979.
As WND has previously reported, the $180 billion needed to build the 4,000-mile TTC network planned for construction over
the next 50 years will be financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a foreign investment
consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the leasing and operating rights on TTC highways for 50 years after their
completion is complete.
WND has also reported Perry has received substantial campaign contributions from Cintra and Zachry Construction Company,
the San Antonio-based construction firm selected by TxDOT to build out the TTC.
WND has established that Cintra is represented in the United States by Bracewell and Giuliani, Republican Party presidential
candidate Rudy Giuliani's Houston-based law firm.
Even though TTC superhighways will be built by a private investment consortium from Spain, Texas conveniently can make use
of the recent Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005).
In this case, the Supreme Court decided that eminent domain could be used to seize private property from U.S. citizens even
though the purpose of the land seizure was to benefit a private corporation. The Supreme Court case said nothing that would
imply the private corporation involved would have to be a U.S. firm.
In a question-answer format on the TTC website, a "myth vs. reality" answer explains how TxDOT plans to use what is known
in Texas as "quick-take" eminent domain authority.
The site explains that a Texas state law (passed as HB 3588) allows a quick-take seizure of private property "if TxDOT and
the property owner cannot reach an agreement" on just compensation for the land involved.
Under this law, TxDOT can seize a property on the 91st day after the landowner is served with an official notice of quick-take,
regardless how vociferously the landowner protests.
WND has reported TxDOT is moving moving to apply its four-football-fields-wide NAFTA superhighway plan of building new
train-truck-car-pipeline corridors to the states of Oklahoma and Colorado in a design that stretches from the Mexican border
at Laredo, Texas, to Denver, Colo.
WND has also documented that NASCO (North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc.), a Dallas-based trade association
supporting the development of Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94 as international trade corridors, has the state of Oklahoma,
the Minnesota Department of Transportation and TxDOT as members.
The Federal Highway Administration has designated the Ports-to-Plains Corridor as a "High Priority Corridor" on the National
Highway System.
WND repeatedly has reported the Federal Highway Administration is promoting public-private partnership projects to bring
private capital to expanding superhighway projects, consistent with extending the TTC network north into Oklahoma and
Colorado.
The Federal Highway Administration has constructed a section of its government website dedicated to explaining to the states
and the highway construction industry how laws and investment banking structures with foreign capital investors can be designed
to work along the public-private partnership model.
WND has documented that a major purpose of the TTC projects is to connect U.S. roads with Mexican ports on the Pacific,
such as Lazaro Cardenas.
Mexican ports are being increasingly used as an alternative to West Coast ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach as a
cheaper, non-union alternative for the import of millions of containers from China.
WND has reported the Department of Transportation plans to start a Mexican truck demonstration project as early as Aug. 15,
despite continuing objections from Congress.
Click for Full Text!
Bracewell & Giuliani, the ‘guiding’ law firm on the privatization of Texas State Highway 121
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor
Jun 8, 2007, 00:32
What, you didn’t know a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is a partner in the Dallas law firm,
Bracewell & Giuliani? It’s among the nation’s largest, with 400 attorneys and nine offices worldwide. And now
B&G is exclusively representing the Spanish company Cintra through the privatization of Texas State
Highway 121. Anybody want to call Congress and let them know? It’s right here in the linked March 26 Dallas
Business Journal.
Yup, Rudy’s at it again, milking the old cash cow, the 9/11 sheriff routine to those sympathetic (rich and wannabe richer)
Texans. The client, Cintra, has signed an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to finish the State
Highway 121 toll road by 2011, a quarter century faster than possible through traditional sources (i.e. American workers),
according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). What you should also know is that the toll road is part of
the NAFTA Superhighway and construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).
Independent Journalist Cliff Kincaid nails it in his article Giuliani Linked To “NAFTA Superhighway”: “Evidence s
hows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded
without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North
American Union.” This is “the project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms.”
Kincaid quotes freelance writer Dianne M. Grassi, who originally broke the story of Rudy’s law firm on the TTC
toll-road project. She comments, “Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Giuliani’s involvement in the
NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a
mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top
Republican candidate running for President of the United States.”
Grassi also points out that “Cintra joined with San Antonio, TX-based Zachry Construction Corp. to help land the contracts,
in which Zachry owns a 20% interest. The Cintra-Zachry proposal for TTC-35 includes a private investment of up to $6
billion in upfront payments for the complete construction, design and operation of a 316-mile toll road between Dallas and
San Antonio, giving Cintra the right to set tolls and keep toll road profits for a period of 50 years, as it will for each road it
has contracted..”
Grassi goes on to say, “The NAFTA Superhighway and its corridors will run from Southwestern Mexico through Laredo,
Austin and Dallas, TX, into Kansas City, KS, serving as an inland customs port. The corridor will split in Kansas with one
leg going to Winnipeg, Canada, through Omaha, NE. The other leg goes to Toronto, Canada, through Des Moines, IA,
Chicago, IL, and Detroit, MI. . . .”
Additionally, Terry Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that “Giuliani
clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign.
“This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas
Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President.”
The big irony here is that Giuliani was opposed to NAFTA, that is, before he became a private business dude with global clients.
This kind of conflict and mixing of interests rolls into the criminal. Especially, as Australian journalist Mark Coultan points out
that Cintra is a financial partner with an Australian company, Macquarie, on a toll-road project in Indiana. It seems
that Macquarie acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors,
which sold, according to the Washington Post, “for an undisclosed amount as Giuliani was preparing his run for president.”
The amount is between $76 and $100 million, Coultan writes. This for a bank that ran up a net loss of $1.4 million after generous
salaries to partners. The senior staff, who own about 30 percent of the stock, “will come with the deal.”
Coultan also points just how greedy Rudy can be: “Giuliani has also been criticized for taking excessive fees at charity events.
One occasion involved the Queen Elizabeth Research Hospital in Adelaide, where his reported $200,000 fee left only $15,000
in net proceeds. After criticism, he held a fundraiser in New York which raised $75,000.”
Additionally, Dan Collins and Wayne Barrett pointed out, in an Alternet article,
Why Rudy Giuliani Can’t Stop Cashing in on 9/11.” They wrote, “Giuliani had never seemed particularly concerned about
money -- he wouldn't have been scheming so desperately for a third $195,000-a-year term as mayor if wealth had been his top
priority. But his sudden riches came in handy. His settlement with his former wife, Donna Hanover, in the summer of 2002
called for him to pay her $6.8 million over three years as well as child support. Hanover's lawyers estimated that Giuliani's income
in 2002 was $20 million, a little more than half from speaking fees and book advances . . .”
Yet once Rudy got a taste of living large . . .”he quickly adapted to his new lifestyle, demanding first-class flights and
accommodations for himself and his posse when he traveled and purchasing a $4 million summer house in the Hamptons for
himself and Judy Nathan, whom he married in 2003. The couple also have an apartment on Manhattan's East Side worth more
than $5 million, complete with Rudy's Yankee diamond rings displayed in wooden boxes, a lithograph of Winston Churchill above
the fireplace, two white Churchill porcelain figures and a Joe DiMaggio shirt encased in glass. . . .”
So it all runs together. Rudy’s profiting from a great tragedy, selling out American interests to foreign interests, major conflicts
of interest between his law firm activities and the funding of his potential run for the presidency, etc. A half dozen writers point
out a common theme: Giuliani’s insatiable greed as a last step into a bent American Dream.
And once more I ask you as I did in Ground Zero illnesses come back to haunt Giuliani, is this really the man you want to
be the Republican presidential candidate, let alone your president? But then look at that clown race and you find the second runner,
Mitt, making his own Times’ headlines, Romney’s Political Fortunes Tied to Riches He Gained in Business. Is this déjà vu
all over again, or just time for a major change in the kind of people we elect to lead this country? I sincerely hope the latter, as well
as for a clean election for once.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer living in New York City. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
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s article Giuliani Linked To “NAFTA Superhighway”: “Evidence shows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North American Union.” This is “the project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms.”
Kincaid quotes freelance writer Dianne M. Grassi, who originally broke the story of Rudy’s law firm on the TTC toll-road project. She comments, “Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Giuliani’s involvement in the NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top Republican candidate running for President of the United States.”
Grassi also points out that “Cintra joined with San Antonio, TX-based Zachry Construction Corp. to help land the contracts, in which Zachry owns a 20% interest. The Cintra-Zachry proposal for TTC-35 includes a private investment of up to $6 billion in upfront payments for the complete construction, design and operation of a 316-mile toll road between Dallas and San Antonio, giving Cintra the right to set tolls and keep toll road profits for a period of 50 years, as it will for each road it has contracted..”
Grassi goes on to say, “The NAFTA Superhighway and its corridors will run from Southwestern Mexico through Laredo, Austin and Dallas, TX, into Kansas City, KS, serving as an inland customs port. The corridor will split in Kansas with one leg going to Winnipeg, Ca