A few weeks back I reported on how members of the Tea Party felt that the UN is trying to take over Rte. 1 in Midcoast Maine.
To some, this seems like the implementation of a sinister plan called UN Agenda 21, which they think is meant to take away our freedoms.
Jarrod LeBlanc of MaineWebNews was on hand and put together this report on the meeting of the Gateway 1 Steering Committee, with some additional background on Agenda 21. You may find it of high interest:
Some background: US Rte. 1 is the lifeline of Midcoast Maine, and 80 mile stretch that runs from Brunswick to Bucksport. It is mostly rural, with towns dotted along it about every 8 to 10 miles - usually at the mouth of a river that provided power for mills. Development pressure and the accompanying traffic has been growing for some time, and the Gateway 1 Corridor Action Plan was developed to control such pressures through long range master planning on a regional scale.
Where to begin?
What one loves is how the echo chamber resonates. For example, last 13 May the Guardian reported that Glenn Beck holds up Maurice Strong as evidence of 'global government' conspiracy, including the same quote that LeBlanc points to, albeit with more context:
Lock up your children: the bogey man cometh. We know this because Fox News rabble-rouser Glenn Beck has kindly forewarned us. Yesterday, he informed his devoted followers that they should be on the look out for the approaching tentacles of a "global government". The contention of many ideologically fueled climate sceptics, such as Beck, is that global warming is being used by malevolent, socialist forces lurking in the shadows to usher in a "new world order". The commies have invented this faked, jumped-up "science" as a Trojan horse to achieve their master plan. Or something like that, anyway.
Beck has obviously been thumbing through the catalogue of conspiracy theories online because he decided to use a quote from a man called Maurice Strong which has been bouncing around unchallenged in the sceptic echo chamber for years as evidence that the heralding of a global government is a clear and present danger. Here's what Strong, a former executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme is said to have told a reporter in 1990:
What if a small group of these world leaders were to conclude that the principal risk to the Earth comes from the actions of the rich countries? In order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring this about?
It's really difficult to understand how NAFTA and CAFTA - by leading to the collapse of American manufacturing - were a palliative for global warming, since said manufacturing simply moved to countries with much less stringent environmental controls and almost no enforcement of what few regulations there were.
In other words, NAFTA and CAFTA only made the increase in global warming worse.
LeBlanc then uncorks this:
Maine's Gateway 1 Corridor Action Plan outlines significant limits on the development of rural areas. This is a map of the Wildlands Project. The red represents areas to be off limits to human beings. If you live there now - you won't.
Here is the map to which he refers:
I spent some time trying to find any reference to the "Wildlands Project" on the UN website, and every search for the term only led to any number of conspiracy sites, none of which provided a link to a UN webpage.
Regardless, there are no areas in the Gateway 1 Plan designated to be "off limit to human beings." Here is an example for the Core Growth Area map for Warren:
The area in red on this map indicates "Future area of Concentrated Development." The gray represents areas already developed. There are no plans to "shift" or "move" people from their existing homes, but advocates that future growth occur only in areas already developed or at existing nodes.
LeBlanc then has this:
Rent the film Metropolis to get an idea of what these folks may have in mind.
Not have in mind, but may have in mind.
It's not enough for you folks to be scared of what is not in the Gateway 1 Corridor Action Plan, so go watch a film from 1927 to really get worked up.
LeBlanc sees more sinister intent in the Executive Summary, as the prologue is titled "New World of Transportation." Read it for yourself and you tell me what you think:
Prologue: A New World of Transportation
The era of expanding highways in response to automobile-driven demand began to fade a decade or more ago. This and other trends that have been taking form for years - energy volatility, insufficient funds to maintain the existing transportation system, increased understanding of environmental limits, and an aging population with different transportation needs - mean that we have to make the best use of the transportation system we already have and take a hard look at new ways to meet growing demands on the system.
This is a huge challenge, but the Gateway 1 Corridor Action Plan illustrates how solutions can emerge when communities team up with state and federal agencies and put everything on the table. The plan was developed by representatives from 20 Corridor communities in the form of a Steering Committee, who worked together with the Maine Department of Transportation and Maine State Planning Office with the support of the Federal Highway Administration and four regional planning commissions. Together they developed not just a vision, but a set of specific solutions, both local and regional. They arrived at a plan that simultaneously provides for economic growth, preserves transportation resources, and keeps the highly livable, scenic "brand" of Mid- Coast Maine.
At the heart of the plan is a marriage of land use and transportation. The plan recommends a pattern of future development that will reduce stress on the transportation system along with a set of strategic transportation investments that will create significant capacity for growth in jobs and population within that pattern of development. The plan also brings together into a coordinated whole the local and state governments responsible for land use and transportation system decisions.
The choice is not whether to continue in the old way or embrace the new plan. The choice is whether to embrace the new plan – or find that all the rules have changed. Going forward, the MaineDOT must look very closely at all new transportation improvements. It must consider if the improvement ultimately will lead to more congestion. MaineDOT must also ask if the need could have been prevented by better local land use planning or by taking a regional approach to the problem.
The plan is a tool for municipalities and state agencies that puts everyone in the best position to negotiate this new world of transportation. It is also a blueprint for other corridors in Maine. By planning for land use and transportation at the same time, we can preserve resources and promote healthy growth for our state.
Perhaps it's better to just stick our heads in the sand and pretend that we can continue to develop more sprawl, requiring even more roads, add more costs to infrastructure that we already can't afford, and spend ever more time in our vehicles.
LeBlanc then pulls a stunt I simply can't believe. He states that US presidents from George HW Bush to Obama have pledged our country's support for Agenda 21, and then shows a clip of Bush 41 talking about a "New World Order."
What he doesn't say is that the clip is from when Bush 41 announced the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, to oust Iraq's forces from Kuwait:
LeBlanc also cites the Partnership for Prosperity and Security, which was actually called Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).
The SPP was terminated in April 2009, not having achieved any of its goals.
Oddly, the Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean, which includes the US and began in 1997, 9 years before the SPP, has not "ended America as we know it."
And who knew that a carbon tax would be the funding source for a global government?
LeBlanc has created an incredible tour-de-force of wingnuttia, and I urge you to send it around to all you know.