lframerica.com Blog

February 20, 2008

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Filed under: Uncategorized, Illegal Alien, NAU, SPP, TTC, Environment, Communities, Schools, Food Threats, American Crimes, Drugs, Gangs, Biohazards/Toxins, Politics, Bills, Border Patrol, U.S. Security, Homeland Security, POW'S, Big Business, DUI/Vehicular Accident, Murder/Homocide, Rape, Violent Crime, Robbery/Theft/Vandalism, Health Threats, Diseases, Biohazards/Toxins, DUI, Murder/Homocide, Rape, Illegal Alien Crimes, Burgulary/Theft/Vandalism, Violent Crimes, Miscellaneous, Government, President, White House, Vice President, Congress, House of Rep., World News, Legal Immigration, ICE Raids, Employers, Arrests, Riots, Real ID Act, Costs, NAFTA/CAFTA/FTAA, National Threats, Terrorist Threats, Nuclear Threats, Democrats, Republicans, State & Local, Illegal Entry, Amnesty Bill, Texas, Houston, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Law Enforcement, Local, Hit and Run, Hit And Run, CrimeMarch, Child Molestation, Oklahoma, Drugs, Drugs, Virginia, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, Deleware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, American Job Loss, Recalls, United States News, Nation Wide, Governors, Smuggling, Child Abuse, Child Abuse/Molestation, Government Crimes, Hate Crimes — Administrator @ 10:15 am

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February 15, 2008

Mexican Gov’t Reveals Plans For Trans North American Corridor.

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.

June 23, 2007

NAFTA Super Highway Extends North

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56287

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.”

Texas Governor Clears Way For NAFTA Superhighway

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56309

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.

June 22, 2007

Contact All American Politicians

This is a wonderful site that has information on how to contact ALL Politicians.

http://www.outsourcecongress.org/outsource/congress/schstaffers.html

June 21, 2007

INTERNET AND TALK RADIO SAVING AMERICA

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

Filed under: Uncategorized, Illegal Alien, NAU, SPP, TTC — Administrator @ 7:16 am

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
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
Mexico-domiciled trucks to travel beyond the current border zones. In 2001, Congress had passed legislation that put a premium on upgrading inspection facilities, computer databases and other safety-related requirements before opening the southern border for long-haul trucks. The Bush administration has still not finished implementing the safety requirements in that law, but decided this year to rush ahead with the pilot program in an attempt to open the border.

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
(DOT) to follow all applicable rules and regulations concerning the formulation of pilot programs and crossborder trucking; Mexico-based trucking companies and trucks to comply with all applicable U.S. laws; and the administration to ensure that the operation of these trucks within the United States would not have a negative impact on safety.

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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