Third Party & Independents Archives

Wow, David. I’ve always seen you as a skeptical straight-shooter (even when we’ve disagreed).

But the NAFTA Superhighway? You believe that crock?

How disappointing.

David

I have no particular love for KBR, but construction in a war zone is not easy. We cannot expect the Marriott. I have slept in some “dilapidated Iraqi” buildings and was very grateful to get off the ground or out of the tent. The article you linked is dishonest and uniformed about conditions. When Marriott sets up in the desert, I will stay there. Until then…

Re McCain health plan, it is untrue that McCain wants to make health premiums part of taxable income.

John McCain understands that a big problem for health care is that it is employer based. If you lose your job, you can lose your coverage. He will give the health care breaks to the individual worker with a $2500-5000 tax CREDIT (better than a deduction) to ordinary people, not the companies they work for.

Union (as in your link) and big business are not enthusiastic about this because it takes power from them and gives the choice to you and me.

McCain will give you more choice in health care. The guys controlling the system now naturally don’t want you to have it. Obama will give the choice to bureaucrats, since he Obama doesn’t trust us to make the right decisions for ourselves.

Lawnboy, when stubborn facts won’t go away and new ones keep coming to light in support of the old ones, perhaps it is not me, but, disbelievers who should take a second look.

As CNN Correspondent Bill Tucker said tonight: “In Texas planning, a development is under way for what are officially called transportation corridors. The Trans Texas Corridor, I-69, a combination of rail lines, utility lines, car and truck lanes, plan to be as wide as three football fields laid end to end.”

Just because few in government are willing to call it a “super-highway” doesn’t make what they are doing, cease to exist, Lawnboy. Rep. Poe of Texas says: “The folks in Washington are in denial about the super NAFTA highway or whatever you want to call it. It’s the concept that there will be a highway, free trade from Mexico through the central part of the United States all the way to Canada…For an imaginary road there’s a lot of money and effort involved in some very real opposition.”

And he says: “The lawmakers concerned about the impact of increased traffic flowing into Kansas City where an intermodal center known as the Kansas City Smart Port is being developed to capitalize on flow of good from Mexico’s Port of Lazaro Cardenas to the nation’s heartland.

The Smart Port Web site says it offers quote, “the heart of a rail corridor spanning coast to coast across the U.S. and extending from Canada to Mexico, a NAFTA railway. And what drives it all? Imports, the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a business group, says in the past 10 years imports from and passing through Mexico rose by 326 percent, reaching almost $211 billion last year.”

That’s a lot of growing incentive and motivation to hide deny the term NAFTA Super Highway while quietly going about the business of creating it. And its highway that stretches from Beejing to Alberta, Canada with a central super distribution hub in Kansas City.

You, Lawnboy, can deny what it is called, but, you can’t deny the official documents, memos, and dollars being invested in creating it.

Jack said: “I have no particular love for KBR, but construction in a war zone is not easy.”

And this justifies in your mind KBR failing to properly ground electrical circuits in our soldiers barracks and recreational facilities? You do realize, having been there, that these facilities are mostly in safe zones, right? Your argument has no merit, Jack and undermines your purported first hand experience in Iraq.

Congress will hold hearings, its announced. Pentagon and Inspector General have already begun investigations. And law suits continue. Some way to honor our troops. Electrocute them in their showers and bathrooms in the one place in Iraq they are supposed to feel save.

No wonder the PTSD incidence is so enormously high and the Bush Administration told the VA to stop diagnosing them with PTSD so they could cut the cost of benefits and follow up care.

And Jack, how about addressing what was written about McCain’s health care plan. We all know any policy has its benefits for someone, as McCain’s has for the insurance companies. But, one has to evaluate the negatives as well, and removing employer’s lawyers and accountants from the role of holding costs down against insurance companies, leaving workers to fight the insurance companies individually, must be addressed, NOT IGNORED as you are want to do in your reply.

My wife is insured by an insurance company that is NOT involved in selling health insurance, and they have kept her benefits from being reduced and kept the inflation of premiums below 6% per year. If she were on her own, as my brother is, there would be NO ONE to keep her benefits from eroding and hold premium inflation down, except her. That is a consequence of McCain’s plan.

American workers with employer health care plans insist that if it is going to be taken away, it be replaced with something comparable or better, not something like McCain’s plan which would vastly overcome workers time, energy, education, and financial resources to stand up for themselves against the insurance companies like their employers now do.

The Unions are people like you and me, Jack, and they don’t like McCain’s plan. I would guess you have government sponsored insurance. Good for you if you do. And if you do, it would explain your insensitivity toward American workers with employer sponsored plans like you have, given your disposition on things government. Ironic that you work for the government when you so often write how wrong and inefficient government is.

Do I detect some cognitive dissonance in your comment’s positions on this, Jack?

“The NASCO Corridor encompasses multimodal transportation infrastructure on or in close proximity to U.S. Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94, and the significant connectors to those highways in Canada and Mexico. The effectiveness of cargo movements along the NASCO Corridor directly impacts North America’s continental trade flow, the largest in the world.” I couldn’t find a copy of the map at the NASCO, but this site has a small version

I don’t exactly understand why Laredo needs to be connected through Kansas City to Montreal and Edmonton, when the more significant makets are elsewhere. This is a lot like saying that New Orleans should be the largest city in the country because it’s at the mouth of the largest river system, or Memphis or Dayton or a number of other places should be more significant because of air freight hubs. It’s just another development plan that won’t amount to what it’s promoters hope, because it ignores the location of the existing markets. This is mostly just a plan for develpment along I 35, extended to fictional lengths, which the Nation article linked above makes sound like something in the tin foil hat category. All the references to the John Birch Society should make that pretty clear.

From David’s link “American electricians who worked for KBR, the Houston-based defense contractor that is responsible for maintaining American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, said they repeatedly warned company managers and military officials about unsafe electrical work, which was often performed by poorly trained Iraqis and Afghans paid just a few dollars a day.”

Its not a case of negligent oversight on the part of the military when the contractor is warned by their own people of a problem and refuse to correct the problem. But they do save a lot of money employing those we are fighting against to build our living quarters for us. You just gotta love privitization. If the military doesnt bring a few of the top KBR people up on murder charges then they are as complicent in this as the contractor. How could such a level of stupidity exist in the military brass that would allow this to continue?

NAFTA Superhighway Continues, Very good post David, Iv’e read about this for years and am glad to see you’ve posted some interesting food for thought on this subject. RE Nuclear power I am against taxpayer subsidies and certainly love the thought of photovoltaic cell’s in the sun belt region , with the solar calculations done right and newer technology storage batteries one could very well run 24 hrs and 352 days a year self sufficient and run power back in the grid for a shot of return cash! wind is the answer in the colder areas with the same storage systems installed, some chap in arizona is developing photovoltaic cell’s out of plastic in any color and promises to reduce the cost by a third to half this would greatly solve the problem of silicon supplies..

Ohrealy said: “I don’t exactly understand why Laredo needs to be connected through Kansas City to Montreal and Edmonton, when the more significant makets are elsewhere.”

Canada’s highest concentration of population and therefore consumer and distribution centers are in the Eastern provinces of Canada. Hence, Montreal. Kansas City remains a central distribution for all the lower 48 states with intersections of interstate highways, rail, and major airport. KC lies directly on the Interstate 35 coming up from Mexico across from the Texas border. This Interstate offers the expansion right of way capabilities to enlarge as traffic warrants, and with China having availed itself of NAFTA provisions with Mexico, The Chinese will have much cheaper ports in Mexico to unload exports destined for N. America.

China has an auto factory under construction near the border in Mexico, as well. They will begin shipping Chinese made cars into the U.S. and Canada in 2010, just 2 years away. China has many plans for moving manufacturing industries into Mexico to dump Chinese goods at Mexican labor rates into our and Canada’s consumer markets and without the incurring the trans Pacific shipping costs, further undercutting American manufacturing and parts replacement jobs in America.

The economics of centralized distribution points is lowering the cost of transportation in the distribution routes for both foreign export nations and American import companies. Which makes Kansas City Ideal. San Antonio, Texas is also an ideal distribution hub for the Southern states with the intersection of Interstate running from Florida to Los Angeles, and I 35 running from Mexico to Kansas City and Canada.

Distribution routes can save exporting manufacturers into N. America enormous money over trying to distribute directly to all major population centers from Mexico, or the East and West Coasts. They can even look forward to having express lanes and rail for their distribution routes one day, provided their routes are small are number and direct from point A to B and no meandering all across the country and Canada.

I haven’t come across the information yet, but, I would not be surprised to learn the Chinese are working a deal with Canada for a West Coast port distribution hub somewhere near Vancouver for direct Pacific cargo carriers. The Chinese just built the largest oceanic cargo ship in the world so large as to dwarf all others, and thus restricted by size to the Pacific Ocean only.

Thanks Rodney for your comments, which I agree with. Of course, if the southern state’s buildings are outfitted with solar panels, the economies of scale kick in which would make solar panels affordable for Northern climes as well, even though their output would be for significantly shorter periods of the year.

When you can nearly zero your electric Bill in Detroit in the late Spring, Summer, and early Fall, and get a rebate check to boot for power sold back to the grid during those months, solar panels would make sense there after solar investment costs dropped significantly after adoption throughout the South. They make sense in offsetting the cost of other energy sources during the late Fall, Winter, and early Spring months.

GeoThermal in Wyoming, wind and ocean wave and current energy generators on the Coasts, and passive earth berming in the East and NorthEast all have enormous potential for precipitously lowering our dependency on fossil fuels, and increasing our export markets for these technologies overseas.

Only problem is that current energy companies are vested in fossil fuels for their profits, and only government can make this transition possible and begin. And our Congressional dullards and bought and paid for representatives lack the vision to see the enormous long term benefits and payback for forcing this transition.

j2t2, quite right, hence the law suits.

Lawnboy, when stubborn facts won’t go away and new ones keep coming to light in support of the old ones, perhaps it is not me, but, disbelievers who should take a second look.

But that’s not the case. Please re-read the Nation article to which you link. You provide it as though it’s damning support for your position, and yet it continually refers to the “NAFTA Superhighway” and the “North American Union” as a myth.

Yes, there are a few scattered facts, and yes, the TCC seems to have been a bad idea. However, they have been put together to create a conspiracy theory far, far greater than the sum of the parts.

Can you provide evidence of the road beyond Perry’s plan in Texas and a normal initiative in Kansas City to improve trade? Nope. This is a simple conspiracy theory, not really different from “9/11 was an Inside Job” or belief that the moon landing was a hoax.

You claim to be quoting the Kansas City SmartPort page, but you actually misquote - only the first part of your “quote” is really from the site. When I actually went to the site, I found this:

Q. Why is SmartPort building a Super highway?


Recently this has been a common misconception. SmartPort is not building a super highway, but is simply promoting the Interstate 35 Corridor which runs north and south through North America. This corridor exists today, but there is not a plan to expand all of I-35 into a 12 lane highway.

The real part of the quote is about a “NAFTA Railway”, not a superhighway. The only mention of a highway points out that you’ve been duped.

That both the only independent source you can find and the official site you claim to cite both call it a myth is a pretty good indicator. This is just paranoia and conspiracy, not reality.

David

If we gave all Americans the kind of choices enjoyed by Federal employees, it would be a good thing. The Federal government, as an employer, subsidizes premiums, but Federal employees still pay significant amounts in premiums and co-pays. They also have access to medical savings accounts. Give that to the American people. Give them choice and tax credits to help pay. But do not make the government the manager of the program.

Let’s see…under McCain, employers will no longer have the expense of providing health insurance to their employees. That means, no doubt, that they will be able to pocket what they would’ve paid for insurance, the employees get the same wage and are responsible for paying for all their health insurance, and they get a measly $2500-5000 [according to a previous post] tax credit…this IS taking money out of the pockets of employees…you can’t get insurance for $2500-5000 a year…not even close…even with one of us on Medicare, our insurance costs $1200 a month.

Again, workers getting ripped off.

LawnBoy, I am not relying on only those links. Google it yourself, and you will find more relevant information of intent.

And don’t for a minute think that anyone could pull this off in one fell swoop initiative. This is going to be an incremental approach. And the First steps are already underway and being fought vigorously as well.

This is not over. According to memos uncovered revealing KC’s SmartPort intent to act as the Super Highway’s central distribution hub. And you cannot ignore the rails, Lawnboy. They are an integral part of the super highway plan. Just because an incremental approach is being taken for what will be a massive project taking 10 to 15 years or more to complete, does not negate the intent to complete it beginning in Texas and KC, and with China’s new Super Oceanic Transport ship dwarfing all others in the world.

If you don’t want to see the picture the puzzle pieces create by filling in some blanks with a little extrapolation, that’s fine. But if walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and swims like a duck, its probably a duck regardless of whether you call it a Super Highway or something else.

Government seems to manage government employee’s benefit plans pretty well. VA operates the lowest cost large health care delivery system in the U.S. Not that anyone including me is proposing to extend such a system to the whole nation.

But a single payer insurance plan through the government is absolutely mandatory if all Americans are to receive Basic health care. There is not other way around it, as the private sector is incapable of providing universal coverage.

The issue now is how to halt the inflation in the cost of health care. Those options are only beginning to be explored by Congress, but in a couple years, we have policies toward that end implemented. Providing Basic government overseen universal health care coverage is what we already have with Emergency Room treatments of colds and flue to gang related gunshot wounds. The issue is not whether to have it, we already do.

The issue is how to move such Basic care out of the Emergency Rooms and prevent small maladies from becoming emergency events requiring Emergency Room treatment. Your comments appear to be behind on grasping the reality of what is already extant and what needs to happen going forward.

Wishing for a reality that no longer, and will never again exist such as a total privatized health care system is simply out of touch with reality as it is.

Rachel, its even worse that what you describe, because millions will pocket and spend the health care tax rebates McCain proposes and STILL get outrageously expensive Emergency Room treatment for maladies their insurance of lack of it won’t pay for. A double hit on taxpayers. McCain simply can’t be trusted with taxpayer’s money which is no doubt why Mrs. McCain is never out of his sight. She is the one apparently with the financial saavy to protect and grow her millions through investments in Middle Eastern nations sponsoring activities we are fighting.

LawnBoy, I am not relying on only those links. Google it yourself, and you will find more relevant information of intent.

I’m sure you are looking at other things. But are those other things relevant or useful? Do they present an explanation of how a normal effort to increase trade in one state and a strange highway project in another state mean that there’s an overarching plan involving dozens of other states and at least four national governments? Probably not, but if they do, it’s based on speculation, not on evidence.

It’s nearly impossible to argue against a conspiracy theory, because the essence of the theory is that the “truth is hidden”. It’s even more difficult when people like you say “they truth is out there - go find it yourself!” I tried, and I found that there’s just no there there.

If you don’t want to see the picture the puzzle pieces create by filling in some blanks with a little extrapolation, that’s fine.

It’s more than fine - it’s part of rational, skeptical thinking. In this conspiracy theory, there are small, disparate, not-necessarily-related scraps of fact around, but to pull them all together into a “NAFTA Superhighway” or a “North American Union” requires the reader to make a lot of assumptions, to fill in holes with imagination, to invent conspiracies, and to accept extraordinary claims without even ordinary evidence. It just doesn’t fly.

You’re not talking about something that walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and swims like a duck, and calling it a duck. You’re finding something that looks like a chicken and talks like a chicken and calling it a T-Rex.

David-

Despite the advocacy group you linked and its campaigns, The Boeing protest to the Northrup/EADS award is based purely on technical requirements. No “they took our jobs”, no outsourcing of the U.S. military, no economic impacts.

Boeing’s only chance is that they do have the better plane, and from what I’ve read in the aerospace circles they will lose the GAO’s determination in June. The newer Airbus 330 outperforms the 767 on most all of the perameters. They offered the 767, at the end of its production run, instead of the 777 which replaced it in the commercial world years ago. Why divert the 777 prodcution when the U.S. government will buy the older plane off a line that is about to be scrapped (making us more profitable)?

Even Air France buys the 777 over the Airbus.

Viva Alabama.

Whether this “NAFTA Super-Highway” thing is real or not is hard to prove, but some healthy suspicion is not a bad idea, based on a growing number of things.

There are several things that are (naturally) making people in Texas very suspicious.

Some say the high-way already exists (via I-29 and I-35).

Many say it’s all a myth, but there are several incidents that make one wonder.

For example:

• The Government of Alberta, Canada displays a diagram on their website that labels I-29 and I-35 as the “NAFTA Superhighway”.


• In September 2006, U.S. Representative Virgil Goode proposed with six co-sponsors non-binding House Concurrent Resolution 487, which specifically outlined opposition to a North American Union or a NAFTA Superhighway as a threat to U.S. sovereignty. The BILL never left committee. The same resolution was reintroduced by Goode in January 2007 for the 110th Congress as House Concurrent Resolution 40, this time with forty-three cosponsors, including 2008 Republican presidential candidates Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, who have all expressed opposition to a North American Union during their campaigns.


• In year 2002, the Texas Governor (Rick Perry) proposed what he called the “Trans-Texas Corridor”, which consists of a 1,200 foot (366 m) wide highway that also carries utilities such as electricity, petroleum and water as well as railway track and fiber-optic cables.


• In July 2007, U.S. Representative and candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election Duncan Hunter successfully offered an amendment to House Resolution 3074, the FY2008 Transportation Appropriations Act, prohibiting the use of federal funds for Department of Transportation participation in the activities of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America (NA). Hunter stated that: “Unfortunately, very little is known about the NAFTA Super Highway. This amendment will provide Congress the opportunity to exercise oversight of the highway, which remains a subject of question and uncertainty, and ensure that our safety and security will not be compromised in order to promote the business interests of our neighbors. “Fellow Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul brought the issue to mainstream prominence during the December 2007 CNN-YouTube GOP debate, where he rejected the concept and also called it “the NAFTA Superhighway” and, like Hunter, framed it within “the ultimate goal” of creating a North American Union (NAU).

However, according to official statements from NASCO, SPP, FHA, and Commerce Secretary:

• While concepts of a North American Union (NAU) share a number of common elements between them. NASCO and the SPP have both denied that there are any plans to establish a common currency, a “NAFTA Superhighway”, or a North American Union in “Myths vs Facts” pages on their websites.


• Officials from the Federal Highway Administration have denied the creation of a NAFTA superhighway.
  NASCO denies a new proposal for a “NAFTA superhighway” saying, “it exists today as I-35.”


• U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez stated “There is no secret plan to create a North American union, or a common currency, or to intrude on the sovereignty of any of the partner nations”.

We should also look at motives.
There may be real reasons why some people may want a “Nafta Super-Highway”, “Trans-Texas Corridor”, or what ever you want to call it.
It could allow access to Mexico’s seaports to bypass the Long shoreman in Los Angeles, CA and other places for cheaper goods. See NASCOcorridor.com which appears to be promoting a “corridor”.
Also, many politicians in government (on both sides of the border) refuse to enforce existing immigration laws and refuse to secure the borders, despite the majority of Americans that want both.
Obviously, there are many illegal employers in the U.S. that don’t want anything in the way of their cheap labor.

Thus, due to motives, and some pieces of the puzzle that look suspicious, and a number of events, and statements by politicians in office, it’s hard to dismiss this thing as complete myth.
It’s difficult to speak in certainties of these things (e.g. the super-highway, 911 conspiracies, etc.).
It’s safer to speak in terms of probabilities.
While the probabilities of a 11-SEP-2001 consiparacy (in my opinion) is low (e.g. 1% to 3% perhaps), the likelihood of some real forces trying to implement some “NAFTA Super-Highway”-like goals is probably a larger percentage.

It deserves more attention, because cheap labor and profits for SOMEONE is probably behind the motivation behind it.

If it turns out to NOT be a myth after all, you can bet it is motivated by corpocrisy, profits and access to/from cheap labor, and other manifestations of unchecked greed.

d.a.n., if you have a link to anything with a more detailed map of the project, please post it. The part that confused me right away was linking I 35 with I 94, which only happens in North Dakota. To get to Toronto and Montreal, you would go down I 80 to 94, or from Kansas city, down I 70 to St. Louis, and then I 55 to I 80 to I 94.

The council on foreigh relations talks

http://www.cfr.org/publication/8102/

and the 3 NAU governments listen and implement:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060331.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050323-3.html

To think that the corporations that run our elected officials do not want a NAU is naive. To think that we are not well on our way in the implementation process they have in mind is to fool onesself. To think that the NAFTA super highway is the realm of conspiracy nuts is to deny the reality of what is happening on a daily basis. To think that the corporations that dictate the laws of this country will tell the people of each of the countries the complete plan before it is to late is to be blind.

Why do you think that the elected officals we vote for dont respond to the demands of those that voted for them? They dont need to. They get their money and marching orders from the corporations and special interests not the voters.

For those that think the NAU and associated highway is a myth here are some more we have been swallowing for years. At least they are doing it for the good of the country and not any self interest. Deregulation will increase the prosperity of the Country. Free trade and no borders will bring economic propsperity to all look at China.

George in SC -

Know what? If we had single-payer Universal Health Care like the vast majority of the rest of the industrialized world (most of whom are ABOVE our _forty-fifth_ place on the ‘longest life expectancy’ list), we’d sell LOTS more Boeing jets.

Why?

Easy. Boeing pays out tens of millions every month in health-care costs - which costs are transferred directly to the selling price of their jets.

Same thing with cars - ten years ago, it was estimated that health insurance at company cost added an average of $2000 to every car sold.

Ah, but what do I know? I guess it’s our patriotic duty to be _forty-fifth_ on the list just so’s we don’t have to have that ‘evil Socialized Medicine’ like most of the rest of the free world enjoys….

I honestly believe that at least for the next few years the GOP is pretty much Toast, hence, I’m not inclined to get myself all worked up over McCain’s “health” proposals.

The NAFTA superhighway is something everyone should be very concerned about, however. There is in fact growing proof that it could become our reality, and Americans should start getting loudly vocal in strong opposition.

j2t2, excellent comments.
This is why even though I am a Democrat, I want nothing more to see the Blue Dog-DLC wing driven out of holding most of the power and influence in my political party. These people are as fully in league with legislating on behalf of corporate interests (not to mention the military industrial complex) as are the Republicans.
In other words, they’re a far cry from the kind of “Change I Can Believe In.” Which is just one of many reasons that I, and so very many other Dems have chosen to support Barack Obama over the Blue Dog-DLC Mrs. Clinton.

Veritas Vincit, the only way to make the Blue Dogs irrelevant is for the majority of the rest of the Party to adopt the Blue Dog’s fiscal disciplines and balanced budget, lower the debt mantra. It is that mantra that gives the Blue Dogs such power in the Democratic Party and for obvious good reason.

I agree, their faith in corporatocracy bodes ill for our nation and the Democratic Party, but, the only way to diminish their power is to adopt their fiscal responsibility platform and in doing so make them irrelevant, forcing them to seek relevance in the Republican Party where their corporatocracy belongs.

LawnBoy, the NAFTA super highway is a natural evolutionary product of the globalization of capital and investments outlined in Friedman’s book, The World is Flat. Which is to say, whether there are master planners or just Adam Smith’s invisible hand of self interest by capitalists creating the NAFTA super highway, is irrelevant. With or without master planners, the NAFTA super highway is being created from China to Canada through Mexico and the U.S.

What is needed is a master regulatory plan to insure that American citizens and America’s economic future are beneficiaries of the evolution and not just America’s wealthy capital elite.

The super highway is a reality in the making regardless of what you call it. Whether it will be a net benefit or degradation of quality of life for the majority of Americans present and future is the what we voters need to impress upon our representatives.

And what our legislators must impress upon the international capitalists through legislation and oversight as they forge ahead with the so called “free trade” agreements and implementations, which of course are NOT free for Americans.

So called ‘free trade’ agreements have cost Americans trade deficits for 30 years running now, and last year reached 3/4 of a trillion dollars exported to foreign economies. Those trade deficits are a big part of the loss of capital which we have to borrow back from the Chinese and Saudis and others to keep going, with INTEREST.

That interest on our foreign borrowing robs our children of the opportunity to lower their own taxes by prior contractual obligations of today’s generation and its incessant and imprudent borrowing.

David you are right. Any trade agreement that gives authority to the WTO over the SCOTUS and our elected representatives is not what it proclaims itself to be. To think that a 13 year old organization located in Europe should have the authority to override our elected officials on any issue that constitutionally is the reponsibility of the federal state or local government is beyond belief.

“Thus NAFTA’s rules are binding upon federal, state and local governments. Unlike the trade agreements that preceded it, NAFTA’s scope extended far beyond traditional trade matters, such as tariffs and quotas setting terms for sale of goods across borders. Instead, NAFTA included extensive rules limiting how the U.S. government can regulate foreign investors operating here, the ownership and domestic regulation of foreign-owned services being provided within the United States, and even how your tax dollars can be spent.”

Excerted from:
http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/articles.cfm?ID=17224

Free for who? Certainly not those in this country.

David,
I know the Blue Dog-DLC Democrats love to advertise themselves as the the fiscally responsible-balanced budget-lower debt Democrats, but the majority of the time, they’re so busy doing the legislative bidding of the corporations who have been funding their campaigns and making them into millionaires, that they’re not actually representing the needs of We of the People at all — no matter what their rhetoric may claim to the contrary.

The way Democrats like myself see it, smart, no nonsense, unapologetic liberals like Russ Feingold happen to own that mantra much more comprehensively and honestly. He can therefore talk exactly like a fiscal hawk, yet without ever having to become a sell out corporate shill in the process.

That’s the kind of politician and political direction I think the Democratic party needs to vote in, and go in.

ohrealy wrote: d.a.n., if you have a link to anything with a more detailed map of the project, please post it.

The NASCO Corridor site previously had another map, but they said they removed it because it confused people and caused trouble?

Here’s what the NASCO site contains on its F.A.Q.:

• NASCO — MYTH vs. FACT


• MYTH: NASCO is spearheading the creation of a NAFTA Superhighway.


• FACT: Founded in 1994, NASCO is a nonprofit organization that is working to bring together the public and private sectors along a common corridor. The organization is striving to:
  1) solve critical infrastructure problems in innovative ways;
  2) maximize the efficient use of our existing resources;
  3) better utilize critical diminishing funding for transportation infrastructure; and,
  4) employ technology along our existing infrastructure to improve security.

HHHHHMMmmmmmmm … if new construction is in the plans, it will undoubtedly lead to more eminent domain abuse, which is already out of control (6 new cases per day).

Based on what we’ve been seeing happen for several decades, it wouldn’t surprise me if this will all lead to more American workers being sold out, more immigration (legal or not), and more abuses.

“They also have access to medical savings accounts. Give that to the American people. Give them choice and tax credits to help pay. But do not make the government the manager of the program.”

Jack the free market has proven to be unsuccessful in mananging the health care system of this Country. The costs go up the statistics get worse and nothing gets solved. If not the government then who Jack. The French can do it why cant we?

LawnBoy and group, I found “THE LATE GREAT USA”, by Jerome Corsi to be an excellent read on the TransAmerican Union. He provides memos from meetings and references to back up his statements. Feds attending these meetings were paying for their own travel so there would be no audit trails through Gov’t finance records. A couple of nights past Lou Dobb’s just beat the crap out of a fellow that wanted to suggest that the Super Highway wasn’t real. At some point in the future this country might consider giving up our soverignty for trade. However, we won’t give Bush and Co. the time of day. I expect Bush to leave office a couple of months early to USE UP HIS SICK LEAVE. My proposed Party is against it. In fact we want to review the full range of international trade and government foreign relations to determine how much of our soverignty we’ve already given up and don’t know about.
Some excellent debates occurring in this column. Please check our third party w/RULES effort at www.demreps.com where we are looking for a little less talk and a lot more action.

Veritas Vincit, I have supported Russ Feingold for years with campaign donations and written, vocal support. He is the best of the Democratic Party, not perfect, but the best. You have excellent judgment in candidates to see the value and worth of a politician like Russ Feingold. Feingold is what McCain wished he could have been on the other side, but, failed in oh so many ways, largely due to his ambitions and lobbyist ties and reliance.

Heard the latest on Phil Graham’s departure from his campaign? That incident alone is sufficient to warrant moderate voters looking for change to shy away from McCain.

Unbelievable David? I don’t’ put any kind of dirty trick past our politicians. The problem is as you’ve seen from some of comments is that a whole heap of folks seem to think that politicians won’t pull tricks like these.

Health care cost are high enough without getting the government involved in it. But McCain’s plan aint gonna help things either. Instead of making it easier for insurance companies to rip off the consumer, or making it easier for the government to grab more power from us we need to get both out of the health care business.

Just what we need. The Pentagon giving foreign companies contract to build our military equipment. It’s bad enough that corporate America is shipping jobs over seas, now the government is gonna to do it? Just one more reason to throw the whole damn bunch out and get folks in that will work to improve this country and not try to make it a third world country.

The US should have never signed onto NAFTA. And we need to pull out of it. It’s cost Americans thousands of jobs and all I’ve seen is inferior products at higher cost coming from it.
We sure don’t need any NAFTA Superhighway. Instead of making it easier for other countries to import their junk and costing Americans more jobs we need to be getting the jobs lost back back here for our citizens.

Nuclear power is a relitively clean and safe source of electricity. But it’s very expensive and there is the problem of nuclear waste. Other source are less expensive, cleaner,safer, and don’t have the problem of waste. I’m for developing these sources. Why spend millions on plants that will have to shut down in 20 years?

I don’t blame fat kids on the government. I blame them on parents. They need to make the little brats get out from infront of the idiot box and go outside and get some exercise.

The Center for Public Integrity looks like just another political action group to me. Which means they have an agenda and need to be taken with a grain of salt. But if there is any truth in what it says about the Great Lakes, it aint no wonder that the Bush Administration, or any other politician wouldn’t want it made public.

Sthealth campaigns? What else is new? Just another reason to get rid of 537 idiots and replace them with folks that will pass some true campaign reform.

Sounds to me like KBR needs to lose it’s contract. And at worst need to be finded. AT best someone needs a very long streach in prison. Maybe even a date with the death chamber.

The US doesn’t need a plan to help people purchase health insurance…the US needs a plan to ensure health care for all people. Pharma and Big Insurance don’t need more profits off sick people.

Rachel, quite right, which is why America needs to move toward a non-profit health care system, meaning health care professionals and insurers for Basic Health Care for everyone which operates at cost, without investors and profiteers taking their cuts.

Ron Brown, your comments demonstrate inordinately fine common sense. Even if I don’t agree with each and every point. Thanks for the comments.

My primary disagreement is government involved in health care. The only way all Americans can receive well and emergency care is if the government does step in to structure and oversee a non-profit Basic Health Care system. That would be the first tier. Then private health care specialists and insurance companies can operate as a second tier for those who can afford additional health care choices above Basic well care and Emergency injury or illness of the first tier system.

Everyone gets coverage and the more affluent don’t lose choice or the benefits of for-profit elective choices.

David,

Phil Graham a moderate? Moderate what? Are you kidding? He’s one of the biggest crooks out there. His corprocrat thievery is anything but moderate.

googlumpus, where did I even imply Phil Graham was a moderate? I live in Texas. I know much about Phil Graham and I would never consider him a moderate anything save a turtle looking human. His head and neck always look like they just emerged from his shell. And with his ideas of what should be done to other Americans, that head ought to be quick in pulling back into the shell.

Isn’t his name spelled Gramm, as in Gramm Rudman Hollings? Or are you confusing him with Bob Graham, former senator from FL, and a conservative Democrat. Anyway Phil Gramm started out as a Democrat in the bad old days, reaped all the rewards from government programs, and then switched. When he ran for POTUS, I thought he lost out when he appeared on 60 minutes, and people realised that his wife was Asian.

ohrealy, yes, Gramm. He was a horrible Senator for Texas all for the corporations and to hell with the citizens. And one helluva sophist, too. He could, without blinking an eye, convince a nun Santa Clause was the devil reincarnate! Which I guess makes him one very good lawyer. If only he had kept lawyering instead of running for office.

And partisan to the toenails.

Speaking of partisan David is there a reason those with a repub/conservative/libertarian viewpoint get so silent when the talk turns to NAFTA, NAU, NAFTA Super highway, Free trade agreements and such? It seems when these issues are discussed here we dont seem to get their viewpoint.

David, agreed. My mistake. Thanks, Ohrealy.

Why spend millions on plants that will have to shut down in 20 years? Said Ron Brown , the life cycle of the older gen type 2 nuclear power plants is about 40 years about the same life cycle as a silicon photovoltaic cell , you hitting the ball the wrong way like the other georgia peach ! j2t2 said Speaking of partisan David is there a reason those with a repub/conservative/libertarian viewpoint get so silent when the talk turns to NAFTA, NAU, NAFTA Super highway, Free trade agreements and such? It seems when these issues are discussed here we dont seem to get their viewpoint. speaking for myself and listening and watching the D senator from south carolina back then I came to the conclusion NAFTA was a Turkey and come on Let’s be fair Bill Clinton was in love with NAFTA .

Rodney Brown. So true. Clinton praised the NAFTA bill up and down, and Hillary is still backing it with modifications designed to shift its appearance From Free Trade to Fair Trade.

But, that misses the mark entirely. The entire foundation of NAFTA is American dependence upon foreign manufacturers and producers. That is one of the things hurting us now and moreso in the future. She doesn’t understand the fundamentals of it or what is going on. I have to wonder if she, like John McCain, has never read ‘The World is Flat’. Not that all of Friedman’s premises or conclusions are accurate or reflective, but the bulk of them are and the thrust of the book is.

But, what Friedman calls inevitable is our economic demise. And we Americans should NOT accept that future of dependence to the extent that millions of Americans will suffer when a foreign economy alters course or changes its mind about what to trade with America, if anything at all.

We can never be entirely independent, but, our heritage of independence should NOT be allowed to wilt on history’s tree just because some monopolist and oligopolists desire to be billionaires instead of millionaires.

“speaking for myself and listening and watching the D senator from south carolina back then I came to the conclusion NAFTA was a Turkey and come on Let’s be fair Bill Clinton was in love with NAFTA .”

I agree with you Rodney but thats not my point. I wonder why the supporters of the “free market” and “free trade” never seem to speak up for or against the excesses of the NAFTA agreement. I question why those they claim to suport and defend the constitution think that a foreign non government entity, not elected by the people can override the SCOTUS as well as duly elected local state and federal governments on issues that can be linked to trade. I am amazed that those conservatives and libertarians that want less government dont voice their opinion on this issue. Seems that NAFTA creates much more than just a trade agreement, it creates a non elected level of government that usurps our constitution yet no outcry from the repubs, cons and libertarians. Why is that?

j2t2, what a deafening response to your inquiries, eh?

I would venture their response would be free trade occurs without governing oversight. That is their understanding of the Adam Smith’s invisible hand. It is a flawed understanding, but, that I think would be it.

Of course, when Adam Smith speaks of the invisible hand he builds that concept on the basis of ‘enlightened self interest”, and the word enlightened is defined in his precursor work to Wealth of Nations, Theory of Moral Sentiments, a book no conservative I have ever met has ever read. Hence, their misunderstanding of the invisible hand as having no governance. To work as defined by Adam Smith, the invisible hand MUST be guided by intelligent, informed, long term self-interest not just for oneself but for one’s progeny and posterity as well.

Greed of course is not enlightened self-interest, it is short sighted self-debilitating interest that froths up the resentment and hostilities of those negatively affected by the actions of greed. If only conservatives could grasp that concept firmly and embrace its moral guidance, they could actually create a prudent and wise governing elected leadership.

Instead they rely on SwiftBoaters, Limbaughs, Coulters, and Hannity’s to lower the bar for all of America just so they can have a chance at power without having demonstrated the prerequisite discipline and wisdom for good governance. These last 13 years have amply demonstrated the veracity of that statement.

This blog is turning into a propaganistic love feast for Obama supporters.

Why is Obama’s healthcare plan called “Universal healthcare” (even though it is not) instead of the Obama National Healthcare plan?

Please explain why Obama’s plans to give amnesty to illigal immigrants and tax cuts to their employers is not part and parcel with NAFTA and the NAFTA Superhighway?

How many of you plan to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for the NAFTA Superhighway, where President Obama himself will cut that ribbon?

During the leadup to the Ohio primary, I received political propaganda from Barrak Obama and this is what it said-

HILLARY CLINTON IS FOR NAFTA.

BARRAK OBAMA IS AGAINST NAFTA.

BARRAK OBAMA WILL FIX NAFTA BY PROVIDING TAX BREAKS FOR EMPLOYERS WHO CREATE JOBS IN AMERICA.

Apparently Obama isn’t actually against NAFTA. He just thinks it needs a little fix. The phrase, BARRAK OBAMA IS AGAINST NAFTA was obviously a lie. I’m sure that his supporters can easily explain what the words BARRAK OBAMA IS AGAINST NAFTA really means and why it is not an obvious lie.

One of Obama’s first acts as president will be the signing of the illegal immigrant and employers amnesty bill. You can call a pig a goat but, it is still a pig. Obama say’s that he will provide tax incentives for employers who create jobs in America, not jobs for Americans. Put the two together and Obama’s intentions become quite clear for the blue collar workers.

So please, let us not entertain anymore delusions that a President Obama will not support NAFTA and the NAFTA Superhighway.

ohrealy: Why Edmonton, Canada? Edmonton is the wheat grain belt capital of the world. Mexican train workers can rail the grain, as well as corn from the American Midwest down thru the U.S. to ADM’s soon to be built processing plants in Mexico and to the Chinese Communist Party’s port authority facilities on the east and west coasts of Mexico.

Can I offer any proof that ADM will do this? No. However, from a business stand point, when the super transportation system is finalized, it would be more profitable to close processing plants in American and open new ones in Mexico or even better, in Honduras or Guatemala where U.S. supported right wing governments are still deeply entrenched.

Do the Chinese Communist Party’s plans to colonize Mexico include reeducation facilities for the Mexican peons?

I believe that the greatest irony of all is the Republican free traders figorously denouncing any suggestion that the American people, through their government, go into business in areas such as healthcare and energy while many of those same Republican free traders are investing in Chinese Communist Party business ventures. Is it possible that the Communist party’s business model is the wave of the future.

Nuclear energy: The British people are experiencing sticker shock after seeing the massively rising costs for decomissioning their old nuclear power plants. There is no alternative energy plan that will be more costly than turning to nuclear power plants to provide the bulk of our electrical energy.

Solar energy: The current generation of home and small business based solar panels has an efficiency rating 15 percent. The cost of purefied silicon panels and the difficulty of extracting one electron from each photon of light makes these panels noncompetitive compared to other energy sources.

The next generation of solar panels will have an efficiency rating around 23 percent which is still not enough.

“Researchers at T U Delft and the FOM Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter have found irrefutable proof that the so-called avalanche effect by electrons occurs in specific, very small semiconducting crystals. This could pave the way for cheap, high-output solar cells.”

The researchers have discovered that certain specific nano sized crystals when hit by a phonton of light will emit 2 or 3 electrons per photon rather than one electron per photon. They say that if these crystals are incorporated into solar collectors rather than the currently used silicon, the manufacturing costs associated with these products can be dramatically reduced. The major inhibitor is the almost universal refusal of the private sector to invest capital in this technology field for obvious reasons.

On NAFTA, we get oil and timber cheaper from Canada because of it. On Edmonton, wouldn’t it be easier just to ship on CN Rail to Vancouver, rather than going all the way to Mexico to get food to China.

It’s getting harder and harder to get posts through to this site.

David
I reckon health care is one area where we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
I believe in individual pay health care where folks pays for their own health care. When folks are paying out of their own pocket they will go to the doctors and hospitals that offer the best care at the lowest prices. This will bring the cost of health care down and improve care as doctors and hospitals will have to lower their rates and give better care in order to keep current and attract new patients.

Rodney Brown said: Why spend millions on plants that will have to shut down in 20 years? Said Ron Brown , the life cycle of the older gen type 2 nuclear power plants is about 40 years about the same life cycle as a silicon photovoltaic cell , you hitting the ball the wrong way like the other georgia peach !

Georgia peach? Not according to my family. :)
Are ya sure it’s 40 years? I’ve always heard 20 years. At at any rate with the high coast of nuclear power I don’t see how it can be justified when other sources are cleaner, safer, cheaper, and don’t have the problem with waste.

Ron Brown said: “When folks are paying out of their own pocket they will go to the doctors and hospitals that offer the best care at the lowest prices.”

Or not go at all because they can’t afford to, allowing the condition to become dramatically worse to the point of requiring Emergency Room treatment at 10 times the cost to tax payers.

You’re right, we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I just can’t rationalize children and adults suffering in America for lack of funds to be seen by a physician or PA.

ohrealy, email me drremer [@] gvtc.com and tell me what the problem is with posting comments. I will look into it. Thanks.

jlw said,Solar energy: The current generation of home and small business based solar panels has an efficiency rating 15 percent. The cost of purefied silicon panels and the difficulty of extracting one electron from each photon of light makes these panels noncompetitive compared to other energy sources.

The next generation of solar panels will have an efficiency rating around 23 percent which is still not enough.” OK so if you compare solar electric panels to giant Natural gas Burning turbines to generate electric that are 90%- 95% inefficient or 5% to 10% efficient and consume trillions of BTU’S of a finite element with all those costs passed on to the consumer plus the environmental problems associated and Quote ,Solar cells and energy payback
In the 1990s, when silicon cells were twice as thick, efficiencies were 30% lower than today and lifetimes were shorter, it may well have cost more energy to make a cell than it could generate in a lifetime. In the meantime, the technology has progressed significantly, and the energy payback time of a modern photovoltaic module is typically from 1 to 4 years [14] depending on the type and where it is used (see net energy gain). With a typical lifetime of 20 to 30 years, this means that modern solar cells are net energy producers, i.e they generate much more energy over their lifetime than the energy expended in producing them and last time i checked there is no meter placed on the sun..

Rodney Brown, in addition, as any homeowner who has ever picked up a garden hose on a sunny day knows, heating water with solar energy is a no brainer. $20 to $40 in extra plumbing and the solar water heater itself which can be made by the homeowner for around $250 or bought commercially for around $600, pays the homeowner back in just a couple years, and pays in savings every year after that.

Design of homes that capture Winter’s low horizon sunlight to the interior warming it, and roof overhangs that block the summer sun to the interior in the summer is factor that keeps on paying dividends for the life of that building.

Orienting the length of buildings North to South in cool climates and East to West in warm climates also generates heating and cooling savings for over the life of the structure.

And of course the ultimate in heating and cooling savings comes from earth berming two or more sides of the structure with an earth roof, which insulates in the winter with trapped air impregnated soil, and with foliage which absorbs the suns energy in the Spring, Summer, and Fall.

In areas where soil is at a premium, thermal mass walls and roofing invert the days and nights heating and cooling, so that days temperatures are radiating to the interior air space at night and the nights cooler temperatures are radiating into the interior air space during the day, moderating 24 hours the average ambient temperatures inside.

All these technologies are centuries old, and it is high time modern planners, builders, and building buyers returned to them. Unless of course, they are under the influence of the fossil fuel energy corporations. Then these measures make no sense at all to the shareholders of the fossil fuel energy companies.

I had a neighbor on one side in FL who covered his roof with Cool Deck to keep the heat out and a neighbor on the other side had a solar hot water heater. Neither one of them used the sun to heat the water in their pools, their biggest energy user besides air conditioning. I don’t know if that was even possible 15 years ago.

ohrealy, the technologies I mentioned in my previous comment are centuries old, tried and true and forgotten. Yes, there are new innovations and we should employ those as well provided they don’t themselves constitute other pollutions and waste in their production, maintenance, and disposal. That’s the problem with nuclear power, it trades one enormously costly and potentially damaging waste byproduct with another.

DRRemer, I think the problem is that electricity still has to be provided at a reasonable price to people unable or unwilling to develop ways of conserving or providing their own power. We’re still going to have a lot more fossil fuel used, if the people capable of providing their own alternatives don’t literally empower themselves, in order to reduce demand on the grid.

I believe uranium will be a big problem,the price is rising and some unfriendly countrys have big deposits i know companys are looking for more ,my electric rates are high in my upstate ny house the house is very energy efficient, I picked a fixed rate 18 months ago and a lot of folks picked the market rate and we all know energy has gone through the roof since then .

“I picked a fixed rate 18 months ago and a lot of folks picked the market rate and we all know energy has gone through the roof since then” OOPS!. IE fixed rate through NYSEG, New york State electric and gas, Statement date 6/7/2008 combined amount for gas and electric $47.92 need a philadelphia lawyer to read this looks like about 10.4 cents a KW hour.