Controversial SPP moves towards North American air traffic control system.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57073
The U.S. has built nine navigation system for Mexico and Canada under the controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in an apparent first step toward establishing the satellite infrastructure needed to create a North American air traffic control system.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8375
In March of 2005, the leaders of Canada (Paul Martin), the U.S. (George W. Bush), and Mexico (Vicente Fox) signed an agreement called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). The SPP is about securing prosperity for a rich elite, while taking what remaining power the people have, through democratic sovereign institutions, and placing that power in a few hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats whose strings are pulled by global corporations and banks. However, in discussing the SPP, we must first go back a little further than 2005 to the origins from which it arose.
The same group that on their own website admits to being the predominant force in Canada behind NAFTA, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) — Canada’s most powerful interest group made up of the CEOs of the 150 largest corporations in Canada, many of which are subsidiaries of foreign, predominantly American, corporations — in January of 2003, issued a press release announcing the creation of their North American Security and Prosperity Initiative. In this, they proposed five main changes to be undertaken in the North American political-economic landscape: “Reinvent borders, maximize regulatory efficiencies, negotiate a comprehensive resource security pact, reinvigorate the North American defense alliance, and create a new institutional framework.”
Several months later, in November of the same year, the CCCE issued a short document titled, “Paul Martin urged to take the lead in forging a new vision for North American cooperation.” In this document, they stated that, “all of the CCCE’s 150 member CEOs are involved in this ambitious two-year initiative,” in which Thomas D’Aquino, president and CEO of the CCCE, “urged that Mr. Martin champion the idea of a yearly summit of the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in order to give common economic, social, and security issues the priority they deserve in a continental, hemispheric, and global context.”
Apparently, Martin was listening, because one of the signatories of this letter was none other than a vice chairman of the CCCE and then-CEO of Canfor Corporation, Canada’s largest softwood lumber producer, David L. Emerson. Emerson would go on to be Martin’s Minister of Industry.
When the CCCE’s two-year initiative ended, it formed a new task force, called the “Independent Task Force on the Future of North America” in conjunction with the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S.’s most powerful think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), founded by the Rockefeller and Morgan families in 1921.
This task force released a statement on March 14, 2005 entitled, “Trinational call for a North American economic and security community by 2010.” In the Trinational Call, it was recommended that the North America nations create “a community defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter,” and to “harmonize” the areas of energy, security, education, military, immigration, resources, and the economy.
Nine days after this recommendation was issued, Bush, Martin, and Fox signed the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), and in the joint statement explained it would, “implement common border security and bioprotection [enhanced surveillance] strategies, enhance critical infrastructure protection, implement a common approach to emergency response, implement improvements in aviation and maritime security, combat transnational threats, enhance intelligence partnerships, promote sectoral collaboration in energy, transportation, financial services, technology, and other areas to facilitate business, [and] reduce the costs of trade.” The SPP agreement oversees the creation of SPP “working groups” in each country, which have a mandate of overseeing “harmonization,” or “integration,” in over 300 policy areas.
Two months later, in May of 2005, the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America released a document titled, “Building a North American Community,” of which Canadian Task Force members included D’Aquino, Wendy Dobson, professor at University of Toronto and former president of the C.D. Howe Institute, Allan Gotlieb,(former Canadian Ambassador to the United States as well as being Chairman of the CCCE), and John Manley, former Liberal deputy prime minister.
The report’s recommendations included initiatives to establish “a common security perimeter by 2010, develop a North American Border Pass [North American ID card] with biometric identifiers, expand NORAD into a multi-service defense command,” share intelligence, develop Mexico’s energy resources, “harmonize” areas of energy, education, military, foreign policy, immigration, health, expand “temporary” migrant worker programs, and adopt a common external tariff.
In 2002, based in Montreal, the North American Forum on Integration (NAFI) was formed, which, according to their website, “aims to address the issues raised by North American integration as well as identify new ideas and strategies to reinforce the North American region,” and hold “NAFI organized conferences which brought together government and academic figures as well as business people.” The first conference was held in Montreal in 2003, the second in 2004 in Mexico, of which was stated on the organization’s website: “About 200 participants and conference speakers took part in the conference, [including] former Energy Minister, Mr. Felipe Calderon,” the current President of Mexico.
NAFI later organized a ‘mock’ North American Parliament, called the Triumvirate, which allows 100 Canadian, American, and Mexican university students “to better understand the North American dynamic” — the first of which took place in the Canadian Senate in May of 2005, hosted by the Triumvirate president and former ambassador Raymond Chrétien, the son of Jean Chrétien. Participating Canadian universities included Carleton, McGill, and yes, Simon Fraser University. The board of directors of NAFI includes Stephen Blank, a member of CFR and Robert Pastor, CFR member and co-chair of the Independent Task Force.
In January of 2006, the Council of the Americas and the North American Business Council issued a report titled, “Findings of the Public/Private Sector Dialogue on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,” which called for the establishment of a “North American competitiveness council” to advise governments on the implementation of ‘deep integration.’ The Chairman of the Council of the Americas is former banker David Rockefeller, and top executives from J.P Morgan, Merck & Co., Chevron, McDonald’s, Shell, Citigroup, IBM, Ford, PepsiCo, Microsoft, GE, Pfizer, MetLife, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Credit Suisse, General Motors, Merrill Lynch, and individuals from the U.S. Department of State.
In March of 2006, a second SPP summit was held, this time with Bush, Fox, and newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The press release (which can be found at spp.gov, “Report to Leaders August 2006”) announced the formation of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), which “provides a voice and a formal role for the private sector” whose job is to advise the SPP ministers in their respective governments. Current Canadian SPP ministers are Maxime Bernier (Foreign Affairs), Jim Prentice (Industry) and Stockwell Day (Public Safety, ha!).
The NACC is run out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and with the Council of the Americas, and is made up of corporate leaders from each of the three countries. In Canada, these corporations include Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, Ganong Bros. Ltd, Suncor Energy, Canadian National, Linamar Corporation, Bell Canada Enterprises, Home Depot, and the Bank of Nova Scotia. U.S. companies include Campbell Soup, Chevron, Ford, FedEx, GE, GM, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Procter & Gamble, UPS, Wal-Mart, and Whirlpool.
On September 12 to 14, 2006, business and government representatives from the three North American countries met in secret, with no media coverage, at the Banff Springs Hotel and convened the North American Forum. Judicial Watch, a U.S. public watchdog group got declassified government documents through a Freedom of Information Act request and made the documents available on their website. These documents reveal the discussions and membership in the secret meetings. The Canadian co-chair of the meeting was former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, and Canadian participants included Day, D’Aquino (also a member of the NACC), all NACC corporate representatives, and John Manley. In the released documents, under the forum discussion on “Border Infrastructure and Continental Prosperity,” chaired by John Manley, a startling quote was revealed: “While a vision is appealing, working on the infrastructure might yield more benefit and bring more people on board (‘evolution by stealth’).” What exactly are they evolving by stealth? Oh right, our country.
On the Canadian government’s SPP website, a list of priorities is provided which gives recommendations to be implemented by date, and then tracks their status. Under Aviation Security: “For aviation security purposes, each country has developed, is developing or may develop its own passenger assessment (no-fly) program for use on flights within, to or from that country to ensure that persons who pose a threat to aviation are monitored or denied boarding, within 24 months (June 2007).” On June 18, 2007, Canada instituted our very ‘own’ no-fly list.
On May 8, 2007, The Montreal Gazette reported that “Canada is set to raise its limits on pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables for hundreds of products. The move is part of an effort to harmonize Canadian pesticide rules with those of the United States, which allows higher residue levels for 40 per cent of the pesticides it regulates,” and that “Canadian regulators and their U.S. counterparts have been working to harmonize their pesticide regulations since 1996, as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now the effort is being fast-tracked as an initiative under the Security and Prosperity Partnership.”
The Vancouver Province reported on January 22, 2008, that “B.C. is about to become the first province to use a high-tech driver’s license. For an extra fee, it will enable drivers to cross the border into the U.S. without a passport and still comply with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security concerns,” and that “the enhanced driver’s license or EDL has a radio-frequency identification chip that will broadcast a number linked to a computer database, allowing a border guard to assess data and flag security issues as drivers approach the booth.” Introduced by Gordon Campbell and Stockwell Day, this is the “biometric” card as recommended under the SPP — essentially, a North American ID card.
There is also much discussion of a common currency for North America, often called the “Amero,” much like the euro for the E.U. The Fraser Institute published a paper entitled, “The case for the Amero.” The C.D. Howe Institute followed that with the publication, “From fixing to monetary union: options for North American currency integration.” In May of 2007, as reported by The Globe and Mail, David Dodge, then-governor of the Bank of Canada, said, “North America could one day embrace a euro-style single currency.” The Globe reported in November of 2007 that Stephen Jarislowsky, board member of C.D. Howe, told a parliamentary committee, “Canada should replace its dollar with a North American currency, or peg it to the U.S. greenback.”
The SPP is not about “security” or “prosperity” (except for the very few over the many), but is rather about forming a North American Union. When Vicente Fox recently appeared on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart asked him about NAFTA, of which Fox stated, “NAFTA’s been good. As a matter of fact we should have a new vision, go further, integrating,” and Fox went on to discuss the “solidarity” of the European Union. When asked if he wanted a North American Union, and if it would include Canada, Fox said, “Long term, yes.” On May 16, 2002 Fox spoke at Club 21 in Madrid, and stated, “Eventually, our long-range objective is to establish with the United States, but also with Canada, our other regional partner, an ensemble of connections and institutions similar to those created by the European Union.”
Mussolini has been attributed as once saying, “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” Gandhi once said, “A democrat must be utterly selfless. He must think and dream not in terms of self or party but only of democracy.” So are those behind the SPP listening to, Gandhi or Mussolini?
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By Jim Kouri Posted 1:00 AM Eastern October 8, 2007 NewsWithViews.com In the midst of the current presidential race, American voters are being denied information regarding alleged plans to merge the three nations of North America -- the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Not only are most political leaders in both major parties failing to discuss allegations of an impending North American Union, but the mainstream news media are failing to examine what promises to be THE major news story of the 21st Century. Meanwhile, the Mexican government has revealed to its own citizens that Mexico has entered extensive discussions with government officials in Texas and top representatives from the Bush administration to extend what it called the Trans-Texas Corridor into Mexico, with a plan to connect to the Mexican ports on the Pacific, including Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas. In fact, the official website of the Mexican northeastern state of Nuevo León contains multiple reports that José Natividad Gonzáles Parás, governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo León, has actively discussed these plans with numerous US government officials, including Texas' state and local officeholders. "All one needs to do is to look at the social mass viewpoint on Americans themselves by their own media as well as media outlets in other countries," Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actor Michael Moriarty told NewsWithViews.com during an exclusive interview. "Americans are looked at [sic] majoritively speaking, as gun-toting, constitution quoting, trigger happy [sic] misinformee's. Yet, carrying a gun is the first and foremost sign of being a truly free person. The view that Americans are stupid is a widely held one, yet they are one of the last bastions of freedom left to view," added the former Law & Order star. Texas Governor Rick Perry, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice all discussed the extension of the Trans-Texas Corridor into Mexico to create what's called a "Trans North America Corridor." In fact, just last August during a trip to Mexico, Perry made news in the conservative news media by calling the idea of building a fence along the US-Mexico border "idiocy." "Largely unreported in the American press were meetings Perry held in Mexico with Gonzáles Parás in which the two discussed extending the corridor into Mexico," said Moriarty. "In their private meetings, the pair thoroughly discussed extending Trans-Texas Corridor into Mexico," said Moriarty during his NWV interview. "We have had interaction with the governor of Texas," Gonzáles Parás said on the government web site. "We have had a very productive relationship with Rick Perry, who is also interested in what we can do to continue that which is known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, that in reality is the corridor of North America, the Trans North America Corridor, that includes railroads, bridges, passenger automobile highways, and truck highway lanes." Gonzáles Parás further explained the extension of TTC-35 into Mexico would connect through Monterrey, a city which he suggested would function as a hub for truck-freight traffic. Monterrey is the capital of Nuevo León. "One of the themes that merited the most attention on the part of the two governors was the development of the infrastructure needed for the competitive development of the region as it relates to developing the Trans-Texas Corridor in connection with the project we call the Corridor of Northeastern Mexico," the Nuevo León government web site reported Gonzáles Parás saying Sept. 1, at the conclusion of Perry's visit. "Gonzáles Parás is reportedly pursuing plans to establish Monterrey as an 'inland port' where international container freight cargo, largely delivered into Mexico via the Mexican ports on the Pacific, could be transported via a Trans North America Corridor into the United States via Laredo, Texas," claims Moriarty, who's been following this story closely. Once on I-35, the Mexican trucks transporting the Chinese containers could travel north, heading toward US inland ports are being established by the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio in San Antonio and in Kansas City by the Kansas City SmartPort. On May 24, Gonzáles Parás announced during his meetings in Austin, Perry had agreed the envisioned Trans North America Corridor would pass through Laredo and connect with San Antonio, just as Mexico ultimately planned to extend the superhighway south into Colombia. "We have also worked in Monterrey to create an inland port, a metropolitan center for moving rapidly the commercial traffic from Monterrey to the inland port at San Antonio," Gonzáles Parás said in the state-published interview. "For this strategic project to be accomplished, we have been working with the federal government in Mexico as well as holding discussions with the secretary of transportation and the secretary of state in the United States," he said. Similar comments made by Gonzáles Parás at a press conference in Mexico that first announced Transportes Olympic had been selected as the first trucking firm to cross the border in the Mexican truck-demonstration project.
In speaking to the group assembled at the company's headquarters, Gonzáles Parás announced the Trans-Texas Corridor was not just the NAFTA Superhighway, but "the Logistical Trans-Corridor of North America," uniting Mexico, the United States and Canada. He next announced the time had arrived to declare a North American Economic Community. Gonzáles Parás explained the Trans-Texas Corridor was more accurately known in Mexico as the "Logistical Trans-Corridor of North America." "I want to let you know how much we in this border state of Nuevo León have been working with our neighbor state of Texas," he said, "making agreements which permit us to enrich what in Texas is called the 'Trans-Texas Corridor,' but what we in Mexico know as the 'Logistical Corridor of North America.'" "We, Canada, and the United States have to perfect this Logistical Trans-Corridor of North America for our mutual benefit," Gonzáles Parás continued. He expanded his vision of a Logistical Corridor of North America to include the construction of a train and truck corridor that would cut through the heart of North America. As far as a NAFTA Superhighway, the first segment is the planned four-football-fields-wide Trans-Texas Corridor which the Texas Department of Transportation plans to build parallel to Interstate 35. "At the recent Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) third summit held in Montebello, Quebec, President Bush and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper ridiculed the idea that SPP might result in the creation of a North American Union or NAFTA Superhighways," said Moriarty. "However, these reports written in Spanish and published on the Nuevo León government website suggest that discussions about extending TTC-35 into Mexico are much further advanced that have been admitted by the Bush administration or reported upon in the US mainstream media," Moriarty added. The well-known actor and musician takes a dim view of America's future if the current trend continues unabated. "The Old World Order is now legally dead, but is still on life support in America. The old world was about individual freedom and protection of the family unit and the family of countrymen. The New World Order is about the loss of sovereign rights given by God, and the replacement of those rights with freedoms handed out by man, or "the world government" such as the United Nations," said Moriarty. "The New World Order is alive and well today and has been for quite sometime. The founding of International Banking Cartels, Foreign Relations advisers and the creation of a World Court were all the political egg and semen needed to begin the pregnancy, global crisis (real or fabricated) was all that was needed to give birth to the dreams of powerful men."
Meanwhile, the Mexican government has revealed to its own citizens that Mexico has entered extensive discussions with government officials in Texas and top representatives from the Bush administration to extend what it called the Trans-Texas Corridor into Mexico...
Hitler Meets Christ, A Michael Moriarty film. Municipio de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico Nuevo Leon - Wikipedia Michael Moriarty, the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning star of Law & Order, is set to premiere his much anticipated film Hitler Meets Christ at the 17th Annual Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California. A dark comedy exploring the polar philosophies of two of the most controversial figures in human history, Hitler Meets Christ stars Moriarty as Hitler and Canadian actor Wyatt Page as Christ. Moriarty adapted the screenplay from a controversial play he wrote in New York in the early 90s (then called Hitler and Christ Meet Death at the Port Authority Bus Terminal). The film has already generated sizable online interest due to both its risky characterization and the recent crop of films and novels centered on Hitler and the Holocaust. According to Moriarty, the film is about the tenacity of Christ and his love — and Hitler's agony in the face of it. "It ultimately comes down to good and evil," says Moriarty. "And the two greatest, most polar opposites of good and evil are Jesus of Nazareth and Adolf Hitler of Germany... It's a comedy in as much as it allows the audience to laugh at Hitler, and it's a tragedy in that he's really a poor homeless man trapped and imprisoned by the soul of Hitler." Shot on location in some of the darkest neighborhoods of Vancouver, Canada, Hitler Meets Christ was directed by newcomer Brendan Keown and produced by Keown and Jeremy Dyson, whose previous production credits include the award-winning Dark Arc (2005). Moriarty has starred in Law & Order (1990-1994), The 4400 (2004), Shiloh (1997), Pale Rider (1985), Holocaust (1978) and Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). He received his most recent Emmy Award in 2003 for the television movie James Dean.
This is a wonderful site that has information on how to contact ALL Politicians.
http://www.outsourcecongress.org/outsource/congress/schstaffers.html
By Frosty Wooldridge
June 21, 2007
NewsWithViews.com
Senator Trent Lott this week erupted in front of the cameras, “Talk radio is running America,” he said. “We have to deal with that problem.”
If you’re a burglar and someone shines a light on your activities, sure enough, you must deal with the ‘problem’ of being caught. Lott suffers distress from being exposed by talk radio. That illuminates his problems: lack of integrity and violation of his oath of office.
Lott knows no one shined a light on the 1986 amnesty. No one questioned the seven subsequent amnesties by Trent Lott, Teddy Kennedy, John McCain and the rest of those cockroaches running around the halls of Congress. No one questioned these ‘noble’ men’s disregard for enforcing those laws they created to serve a greater master—U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporations. Today, we know Lott lies, McCain hides, Kennedy gorges and the rest of the Senate of the United States serves illegality over and above the U.S. Constitution.
“Well Aunt Bee, if you’re being lied to and cheated by politicians, what would you do?” asked Opie while rocking in the big rocking chair on the front porch in Mayberry.
“I’d call Andy Taylor to expose them for what they are doing to us common folks,” said Aunt Bee. “Or, maybe we should call the radio station…”
If not for talk radio hosts like Denver’s Peter Boyles and Gunny Bob Newman, George Putnam in Los Angeles, the John and Ken Show, Roger Hedgecock and dozens of others—Trent Lott and company would have shoved S. 1348 down America’s throat like a bar lizard drugging his victim for a date rape.
Talk radio gives voice to the voiceless! The Internet exposes gut level truths.
In a brilliant piece in the Magic City Morning Star, June 16, 2007, gutsy journalist Jan Herron wrote a column, “THE BAGMAN COMETH.”
“How brazen of “We, The People,” to inject our opinions into the debate!” she said. “English speaking talk radio listeners are the voices of intelligent and informed American citizens who are not buying snake oil from sell-out senators such as Trent Lott.”
Herron referred to the fact that the U.S. Senate’s amnesty bill offers American citizens a ‘bag of date-rape’ poison. She said, “Trent Bagman Lott must be referring to Spanish talk radio as to who is trying to “run” and “ruin” America. Perhaps Lott needs to tune into Spanish talk radio, I’m sure he’d feel right at home with his “pro-amnesty” compadres.”
Peter Boyles, on KHOW 630 AM exposes Bush’s support of the amnesty with a reasoned approach with expert witnesses. One of his guests, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, told the audience that 103 million people would be added to America in 20 years if the bill passed. Costs exceed $2.3 trillion for American taxpayers. You could ‘feel’ a collective gasp from hundreds of thousands across the airwaves. Rector mesmerized the audience. Boyles goes eyeball to eyeball with John Temple, publisher of the Rocky Mountain News in exposing biased reporting. Roger Hedgecock’s “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” in Washington, DC in March illuminated millions of listeners across the nation of the real aspects of S. 1348. George Putnam pounds away like a U.S. Marine who never stops defending his country. Jan Herron hits the keyboard while the radio hosts speak into the microphone.
“Devious and vigorous forces want to continue the flow of illegal aliens into America,” Herron said. “Trent Lott has joined the other bagmen in trying to push through yet another amnesty against the will of the people. The scheme seems staged, the fix is in, and our comments have no place in this scheme. “We, The People” are a real threat to Lott, Graham, Salazar, Kyl, and other bagmen. They want for us to become “Unplugged.”
Herron continued, “Congress fails to represent American citizens. Are we to conclude that those who have not spoken up approve of our country being invaded with illegal aliens, or are they just “chicken little cowards” as Trent Lott? Either way, Lott or these cowards shouldn’t be in office pretending to represent us, because they do not. And these same cowards shouldn’t take for granted the tenacity of “We the People” or underestimate our willingness to do what needs to be accomplished to preserve the sovereignty of this country. We will tune into TALK RADIO as we darn well please, Mr. Lott!”
“We the People” voiced our opinions in sending the “NO AMNESTY” message to Congress last week,” Herron said. “It’s obvious Senator Trent Lott takes, “We, The People” for granted as he now has added his name to the list of bagmen singing the President’s praises.
Herron exposed little known facts: “California is a prime example of the “open borders catastrophe.” California’s 1965 population of 18 million has now doubled to over 36 million, largely from immigration. It’s projected to 56 million in 30 years, again from immigration.
“A full 96 percent of California’s 1990s-era population explosion came from immigration.
“California’s Central Valley is heavily agricultural and a breadbasket for much of the nation. Within 25 years, 50 percent of that agricultural area is slated for bulldozing to accommodate housing and services demanded by increased immigration.
“California must now build one new elementary school every day, 365 days a year to accommodate that explosion, much of it illegal aliens.
“California’s multi-year drought of the late 1970s has now spread to other Western states. Imagine the disaster when future California droughts affect 56+ million thirsty Californians!
“Today’s California is tomorrow’s America, a future of wall-to-wall bodies, social unraveling, destroyed resources and an exhausted environment created exclusively by mass immigration. It’s coming to your state soon!
OPENING THE BORDER, SHUTTING OUT SAFETY: Bush Administration Mexico-Domiciled Truck Pilot Program Endangers Safety, Disregards Federal Laws
| Posted : Thu, 21 Jun 2007 06:14:00 GMT |
| Author : Jackie Gillan, Vice President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety |
| Category : PressRelease |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Organizations representing highway and truck safety groups, labor, and independent truck drivers joined members of Congress today to criticize the Bush administration for ignoring federal safety laws concerning the implementation of a pilot program allowing trucks from Mexico to travel throughout the United States.The groups – including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Public Citizen and the Truck Safety Coalition – released an analysis of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) program showing the agency failing to comply with federal law. They also released a recent opinion poll revealing the public’s opposition to the plan. In February, the administration announced plans to conduct a “pilot program” allowing up to 1,000 Hearings in the U.S. House and Senate, featuring testimony from Advocates and Public Citizen, identified serious safety problems with the program. On May 24, Congress approved provisions in a supplemental Iraq War funding bill to ensure that any pilot program to allow Mexico-domiciled trucks full access to the nation’s highways would not circumvent safety standards or congressional oversight. The provisions ordered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which is responsible for implementing the administration’s cross-border pilot program, to obey a number of requirements that the agency is still ignoring. These provisions, signed into law by the president, require: the U.S. Department of Transportation The groups today accused the administration of brazenly pressing forward without meeting many of the safety provisions directed by Congress. Less than three weeks after the legislation was signed into law, FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register on June 8 that in effect declared that the agency had met all of the congressionally mandated safety requirements to open the southern border. The report released today, however, identified every provision of law that FMCSA has failed to comply with, including: failure to provide sufficient opportunity for public notice and comments; failure to provide the public with information about the pilot project; failure to comply with the requirements of §350 of the FY2002 DOT Appropriations Act on the safety of cross-border trucking; failure to comply with requirements of the pilot program law to test innovative approaches and alternative regulations under 49 USC §31315(c); failure of FMCSA to keep its promise to check every truck every time for compliance; and failure to establish criteria that are subject to monitoring during the pilot program. “The Bush administration and the DOT have failed in all respects to meet congressional requirements to put safety first before forcing open the border to potentially dangerous long-haul trucks,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen and chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH). “The agency needs to obey the law and tell Congress how it plans to follow its requirements. The DOT should not implement any cross-border trucking pilot program until it can make the grade. In persisting with its current program, FMCSA is disregarding the will of Congress and the safety of the American people.” A new poll released by the groups today and conducted by the nonpartisan Lake Research Partners found that a majority of Americans (56 percent) believe the Bush administration’s plan to allow Mexico-domiciled trucks to travel outside the current commercial zone and throughout the United States is dangerous. Majority agreement that this is dangerous for U.S. drivers transcends gender, age, political identification and region. Notably, self-identified independents (60 percent) are most likely to agree that the Bush proposal is dangerous, though majorities of Democrats (54 percent) and Republicans (58 percent) concur. “The American public has good reason to be concerned,” stated Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates). “DOT has made it crystal clear that it intends to force open the U.S.-Mexico border despite all contrary evidence, despite the opposition of the American people and in open defiance of safety laws required by Congress.” Bipartisan legislation included in Section 6901 of the Iraq War supplemental appropriations bill directs the DOT Office of Inspector General to report to Congress on whether or not the federal government is in full compliance with the truck safety law enacted in 2001. Unfortunately, the DOT continues to select parts of that law it wants to obey and those it chooses to ignore. These include provisions prohibiting cross-border trucking to occur unless the U.S. and Mexico have reached an agreement on hazardous materials, unless there are adequate inspection facilities available for passenger buses and unless there are cures for deficiencies in data systems used to monitor driving violations and convictions of Mexico-domiciled commercial operators. Todd Spencer, a former truck driver and executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), stated, “The administration is simply thumbing its nose at the safety and security concerns that have been raised by Congress and the American people.” Safety groups and truck drivers called on the administration to comply with federal laws and provide the public with crucial information about the program that will affect safety. Advocates filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to the pilot program, but the agency continues to stonewall and refuses to release information detailing the origins of the pilot program, leaving the public unable to adequately evaluate it. “This pilot program is a defiant and shameless attempt to ram through a major change in public safety policy regardless of the consequences,” said Gillan. “This is a dangerous policy that will ultimately threaten the lives of every motorist who travels our neighborhood streets and highways.” The FMCSA Pilot Program “report card,” the Advocates report on “Opening the Border – Shutting Out Safety,” and a summary of the Lake Research Partners’ public opinion poll on trucks from Mexico driving throughout the U.S. can be found at www.saferoads.org and www.citizen.org. |
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Will American’s join with Canadians this August to stand up against the SPP that is threatening to destroy our countries? This is a good question, but one in which currently there is no answers.
Mainstream U.S. Media has been hush, hush about the SPP meeting planned to take place on August 20th and 21st in Montebello, Quebec, at the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello resort in which Prime Minister Harper, President Calderon and President Bush are scheduled to attend.
While there might be differences of the reasons, the end results desired are the same. Stop the SPP.
Read more about this protest at :
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56266
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