The Canadian National Newspaper: North American Union: Independent Canada, class leadership, and resistance to Empire

 

North American Union: Independent Canada, class leadership, and resistance to Empire

by Charles Jeanes

Apparently gone are the days where Canadians can rely on leaders like Pierre Elliot Trudeau [Left] to rescue us from an elite driven American take-over agenda, that has threatened Canada even before its Confederation. Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper [Right], in association with Canadian and U.S. based Big Business interests, pursues U.S. President George W. Bush's take-over agenda against Canada.

The editor-publisher of our local weekly newspaper, once my employer, this week wrote a column advocating the “Amero” -- a common currency agenda for Canada, Mexico and the USA. This newsman is not usually a political writer, yet maybe his ideas are more attuned with the common opinions of our town than mine are; I can never get elected to city council, despite four attempts. I don't “resonate” with the public in my electoral platforms, I have been told by the editor of the other newspaper. I oppose the idea of one continental currency (the so-called “Amero"), or of anything else that will submerge us more thoroughly into any form of union with the USA. So naturally the present project of Bush, Harper and Calderon for North American Union (NAU), or Security Prosperity Partnership (SPP), pushes my outrage button. Setting outrage on pause, I want to examine why Canadians should reject these schemes.

Canadian proponents of the Am-Can-Mex Union scheme are not bad people, but they have weak concepts of Canadianism. They are, in one word, unenlightened -- whether one means “enlightened” in its sense of educated and insightful, or in its spiritual sense of uplifted and un-self-centred. Yet their secular leadership is not without effect in our national politics, economics, schools, and media.

It is still within the power of Canadians to head-off the "deep integration" of their nation within a continental super-state, if we have the political will to act accordingly. So herewith, I will make an historical case against NAU and SPP. It is sometimes a harsh judgement of my fellow-citizens, but bear with me. I do believe in the basic wisdom of Canadians. We just need our consciousness focused.

Source: The Canadian National Newspaper: North American Union: Independent Canada, class leadership, and resistance to Empire

The North American Union and the Bigger Plan

If I could have followed up Bret Baier's question with one of my own, here's what I would have asked: "So, President Bush, will the massive 10-lane toll road TransTexas Corridor funded by Cintra of Spain and to be built by Zachry Construction of Texas come to a screeching halt at Oklahoma's border?" What are all the vehicles supposed to do---merge all of a sudden into a small road? I don't think so ! And by the way, Cintra is legally represented in Texas by leading Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, which also just happens to have an office in Dubai (remember Dubai Ports was about to take over operation of a number of America's largest ports) ! Perhaps before President Bush was too critical of people warning about a NAU, he should have read what Mexico's President Vicente Fox said May 16, 2002 at Club 21 in Madrid: "Eventually, our long-range objective is to establish with the United States, but also with Canada, our other regional partner, an ensemble of connections and institutions similar to those created by the European Union" (or as Gorbachev refers to the EU, the "European Soviet").

Link to The North American Union and the Bigger Plan

 

This article lays out the connection to the larger global plan.  It is a good jumping off point to start studing that projection

 

Technorati tags: NAU, North American Union, President Bush, Vincente Fox, Mexico, Canada, TTC, Trans Texas Corridor

Government of Alberta: CANAMEX Trade Corridor

 

CANAMEX Trade Corridor

CANAMEX was one of the first north-south corridors designated as a High Priority Corridor under the National Highway Systems Designation Act.  Actively pursued by Alberta since the early 1990's, the CANAMEX Trade Corridor links Canada, the United States and Mexico and stretches 6,000 km from Alaska to Mexico, truly a pan-American corridor.

The goals of the CANAMEX Trade Corridor are to:

• Improve access for the north-south flow of goods, people and information
• Increase transport productivity and reduce transport costs
• Promote a seamless and efficient intermodal transport system, and
• Reduce administration and enforcement costs through harmonized regulations.

Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation outlines the goals of the CANAMEX Trade Corridor and provides more detailed information on how to improve market access and increase transport productivity. This brochure can be viewed online or click here and a paper copy will be sent to you.

The CANAMEX Trade Corridor Development Brochure (pdf 1.73 MB)

Readers are encouraged to contact Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation with their questions or comments:

Rod Thompson, Ph. D.
Executive Director
Strategic Policy Branch
Tel: (780) 415-0685
Fax: (780) 422-1070
Email: rod.thompson@gov.ab.ca

Documents on this site require Acrobat Reader 4.0 or better, available for free from Adobe.

Government of Alberta: CANAMEX Trade Corridor

Government of Alberta: NAFTA Trade Corridors & State Truck Standards

 

Government of Alberta: NAFTA Trade Corridors & State Truck Standards

 

This link to the Government of Alberta website is the first that I have seen the has a map with the NAFTA Superhighway listed on it.   So, I suppose, this is no longer an Urban Legend. 

Technorati Tags: NAFTA,NAFTA Super highway,TTC,Trans Texas Corridor,SPP,Alberta

Canada loses luster for Big 3

 

A weak U.S. dollar and new, cost-cutting labor contracts with the United Auto Workers have turned Canada from a low-cost alternative for Detroit's Big Three automakers into the most expensive place in the world to build cars and trucks.

And Ontario's loss could be Michigan's gain.

Canada's national health care system and favorable exchange rates have long made Canada an attractive manufacturing location for American automakers. But with the Canadian dollar, or loonie, now nearly on par with the greenback and the new contracts negotiated this fall with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, the UAW has more than closed the cost gap with the Canadian Auto Workers.

Canada loses luster for Big 3

This example shows how the different currencies and the border influence the automotive industry.  So Canada is now the high cost producer of autos.  How interesting. 

 

It does seem obvious that the Canadian national health care system would be regulated under any new trade agreement.

Technorati Tags: CAW,UAW,Loonie,dollar,Automobile industry,Big Three,Michigan,Ontario

Home - Windows Live Spaces

I am getting better with the technical items in my life all the time.  The cell phone has to be the big change this fall.  I have a blue tooth device.   Now, I walk around the house doing my tasks while I tie up my children unmercifully.  It is great.  The same thing is true for long trips in the car.  No more setting there watching the white line.  Now I can talk for hours on any subject with anyone who picks up the phone,.  I do learn lots this way. I also keep up with my children better. 

<p> Today, I had a deep desire to have a camera on the phone as I was walking around though.  Then people could see what I was looking at.  Wow, that would be great.  </p><p>cnn had an article

Home - Windows Live Spaces

Link to CNN Video

The video shows that this thing is arriving.  The uses are endless.  Apparently, the awkward movements are eliminated.

Stop the Security and Prosperity Partnership - StopSPP.com

The Other Side of the Story

No sooner had the Security and Prosperity Partnership been launched than the U.S. Commerce Department made space available in its offices for the personnel of 20 “working groups” to carry out the designs of the new organization. Of note is the fact that no one in Congress had been apprised of this development. Why bypass Congress if there’s nothing to hide?

In September 2006, high-level government officials, media heavyweights and corporate leaders met behind closed doors at a plush resort in Banff, Canada. At their gathering, labeled the “North American Forum,” they discussed energy, security, border infrastructure, and North American “integration.” We know about the secret meeting because a Canadian who attended the affair and didn’t like what he heard blew the whistle and shared some of its documents. After the three-day session, attendee Thomas Shannon (a U.S. Assistant Secretary of State) told an audience in Canada, “The North American Forum is a parallel structure to the Security and Prosperity Partnership.” Other U.S. attendees included former Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (replaced at the last minute by Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace), former U.S. Trade Representative and NAFTA co-author Carla Hills, Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady (who has yet to mention the meeting in her column), and several other former cabinet officers and government officials. Counterparts from Canada and Mexico represented their countries. If nothing sinister was going on at this gathering, why was it conducted in secrecy?

As far back as 2002, Mexico’s Vicente Fox called for the establishment of a duplicate of “the European Union” for the entire Western Hemisphere. He is not alone in desiring such a momentous step. British researchers Christopher Booker and Richard North wrote in their 2003 book, The Great Deception: The Secret History of the European Union, about the false promises and incremental steps that have led to what they termed “the most spectacular coup d’etat in history.” Just as the people of Europe were led astray, we in America are facing similar deceitful beginnings leading to a similar “coup d’etat.”

At the August 2007 meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, hundreds of helmeted, armed, and tear-gas-wielding soldiers and police guarded the site, the Montebello Resort in Western Quebec, to assure that the public would not have access to the proceedings. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins assured the world in the Canadian press that “no one involved in these discussions is interested in, or has ever proposed, a North American Union, a North American Superhighway, or a North American currency.” But Robert Pastor, who is the originator and purveyor of these very topics, was at the Montebello SPP gathering.

More evidence can be assembled for any Doubting Thomases. But space limitations must be honored. Suffice it to say that the border hasn’t been secured, as journalist Jerome Corsi has indicated, because there’s no intention to secure it. A single political and economic entity known as the North American Union doesn’t allow for individual national border security. But a merger of the three nations requires a common security perimeter that ignores national boundaries. Which is why a growing number of Congressmen, alerted by the “conspiracy theorists,” have co-sponsored legislation to block the NAU and scuttle all aspects of the entire plot.

Stop the Security and Prosperity Partnership - StopSPP.com

The Other Side of the Story

Bennett gave some hard facts in his article in the Boston Globe but the other side of the story needs to be told as well.  The quote above gives some of that background.  I'd recommend that you go to the link and follow more of the argument.

The amero conspiracy - The Boston Globe

 

The North American Union is a supranational organization, modeled on the European Union, that will soon fuse Canada, the United States, and Mexico into a single economic and political unit. The details are still being worked out by the countries' leaders, but the NAU's central governing body will have the power to nullify the laws of its member states. Goods and people will flow among the three countries unimpeded, aided by a network of continent-girdling superhighways. The US and Canadian dollars, along with the peso, will be phased out and replaced by a common North American currency called the amero.

If you haven't heard about the NAU, that may be because its plotters have succeeded in keeping it secret. Or, more likely, because there is no such thing. Government officials say a continental union is out of the question, and economists and political analysts overwhelmingly agree that there will not be a North American Union in our lifetimes. But belief in the NAU - that the plans are very real, and that the nation is poised to lose its independence - has been spreading from its origins in the conservative fringe, coloring political press conferences and candidate question-and-answer sessions, and reaching a kind of critical mass on the campaign trail. Republican presidential candidate and Texas congressman Ron Paul has made the North American Union one of his central issues.

The amero conspiracy - The Boston Globe

This is a good summary of the various issues in the North American Union discussion.  The potential of this union needs to be thought out.  While some of its proposals are probably far fetched, does it do any harm to look over the possibility.  I think not.

Technorati Tags: NAU,North American Union,Boston Globe,NAFTA,Trans Texas Corridor,Waco

YouTube - Ron Paul @ CNN Republican Debate PT.1 11-28-07

YouTube LinkRon Paul did an excellent job of framing the argument on the North American Union.  He explained it as a contest of ideas.  It is a contest of Globalism vs. National Sovereignty.  The idea needs to be seriously discussed.  As one of the most important steps this country could ever take, our citizens should be part of the discussion.

NAFTA and North Carolina's Right to Work Laws

Warning on "executive agreements":

Be on guard for drift in the official legal status of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) signed by President Bush in March of 2005.  Considering the Supreme Court rulings to date, the SPP (or a successor) becoming a formal executive agreement under the pre-existing NAFTA umbrella could take take the process outside the scope of Congressional contro

This article explains how a group of unions have challenged North Carolina's right to work laws.

                   

In October, a coalition of US, Mexican and Canadian labor unions filed a complaint in a NAFTA created tribunal charging that the United States is in violation of its NAFTA obligations.  The charge is based on the fact that North Carolina maintains right-to-work laws against collective bargaining, which are in violation of the standards issued by the United Nation's International Labour Organization (ILO).   

This seems to be a completely different way of doing business in the United States.  It gives the President power to intervene in places where he could not previously and it gives rights to foreign organizations that surely had no rights before. 

This case will provide a practicle demonstration of the use of the NAFTA Tribunal as a court with more power on some issues than the Supreme Court itself. 

Tags: NAFTA, executive agreements, right to work, North Carolina, Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon and Bustillo v. Johnson

Link

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America Under Siege, The North American Union: Chinese Investments in Mexican Ports

America Under Siege, The North American Union: Chinese Investments in Mexican Ports

This article gives extensive background on the NAFTA Superhighway and trade with China. It is essential reading when thinking about the possibility of NAU.

Two Day Time Saving for freight from Lazaro Cardenas to San Antonio compared to LA to San Antonio

Also part of Mexico’s multi-modal corridor strategy, in January the first international in-bond double stack
container test shipment between Kansas City Southern Railway and Kansas City Southern de Mexico was
reported. The container shipments from China were transported by rail from the Port of Lazaro Cardenas to
San Antonio Texas. The trip was two days faster than the best times through the Port of LA/Long Beach
(Source: Larry W. Grant, KCS News, January 20, 2006).

The time savings reported here puts the stamp of reality on these shipping proposals.  The lower wages in Mexico and the use of Mexican truckers would probably blow the shipping cost right out of the water.  I don.t think it is wise to call this part of a conspiracy theory.

Link

Tags: CANAMEX, NAU, Kansas City Southern Railway, Lazaro Cardenas, multi-modal corridor

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The CANAMEX Trade Corridor

The CANAMEX Trade Corridor, as defined by Congress in the 1995 National Highway Systems Designation Act, is a High Priority Corridor.

(from Public Law 104-59, November 28, 1995)

(26) The CANAMEX Corridor from Nogales, Arizona, through Las Vegas, Nevada, to Salt Lake City, Utah, to Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Montana, to the Canadian Border as follows:

(A) In the State of Arizona, the CANAMEX Corridor shall generally follow-- (i) I-19 from Nogales to Tucson; (ii) I-10 from Tucson to Phoenix; and (iii) United States Route 93 in the vicinity of Phoenix to the Nevada Border.

(B) In the State of Nevada, the CANAMEX Corridor shall follow-- (i) United States Route 93 from the Arizona Border to Las Vegas; and (ii) I-15 from Las Vegas to the Utah Border.

(C) From the Utah Border through Montana to the Canadian Border, the CANAMEX Corridor shall

This site defines the changes needed to communication, transportation and information systems and the plans to do them in five western states.  This corridor is west of the Trans Texas Corridor.  It gives a view of another aspect of the massive changes planned for the United States, Mexico, and Canada with the advent of all these trade corridors. 
Link

Tags: CANAMEX, CANAMEX Trade Corridor, NAFTA. NAU

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Who is Robert Pastor?

To most people who know him, Robert A. Pastor is a distinguished professor of international relations at American University, a long-time foreign policy adviser to Democratic presidents and candidates, the author or editor of 16 books, and the director of the Center for North American Studies. But to a rapidly growing number of people on the extreme right, this lifelong scholar is a "globalization pimp," one of the "traitors" trying to "effectively destroy the United States of America," a man, in the angry summation of far-right attack dog Jerome Corsi, who is the "father of the North American Union." What has Pastor done to deserve the opprobrium? He wrote a 2001 book on building a North American community, co-chaired a 2005 tri-national task force that produced a similar document, and had some of his ideas incorporated into the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (SPP) announced by the U.S., Canada and Mexico on March 23, 2005. Although he has never come close to proposing that the three countries merge, that is the accusation now being touted by the radical right — and touted so effectively that the houses of representatives of at least 18 states have passed resolutions denouncing the SPP and what they characterize as a planned "North American Union."

In fact, Pastor has never advocated more than a "community" of the three countries — essentially, a closer relationship among the three governments — and the SPP has produced little of substance. The Intelligence Report interviewed Pastor about his ideas and their misinterpretation.

Tags: Robert Pastor, North American Union
Link

           

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Robert Pastor and the Birth of the Amero

INTELLIGENCE REPORT The nativists also charge you with promoting a North American currency to be called the "Amero." Is that so?
PASTOR I borrowed that idea from a Canadian economist called H. G. Grubel. But I just put his idea on the table for discussion, along with other options. The problem is that the right-wing attacks have made people so fearful they don't even want to open a discussion.

As economies become more integrated, the cost of changing money and of anticipating sharp changes in the exchange rate become a burden on the economies. That is why Europe moved to a single currency. A few economists have begun to raise the question as to what can be learned from Europe's rocky road to a single currency that might be helpful in thinking about the economic future of North America. These are complicated issues that will take time to study. The problem is that these vicious, know-nothing attacks have stifled research and debate.

Pastor's ideas should be honestly considered.  The NAU or anything like it is not to be entered into lightly, nor should it be rejected out of hand.  It might make many lives better.  But,  it must be discussed openly and all participants given a chance to examine the proposal. 

Link

Tags: NAU, Robert Pastor, Amero, North American Union

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Congressional Bill Opposing NAU and NAFTA Super Highway

H. Con. Res. 40: Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada
Link

The Trans-Texas Corridor and Water

Multi-modal corridors and water pipelines

The Trans Texas Corridor has been called “the largest engineering project ever proposed” for George Bush’s home
state. At its widest, the “multi-modal” transit corridor will be four football fields wide and include lanes for cars, trains
and trucks headed from the Mexican coast through Texas and into America’s heartland. But the track doesn’t end
there. Through public-private consortia like the North American Super Corridor Coalition, which counts the province
of Manitoba as a proud participant, plans are underway to extend this Texas pet-project right up past the Canadian
border to an expanded port in Churchill.
This proposed mega-highway has been dubbed the “NAFTA Superhighway” because it is designed to speed up the
flow of goods between the three signatory countries. But “multimodal” doesn’t just mean train, truck and car lanes. It
also means pipelines.
“Texas proposes to build a new type of transportation system, a network of wide corridors designed to move people
and goods faster and more safely than ever before,” says a Trans Texas Corridor Document from 2002. “Beyond that,
the corridor will feature a wide utility zone for the transmission of oil, natural gas, electricity, data and a substance
critical to the future of the state – water.”
Opponents of the corridor plan in Texas worry the pipelines will be used to carry Texan water south to Mexico in return
for oil. But considering the looming crisis in Texas, and the fact that bulk water exports are now being discussed as
part of the North American Future 2025 Project for continental integration, it is possible that the pipelines will be used
to carry Canadian water. “A lot of people don’t need it, but when you head south and west, we need it,” said George
W. Bush, six months into his term, at a joint press conference with former prime minister Jean Chrétien. “Some have
suggested abandoned pipelines that used to carry energy. That’s a possibility. I would be open to any discussion.

Links

Tags: Trans-Texas Corridor, Water, SPP, Trans Texas Corridor, North American Future 2025

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Why NAU might need to consider Mexican Identity

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This video shows an attitude that will not build a conbined North American identity. It shows a tremendous problem with racism.

Tags: Aztlan, Nafta, NAU, Immigration

Robert Pastor Proposes the Amero as a North American Currency

The most interesting surveys, however, show that a majority of the public in all three countries is prepared to join a larger North American country if they thought it would improve their standard of living and environment and not threaten their culture. Mexicans and Canadians do not want to be incorporated into the United States, and they are ambivalent about adopting the American dollar, but they are more willing to become part of a single country of North America and of a unified currency, like the “Amero,” proposed by Herbert Grubel. 2 The “Amero” would be equivalent of
the American dollar, and the two other currencies would be exchanged at the rate in which they are then traded for the U.S. dollar. In other words, at the outset, the wealth of all three countries would be unchanged, and the power to manage the currency would be roughly proportional to the existing wealth. The three governments’ remain zealous defenders of an aging conception of sovereignty whereas the people seem ready to entertain new approaches.

2 Herbert Grubel, The Case for the Amero: The Economics and Politics of a North American Monetary Union (Vancouver: Simon Fraser Institute, 1999). An October 2001 survey in Canada found that 55% favored the same currency as the United States, but 59% opposed adopting the U.S. dollar. See Allison Dunfield, "Canadians Feel Closer to the U.S., but Reject Currency," Globe and Mail, November 6, 2001

Link

Tags: Amero, Herbert Grubel, Pastor, Robert Pastor, NAU, NAFTA

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Robert Pastor and Lou Dobbs

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Robert Pastor's interview with Lou Dobbs gives more insight into the North American Union,.

Tags: robert Pastor, Lou Dobbs

Robert A. Pastor's article in Foreign Affairs

NAFTA was merely the first draft of an economic constitution for North America. It was a deliberately lean document, intended only to dismantle barriers to trade and investment. Its architects planned neither for its success nor for the crises that would confront it. Although NAFTA fueled the train of continental integration, it did not provide conductors to guide it. As a result, two setbacks -- the Mexican peso crisis of 1995 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 -- have threatened to derail the integration experiment.

The is nothing like these articles from the Council on Foreign Relations to convince someone that statements about the NAU being an imaginary conspiracy are misleading to say the least.  The US Federal Government seems to be working to keep the common person out of the discussion.  It is an interesting possibility and warrents consideration.  It's really hard to believe that it isn't getting consideration at the highest levels. 
Link

Tags: Robert A. Pastor, Pastor, NAFTA, Foreign Affairs, CFR, Council on Foreign Relations, NAU, North American Union

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Lou Dobbs, Ron Poul and the SPP

Lou Dobbs of CNN has been calling for a federal investigation of the North American Union for quite some time. And Earlier this year, Presidential candidate, and Texas Congressman, Ron Paul, weighed in on the issue when describing wording about accelerating the North American Union in legislation proposing illegal alien amnesty. Paul said:

“There are many other very troubling items buried deep in the Senate’s immigration compromise. The bill explicitly calls for an “acceleration” of the March 2005 agreement between the US president, the president of Mexico , and the prime minister of Canada , known as the “Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America .” This somewhat secretive agreement – a treaty in all but name – aims to erase the borders between the United States, Canada, and Mexico and threatens our sovereignty and national security. The SPP was agreed by the president without the participation of Congress. It should be eliminated, not accelerated! (Note: Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have also opposed a North American Union)

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America  claims to be an innocent arrangement but as Paul pointed out it is illegal and wasn't approved by Congress.

Tags: SPP, NAU, Lou Dobbs, Ron Paul. North American Union

Link

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NASCO and its goalsLin

For more than 12 years North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO) and its members have
stood at the forefront of driving public and private sectors to unite to address strategically critical
national and international trade, transportation, security and environmental issues.
Our focus is on maximizing the efficiency of our existing transportation infrastructure to support
international trade. We recognize the extraordinary implications for our nation’s long-term economic
prosperity of our transport system’s ability to sustain that growth.
NASCO, a non-profit group initially founded in 1994 as the I-35 Corridor Coalition, represents
member cities, counties, states, provinces and private sector members devoted to maximizing the
efficiency and operations of the existing U.S. Interstate Highways 35/29/94 (the NASCO
SuperCorridor) and the intermodal inland ports NASCO has inspired to sprout along them. Never
have our efforts been more needed or been more urgent.
As the demand for freight transportation grows, so will its overall contribution to the nation’s economy
and its challenges to highway capacity, congestion and the local environments. In 1970, international
trade represented just 12 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2000, trade surged to
25% of U.S. GDP. U.S. economists, however, expect trade to leap to 35% or more of U.S. GDP by
2020.
From almost immediately after the Jan. 1, 1994 entry into effect of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), NASCO has sought out and backed Corridor-related initiatives to
enhance border security, safety and the operational efficiency of the existing transportation
infrastructure. NAFTA’s reduction of import tariffs and trade barriers in North America powerfully
stimulated trade that strengthened the economies of its partner nations. Rather than the great fears of
NORTH AMERICA’S SUPERCORRIDOR COALITION, INC.
901 Main Street / Suite 4400 / Dallas, Texas 75202
(214) 744-1006 / Fax (214) 744-1043 / www.nascocorridor.com
NAFTA job losses of 1994, today, in the U.S. and in NASCO Corridor states, net job creation and net
employment have grown to and stayed at or near historical highs.
Since NAFTA took effect, total U.S. employment grew to 136 million, up from 112 million then,
with U.S. unemployment dropping to today’s 4.5 percent of the work force (a five-year low),
from 6.6 percent then out of work, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics for the
period.
NASCO uses the term "SuperCorridor" to demonstrate we are more than just a highway
coalition. NASCO works to develop key relationships along the EXISTING corridors we
represent to maximize economic development opportunities for all affected by the flows.
NASCO’s reach helps coordinate the development of technology integration projects, inland
ports, environmental initiatives, university research, and the sharing of "best practices" across
North America. NASCO’s forte is in spurring coordination of efforts by local, state and federal
agencies and the private sector to integrate and secure a multimodal transportation system along
the existing NASCO Corridor.
As of late, there have been many media references to a "new, proposed NAFTA Superhighway.”
While NASCO and the cities, counties, states and provinces along our existing Interstate
Highways 35/29/94 (the NASCO Corridor) have referred for years to I-35 and key branches as
'the NAFTA Superhighway,' the reference solely acknowledged and recognized I-35’s major role
in carrying a remarkable portion of international trade with Mexico, the United States and
Canada. In actual fact, there are no plans to build “a new NAFTA Superhighway.” It already
exists today as I-35 and branches.
A decade ago, NAFTA captured the headlines of international trade. But today international trade is
global trade. It requires even bolder and more aggressive efforts by our organization and our leaders to
meet the challenges and to extract maximum economic benefit for our people from exploding global
trade.
For more than a decade, NASCO has encouraged the boldest thinking on adoption of trade processing
systems, logistics systems and information technology. Eighty percent of NASCO members have 10
years of active service.
The subject of trade and transportation is much too important to leave to the uninformed. Here
are the REAL facts:
In the 21st century, the U.S economy increasingly runs on trade and our trade runs on
transportation. Trade and the transportation facilities that sustain it are tied together. Future
economic growth and job creation in the U.S. require a constant effort to enhance our business
climate, environment and transportation infrastructure to sustain our world-class leadership in
world trade.
NASCO’s aim is to continuously, diligently upgrade the efficiency and security of our
transportation systems to sharply increase the efficiency of our transportation infrastructure on
the Corridor to drive down the cost of doing business and enhance our ability to do internationa

Obviously, NASCO is a group that needs to be on the radar.  It has plans that affect the midwest and yet we have no appreciation of them.

Tags: NASCO, Nafta super highway, spp, nau

Link

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Meeting on the Trans Texas Corridor

By Terri Hall - T.U.R.F. - Wednesday, 10 October 2007

In this article, Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton repeatedly refers to Texans' FREEways as "assets" as if the PUBLIC'S highways are theirs to sell to the highest bidder on Wall Street! To make matters worse, they're holding a SECRET, CLOSED DOOR meeting to discuss the next controversial leg of the Trans Texas Corridor, TTC 69. Also noteworthy, businesses, ie - the Chamber of Commerce, are invited to the table, but NOT the taxpaying public whose community will be paved over by this corridor! How is this getting "community feedback?" Secrecy and involving multi-national corporations has become standard operating procedure for these trade corridors.

TURF's Board member, Hank Gilbert, is mentioned in the article.

Link

This article gives more information on the Trans Texas Corridor.

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Grass Roots Response to the Trans Texas Corridor

TxDOT coached on thwarting toll foes on talk radio

Peggy Fikac - Express- News Austin bureau AUSTIN — 10/17/2007
When Texas transportation officials talk about bridges these days, they don't necessarily mean steel spans and concrete girders. Instead, they are being taught how to "bridge" from off-message questions to their own talking points in a toll-road campaign.
"You will often be asked questions that don't get to the points you wish to make or that you don't wish to answer," says a "radio interview techniques" section of Texas Department of Transportation documents released under the Public Information Act. "You can use bridging to turn the question to your points."

One useful phrase, suggests the document — prepared by consultants who are to be paid $24,500 for talk-radio training for the campaign, and tweaked by the department — is this: "I think what you are really asking is ..."

The document also offers this timeless advice: "Keep calm. Leave wrestling to the pigs. They always end up looking like pigs."

The training document is part of the multimillion-dollar Keep Texas Moving campaign, the subject of a court hearing today.

The hearing comes after activist Terri Hall of the San Antonio Toll Party and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom filed a court petition to stop the agency from spending public funds on the campaign, projected to cost $7 million to $9 million in highway money.

Hall also wants to block any lobbying attempts by transportation officials to persuade Congress to allow more toll roads.

The Keep Texas Moving campaign has a focus on toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor network. Both are touted by GOP Gov. Rick Perry and others as necessary in the face of congestion and gas-tax revenues that fall short of meeting road needs. Criticism has centered on the potential corridor route and on the state partnering with private firms to run toll roads.

In her court filing, Hall contends that transportation officials, in promoting the initiatives, are violating a ban on lobbying and on using their authority for political purposes.

The state says TxDOT is allowed by law to promote toll projects and that its campaign is a response to a call from the public and from elected officials for more information on road initiatives.

State District Judge Orlinda Naranjo of Travis County last month refused to order an immediate stop to the spending. Naranjo today will consider a state request that she dismiss the case.

The state contends the legal complaint is moot because an existing contract for media services was due to end Sept. 30.

Thompson Marketing of San Antonio got a state contract of nearly $2 million last year for the first phase of the project, which included a marketing development plan and such items as TV and radio spots, print ads, internet banner ads and billboards.

The company billed the agency in March regarding a Senate transportation hearing and in April and May for "legislature, media monitoring for strategic planning, messaging." Lawmakers this year worked to curb new private toll projects.

The state plans no more spending on "any future media placement under the current Keep Texas Moving campaign" but still needs to pay Thompson Marketing for some previous work, said an affidavit by Helen Havelka, the campaign's manager.

The agency also has a $20,000 contract for talk-radio training for transportation officials with the Rodman Co., which subcontracted with ViaNovo, whose team includes former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd. It plans another $4,500 training class, and the two consulting companies plan two telephone town-hall meetings at a cost of $17,480.

Rodman and ViaNovo worked on the radio training guide, said TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott, who also had input on the document, titled "Talking on Talk Radio."

"The talk radio environment runs the gamut from productive and thoughtful to vitriolic and silly," Lippincott said. "We certainly want to prepare (agency spokespeople) for all possibilities, and that includes everyone from a skeptical talk-show host to an outright hostile caller."
Read more in the San Antonio Express News

       

Link

Tags: Toll Roads, TTC, Trans-Texas Corridor

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Common Terms used in the NAU Debate

Let me define these terms:

· NAFTA Super Highway: A Super Highway to be built from Mexico through the US and Canada.

· NAU: (North American Union) The union of Mexico, The United States and Canada.

· The North American Free Trade Agreement: Under this agreement, the creation and expansion of the NAU may be enacted to build a political and economic entity without congressional supervision and consent.

· Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC): A highway system connecting the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

· North American Court of Justice: A court that would have the power to overrule decisions of the United Sates Supreme Court.

· North American Trade Tribunal: An independent quasi-judicial body that can carry out statutory tasks in a sovereign and neutral manner.

· North American Parliament: A national representative body having supreme legislative powers within the NAU.

Link

Tags: NAFTA, NAU, TTC, Trans-Texas Corridor, North American Court of Justice, North American Trade Tribunal, North American Parliament

I plan to find out about the North American Court of Justice, the North American Trade Tribunal and the North American Parliament since I know little about them currently.  The others I  have followed for some time now.

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So Fred Thompson hasn't heard of the North American Union-can't read much.

Link

Tags: Fred Thompson, NAU, North American Union, Houston, NAFTA, SPP, CFA, Council on Foreign Relations

You get to meet an awful lot of interesting people in this video.  You also get to hear Fred Thompson say he never heard of the North American Union.  Well, whether he is for it or against it, he should have heard of it.  Watch the video and you will have heard a lot more about it too.

Another Link

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Phyllis Schlafly has a common concern with me!!! WHAAA

Phyllis Schlafly, who has been fighting feminism and liberalism for decades, still appears on 460 radio stations daily.

She said the top tier Republicans show little compassion for people who have lost their jobs to globalism.

That was a segue into national sovereignty. Schlafly is still smarting over President Bush’s dismissal of the right-wing fear that he is secretly plotting to create a North American union that would essentially merge Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. And her candidate must oppose any and all U.N. treaties.

Phyllis and I agree on one thing.  Don't trust the administration and pay attention to whatever they are doing in the SPP.  The word needs to get out on this broader version of NAFTA, this version with common borders, and a body that is superior to any existing in the U.S. government.  Broad discussion is needed.  Some of that discussion should include common people in Mexico and Canada who will be greatly affected as well.

Link

Tags: NAU, SPP, George W. Bush, NAFTA, Phyllis Schlafly

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Will 'Corporate Democrates' run the country?

Democrat John Edwards blamed Bill Clinton's administration Saturday for trade agreements unpopular with labor unions and warned against electing "corporate Democrats."

Edwards described the North American Free Trade Agreement as a blow to the middle class that President Clinton put in place while the first lady was failing in her mission to reform health care.

"I think we've been asking the wrong questions about these proposed trade deals," he added. "The question seems to have been, 'Is this trade deal good for the profits of big multinational corporations?'"

The former North Carolina senator says he would renegotiate the 1993 deal that lowered trade barriers among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

New York Sen. Clinton said recently that trade agreements, including NAFTA, should be reviewed every five years to make sure "they're meeting their goals or to make adjustments if they are not."

Edwards described the stakes of the presidential race in stark terms, asking the crowd if they want to live in a country made up of "a few rich people and everybody else." He suggested his Democratic rivals would not serve the interests of workers.

"Do you want to trade a crowd of corporate Republicans that are running this country now for a crowd of corporate Democrats?" he asked. "That's not us."

    Edwards seems to be on the right track here but way behind the train.  The executive branch seems to have many people who are engaged in work that is just opposite of what he is proposing.  Corporate interests have a position thought out or at least developing and most common citizens can't tell you what SPP is. 

Link

Tags: Corporate Democrates, Edwards, Clinton, Hiliary Clinton, NAFTA, NAU, SPP

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Senetor Glenn McConnel asks for a constitutional convention on immigration

McConnell told ABC News 4 Charleston "I heard somebody on the radio station this morning saying we were dragging our feet in Columbia and that there was a federal law that says we could turn them over to the Feds. Well, what they don't understand is that the Feds never come to get them and there's nothing you can do,"

McConnell complained to ABC that the federal won’t enforce the laws or respond when asked to do so.

Recently former Mexican President Vincente Fox, while advocating erasing borders between the U.S. and Mexico on Comedy Central and Larry King Live, admitted to supporting a North American Union and implicated President Bush in plot to create a regional currency as well.

Tags: Senetor Glenn McConnell, NAU, North American Union, SPP

Tags: Constitutional Convention

Link

This is another link to information about the activities of the Federal Government on this issue. 

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Naomi Wolf and the Ten Steps to Crush Democracy

Letter to Senator Carl Levin

I've included the letter that I sent to Senator Levin on the SPP.  I really believe that a grass roots effort to understand this proposed union of Canada, Mexico, and the United States is essential to pursueing the issue.  Hopefully, our congress can provide guidance on this issue.

Comments: I am extremely interested in the activities of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. The executive branch seems to be engaged in forging relationships with Canada and Mexico without proper oversight from Congress and without the knowledge of the American people. While it is too early for me to form an opinion on the value of the SPP's efforts, it is not too early for me to question the misleading information being put out by the executive branch. The SPP seems to be part of the potential integration of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. All three societies need clear information on this plan and a chance to evaluate the good and evil of the action. The Trans-Texas Corridor is a very important piece of this effort. The people of Michigan need to understand this massive effort in Texas since it appears that a private, foreign company is constructing this massive conduit for men, material and information. That company has a fifty year non-compete clause that Texas seems to have agreed to. The result will be Michigan trade being affected by the goals of a foreign company's deal with the State of Texas. Senator Levin, I would really appreciate knowing that the legistlative branch is on top of this situation but I greatly fear that it is not. I know that the people in this part of Michigan have no clue about the SPP and the possible North American Union that could come from it. Senator, you have been in the forefront of dealing with this executive branch in all its recent behavior. I certainly hope you can give guidance in how to interpret the actions of the SPP. Thank you

Tags: Senator Levin, SPP, North American Union, Mexico, Canada, United States, Trans Texas Corridor

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Dr. Jerome Corsi and the NAU

This video gives information on the SPP and the North American Union. Much can be learned from its point of view.

Tags: Dr. Jerome Corsi, NAU, NAFTA, SPP, Trans-Texas Corridor

Canadians Protest the SPP

The North American Union needs a great deal of explaination. Explaination that seems to not be desired by the government of the United States. The concerns the Canadians voice in this video are relevant here. Their complaints about the lack of transparency are relevant too.

Evolution by Stealth

A hush-hush meeting held in Banff, Canada, last year seriously explored the issue of how to sneak (yes, that is the right word) — sneak a North American Union (NAU) onto the people of the U.S. Canada, and Mexico. What we are talking about is making a de facto merger of the three countries a fait accompli by the time it's too late to reverse it.

What else can one believe when the term "evolution by stealth" is used? (For background on the NAU, see this column Illegal Aliens and the Secret Monster Highway (Oct. 9, 2006) and AIM Report America's Borders: Going-Going-Gone! (Dec. 22, 2006).

Tags: Evolution by Stealth, SPP, Baniff Meeting, NAU, North American Union, Trans Texas Corridor, Judicial Watch

                    Link

This article gives more information on all the players and programs of the SPP. 

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Judicial Watch and the SPP

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, concerning the agency’s involvement with the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

A 10-page partnership “Work Plan for the Financial Services Working Group” is included (somewhat incongruously) among the Health and Human Service records.  The “work plan” details 24 specific “deliverables” by officials from the U.S. Treasury, Finance Canada, BANXICO, the Federal Reserve Board – Atlanta, and regulatory agencies from all three countries.  The deliverables include “cross-border” cooperation in the areas of car insurance, Social Security totalization for Mexico, banking, and Federal Reserve’s “Directo a Mexico” remittance program.

Among the specific deliverables outlined in the “work plan” is a taxpayer-supported program to improve Mexico’s infrastructure:  “Improve North America’s competitiveness by enhancing Mexico’s competitive position through the establishment of a grant fund for development with U.S. and Canadian resources to finance the development of physical infrastructure in Mexico.”  The objective has a timeline for completion of 6-18 months.

“If U.S. tax dollars are going to be used to fund Mexico’s economic development, the American people ought to know about it,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  “Judicial Watch remains committed to ensuring that this process is open and transparent.”

This grant process is amazing at a time when U.S. infrastructure is failing we seem to be footing the bill of work in Mexico.  Further research on this is needed. 

Tags: Mexican Grants, Infrastructure, SPP

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One World Government-an Extreme View

This does sound like a grand conspiracy theory. It does have some interesting ideas and graphics though so I include it here.

President Vincente Fox discusses a common Currency

So Bush says that no discussions were held, that the whole NAU thing is rediculous. President Fox doesn't seem to have that impression

The Militarization and Annexation of North America

Besides the Bush administration's imperial aims and permanent war on the world, add the one at home below the radar. Its weapons include the WTO, NAFTA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FBI, CIA, NSA, NORTHCOM, militarized state and local police, National Guard forces, paramilitary mercenaries like Blackwater USA, and all other repressive instruments of state power and control. They target the people of three nations slowly becoming one headquartered in Washington. That's the apparent aim of those in power here wanting one continent, "indivisible" minus old-fashioned ideas like "liberty and justice for all" we used to believe in when, as kids, we recited our "Pledge of Allegiance." They now have a whole new meaning. They're just words drummed into young minds hoping they'll still believe them when they're old enough to know better.

This is an article that goes into the North American Union much deeper than normal. It is quite deep mentionning names and organizations that I have not heard of before. This requires further study.

Media and the NAU

We can't know too much about this process. It would be the biggest thing since the founding of the Republic and is not well KNOWN. That is amazing.

Globalization and the North American Union