North American Union

[Shammu]

Looks like that North American Union is getting closer to reality. They are indeed helping to destroy the country in many many ways.

It has so frustrating to me. We need to keep in mind that perhaps the Lord has allowed this for more then one purpose. To hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fighting this illegal immigration has been a losing battle because it's part of the NWO plan.

To make the best of it, I think we need to share the love of Jesus with them.


Edited to add; I just realized that all that money which Bush and Congress just gave to Mexico, might be for this very thing.....

[Soldier4Christ]

Fighting this illegal immigration has been a losing battle because it's part of the NWO plan.

Yet it is something we should continue to fight against.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mexican official says NAFTA includes superhighways
'Transportation linking the United States, Mexico and Canada is key to the future'

While President Bush and other U.S. officials have derided fears of a NAFTA superhighway as merely conspiracy theory, a Mexican transportation expert contends the trade agreement includes plans for a network of international ship, rail and truck connections to deliver consumer goods from China and the Far East to Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.

"Transportation linking the United States, Mexico and Canada is key to the future of NAFTA," Eduardo Aspero, president of the Mexican Intermodal Association, told a recent luncheon sponsored by the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio.

In transportation economics, the term "intermodal" refers to the ability to move a container by crane to different modes of transportation, including ship, truck and railroad, without having to unpack or repack the container.

"It was interesting how the NAFTA transportation network so vehemently denied by the U.S. government was alive and well in Aspero's speech and openly discussed in San Antonio," said Terri Hall, founder of the San Antonio Toll Party.

WND reported President Bush, while attending the third annual summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership meeting in Quebec last August said in an internationally televised press conference that those who believe the SPP might lead to NAFTA superhighways or a North American Union are "conspiracy theorists."

Hall, who attended Aspero's San Antonio speech, is a political activist whose website, TexasTurf.org, is dedicated to fighting the Trans-Texas Corridor and the expansion of toll roads in the state.

Aspero focused on plans by the Chinese firm of Hutchison Ports Holdings to develop the deep-water Mexican ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo, on the Pacific Ocean south of Texas, to bring containers from China into North America.

As WND has reported, Hutchison Ports Holdings is paying billions of dollars to deepen Mexican ports such as Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo in anticipation of the arrival of post-Pamamex mega-ships capable of holding up to 12,500 containers currently being built for Chinese shipping lines.

WND also has reported how the U.S. southern border is being blurred for the benefit of global trade, with the official website of the Mexican northeastern state of Nuevo Leon disclosing plans to extend the Trans-Texas Corridor south through Monterrey to connect with Pacific ports in Mexico.

Aspero noted that currently 400,000 containers a year are being transported by truck and rail from Mexican ports on the Pacific into the U.S.

"The purpose of ports such as Lazaro Cardenas is to facilitate the cost-efficient transportation of container goods from Asia into the United States," he explained.

"Lazaro Cardenas is the new hope for intermodalism in Mexico," Aspero said, noting that Lazaro Cardenas is Mexico's deepest port at 49 feet, capable of accepting virtually any cargo ship in the world.

"Aspero noted that the largest markets for the Chinese-manufactured goods are at the center of the United States and in the Northeast," Hall said.

"He was trying to explain why multi-national corporations engaged in global trade continue to pressure the Bush administration," she continued. "Their goal is to cut loose American longshoremen on the West Coast in favor of the cheaper Mexican labor that can get goods into the interior of the United States through the southern route from these Mexican ports on the Pacific."

Aspero also argued the Automated Manifest System (AMS) put in place by U.S. Customs in 2002 is a key development in North American intermodal transportation.

"AMS allows cargo from Asia to go through Mexican ports virtually without any physical inspection," he explained. "AMS pre-clears cargo at the point of origin, not at the border when the container enters the United States."

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

There is no way this is reports from a bunch of CONSPIRACY NUTS! There is hard evidence of all kinds to prove exactly what's going on. Sadly, President Bush is LYING!

All you need to do is several Google searches and have enough documentary, photo, video, and audio evidence to keep you busy for a long time. What we're being told isn't happening IS MOST CERTAINLY HAPPENING!

You can look at all kinds of engineering plans, places, dates, names, etc. for just about anything you want to look at. Further, members of the Legislative Branch are openly and PUBLICLY trying to stop several projects directly related to what we're told isn't happening. What isn't happening is mostly responsible for failure to secure our borders and all kinds of other SECURITY NEGLECT in a time of war. In other words - TREASON!

This is not a CONSPIRACY THEORY. It's happening right under our noses, AND IT CAN'T BE DENIED! There are numerous very large citizen groups trying to use reasonable means TO STOP THIS. The Legislative Branch has also passed some bills in an effort to stop ALREADY IN PROGRESS Mexican Trucking Through the U.S. and more. WHAT IS THOUGHT TO BE HAPPENING IS HAPPENING!

[Soldier4Christ]

Baja port proposed to rival Los Angeles, Long Beach
Public-private partnerships bidding on Punta Colonet Chinese container biz

Plans have been finalized by Mexico to develop Punta Colonet as a West Coast Mexican alternative to the U.S. ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The proposal includes a deep-water Pacific Ocean port on Mexico's Baja California peninsula about 150 miles south of Tijuana that could serve as a destination for the 30 million containers headed to North America from China and the Far East each year, according to a report published Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times.

The on-again, off-again plan to develop Punta Colonet has been discussed as the number of containers from China grows and multi-national corporations out-sourcing their North American manufacturing to China are looking for cuts in transportation costs.

The lure of Punta Colonet is the cheaper Mexican transportation labor available if Chinese containers arrive there to be moved into the interior of the U.S., rather than the more expensive American labor in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The model to develop Punta Colonet is based on Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, two Mexican ports on the Pacific south of Texas, which have been developed by Hutchison Ports Holdings, a Chinese port operations firm with close ties to the communist Chinese government and military.

As WND has reported, containers from China off-loaded at Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas bypass the labor costs of the U.S. Longshoreman Union dock workers, United Transportation Union railroad workers and U.S. truck drivers.

Manuel Rodriguez Arregui, Mexico's secretary of transportation, announced in February his intention to publish in June a request for proposals for the operation of a deep-water port at Punta Colonet. His goal is to see work on the port begin next year, open for business in 2010 and be completed no later than 2015.

The plans are to take advantage of a public-private partnership, or PPP, in which private developers would work with government officials to use government powers to acquire whatever land or other rights were needed for the port to be developed. The capital for the project would be provided by the private developers, who in turn would seek long-term contracts to operate and derive revenue from the port.

In turn, the proposals submitted by private development companies can be expected to pay the government of Mexico one-time up-front seven-figure sums for the rights to develop the project and operate it for as long as 45 years after completion.

The project, which may take as much as $9 billion in private capital to develop, will involve some 7,000 acres at Punta Colonet, about as large as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach combined.

The goal is to construct a modern port capable of handling annually 8 million containers or 20-foot equivalent units, according to a report published by the San Diego Union-Tribune, which was based on an interview the newspaper conducted with Eugenio Elorduy Walther, the governor of Baja California in Mexico.

The containers will then move to the U.S. interior on a 180-mile rail line expected to connect the port at Punta Colonet with existing rail systems at Yuma, Ariz.

The Union-Tribune also reported Hutchison Port Holdings has now bought property at Punta Colonet, and Union Pacific is seeking options on a railroad right-of-way in Yuma.

The Los Angeles Times said a competitive bid may be organized by Mexican Carlos Slim Helu, the world’s second-richest man with a net worth Forbes estimated in 2006 at over $30 billion.

The consortium would involve teaming up with Miguel Favela, the general director of Mexican operations for cargo terminal operator MTC Holdings of Oakland.

Favela told the Los Angeles Times Slim's IDEAL infrastructure company, Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SA de CV, and the Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico could team up to grab the deal.

WND previously reported plans implemented in China to ship millions more containers to North America every year.

The Chinese are investing $15 billion to develop Yangshan, a reclaimed island the size of 470 soccer fields in the East China Sea off Shanghai. The plan by 2010 is to operate 30 berths accommodating post-Panamex megaships, each capable of carrying up to 12,500 containers, three or four times the size of the typical container ships now operating.

Currently handling 20 million containers a year, Yangshan is expected by 2010 to export up to 30 million containers a year, with the vast majority destined for North America.

WND also has reported the Canadian government is developing plans to open West Coast ports including Vancouver and Prince Rupert as part of Canada's publicly declared "Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative" transportation policy.

[Soldier4Christ]

Promoting the North American Union
Michael Howe probes notion of premeditated merger at trucking show

Paving the road to the North American Union is something several companies hope to profit from, and at least two vendors at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., are openly promoting the benefits of NAFTA.

National Distributors Leasing, Inc., promotes itself as "The International Connection." Its logo consists of the flags of Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

The Canadian flag is in the background with the U.S. flag overlaid on it, and the Mexican flag placed prominently on top of the American banner.

Though the staff members at the booth were not willing to discuss the goals of the company as it relates to NAFTA, the website is very descriptive.

"We operate heavily in the NAFTA lanes ... . We can expedite shipments to or from any of these areas as well as international shipments to and from Canada or Mexico or any point in between."

NDL is an American-owned carrier based in Sellersburg, Ind., that operates primarily in the Midwest and along the NAFTA corridors.

One independent owner-operator of 37 years, Collin Genge of Spring Hill, Fla., told WND he's concerned with the way the country is going as a result of NAFTA. 

"You don't want to get me started on NAFTA and Mexican trucking," said Genge. "It's hard enough for a driver, let alone an owner-operator like me, to make an honest living competing with the large American trucking companies, but then make us compete with the low wages of Mexican drivers. That's not good for America."

Looking at the logo of NDL, Genge was visibly troubled.

"I understand that NAFTA exists and that American carriers need to do what they can to make money as a result. But look at the logo. Why is the Mexican flag overlaid on the U.S. flag? Why have the three flags at all? It's almost as if they are promoting a North American Union."

Genge is also concerned about the NAFTA Superhighways.

"And, the company says they run NAFTA lanes. Is that the same as the NAFTA Superhighways?  It's just very disconcerting," he said.

Another vendor at the MATS was BESTPASS. It's affiliated with the North American Pre-clearance and Safety System, or NORPASS. The NORPASS logo is the North American continent. 

According to its website, NORPASS is "a partnership of state and provincial agencies and trucking industry representatives who are committed to promoting safe and efficient trucking throughout North America." 

NORPASS allows "safe and legal trucks to proceed unimpeded (even across the Canadian border) while enforcement resources are focused on high risk motor carriers."

NORPASS is available to American and Canadian drivers, with applications available in English or French.

"It's basically a pre-approval to pass through the tolls and scales, even on the border. No doubt it is efficient, but when will it open up the southern border, too?" asks Genge.

This is the 37th annual MATS, having more than 1,150 companies signed up to take part in the 2008 show. One of the more dominant displays at the show was from a conglomerate of about 40 different companies and 150 people from China.

Genge concluded, "I guess the Mid-America Trucking Show is less about America than it was in the past."

[Soldier4Christ]

Cop who reported 'torture'
escalates case to Congress
State Department says situation
sparked new policy for Canada

Canada has agreed to implement new policies and procedures to protect U.S. citizens who may be jailed there, according to the U.S. State Department. The move, however, falls far short of the corrections sought by a former U.S. policeman who spent four years in jail there without having access to U.S. consular services, and he says he is planning to meet with a member of Congress about the dispute.

A spokesman for the State Department told WND yesterday that there have been discussions regarding the claims raised by Scott Loper.

"We are aware Mr. Loper was not allowed access to American consular officials while arrested and detained in Canada. In our discussions with Canadian officials they have acknowledged that oversight," a spokesman for the department said.

"Since then they have put into place policies [including] prompt notification and access whenever Americans are arrested. We believe our consultations with Canadian officials will help Americans get adequate notice and access when they're arrested," he continued.

The specific case involving Loper was raised, but the official could not provide further details on anything stemming from that issue.

WND has reported previously not only on Loper's case, but also on confirmation from the State Department it was opening an investigation into the disappearance of Loper's son.

Loper, a former New Jersey police officer, has described stumbling upon an alleged police-run drug ring in Canada, then his sudden jailing before he could contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, that nation's federal police department, and the abrupt disappearance of his wife and son, Edward.

Officials from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs have continue to decline to respond to WND inquiries about the status of an investigation into the situation.

The formal hunt for Loper's son, Eddy, now 11, was confirmed in a letter from Barbara J. Greig, with the International Parental Child Abduction Unit in the State Department.

"I am writing in response to my telephone conversation with you of February 22, 2008, regarding your child, Edward Loper, who may still be alive in Canada. I am the officer responsible for cases in Canada for the International Parental Child Abduction Unit of the Office Children's Issues. International parental child abduction is an issue of great concern to the Department of State. We place the highest priority on children who have been victimized by parental or State abduction. I have already opened a case in the name of Edward Loper that will remain open until you gain access to him or all possible efforts have been exhausted," she said.

While the hunt for his son is good, and policy changes might help, the status of his complaint within the State Department remains unsatisfactory to Loper, and he confirmed to WND he has a meeting scheduled within the next week with a leader in Congress to discuss further the situation. Details of that scheduled meeting were not being released immediately.

He has called on the U.S. government to pursue a complaint internationally, because of the treaty violations Canada's failure to notify the U.S. included.

Loper's civil rights lawyer, Scott Shields of Media, Pa., told WND his client has few options left if the State Department refuses to pursue his case.

"Otherwise he'd have to go back into Canada and hire Canadian counsel and sue them there," he said.

His client's case is a "cry out to the State Department to demand some accountability for [Canada] not notifying our government he was in custody to begin with. … They've admitted they didn't notify our government and still don't want to address the issues," he said.

"Our government can file a claim through the International Court of Justice. We [as individuals] cannot," Shields said.

"But for reasons, not told to me, other than apparently our federal current administration perhaps doesn't want to upset the Canadian government, they're not pushing it," he said.

"I don't even know how to classify the inaction on the part of our government now," said Shields.

Loper's insistence on pursuing the situation through international courts assigned to handle treaty violations comes because the Bush administration submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing to overturn the death penalty of Jose Medellin. He confessed in 1993 to participating in the rape and murder of two Houston teenagers. Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena were sodomized and strangled with their shoe laces, and Medellin bragged about keeping one girl's Mickey Mouse watch as a souvenir of the crime.

But he sought to overturn the conviction claiming he had not been provided access to consular services.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision recently that the state of Texas had handled the prosecution properly, but the White House said that would make no difference in its pursuit of compliance with international treaties.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president's goal was the assure that compliance.

"The solicitor general in this case argued on behalf of the United States that the president has the authority to compel a state to comply with provisions of a legally ratified treaty – in this case, one between the United States and a foreign power – regarding a provision of the International Court of Justice. In their decision …. the Supreme Court disagreed. … They recognized that there is an international obligation to comply with treaties, but that the president of the United States does not have the legal authority to compel a state to take that action," she said.

Loper told WND he was returned to the U.S. in 2004 after a four-year prison term for "domestic" charges he believes were trumped up to silence him after he discovered the alleged cop-run drug ring.

Loper, who had moved to Canada so his wife at the time could be closer to her family, said the whole situation was unsettling from the beginning. He was divorced from his original Canadian wife, then married his second wife, Carolyn.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

While moving into a townhome, they were welcomed by a beer-drinking crowd in the next unit who identified themselves as police officers, one of whom later warned him that a neighbor on the other side was "under surveillance" as a possible drug dealer.

Loper's experience as a New Jersey officer alerted him, and he subsequently watched officers repeatedly sneak into the next-door unit. He bought some microphones and a tape recorder and installed the mikes so they would monitor what was going on, discovering that police officers in the Durham region allegedly were busting drug dealers being identified by his neighbor, then bringing the drugs to him for sale, he said.

Before he could take his evidence to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's federal police unit, he was busted by local police on what he describes as trumped-up charges, taken to a mental health facility and detained, he said.

While he was confined, his townhome was ransacked, his tapes confiscated and his wife and young son disappeared. He recalls a last telephone call from Carolyn. "I love you but they'll take Eddy away!" were the last words he heard her say, Loper told WND.

Released from the mental facility after a few days, he found his wife and son gone, and when he tried to find them, found himself the subject of a restraining order. He tried to express his love for his wife and son in a letter to a friend, and authorities determined that was an attempt at an "indirect communication" and he was sentenced to prison for four years.

There, he said, officers repeatedly tried to get him to admit that he was making up the claims about the police officers' drug connections. "There was a hot water radiator. They would spray me with that to get me to recant my story, to get me to stop saying it," he said.

He said he's been told stories of his wife now being in a witness relocation program, or considers the real possibility that she may have been part of the conspiracy to get rid of him in order to move forward with another man, possibly a police officer.

Back in the United States, he's remarried and pursuing another line of work. But he still is demanding justice for what he experienced.

"I was arrested and locked in a filthy cockroach infested solitary confinement with no light, no heat. I was starved, beaten, tortured with a scalding shower tapped off a radiator pipe while in a locked cage, and put into a steel coffin for weeks at a time…

"On numerous occasions as I asked and demanded to see a representative of the American government … I was laughed at by Canadian prison authorities…," he said.

"This is a clear violation of my Hague Rights and a violation of treaties between Canada and the United States going back over 40 years … It is also a violation of international law," he said.

On a Restore the Republic website, a commentator called Loper's situation, "absolutely insane."

"Kirralin23," a forum participant, said the situation is appalling.

"For the government to refuse to protect his rights as a U.S. citizen is equivalent to you or [me] not seeking prosecution of our best friend for raping our child. How could that individual remain our friend? How can our government remain cozy with a foreign goverment (sic) which has so viciously and unjustly attacked one of our citizens."

From "Taquoshi," came: "Canada is becoming more and more of a police state, from the seizing of firearms, to the enforcement of 'hate crime' legislation, 'universal' health care and now to the possible false imprisonment of a U.S. citizen without notifying the embassy and possibly the concealment of his wife and son. Oh, yeah, we really want to join together with them as part of a North American Union. Right!"

[Soldier4Christ]

Makeover urged for 'North American Union' effort
Heavy criticism of continental integration prompts plan to save flagging movement

On the verge of next week's North American summit in New Orleans, a Canadian think tank has suggested renaming the "North American Union" to renew progress toward continental integration in the face of mounting criticism.

A paper entitled "Saving the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership", published last month by the Fraser Institute in Canada, contends President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have decided to expend no more political capital in pursuing "the bust" that has occurred because of the "brand" of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America or SPP.

The solution, the authors argue, is a public relations makeover in which the goals of North American political and economic integration remain the same but the names get changed to keep trilateral arrangements between the U.S., Mexico and Canada on track.

While the paper continues to dismiss critics of the SPP as "conspiracy theorists," Fraser Institute political scientist Dr. Alexander Moens and his co-author Michael Cust, a Fraser Institute intern, proposes the name "North American Union," or NAU, be dropped in favor of a declaration that the three countries now want to create a "North American Standards and Regulatory Area," or NASRA.

Moens and Cust write that the attacks of SPP critics "are starting to hurt."

"In the wake of the Montebello Summit (in Quebec last summer), one Canadian commentator declared the SPP 'dead' and 'defunct,'" Moens and Cust noted. "Another stated recently that the SPP has 'collapsed under a heap of conspiratorial rubbish."

But the authors argue the SPP is "far from dead."

Acknowledging the SPP has a "low profile" currently, the Frasier Institute authors stress that trilateral talks in the bureaucratic working groups constituted under SPP by the three governments are continuing on both security and competitiveness policy issues.

"Its critics may have tarnished the 'SPP brand,'" Moens and Cust concede, "but the precise areas of its work – to follow where NAFTA left off and to do so by incorporating post-9/11 security criteria as well as public safety and quality of life issues (pandemic illnesses and food safety) – are key Canadian interests."

The Fraser Institute paper also encourages the SPP working groups to develop "a better communications strategy," so that the public "can begin to understand its benefits."

The authors, however, are opposed to expanding the list of SPP advisers to include public interest groups or the media, preferring to stay with the closed-door advice offered by the 30 corporations picked by the chambers of commerce in the three countries to serve as members of the North American Competitiveness Council, or NACC.

They also concede that Mexico has been a "drag" on border security talks, especially since illegal immigration into the U.S. has continued, if not accelerated, under the SPP. They admit "there is an enormous problem of illegal entry, drug smuggling, and violent incidents on the Mexican border," while continuing to argue "there is also a very large legal and orderly flow of goods between Mexico and the United States."

In 1999, economist Herbert G. Grubel of the Fraser institute wrote a paper entitled, "The Case for the Amero," presenting the first arguments in print that a North American currency should be created on the model of the euro in the European Union as a replacement for the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso.

WND reported the third SPP summit, held last August in Montebello, Quebec, involved a series of closed-door meetings attended only by the three state heads, the cabinet members in attendance, the SPP trilateral bureaucrats assigned to head the 20 working groups established under the SPP and the NACC business leaders.

Next Monday and Tuesday, President Bush will meet in New Orleans with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Harper.

The White House has changed the name of the meeting from the "Fourth SPP Annual Summit" to simply the "North American Leaders' Summit."

WND has applied to the White House for press credential to attend next week's New Orleans meeting.

[nChrist]

WOW! These guys must be asleep or completely out of touch with reality.

The SPP garbage is all over the Internet with documentation of all kinds. This isn't conspiracy NUT stuff. It's happening right under our noses, and many have presented documented proof of exactly what's going on. Renaming any portion of this lunacy won't accomplish a single thing. The bottom line is they can't do it without a vote of the people. Their attempts of moving forward during a time of war and leaving the borders wide open probably involves NUMEROUS POTENTIAL CRIMINAL CHARGES that could be filed. These loons need to wise up and realize that the countries involved ARE NOT DICTATORSHIPS! AND, the people watching are smart enough to already have a thick PILE OF HARD EVIDENCE.

[Soldier4Christ]

New Orleans gears up for North American summit
Police chief expects 'some protesters, but not a mass'

Police expect protests but few problems when the two-day North American Leaders Summit gets under way Monday in New Orleans.

It's VIP duty as President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper get together to talk trade. But for the New Orleans Police Department, it's more of the same in a a string of high-profile, crowd-generating events early in 2008.

The North American summit in Quebec last August drew several hundred protesters vocal on the war in Iraq and what they claimed was a gradual merging of the three countries. There also were marches in New Orleans in 2003, when the city hosted negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley said he expects "some protesters, but not a mass."

"We handle these situations better than anyone in the country," Riley said.

New Orleans police are among the world's most skilled at crowd control. Their methods in handling the up to 1 million people who turn out each year at Mardi Gras have been studied by law enforcement agencies around the world.

Still, there are local tensions that officers will be on watch for _ among them simmering unhappiness about the City Council's decision last December to approve demolition of many large public housing complexes. A small group of protesters clashed with police as the council was debating on the issue. Police deployed chemical spray and Tasers and some arrests were made.

For the summit, they'll get help from state police, National Guard and the Coast Guard, though Riley wouldn't say how many additional security forces will be deployed.

The summit's scheduled events take place in the Central Business District, not far from the French Quarter but distant from neighborhoods hard hit by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It was unclear Friday whether the visiting leaders would meet with hurricane victims still rebuilding their homes and lives.

For Calderon, a visit to recovering neighborhoods would present an opportunity to meet some of New Orleans' newcomers _ Hispanic craftsmen attracted to the region by the promise of jobs in the massive effort to rebuild homes and businesses.

After a string of events in early 2007 _ the BCS championship and Sugar Bowl college football games, Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star Game among them _ the summit will turn the international spotlight on the city.

City leaders and tourism interests want to continue sending a message that New Orleans is open for business, said Mary Beth Romig, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Bush announced the summit would be held in New Orleans during his State of the Union speech in January. The president was criticized in 2007 for not including the city, or its struggles, in the speech. Despite billions of dollars of federal investment in rebuilding levees, homes and public infrastructure, the initial response to the flooding that swamped the city left a bad taste for many residents. They think the federal government has failed to do enough to bring the city back.

Mayor Ray Nagin, in January said he will meet with the president during the summit.

Not everyone believes New Orleans is the proper venue for the summit.

One target of protesters is expected to be the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. They say the pact, which aims to share information between the three governments and smooth out regulatory differences, is a threat to national sovereignty and an attempt to create a military partnership to enforce the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Jessica Walker Beaumont, an organizer of a People's Summit on North American issues, also wants to focus on concerns such as increased privatization of hospitals and schools _ "a lot of what NAFTA is about," she said.

Class distinctions, too, will be in the spotlight.

By coming to impoverished New Orleans, Bush is "having the arrogance to say, This is what prosperity looks like," said Kathleen Chandler, of Buffalo, N.Y., an organizer for the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization. The group plans a demonstration Sunday.

[Soldier4Christ]

Advocates of 'continental integration' on defensive

Author and investigative journalist Dr. Jerome Corsi, who attended the recent "North American Leaders Summit" in New Orleans, says public outcry over the controversial issue of continental integration has put supporters of such an idea on the defensive.

Corsi says the recent meeting was, in reality, the fourth annual summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). But the name was changed to the North American Leaders Summit, he alleges, because the public has become all too aware of the agenda of the SPP.
 
The journalist says President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon even avoided the term during their summit. "The words Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America have become kind of radioactive. I think with the criticism of North American integration and now people being aware that it's happening, you couldn't see the words 'SPP' or 'Security and Prosperity Partnership' anywhere in evidence at the meeting," Corsi points out.
 
According to Corsi, the American people do not want the SPP to create what amounts to a North American version of the European Union. "You know this globalism initiative, which is being pushed forward in fast gear, is now meeting increasing resistance from the people of the United States," he argues. "And I think this meeting in New Orleans reflected that the three leaders are on the defensive now and [that] people are becoming more aware of their integration plans and are saying no to it."
 
Corsi believes the American people are going to resist similar free-trade agreements and demand they be renegotiated in order to be fair to U.S. workers and put a stop to integration efforts like the SPP. "I think they're going to get less and less attention from an administration that is afraid to invest political capital into an effort where, if it were publicized, the people would react vehemently against it," Corsi notes.
 
The supporters of the SPP agenda, says Corsi, are clearly on the defensive.

[Soldier4Christ]

Poll results: SPP plans are 'treason'
97 percent oppose North American Community without congressional approval

A new poll by the American Policy Center has revealed that the lack of widespread opposition to the agenda of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, announced in 2005 by President Bush and his counterparts from Mexico and Canada, is because more than half of the American residents polled hadn't heard of it.

But when they did, their voices were clear, with overwhelming majorities opposing the concept, plans and ideas.

The poll was done by the APC, a grassroots activist group in Washington that asked a series of questions about the SPP, the Trans Texas Corridor transportation project and other issues.

"While President Bush and his counterparts in Mexico and Canada continue to deny that the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) is the beginning of a North American Union, Americans around the nation are expressing their growing opposition to the scheme," the center said in introducing its poll results.

The poll of one million American households revealed that 58 percent of the households contacted had not heard of the SPP.

"It is important to note that APC did not select households that might represent specific ideological positions," the group said. "The chosen households represented neither conservative nor liberal positions. Instead the recipients were a wide [variety] of Americans who live in the direct path of the proposed Trans Texas/NAFTA Corridor, from Texas to Minnesota."

The center said the first question was whether the residents had heard of the SPP, and 58 percent said they had not.

But the rest of the results were lopsided. The center said 95 percent of those responding opposed the concept that "private corporations should have the power to enforce trade policy that may adversely affect our national sovereignty and independence."

That related to the public-private partnerships being established across the U.S., from foreign corporations running highways and airports in Illinois to Spanish investors building a new transportation corridor across Texas.

"Chapter 11 of the NAFTA Agreement states that disputes over NAFTA-related issues will be heard in NAFTA courts superseding U.S. local, state and federal courts…." the third question noted, and 91 percent of the respondents indicated that would threaten U.S. sovereignty.

A total of 87 percent said they did not believe it would enhance U.S. security by expanding the nation's security perimeter to include Canada and Mexico, and 95 percent opposed a Mexico truck program instituted by federal administrators.

That program set up by the Bush administration allows Mexican trucks directly on U.S. highways, even though the 2008 omnibus spending bill "was clearly written and designed to put the brakes on the current pilot program," according to sponsor Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

A total of 92 percent said they opposed a common North American currency such as the "amero."

"Though denied by the Bush Administration, there has been much discussion in economic and academic circles about the creation of a North American currency much like the euro," the center, which has compiled an information sheet about the plans, said. "In October 2007 during an appearance on the Larry King Show on CNN, former Mexican President Vicente Fox answered in the affirmative when King asked him about the creation of a united currency."

Ninety-five percent said public hearings and debate should be held before the plans move further forward.

"To date, there has been no congressional legislation, no congressional hearings and no congressional oversight concerning the establishment or operation of the SPP," the center said. "No federal money has been officially allocated by Congress. No official authority has been provided for the creation of the SPP."

The opposition figure was even higher – 97 percent – when surveyors asked: "Should the Bush administration be allowed to move forward with its plans to create a "North American Community' without congressional approval?

A still-high 88 percent opposed the suggestion that the "United States should be 'harmonized' or merged into a union with Mexico or Canada," the survey said.

"Finally, responders were asked to provide their own comments and thoughts on the SPP. The word most often used was 'treason.' Another said, 'I want no part of the social health care of Canada and I do not want to incorporate Mexico's turmoil and poverty into our United States," the center said.

"Yet," said Tom DeWeese, president of the APC, "as the Texas Department of Transportation signs an agreement with the Spanish company Cintra containing no-compete clauses and guaranteed returns; as the Kansas City council loans $2.5 million to build the inland truck port called KC Smart Port; as the 20 SPP working groups continue to write policy; as the Mexican trucks roll over our borders; as high level meetings go on – the Bush administration dares to deny that ANYTHING is happening. Why? The responses to APC's survey show why. When Americans understand the truth, they say NO in resounding numbers."

The government's original statement announcing the "partnership" said it would "increase the security, prosperity, and quality of life of our citizens. This work will be based on the principle that our security and prosperity are mutually dependent and complementary, and will reflect our shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic values and institutions."

But the SPP organization itself has taken the unusual step for a government agency of posting on its website a multi-page "debunking" of "myths."

For example, the document says the SPP is not even an agreement, but is a "dialogue," and it "does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency."

Further, it says the SPP updates and consults with members of Congress, although there is no mention of a congressional authorization or oversight.

It does affirm that the SPP is a White House-driven initiative but denies having a "secret plan" to build a NAFTA superhighway. Critics say it's just called the Trans-Texas Corridor.

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

I can't believe that our government thinks the people are THIS DUMB. It doesn't matter if they rename things or try to mislead the people away from the real issues. It boils down to being illegal, Unconstitutional, and TREASON. ONLY the PEOPLE can vote away our sovereignty and give any power at all to people who are NOT our elected representative. This is a basic fact in a free country where the PEOPLE ARE THE BOSS, and there IS NO dictator. WE are the rulers and will not submit to any foreign rule. We've already fought for our FREEDOM and we plan to keep it.

As far as I'm concerned, all of the GRAND TREASON had better be packed up and either forgotten or burned. It's NOT going to happen unless the PEOPLE VOTE and say that it will happen. Otherwise, our money and resources are being WASTED on something WE HAVE NOT APPROVED AND WILL NOT APPROVE! They either need to STOP RIGHT NOW or face CRIMINAL PROSECUTION to the full extent of the law, including the CHARGE OF TREASON! I WOULD HOPE THAT ANYONE KNOWS WE WILL NOT GIVE UP OUR SOVEREIGNTY AND FREEDOM WE'VE FOUGHT FOR AND ARE DETERMINED TO KEEP! ASKING US TO DO THIS WOULD ALSO BE STUPID, AND ONLY THE PEOPLE IN A VOTE CAN AUTHORIZE SOMETHING LIKE THIS! We have plenty of room in PRISONS for people who try to do ILLEGAL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL monstrosities of this magnitude. The DEATH PENALTY would also be on the table for TREASON, AND THEY NEED TO KNOW THIS! Further, any agreement involving our SOVEREIGNTY AND FREEDOM done without a VOTE OF THE PEOPLE WILL NOT BE HONORED! In other words, all of this is a waste of time and a horrendous UNAUTHORIZED WASTE OF OUR MONEY AND RESOURCES!

[Soldier4Christ]

Stretching through the rural countryside with limited access and no speed limit in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built to resemble Germany's autobahn. Now thanks to a $12.8 billion dollar offer, it may soon become Spain's.

According to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News, Gov. Ed Rendell has announced that Abertis Infraestructuras of Barcelona has offered the top dollar bid to the state of Pennsylvania for the rights to manage the toll road under a 75-year lease.

The highway could become just the latest in a string of U.S. infrastructure landmarks to be operated by foreign companies.

In 2004, management of the Chicago Skyway, a stretch of elevated road connecting I-90 and I-94, was granted to Cintra, another Spanish operation that outbid Abertis at $1.83 billion. Abertis lost out to Cintra again when the Indiana Toll Road was taken over in 2006 for $3.8 billion.

This time, Abertis beat out Cintra and other firms, hoping to add the Pennsylvania Turnpike to its list of operations including toll roads in Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. Abertis also operates airports, including the airports in Orlando, Fla.; Burbank, Calif.; and one concourse of the Atlanta airport.

Even though the controversial Dubai ports deal was squashed by public outcry in 2006, foreign firms have nonetheless purchased long-term leases on other American transportation networks.

The Chicago Skyway is tied up for 99 years. The Indiana Toll Road is leased for 75. As WND reported earlier this year, Chicago is seeking a more than 50-year lease on Midway Airport. Among the potential suitors for Midway are 6 international firms, including Abertis.

The leases are being made possible through an increasingly common practice of establishing "public-private partnerships" (PPP's), contracts between public agencies and private entities that enable private sector participation in public transportation.

Many of the PPP's implemented in the U.S. bring large up-front cash infusions. In both the proposed Midway and Pennsylvania Turnpike offers, the billions in cash are touted as a quick solution to shoring up under-funded government employee pension funds.

Many, however, see an imminent threat in turning over U.S. infrastructure to foreign companies.

"The USA is up for sale," an attendee of a conference in Colorado to discuss PPPs told WND. "Whatever the public now owns – roads, ports, waste management water systems, rail lines, public parking facilities, airports, even lotteries and sports stadiums – are up for grabs and the only requirement is that the foreigners have the cash."

Even William Capone, the director of communications for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, told WND in a telephone interview earlier this year, "We don't favor turning the Pennsylvania Turnpike into a private entity through a PPP lease. If we keep the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the hands of a public entity, we believe we can actually invest more dollars into roads than a private corporation could do."

"Besides," he said, "the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is not profit-driven, so we don't have to generate profits to pay shareholders the way a PPP would have to operate."

Rendell, however, is now advocating the proposal that would turn his state's best known road over to Abertis. Rendell called the plan "a very good deal for Pennsylvanian drivers and taxpayers" and is urging lawmakers to move the highway – 359 miles of east-west routes and another northeast extension – into private hands by September.

The proposal still has to go through the Pennsylvania legislature, a decision that is likely to be hotly contested. Many in the capital are hoping Act 44, a law passed by the state legislature in 2007 to make I-80 a toll road as well, will stem the financial crisis and deflate the impetus for accepting the Turnpike proposal.

According to the newspaper report, the toll road plan with Abertis allows the newcomer to raise tolls 25 percent year and 2.5 percent or the rate of inflation every year after that.