HUGE: Road to Babylon - Superhighway Through Central US Under Construction

Allyn Hunt of the Guadalajara Reporter writes about the core project of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) between the US, Canada and Mexico in his 10/14 "South of North" column:

...building a giant limited-access "super highway" that will slice from the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas, through the heartland of the US, to Canada, just north of Duluth, MN...  Without any discussion or approval from Congress, and no public debate, the Bush administration foresees containers from the Far East - including China - entering the US from the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas aboard Mexican trucks. At Laredo the trucks will pick up what will be America's most modern limited-access "International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor" - described as four football fields wide, sporting ten lanes, as well as passenger and freight rail lines, bordered with gas and oiil lines running along its sides.

It's not surprising if you haven't heard of it.  The MSM has hardly been forthcoming about the project.

Here is a map of the proposed superhighway cutting the US in two, along with another article on WorldNetDaily:

A Texas congressman is asking his colleagues as well as American citizens nationwide to join him in opposing a plan that describes itself as seeking more security and more prosperity for the United States, when in fact it may do neither.

Rep. Ron Paul has written his weekly "Texas Straight Talk" column about the "Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America (SSP)," which, he says, "will likely make us far less secure and certainly less prosperous."

A key to that plan, he noted, is a massive new NAFTA superhighway about which WorldNetDaily has run a series of reports.

"A massive highway is being planned to stretch from Canada into Mexico, through the state of Texas," Paul wrote. "This is likely to cost the U.S. taxpayer untold billions of dollars, will require eminent domain takings on an almost unimaginable scale, and will make the U.S. more vulnerable to those who seek to enter our country to do us harm."

More description of the Superhighway from the October 14 Hunt column:

The trucks' first customs stop will be the "Kansas City SmartPort,"... to be built with taxpayer money beginning next year. There, trucks with containers headed within the US - say, to Los Angeles or Atlanta - will be rerouted. All of this will be executed without the services of the Longshoreman's Union or the Teamsters Union. The Texas Department of Transportation is overseeing this first leg of the highway, called the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The Port Authority of San Antonio, TX, has been busy coordinating work with the Chinese to open and develop North American Free Trade shipping ports in Mexico. Present efforts include the ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo. This is part of the Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor's aim to use Mexican ports to ship containers of cheap goods produced by under-market labor in China and the Far East (undermining US jobs). It will use Mexican port labor to undercut US Longshoremen Union workers, Mexican railroad workers to undercut United Transportation Union railroad workers, and Mexican truckers to avoid using US Teamsters Union workers.
It is estimated, though strangely little noted in the mainstream media, that some 585,000 acres of productive farm and ranch lands will be abolished from the tax rolls permanently in Texas alone by the giant Mid-Continent Highway, while "upwards" of one million people will be displaced.

A broad cluster of US government agencies, squadrons of state and private organizations have been working quietly to create the super highway without the kind of fanfare a presidential administration expends on programs of such size, aimed at such a radical national transformation. %Though highway work is to begin next year, there have been no verbal flourishes from Bush.

From Hunt's column "South of North" in October 21 issue of the Guadalajara Reporter:

The North American Union/Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (NAU/SPP) was dreamed up for a March 2005 Waco, Texas meeting of George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and then- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.  The mobile spine of the NAU/SPP is NASCO, the North American Super Corridor Coalition, Inc., a "non-profit organization" dedicated to eliminating the borders, defining the geography, cultures, languages, history, political, fiscal and economic independence and the inimitable uniqueness of the three North American nations.  All this is being attempted without any consultation with or approval by Congress - certainly without public involvement or debate - but instead through a flock of agencies in all t here nations.

Special Task Forces newly lodged in the US Department of Commerce and other, more powerful entities of the United States government, are said to be hurriedly, if quietly, at work to enable this strategem to commence next year.  The first planned publicly visible step appears to be the Super Corridor, simply because it`s hard even for Rovian-minded manipulators to hide the construction of a highway [several] football fields wide, skirted by both freight and passenger railways as well as oil and natural gas lines.

A website called CorridorWatch is chronicling local Texas traumas surrounding construction of this monster.

More from Hunt's October 21 column:

In Canada, watchful sources reported a "secret" conference was held September 12-14 in Banff, Alberta, Canada, made up of a group of present and past elected federal cabinet-level officials and deputies from Canada, the US and Mexico.  They met with unselected corporate, military, academic, financial and industrial leaders, and think tank members, to "strategize" the unification of Canada, the US and Mexico.  "They conspired to... commit the unconstitutional act of castrating the national entities by planning ways to remove constitutional powers and protections granted to the citizens of all three nations."

"We decided not to recommend any things what would require legislative changes (meaning approval), because we won`t get anywhere," said Ron Covias.  Covias is president of the Americas for Lockheed Martin, and former Pentagon adviser to Dick Cheney and chair of the US section of the North American Competitiveness Council created by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and George Bush at a Cancun meeting in March.  People familiar with the Banff conference proceedings note that Covias said, "The guidance from the (government leaders attending) was..., (T)ell us what we need to do (to make this plan work) and we`ll make it happen."

This September meeting was diaried by El Cid on September 25, 2006.

•  the jar

  pesos gladly accepted.

  by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 05:56:14 PM PDT

  •  So what is wrong with this idea?

    The fact that Tancredo opposes it makes me want to support it already.

    by Shockwave on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:00:04 PM PDT

    •  The biggest problem I have with it...

      ...is how quiet it's all been.

      This is a giant, multibillion-dollar enterprise that will act as a long strip of autonomous DMZ RIGHT THROUGH THE CENTER OF THE ENTIRE NATION, and no one's talking about it.

      It may well be a great idea, but it needs to have light shed upon it.

      by Heronymous Cowherd on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:03:24 PM PDT

      •  I Tend to Agree With Your

        The lack of coverage on something like this is amazing, since from the map it will pass right through my country (or close to it).

        It in fact may be a good idea that will benefit many different business, and I am all for "free" trade and getting good into peoples hands in the most cost effective manner.

        But that there is so little news about it, makes me think there must be some issues we are yet to be made aware of. But who knows.

        by webranding on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:13:08 PM PDT

      •  This was reported pretty extensively

        on CNN yesterday.  The reporter was rather stunned by the whole thing.  She also reported that the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the US are going forward with plans for a North American Union modeled on the European Union.  I had heard about this before, but couldn't believe it was being reported on CNN.  What's come over them?

        by Boston Boomer on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:00:45 PM PDT

        •  There's other potential issues with it.

          TXsharon did some diaries on it not long ago; hopefully, she'll pop in and share them.

          Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
            Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
          Tempest even in reason's seat.

          by GreyHawk on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:10:16 PM PDT

          •  I think for Texas,

            not sure about other states, the biggest issue is the land being grabbed for the construction:  prime black prairie farm and open lands.  Rural folks are absolutely outraged that the government is forcing sale of private property for this project with no public input.

            To top it off, the construction will be done by a company from [gulp] Spain!  The horror!  Of course, they contributed handsomely to Governor Goodhair's reelection campaign.  I'm sure it's all very above board...ahem.

            TxSharon has been all over this and could give much better than my sketchy synopsis.

            by jandey on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:03:12 PM PDT

            •  Doesn't the eminent domain revision...

              ...that was recently put in play (by the Supreme Court IIRC) seem like it would be an excellent tool for helping the government seize land?

              I'm just sayin'....

              [puts on tinfoil hat]

              by bluewolverine on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 11:25:45 AM PDT

      •  They used to have

        this on the WH website under SPP, but when Lou Dobbs started talking about it a couple of months back, they pulled it. Now that ain't suspicious, oh, no.....

        by madgranny on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:23:41 PM PDT

      •  The biggest problem is that

        It will take under eminent domain 1/2 million acres of farmland that belongs to Texans and doze over whole towns and communities.

        It won't solve the traffic problems because those are inside the cities, commuter traffic, and the TTC will go around the cities.

        There will be trucks from Mexico without US inspection driving 80 MPH straight from deep Mexico to Kansas City which will be the new port of entry.

        Pollution will increase dramatically.

        We need to change focus from MORE vehicles and larger roads to less vehicles.  Everyone who believes we will still be transporting goods in trucks in 50 years stand on your head NOW.

        The profit goes to a company in Spain NOT Texans.

        and more...
        Shhhh! Don't Tell the Media

        Don't let Eminent Domain and dozers catch you crying

        by TXsharon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:03:21 PM PDT

        •  In addition

          they intend to transport more and more cheap plastic crap into the US and Canada (because it will go all the way to Canada).  HELLO!  We need to start making stuff in the US again.  Jobs, you know...  We don't need anymore cheap plastic crap.

          Think of the food that will be brought into the US from who knows where and with what pesticides.

          Remember the whole illegal immigrant thing and how they want to build a wall on the Southern border?  How does that whole security thing work with a road that is 4 football fields wide running up Texas with trucks driving 80 MPH.  We can't check all the freight entering the US as it is.  

          BAD IDEA!  VERY BAD!

          We need to stop driving so much.

          Use commuter trains and mass transit to reduce rush hour traffic

          Grow food, make stuff and shop locally.

          Build more railways to transport freight and make more efficient use of the railways we have already.

          by TXsharon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:10:20 PM PDT

        •  gaaaaaaaaaaagh

          does anyone remember railroads?

          I can't stand it, will quote from my own diary about my father's generation:

          In the early '60's my Dad, along with fellow railroad employee Warren McGee and the late Honorable Senator Mike Mansfield, took on the proposed merger of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Burlington railroads.  The issue was hung up by the Montana legislature, on account of the core role of the locomotive repair shops in Livingston, Montana.  

          Dad had grown up amid a generation accustomed to public discussion about anti-trust legislation.  He was alert enough to comprehend that the merger was actually a corporate Houdini performance, where the players would assign and reassign themselves new identities within sleeve corporations, selling the whole works back to themselves at huge profits.  Dad and Warren went to the libraries in St. Paul and Minneapolis to research corporate ownership of the railroads, under the tutelage of Mansfield.  Sure enough the transfers amounted to illegal monopolistic trade prohibited by Anti-trust laws.  In 1964 they presented their findings to the Montana Senate (I was there as a little girl of seven).  They won.  The merger - which was a fearful knot in the throats of perhaps millions of employees and related businessmen along the northern corridors where those railroads operated for years - was tabled under a moratorium for seven more years.

          It's all about oil.  The railroad merger plans of the 1950's and `60s were about Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters and all the oil thugs of Texas conspiring to reduce transportation of goods by railroads, instead building up a nation addicted to petroleum.  Railroads are too efficient.  Why not assign every soul in the United States an internal combustion engine, so you can sell more oil?  Burn, baby, burn more oil.

          In New York state around the 1930's, there was even a well-publicized scandal whereby bridges over highways entering the city were intentionally built too low for busses to pass beneath.  This was to restrict African Americans access into the city, because at the time they were nearly all too poor to own automobiles.

          The country was conspicuously, consciously designed for the people to consume oil at insane levels. My Dad, as if not angered enough about corporate privateering, saw the great interstate highway system plans include the demolition of his newly, masterfully built house and farmstead.  He argued successfully against that, almost at the cost of a heart attack.

          Presumably for defense purposes, the interstate highway system which spanned the country during the 1960's and `70's opened the way for an embarrassment of private vehicles to streak around the countryside.  

          Now our cities are deathtraps, as we saw in the south during the hurricanes.  Cities can't handle routine rush hours.  How about everyone with a driver's license starting up all those vehicles at once?  Gee, what a coincidence - the passenger service of all the railroads is mostly GONE except through the eastern corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C.  Now, those oil lords wouldn't really want all of us to DIE during emergencies for lack of evacuation potential, would they?

          _

          As the executive corporate thugs did everything they could to gut the railroad system during the 1960`s, Dad became ever angrier.  He understood exactly what they were up to, in collusion with the oilmen (he hated the Texas monopolists).  And as a railroad engineer, they were messing with his very livelihood and that of his entire state and community.

          Of course the merger people sent shills into Montana to entice the public into believing that the merger would bring about an unparalleled economic windfall.  And not a few people bought that story.  People hounded Dad and Warren McGee and the other community supporters of the anti-merger movement.  Dad's efforts were not appreciated by all.  They held to the illusion that he and Mansfield had cost them money.    

          You would watch Dad simply rave, as he drove the highways, about the trucks.  To him it represented the disintegration of the railroads and a theft from the US public.  Because the railroad was granted as a public trust.  Through their illegal corporate maneuvers, the executive corporate goons had swept the greatest US public trust - all the land grants, mineral reserves, and on and on - into their greedy private hands.

          by stonemason on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 06:21:29 AM PDT

          •  EXACTLY

            by TXsharon on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:16:35 AM PDT

      •  My problem with it is that is going to be ....

        PRIVATELY OWNED, STATE MAINTAINED & NO COMPETE CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN ENTERED INTO (which means that existing public roads along the route will not be upgraded and minimally maintained).

        In Texas a Spanish company name Cintras and the family that owns H.P.Zachary Construction will be the sole proprietors of the Trans-Texas Corridor for the next 75 years.

        There are many more "advantages", but no one seems to be very interested.  Go the White House website and view the full plan.

        by ddrich on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:27:35 PM PDT

        •  Link?

          According to another poster, that page has been removed.

          I assume that it should be here.

          by Heronymous Cowherd on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 04:20:44 AM PDT

    •  Sounds Union-busting-a-riffic too!

      All of this will be executed without the services of the Longshoreman's Union or the Teamsters Union.

      by RBH on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:04:22 PM PDT

      •  there ya have it!

        They're planning a giant port just south of the border in Baja as well.

        The whole point if THAT is to put the Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach and the surrounding area, out of business.   The longshoremen, the teamsters, the whole thing.  

        The longshoremen are one of the few unions who still have any power left in this country.  

        Not for long.

        This has also gotten very little press.

        by theyrereal on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:08:01 PM PDT

        •  Absolutly!

          This will be a very bad thing for the teamsters and longshoremen. It amazes me that it has gotten so little play in the press and here. This is a huge gimme to big business and Bush supporters, IMO.

          by high uintas on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:34:54 PM PDT

    •  Let me count the ways:

      From Ron Paul's column:

      According to the SPP website, this "dialogue" will create new supra-national organizations to "coordinate" border security, health policy, economic and trade policy, and energy policy between the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

      Like we need more security expenditures?

      Or this

      "This is likely to cost the U.S. taxpayer untold billions of dollars, will require eminent domain takings on an almost unimaginable scale

      when we have $8.5 trillion in debt?

      Or all the lost job opportunities?  Did you actually read this diary before commenting?  Are you serious?

      by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:08:15 PM PDT

      •  this idea is being sold by a PR firm.

        at this time.

        there is scant little support for this boondoggle.

        and considering the political ramifications this pipedream may remain just that, a pipedream, and one look shows a massive national security issue from a strategic standpoint.  The nation is now vulnerable to being cut in two rapidly.

        this is bushist nonsense, and the PR blitz should be considered twaddle trying to sell a bad idea.

        by boilerman10 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:26:33 PM PDT

        •  Good, lets kill it while we can. n/t

          by Jim Hill on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:28:01 PM PDT

        •  please

          check out the CorridorWatch website.  They're going unwatched by the MSM in Texas as communities face all kinds of grief.

          by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:32:41 PM PDT

          •  Hi, check out the

            trans texas corridor tag for more on this story. Especially check Lasthorseman's diaries. He provides tons of links to related articles that explain. (I also have left comments with more links). There was the secret meeting at Banff in September that is related. There are links in that Tag. Also there are seven more diaries at trans-texas corridor. Check for more at NAFTA.

            In case you want more paranoia, read this and this. Good to see you around stonemason.

            by Halcyon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:56:24 PM PDT

            •  Hi Halcyon,

              thanks... we've gone south, and are finally on line.

              Thanks for the links, you always have great ones.

              by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:03:20 PM PDT

            •  Thanks, Halcyon -- great links.

              The tag searches included some of the ones by TXsharon that I was thinking of.  Hadn't realized that there were so many more, by others.

              This has still remained too quiet.  It's annoying that it doesn't get more attention and a wider debate.

              Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
                Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
              Tempest even in reason's seat.

              by GreyHawk on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:26:54 PM PDT

        •  The TTC required a complete re=write of the

          Transportation Code of Texas. There were literally hundreds of ways this thing is -- er was -- illegal. TTC Nasco toll road proponents (especially H.B. Zachry and associates and the railroads) spend years contributing generously to state legislators, state senators, local county commissioners and judges in strategic counties, and to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (who made appointments favorable to the and eased TTC enabling legislation through the Texas Senate) and to Governor Rick Perry, and to Republican candidate for Comptroller of Public Accounts, (current agriculture commissioner) Susan Combs. They gave generous campaign donations to candidates for the Texas Supreme Court and saw most of the seats filled with "their people".  Zachry upped its endowements to Texas A&M University and used the resources of academics in selling the TTC toll road vision through symposiums and transportation seminars.   Local city and county officials were invited to join "non profit" organizations and to participate in transportation symposiums where key supporters of the TTC taught them. These were usually financed by the corporations who were to benefit from the construction of the TTC.

          Here are some links to a few of the articles which came from research.

          TTC is Sparking a Prairie War at Texas A & M
          http://grassrootsnewsucanuse.blogspo...

          Them Fires on the Texas Prairie

          http://grassrootsnewsucanuse.blogspo...

          and a piece of illustrative satire:
          A TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR NAFTA PARABLE

          http://grassrootsnewsucanuse.blogspo...

          The TTC is the biggest issue in the statewide races this year in Texas. Most of the Democratic candidates have taken strong positions in opposition to the TTC. All of the Republican incubments and many of the Republican candidates support it. Both the Democratic and Republican Texas platforms oppose it.  Many Republicans realize that the only hope they have of defeating the construction of the TTC is to support Democrats.

          The Agriculture Commissioner's race pits the Republican State Senator (Todd Staples)who "authored" the Transportation Bill which incorporated TTC enabling industry specific language into a gigantic bill which revokes or amends more of the Texas Transportation Code than has been enacted in the past 30 years to attempt to legalize the many things about the TTC which were illegal according to Texas Law. The strongest opponent of the TTC is Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate, Hank Gilbert. http://www.hankgilbert.com/

          Gilbert led the charge in educating the rest of the ticket and activists about the TTC during the primary. On his website he presents the facts on the TTC: http://www.hankgilbert.com/...

          Attorney General Candidate David Van Os also opposes the TTC and pledges to use the office of Attorney General to defeat it.
          http://www.vanosfortexasag.com/

          Comptroller of Public Accounts candidate (D) Fred Head traveled the state covering Trans Texas Corridor TXDOT hearings five nights a week most of the summer. Hank Gilbert also testifed 5 nights a week most of the summer and David Van Os testified at many of the hearings --- always speaking out against the TTC.  Fred Head's website lists his opposition to the TTC:

          http://www.votefredhead.com/...

          These candidates have run vigorous campaigns on a shoestring. Little assistance came to them from the Texas Democratic Party or major financial backers of Democratic candidates. Their support is from the grassroots. They have spent the bulk of their money on gasoline and motel bills as they travel the state and talk to voters. None of them have coffers large enough to compete in the advertising spot wars.  Yet they are the best hope we have to defeat this massive union busting, corporate led and international transfer of taxpayers dollars to private interest scheme.

          Beware folks. Texas is only the first leg of this NASCO driven scheme.

          by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:20:14 AM PDT

        •  There is more than PR firms involved

          It moved from the PR firm arena long ago.

          There are cadres of industry attorney's who hide behind attorney client privilege and function as lobbyists. They meet with legislative counsels and present their industries' language to the counsel and legislators who receive corporate campaign donations carry the industry's language by "authoring", "sponsoring" and "co sponosirng" the legislation. The corporate interests stay vieled behind their attorney's and none of this is reported as lobbying.  Texas House of Representative member Toby Goodman (R) from Arlington, TX explained this to me while I was researching the TTC in August. He told me that this is "a big loophole in the Lobbist disclosure rules."

          I quizzed him about the identical language on eminent domaine (for private use) which is in State Representative Frank Corte's bill and in State Senator Todd Staples Transportation Bill. Both bills have been passed by their respective houses and are in committee waiting to go to the other house. Unless a significant number of incumbents are defeated (or have a strong wake up call) these bills will fly through the other houses and be enacted, clearing the way for construction of the TTC.  The number of slime bags with their hands in the Zachry cookie jar in the Texas Senate and House crosses to both sides of the aisle.

          I no longer view Republicans as necessarily the worse legislators and Democrats as snow white. I look at the money and look at voting records. The first place I look is at Texas Ethics Reports to determine if they have receieved money from H. B. Zachry and related family and corporate donors. Then I look at their voting record.

          by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:30:25 AM PDT

      •  It's a capitalist's wet dream

        Get the taxpaying workers to pay for this thing; use Mexican labor to build it, drive the trucks; use Mexican port labor to offload the stuff at Mexican ports, all stuff made in China or Vietnam at slave wages.

        And guess who profits?

        What's wrong with that?

        by Jim Hill on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:27:36 PM PDT

        •  You summed it up! Good work.

          They want Texas farmers and homeowners to give up their land. They want local businesses to dry up while they replace them with TTC francised businesses on the toll road.
          They want local taxing entities to sacrifice income and local taxpayers to have increased taxes to compensate for lost revenue.
          They want USA dollars to be transferred to international/ foreign controlled corporate interests.
          They want USA and Canadian ports to be boycotted in favor of use of Mexican ports until the unions are broken, then TTC related rail interests will use taxpayer money to reinforce links to the American and Canadian ports.
          They are doing this so that taxpayers/landowners in Texas will finance the infrastructure for Burlington Northern and Kansas City Central and taxpayers and landowners on the east coast will finance it for the Carlyle Group.

          KCS already has the competitive advantage. That isn't good enough. They want taxpayers to finance upgrades to their infrastructure to give them a monopoly.  There are antitrust violations and price setting out the wazoos in this grand expansionist scheme.

          The great frontier once was moving from the East to West Coast. Now it is international corporate interests forging agreements for cartage and multi-modal transit.

          by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:37:53 AM PDT

    •  The port of LA workers might have a problem

      and so will the American truckers who will be out of work. Mexican truckers will take all the goods meant for the US into their port, out of reach of our truckers.

      ANYONE who has a problem with oursourcing our jobs should be very upset about this.

      by karenc13 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:33:40 PM PDT

      •  the LA ports are already

        being screwed -- they're planning an enormous port south of the border to take its place.  

        They will be able to completely circumvent the LA ports, the unions there, etc. etc. and use cheap non-union Mexican labor instead.

        Might be worthy of another diary.   I read about it a while back.

        by theyrereal on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:10:53 PM PDT

        •  Big changes to LA's economy. n/t

          by mike101 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:12:10 PM PDT

      •  Since when does San Antonio have a port? nt

        by yoduuuh do or do not on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:11:40 PM PDT

    •  Tancredo doesn't want Mexicans to take jobs

      here or FROM Mexico when their longshoremen and truckers will take all the jobs we now have when goods arrive in AMERICAN ports.

      I can't stand Tancredo, but he opposes this for the right reasons.

      by karenc13 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:36:01 PM PDT

      •  I can' t stand him either

        but sometimes his issues and mine coincide. It's just that we come to the situation from opposite sides. My biggest bitch is with business and it's exploitation of workers from both sides of the border, from what I've heard from him, it's fear of brown people.

        There is a reason that Bush has gone against his own party on the immigration issue and it isn't because he "cares". It's because he is beholden to those who pay so he can play. So many parts of our economy has been built on the backs of under-payed, over-worked workers with no rights. He likes that. I think that this is part of the "Big Plan".

        by high uintas on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:46:50 PM PDT

•  superhighway

  Just heard about this from another source and he said they have their own websites that detail more...does anyone know which sites?

  by nomoredead on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:21:47 PM PDT

  •  sorry to repeat it but

    the CorridorWatch website may be most advanced, because they've been actually agonizing about it on the community level.

    See Wikipedia about the SPP in general and the highway in particular.

    by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:39:52 PM PDT

    •  Strayhorn has made an issue of the TTC but took

      Zachry money and refused to return it.

      by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:28:02 AM PDT

•  This is big. Thanks for posting it.

  I did a diary on it back in Feburary, as it related to the Dubai Ports World mini-scandal and port security.  At the time, it didn't get much attention.

  It's time for this one to come up on radar screens across the country.  The combination of building, with exported jobs, the transportation infrastructure to make it still easier to export more jobs is absurd,  and the national security implications are scary.  Globalization on steroids and off the deep end.

  This diary deserves lots of recommendations.  Let's get it up on the Recommended list and keep it there for a while.

  by Jim Hill on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:21:47 PM PDT

  •  The Dubai Ports World "port Security" publicity

    highlighted a small clog in this big wheel. KCS has cartage to all the Texas, La and MS ports. Carlyle Group bought the largest ocean carrier serving USA, Hawaii and other American ports and controls Al, and Florida ports. International interests who have cut deals get contracts for American ports security while they are pushing to build a fence on the Southern border and to widen the entrance for freight and speed cargo straight though to Kansas City Mo and points beyond.

    by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:42:53 AM PDT

•  Of course, when global warming

  dries up the Mississippi, they could just pave it and use that.

  Old Man Asphalt,
  It keeps on rollin'...

  Sorry. Feeling silly tonight.

  by The Gryffin on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:25:53 PM PDT

  •  Joe Barton's name hasn't surfaced yet.

    Good old fight the scientist Joe Barton and his 100% sell out to the petroleum / energy interest has a role in this too, but it is not as easy to pin it down as it with the highway rail portion of this plan. The TTC includes a pipeline. Ironically the route runs through most of Texas's aquifiers.
    Thanks to Barton's protection of gas and oil drillers who have ruined many communities drinking water -- water will be more precious than oil before long.

    One way that the TTC will drain money out of local city, county and school districts is that currently the landowners retain surface rights when a pipeline easement goes through their property. The county, city and or school district receives more money when a pipeline easement goes through land in their taxing entity. The TTC will transfer hundreds of thousands of acres of land from LOCAL and SCHOOL and COUNTY taxing entities through condemnation and that land becomes STATE land and is removed from local tax rolls. Counties and Cities and School Districts have fewer acres to get revenue from but their expenses won't go down. Fewer taxpayers will have to divide the cost of services among them. We'll pay higher local and county and school taxes plus have to pay high tolls to travel on the highways.   Yea, Smokey Joe Barton. You have managed to slime your way into another area of abuse to those of us in this district.

    Actually Joe Barton abuses folks world wide. There is no limit to the reach of harm this man does.

    There is an alternative to Barton. David T. Harris understands the issues, knows that people require air and water to survive, and is intelligent.  Because Barton is so entrenched, Harris has received little financial support. Recently Wesley Clark has endorsed him.  David T. Harris's website is: http://followmetodc.com/

    by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:52:43 AM PDT

•  helllooo

  found   nascocorridor.com

  by nomoredead on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:27:08 PM PDT

  •  yup.... and do a diary search on "NASCO" ..

    a number of diaries with surprisingly few comments ...

    some results here ..NASCO diary search

    and "trans Texas" search result...Trans Texas

    by RainyDay on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:20:43 PM PDT

  •  Look up Kansas City Smart Port.

    Also, KSC and Kansas City Southern de Mexico.

    KSC bought a minority interest in Mexico's largest rail carrier and then bought them out and became the major stockholder. KCS became Kansas City Southern De Mexico and invested in the Panama Canal Rail.  They have cartage agreements Canadian Rail which links them to the Pacific Rim.

    by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:10:39 AM PDT

•  WTF?

  How on earth does the executive branch plan on funding this project "without any discussion or approval from Congress"?  Unlike, say, the illegally diversion of funds for the Afghanistan War to Iraq preparations, this sort of Constitutional end-around would not be ignored by Congress, whoever controlls it.  

  by tipsymcstagger on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:44:12 PM PDT

  •  About the way

    they do things such as sell a PLATINUM mine - the Stillwater mine in south central Montana - to a front company for the Russian government... without congressional review.  Talk about aid and comfort to the enemy...  Check it out.

    They have sold ports, mines, oil, precious metals, strategic resources and all kinds of public assets with exactly zero Congressional discussion... which is a crime.  But no one knows, for the most part, that our assets are being pledged away to calm other nations down about all our debt.

    by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:51:24 PM PDT

  •  Funded by hocking the US infrastructure

    Private corporations put up some of the construction cost and get 50 year control of the toll roads, pipelines, franchises (hotels, convenience stores, restaurants and gas stations along the toll road) and get to charge tolls for 50 years. The cost in the long run will be much greater to the citizens than if we paid for the road /rail construction ourselves from state coffers but the line that TxDot and Perry and Dewhurst is that "this is the only way we can afford highways."  That's a lie. But it's been said over and over again. They have allowed the highways to deteroriate so badly that much more money needs to be sunk into them to improve them. Yet when you factor in the added taxes, the money which gets siphoned out of the economy and goes to international corporations from Texas citizens, the cost escalates dramatically.

    by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 03:05:34 PM PDT

•  This project started a while ago.

  According to a friend in South Texas who says land is being acquired...and Gov Perry is facilitating it.  The problem, as some state above, is that it's so fucking sneaky...just what one expects from a dictator who has absolute power, no accountability, a tight group of venal advisors, considerable control over the media, and no compelling reason to obey the law.

  by cas2 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:44:37 PM PDT

•  has the added "benefit"

  of completely destroying the gulf ports and southern US ports. i.e. destruction of every port from baltimore to miami to houston. then giving more money to the chinese.

  this is a brilliant plan.

  i actually saw it on the Onion two years ago, but thought it was a joke!

  by nwskinner on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:45:38 PM PDT

  •  and undermines unions ... probably has impact on

    highway safety rules.

    by RainyDay on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:21:32 PM PDT

•  The Trans Texas Corridor is very very old news

  Yes, my friend, we have heard of it.  We have heard of the TTC, the issues with eminent domain, the issue with a Mexican customs station in Omaha, Nebraska.

  It is part of a scheme to enlarge Mexican ports and bring the goods in from the South.  For the real long run, the expansion of the Panama Canal is also part of this transportation reorientation in the US.  This way you can bypass the East Coast and West Coast ports that are heavily unionized.  Instead of key transportation arteries being east-west, they will run north-south.  Instead of 40 and 80, the heavy stuff will come over on 10 and go up 65 and 85 to distribute to the Southeast.  

  There are many states in the South that are already making early preparations to fit into the new south-north transportation scheme.

  So, I guess you just heard of it now?

  by Dustbowl Observer on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:49:08 PM PDT

  •  Thanks again

    to the death of the MSM, yes, it's a surprise to most.  If you're not living in the shadow of these things, how do US citizens know what's up?

    by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 06:53:22 PM PDT

    •  The dots that I find hard to connect

      are the fact that before long, Americans won't be able to afford to buy the junk that is being imported from wherever. When our homes are foreclosed, and we're all flipping burgers, who's spending the big bucks to support this infrastructure and trucking business?

      by Halcyon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:03:17 PM PDT

      •  I think

        the Chinese will eventually catch on to the fact that the carrot is attached to a stick... then look out when they come around to collect.

        by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:15:48 PM PDT

        •  Afraid China already has their endgame against

          the US figured out. At Asia Times 'America's Acupuncture Points': PART 1: Striking the US where it hurts, PART 2: The assassin's mace

          by Halcyon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:35:43 PM PDT

          •  great links as always

            and then there's the most powerful weapon anyone ever has:  their opponent's mind.  Particularly, the fantastical conceits that rule this culture.  Give the beast enough rope (eg debt) and it will hang itself.

            by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:45:00 PM PDT

            •  Gotta link you to one of Maccabee's

              'taxi driver' diaries, excpt this one was an interview with the gardener, who survived and escaped Guatemala in the 1980's: An Inconvenient Gardener  

              The money quote:

              "When Moses inherited the Hebrew slaves, he had people who complained. Some wanted to go back to the Pharoahs. These Hebrews did not know how to feed themselves. They were good laborers but had no leadership skills. Moses didn't wander in the desert for 40 years because he was lost. He wandered because he wanted that generation to die in the desert and new one, tempered by the harsh life in the Sinai, they would go into the Promised Land. Now, go into a mall the next time you're in town. In any town. Look at the kids. Ever attend a focus group and listen to what young Americans say and think? Ask yourself, is this the generation that will pull America back together? This one? The one that thinks the world is 6000 years old and that it's OK to be famous for nothing? Are these kids going to recreate the manufacturing giants that built this country? Remember, revolution comes from men with rocks in their hands, not rocks in their heads."

              by Halcyon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:49:46 PM PDT

              •  Ohhh

                that is rich.

                We keep on marvelling at this generation too.  

                Something is missing in most of their verbal, comprehension and social skills.  The intellectual equivalent, I suppose, of a diet of straight potato chips and CocaCola.

                Nor could they identify the business end of a shovel.

                They will make nothing but bad noise and information at this rate, and we all know that won't keep us warm or fed.

                by stonemason on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 06:27:24 AM PDT

          •  Thanks!

            Interesting article, thanks for the link!

            by JenThinks on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 10:50:03 AM PDT

  •  this must be why a HUGE port is being built...

    in Wilmington, NC.

    So long as the threat to unionized ports is nigh, everyone will be looking to cash in.

    I had wondered why the state government was so keen on this... a brand new East Coast port, free of any unionized tradition, would compete very well with NY/NJ and Charleston once their union-priced labor is no longer competetive with Mexico.

    A non-union port in NC might be close enough for Europe and Meditteranean shippers to consider when the alternative is the far side of Mexico....

    by Richard Carlucci on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:24:53 PM PDT

  •  Not to pick nits

    But, how do you know that the expansion of the Panama Canal is part of this?

    by high uintas on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:50:25 PM PDT

    •  My guess

      is that a lot will come over from the Atlantic, and need a short cut.  Maybe they've got big designs on Africa?

      by stonemason on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 06:28:29 AM PDT

      •  It's possible

        My question was to Dustbowl Observer who made the comment. I know quite a bit about Panama because my husband grew up there and his father was the auditor for the Panama Canal Company for years. The issue of enlarging the canal has been on the table for years because it's design was early 20th century. Even in the 60s larger ships were being re-routed.

        While I would not put anything beyond the powers that want to build this super highway, unless it is shown to me that the enlargening of the Canal is something more than a smart move by the people of Panama, I think that it's not responsible to make that claim. BTW, thank you for you response.

        by high uintas on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 07:35:36 AM PDT

•  I believe TXsharon posted about this

  several times, if this is the same Texas Transportation Corridor.

  I emailed her and requested that she pop in and share any relevant links -- you're right, it's big.

  Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
    Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
  Tempest even in reason's seat.

  by GreyHawk on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:09:28 PM PDT

•  Yes, I have diaried on this several times

  but there can never be too many.  

  by TXsharon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:22:10 PM PDT

  •  Thanks for coming here, TXSharon

    and I see you've had a recommended diary (or how else to explain all the comments)?

    Pardon me for losing touch for a month while we moved...  and I agree, not enough people know a thing about this.

    by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:27:13 PM PDT

  •  Hey TXsharon...

    ...do you know if this might've been a contributing factor to the neglect of New Orleans after Katrina last year? (actually, I suppose "do you know..." asks you to speculate about something that's  not necessarily knowable; I suppose what I should say is, "Do you think this might've affected their response to Katrina?", which I think it's more plausible you might be able to speak to with a better-informed position, because you're more familiar with the project and if you're in the South, you're probably more aware of Katrina-related stuff...)

    I'm just thinking, if one wanted to create a radical new transportation infrastructure, it would help to have any existing transportation intrastructure somehow removed from the scene so it didn't seem to be so redundant and wasteful.

    I'm not saying that they'd plan to drown New Orleans, but if it flooded, this might make them less enthusiastic about rebuilding and recovering.

    by Christopher on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:31:12 PM PDT

    •  I never thought of that!

      Holy Cow!  It had to cross their wicked, evil minds.

      You are a genius!

      by TXsharon on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 09:04:23 PM PDT

      •  Aw, thanks ;-)

        I like to think of myself as an aspiring paranoiac - I find it's helpful in analyzing Bush/Republican policy and politics.

        Also, I think there's the potential for a very intriguing debate over how much Republican activity is actively asshole-ish, and how much is simple opportunism and resourcefulness. I think there are substantial portions of both (especially given the scale of the things they do - war for oil? Katrina for the superhighway? - if it's incidental, it's awfully convenient, but sometimes the suspicions come before the evidence really takes shape, but sometimes you need the suspicions to see the evidence), but I couldn't tell you very precisely how much was design and how much was taking advantage of circumstances for most of their recent stuff...

        by Christopher on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 01:46:24 PM PDT

  •  TXSharon, great work!

    after reading your excellent diary of August 13, I see it is loaded with pertinent information and links (over 400 comments' worth of wisdom on it).

    Anyone reading here, please also check out the above diary by TXSharon if you haven't read it already.

    Thanks.

    by stonemason on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:41:08 PM PDT

    •  Here is another TTC Dairy

      http://www.dailykos.com/...

      by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:12:50 AM PDT

  •  Thanks for popping in.

    This is huge, and the work you've already done did a great job of explaining it and getting some good details out into the public eye.

    Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
      Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
    Tempest even in reason's seat.

    by GreyHawk on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:04:40 PM PDT

•  I am overloaded

  with things this administration is doing that I need to worry about. How will we survive another 2 years?

  by madgranny on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 07:28:42 PM PDT

  •  By removing them post-investigation.

    And then making sure this nightmare can never, ever be repeated.

    Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
      Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
    Tempest even in reason's seat.

    by GreyHawk on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:03:19 PM PDT

    •  David Van Os is who we are hoping can

      occupy the Texas Attorney General's Office and fight for all of us. TX Sharon and Pdiddle and Bodeicia and I have all worked as hard as we can for David Van Os, Hank Gilbert, Fred Head, Maria Luisa Alvarado to be elected next week. Texas has anti-trust laws which can be enforced. Right now the incumbent is in the pocket of corporate intersts. David Van Os has the skill and determination to fight for the people. He values CONSTITUTIONAL LAW and believes that all people should abide under the RULE OF LAW. Right now the Rule of Law applies to the poor and the exemptions apply to campaign donors and incumbents.

      Gregg Abbott, the current AG in Texas, is currently in the news for establishing a media office using Taxpayers money, paying equipment and manpower to film footage that he's currently running as political campaign ads on Texas television stations!!! Hey, he's the dude that folks are supposed to be able to look to to enforce the law?

      David Van Os is our best hope for restoring Texas Goverment to the people. He wants a fair playing field for everybody. Corporate intersts try to paint him as anti-business. He's definitely not anti-business. He's pro business. He understands that corruption hurts honest businessmen and women. David's father was a petroleum engineer and independent oil producer. David understands how corrpution and monopolies hurt everyone in the industry. He's pledged to go after big oil monopolies and insurance gougers who are breaking anti-trust rules.  

      I am so honored to know this man. He doesn't value people according to the size of their bank account. He values people.  Corporations are not citizens. The people who invest in corporations and run them and work for them are citizens. Every citizen should have a fair playing field. International Corporations should not replace the government of states and nations leaving citizens to starve and die.

      by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:07:26 AM PDT

      •  Too true.

        You should look up and read the corporate citizen diaries that Kossack SaraBeth wrote.  Very enlightening.

        Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
          Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
        Tempest even in reason's seat.

        by GreyHawk on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 11:06:49 AM PDT

  •  A few quick steps (I suppose "quick" isn't right)

    Oppose. Investigate. Impeach. Convict. Ridicule. Repeat.

    by Christopher on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:08:47 PM PDT

  •  I don't know.

    But it just hit me -- if anyone wants to do terrorism, I can tell you exactly where I'd be targetting.

    The superhighway is just too vulnerable to make any sense whatsoever.  I hope it dies an ugly death, along with all of its planners.

    by lemming22 on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 09:55:50 PM PDT

•  Absolutely not a good idea

  This is not a good idea if bush has anything to do with..Bushspeak means say one thing and do another.  Can you imagine how many many people will be without a home for this, not to mention, where is he getting the money for this..He is up to no good I would bet ..Another thing, if we were attacked , guess where the best place to attack us would we.  No, he does not have our interest in mind, he never has what is best for us in mind..

  by bayside on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:08:13 PM PDT

  •  TTC enabling legislation

    which passed the Texas Senate allows TxDot to:
    conduct their own environmental impact studies

    exempts the TTC from normal hearings on historical sites of signifance

    seals proposala and findings of TxDot and contractors/consultants hired by TxDot from examination by public records, or from court order or suspeona until final bid is finalized.

    allows TxDot to condemn land 91 days after a landowner has refused to sell land to TxDot which TxDot or its contractors damaged ecologically by TxDot in constructing the TTC.

    by Faith Chatham on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:20:31 AM PDT

•  No one has mentioned the Amero...

  by 0hio on Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 08:44:19 PM PDT