North American Union

[nChrist]

I'm glad to hear that the petitions are doing so well.

I can live with the current wording for now, but "oppose" is really "will NOT tolerate this treasonous act". The second version is more accurate, and there would be many millions of signatures with just a little bit more time and a heavier effort to get the word out.

I think this really is the reason why our borders are still open, but it would probably be difficult to prove. After all, it's been almost impossible to get immigration to deport arrested illegal aliens all the way back to the late 70s. No city can afford to feed and house illegal aliens indefinitely while waiting for immigration officials WHO NEVER SHOW UP! Contrary to everything said on the news, this is why local and county law enforcement agencies don't arrest illegal aliens unless there are other charges involved. If arrests are started again, Immigration would have to pick them up and deport them in a reasonable time or every jail budget in the country would be bankrupt in no time at all.

The time we used to wait in the early 70s was 7 to 10 days, and the Federal government did pay a daily fee for housing and food that almost paid the costs. Now, the number of illegals is so great that Immigration would have to pick them up in 2 or 3 days to obey State and Federal overcrowding laws. In fact, some facilities are overcrowded without the illegal aliens, so there would have to be additional facilities, lots of cooperation, and throwing the red tape out the window.

[Soldier4Christ]

Some of the southern states are taking action on their own and implementing laws making it more difficult for illegal aliens to get a place to live or to get jobs. As a result we are seeing more of them here and they are not afraid to be open about their illegal status for the reasons that you just stated. The local law enforcement can't do anything about it because the prisons here are already at capacity to the point that many criminals are being put back out on the street within days and never serving time for crimes that call for jail time.

[Soldier4Christ]

China to install sensors along NAFTA highway 
Documents reveal NASCO plan to militarize I-35

Radio sensing stations to track traffic and cargo up and down the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway corridor are being installed by Communist China, operating through a port operator subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin and the North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc.

The idea is that RFID chips placed in containers where manufactured goods are shipped from China will be able to be tracked to the Mexican ports on the Pacific where the containers are unloaded onto Mexican trucks and trains for transportation on the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway to destinations within the United States.

NASCO, a trade association based in Dallas, Texas, has teamed with Lockheed Martin to use RFID tracking technology Lockheed Martin developed for the U.S. Department of Defense's projects in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as at U.S. military stations throughout the world.

China has a central position in applying the RFID technology on I-35, given Hutchinson Port Holdings' 49 percent ownership of Savi Networks, the Lockheed Martin subsidiary that will get the job of placing the sensors all up and down the NAFTA Superhighway.

Nathan Hansen, a Minnesota attorney, has archived on his blog a series of NASCO documents obtained under a Minnesota Data Practices Act.

Among these documents released by Hansen is a Letter of Intent between NASCO and Savi Networks which details how NASCO and Lockheed Martin intend to implement NAFTRACS.

The letter calls for Savi Networks to establish RFID sensors along the I-35 NAFTA trade corridor, with tracking designed to begin at Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, and include "inland points of data capture" positioned at Laredo, San Antonio, Dallas, Kansas City, the Ambassador Bridge, and Winnipeg.

Data captured by the RFID sensors would be sent to a data collection center that NASCO has named "The Center of Excellence."

The Center of Excellence data collection center will be integrated into Lockheed Martin's militarized Global Transport Network Command and Control Center that is installed and operating at the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation or "Lighthouse" facility in Suffolk, Virginia.

Lockheed Martin's GTN was developed for the U.S. Department of Defense as an electronic system used to support supply shipments and defense logistics to U.S. armed forces deployed worldwide.

GTN is operated by the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

In releasing to the public the NASCO internal documents, Hansen characterized NASCO's Total Domain Awareness as "an Orwellian nightmare," commenting that, "At least Orwell's tyrants had the dignity to be creative with the names of their various maniacal bureaucracies."

NASCO documents describe Total Domain Awareness as the ability to "automatically gather, correlate, and interpret fragments of multi-source data," including data received from radar, Automatic Identification System shipboard radar, Global Positioning System, open source data including weather reports, military intelligence data, law enforcement data, bioterrorism data, plus video surveillance and security cameras.

Hansen comments about the NASCO Total Awareness Domain that, "Truly, a major defense contractor tracking our every move here in our own country is undoubtedly a threat to our liberties."

As WND has previously reported, Hutchison Port Holdings owns 49 percent of Savi Networks, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin's wholly-owned subsidiary Savi Technology.

A contract signed with NASCO authorizes Savi Networks to place a system of RFID sensors along the entire length of I-35 to track RFID equipped containers which travel the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway, including those Chinese containers that enter the continent through the Mexican ports of Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas.

The Federal Highway Administration website is currently archiving a slide show presentation by Tiffany Melvin, NASCO’s executive director, containing a discussion of the North American Facilitation of Transportation, Trade, Reduced Congestion and Security, designed to track containers along I-35 with Savi RFID technology and to provide the information to "various federal and state DOT (Department of Transportation) participants."

Hutchison Ports Holding operates the ports at Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, as well as both ends of the Panama Canal.

Savi Technology spokesmen refused to return WND calls after messages were left at the company for three consecutive days.

[Shammu]

Will Canada become the 51st state?
The Security and Prosperity Partnership: what it's all about and what it could mean for Canadians
Kelly Patterson, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, August 18, 2007

To some, it is a "corporate coup d'etat," a conspiracy by big business to turn Canada into the 51st state by stealth. Others see it as a plot to destroy the U.S. by forcing it into a North American union with "socialist Canada" and "corrupt Mexico."

It is the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a sprawling effort to forge closer ties among the three nations in everything from anti-terrorism measures to energy strategies to food-safety and pesticide rules.

Launched two years ago by then prime minister Paul Martin, President George W. Bush and his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, at the so-called Three Amigos summit in Waco, Tex., the SPP grew out of concerns that security crackdowns would cripple cross-border trade.

With juggernauts such as China and India looming on the horizon, the three countries agreed they had to act fast to stay competitive. Now the SPP has grown into a mind-boggling array of some 300 initiatives, involving 19 teams of bureaucrats from all three countries.

INTEGRATION BY STEALTH

Its stated mission is "to keep our borders closed to terrorism yet open to trade" by fostering "greater co-operation and information-sharing" in security protocols and economic areas such as product safety.

Little known in Canada, the accord, if implemented, could affect almost every aspect of Canadian life, from what drugs you can access to whether you can board a plane and even what ingredients go into your morning cornflakes.

While you may not have heard of the SPP, you may have heard about some of the controversies it has sparked: Canada's adoption of a no-fly list, negotiations to lower Canada's pesticide standards to U.S. levels or fears the deal will lead to bulk-water exports.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion charged Friday that, "under the veil of secrecy," Harper has let the Americans run roughshod over Canada, covertly using the SPP to impose a U.S. agenda on Canada. That's not what the Liberals intended when they signed the deal, which was meant to give Canada a stronger voice in Washington, not turn it into an"imitation" of the U.S., he says.

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians says it is big business that is calling the shots, pushing aggressively for the harmonization -- and downgrading -- of everything from security norms to food standards, in a move that will lead to the "integration by stealth" of the three nations.

"Canadians would be shocked" if they knew the true scope of the SPP, says Barlow, whose Ottawa-based organization represents about 100,000 members.

Fringe groups such as the Canadian Action Party and the Minutemen in the U.S. go further, arguing the SPP is a plot to sweep all three nations into a North American union.

"Where are they getting this stuff?" says Thomas d'Aquino, head of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which helped launch the SPP.

"This is a very nitty-gritty, workaday initiative" to make trade safer and more efficient through such steps as expanding border crossings and information-sharing programs on plant and animal safety, he says.

Other SPP projects are no-brainers, such as plans to cooperate in fighting West Nile virus and flu pandemics.

As for fears of a North American union, "anyone who believes that is smoking something," says d'Aquino.

This weekend, the debate hits the headlines across the nation as the three heads of state and their advisers converge on Montebello, Que., 60 kilometres east of Ottawa, for the SPP's third annual summit.

Thousands of protesters are also expected to descend on the area, hoping to confront the "Three Banditos" about a deal they say is a secretive sellout to the cowboy capitalism and militarism of the superpower to Canada's south.

"We always hoped from the outset we could broaden it beyond security," says Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor who worked as an adviser in the Privy Council Office when the SPP was launched. He adds that the SPP's architects hoped the "regular high-level meetings" would help "overcome bureaucratic inertia."

SOVEREIGNTY UNDER FIRE

But they also helped big business and its government allies bypass both the public and Parliament to push through a host of controversial changes without debate or scrutiny, critics charge. They say the accord has enshrined and fast-tracked a longstanding effort to quietly harmonize Canadian programs with those of the U.S. in everything from military policy to food and drug standards.

"The SPP is an unacceptable, closed-door process with enormous implications for Canadians," says NDP trade critic Peter Julian.

Roland Paris scoffs at charges the SPP is a grand design. If anything, he says, it is a timid collection of piddling efforts that has become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape.

"This is not a political vision of the future of the continent. If it were, it would be worth the fuss."

Defenders of the SPP dismiss concerns about regulatory change as fear-mongering, saying the accord aims only to cut out minor, needless variations between the three countries.

The goal is to end the "tyranny of small differences" that can turn the border into a theatre of the absurd, says John Kirton, a University of Toronto professor and expert in the environmental effects of free trade.

If fact, the SPP could dramatically raise standards across North America, proponents say, because it promotes information-sharing among the three countries.

Scientists would swap data on everything from car safety to new chemicals, enabling regulators to better evaluate products and react more quickly to public health threats.

The SPP also includes projects with obvious benefits for all three nations, such as reducing sulphur in fuel and air pollution from ships, and coordinating efforts to curb plant and animal diseases.

All three governments insist that the three nations remain sovereign under the SPP: If Canada doesn't like the way the U.S. does something, it can go its own way.

But NDP trade critic Julian is not so sure. He worries about the effect regulatory convergence will have in the future.

If, for example, Canada wants to pass new rules to deal with greenhouse gases, it could mean "Canada would have to go to Washington and lobby for the kinds of standards and protections they want," he says.

Will Canada become the 51st state?

[Soldier4Christ]

No it won't be the 51st state as it will a three nation union if these people get their way.

[David_james]

I like my country the way it is.

I AM CANADIAN

[Shammu]

Aug. 18, 2007, 7:50AM
Perry's push for super highway raises conspiracy buzz
Some say it's part of a plan to create one nation in North America

By R.G. RATCLIFFE

AUSTIN — Black helicopters, the Illuminati, Gov. Rick Perry and the Trans-Texas Corridor are all now part of the vernacular of the global domination conspiracy theorists.

Perry's push for the Trans-Texas Corridor super highway is part of a secret plan, the conspiracy theorists say, to create the North American Union — a single nation consisting of Canada, Mexico and the United States with a currency called the Amero.

Government denials of the North American Union and descriptions of it as a myth seem to add fuel to the fire. A Google search for "North American Union" and "Rick Perry" returns about 13,400 Web page results.

"Conspiracy theories abound, and some people have an awful lot of time on their hands to come up with such far-fetched notions," said Perry spokesman Robert Black.

Perry enhanced the conspiracy buzz earlier this summer by traveling to Turkey to attend the secretive Bilderberg conference, which conspiracy theorists believe is a cabal of international monied interests and power brokers pressing for globalization.

And the conspiracy rhetoric is likely to ratchet up this week as President Bush meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Quebec in their third summit to discuss North American relations under the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

"There is absolutely a connection with all of it," said Texas Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams. The Trans-Texas Corridor "is something not being driven by the people of Texas."

The first, and most controversial, leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor plan is a proposed 1,200-foot-wide private toll road to run from Laredo to the Oklahoma border parallel to Interstate 35. This TTC-35 would be built by a consortium headed by Spanish owned Cintra S.A. and Zachry Construction Corp. of San Antonio.

The seed of the North American Union controversy rests in the 1992-93 passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Under that treaty, Interstate 35 was designated informally as the NAFTA highway.

'Stealth' attempt
Fast-forward to March 2005 to Crawford, when President Bush, Harper and then-Mexican President Vicente Fox agreed to pursue the Security and Prosperity Partnership, SPP. The idea was to promote cooperation among the countries on economic and security issues.

But conservative author Jerome Corsi — in his new book: The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada — argues the SPP is a "stealth" attempt to wipe out the nations' borders and form a single economy like the European Union.

With an entire chapter dedicated to Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan, Corsi says the first step to integrating the economies is to integrate the transportation infrastructure.

"His (Perry's) actions have been to fight hard to build this toll road and not listen to the objections expressed by the people of Texas," Corsi said.

Corsi became nationally known in 2004 as the co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Corsi said extensive research shows the SPP has created working groups on the North American Union that answer to presidential Cabinet secretaries.

"This is more of a shadow bureaucracy, a shadow government already in effect," Corsi said. "Unless it is stopped, it will turn into a North American Union with an Amero."

The official federal Web site for the SPP has a section dedicated to busting the North American Union as myth.

"The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers," the site says.

But that has not stopped a growing opposition to the North American Union by groups such as the Eagle Forum, The Conservative Caucus and the John Birch Society.

'Wanted' individual
The North American Union also has been fodder for cable television commentators: CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox's Bill O'Reilly.

Perry fueled his role in the debate in June by attending the Bilderberg annual conference, a secretive closed-door meeting of about 120 business, government and media leaders from Europe and North America.

Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Lake Jackson was asked about the trip on the syndicated talk radio show of Alex Jones in June. Paul said the trip was "a sign that he's involved in the international conspiracy."

Jones' Web site features mug shot-like photos of Perry labeled "Wanted for Treason." Jones in an interview said Perry's trip and the Trans-Texas Corridor show a willingness by the governor to sell out Texas' infrastructure to international bankers.

"Perry is actively waging war, economically in the interests of the elites and neomercantilism," Jones said.

The 2001 book Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New by Robert A. Pastor, an American University professor and director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management, is cited by Corsi as the blueprint for the merger.

"I've never proposed a North American Union," Pastor said. "The only people who talk about a North American Union are those people who are trying to generate fear."

Belief in sovereignty
Pastor said greater cooperation between the three countries makes sense for both economics and internal security.

Pastor said those promoting the conspiracy are doing so because of "historical xenophobia," "a fear of immigrants, mostly from Mexico" and a "traditional isolationism."

Black said there is no way the governor would support merging the U.S. with its neighbors.

"The governor is a firm believer in the sovereignty of the United States. Too many of our brave men and women have died defending it," Black said.

Perry's push for super highway raises conspiracy buzz

[Soldier4Christ]

Leaders of 3 nations meet for SPP confab
Bush, Harper, Calderon talking behind closed doors

Leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico have begun their discussions of the Security and Prosperity Partnership behind closed doors here at the five-star Fairmont Le Chateau resort in Montebello, Quebec.

President Bush arrived at mid-afternoon yesterday, with the presidential helicopter landing on the club's golf course, as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was waiting to greet him.

As the two met, Harper commented that Bush appeared to travel with his own security army of Secret Service.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon arrived later, and could be the first to depart as forecasters estimated Hurricane Dean is pressing on a southern route headed toward the Yucatan peninsula.

Ottawa, Canada's nearby capital city, appeared militarized for the meetings, with police squad cars visible on virtually every downtown corner and cross-street.

All roads leading to Montebello were blocked off by military-like roadblocks, with the local police backed up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's national police force, in charge.

A last-minute court decision forced the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police, to allow protesters to be close enough to the Montebello resort to be seen.

But a security fence surrounded the Le Chateau resort to keep out the growing number of protesters who were confronted by Canadian police armed in full riot gear.

Protesters at several different perimeter security lines advanced yesterday toward police lines and were driven back by provincial police in riot gear, including batons and shields, using pepper gas and pellet bullets.

Harper brushed off the protesters when greeting Bush, who, in a comment recorded by cameras, noted the numbers.

Harper shrugged to Bush, "A couple of hundred? It's sad."

WND estimates put the protesters at several thousand, mixing radical anarchists with protesters whose message appeared more partisan, aimed at the Harper government's efforts to use the meetings to advance a North American integration message they opposed.

In Ottawa, hundreds of more subdued political protesters carried banners and chanted slogans in peaceful protest marches around the city's distinctive parliament buildings.

Only those with proper accreditation issued by the Canadian government after Royal Canadian Mounted Police security checks had any chance of getting within Montebello resort grounds.

The only "civilians" actually scheduled to attend the SPP closed-door sessions were representatives of the 30 multi-national corporations appointed by the Chambers of Commerce of the three nations to constitute the North American Competitiveness Council, or NACC.

Today's confidential sessions are scheduled to involve top-level trilateral working group bureaucrats meeting with NACC business members.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has set up the NACC to serve as the chief policy adviser to the 20 SPP trilateral working groups that have been "integrating" and "harmonizing" North American administrative laws and regulations across a wide spectrum of public policy issues.

As WND previously reported, the NACC is expected to dominate the SPP agenda.

"The SPP is pursuing an agenda to integrate Mexico and Canada in closed doors sessions that are getting underway today in Montebello," Howard Phillips, the chairman of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, told a press conference in Ottawa.

"We are here to register our protest," Phillips added, "along with the protests of thousands of Americans who agree with us that the SPP is a globalist agenda driven by the multi-national corporate interests and intellectual elite who together have launched an attack upon the national sovereignty of the United States, Canada and Mexico."

Connie Fogel, head of the Canadian Action Party, agreed with Phillips.

"Canadians are complaining that the SPP process lacks transparency," Fogel told the press conference. "Transparency is a major issue, but even if the SPP working groups were open to the public, we would still object to their goal to advance the North American integration agenda at the expense of Canadian sovereignty."

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush doesn't deny plans
for N. American Union 
President avoids question, ridicules
'conspiracy theorists' who believe it

President Bush today sidestepped a direct question about whether he'd be willing to categorically deny there is a plan to create the North American Union.

Instead, he ridiculed those who believe that is taking place as conspiracy theorists.

The exchange came at a news conference held by Bush, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who met at a resort in the rural woods outside of Ottawa, Quebec, to discuss their latest work on the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

After the trio presented their prepared statement about the SPP, several reporters who had been selected in advance were allowed to ask questions.

When it came time for a question from a Fox News reporter, Bush was asked if he would be willing to categorically deny that there is a plan to create a North American Union, or that there are plans to create NAFTA Superhighways.

"As you three leaders meet here, there are a growing number of people in each of your countries who have expressed concern about the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is addressed to all three of you. Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union? Are there plans to build some kind of superhighway connecting all three countries? And do you believe all of these theories about a possible erosion of national identity stem from a lack of transparency from this partnership?" was the question, according to a White House transcript.

Reporters at the news conference said he sidestepped, instead adopting the tactic that those who are arguing the European Union model of integrating nations into a larger continental union is being used in North America should be ridiculed.

He called it an old political scare tactic, to try to create a wild conspiracy and then demand that those who "are not engaged" prove that it isn't happening.

Bush's answer was:

    "We represent three great nations. We each respect each other's sovereignty. You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they're wrong. I believe it's in our interest to trade; I believe it's in our interest to dialogue; I believe it's in our interest to work out common problems for the good of our people.

    "And I'm amused by some of the speculation, some of the old – you can call them political scare tactics. If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist. That's just the way some people operate. I'm here representing my nation. I feel strongly that the United States is a force for good, and I feel strongly that by working with our neighbors we can a stronger force for good.

    "So I appreciate that question. I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place. It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about."

Harper joined in. There's not going to be any NAFTA Superhighway connecting the three nations, he said, and it's "not going to go interplanetary either," he said.

Harper said the SPP discussions that were held concerned such pressing issues as jelly beans. He said the business interests expressing their desires for progress on the SPP noted there were different standards in the United States and Canada, and there was a discussion about whether those standards could be made uniform for the U.S. and Canada.

Bush's comments echoed the comments published just a day earlier in the Ottawa Citizen by David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

"While conspiracy theories abound, you can take it to the bank that no one involved in these discussions is interested in, or has ever proposed, a 'North American Union,' a 'North American super highway,' or a 'North American currency,'" he wrote.

"The United States, Canada and Mexico are three distinct, sovereign countries that practice democracy differently," he wrote. "Each proudly defends its own interests. But our leaders also recognize that we share a continent in this post-Sept. 11 world, where terrorism is but one threat. We have a vested interest in working together to prevent potential threats outside North America – like those posed by pandemic flu or improperly labeled foods, for example – from penetrating our borders.

Wilkins wrote that the nations also are "exploring ways to detect radiological threats and coordinating emergency efforts along our borders in the event of a man-made or natural disaster. It just makes sense when you share thousands of miles of common border to share a common emergency-management plan."

He said another goal is to reduce the cost of doing business across national borders.

However, Jerome Corsi, whose newly published book, "The Late Great USA," uses the government's own documentation to show the advance of a North American Union, said ridicule is the "last resort of someone who is losing an argument."

Such tactics, Corsi said, "underestimate the intelligence of people listening, and people realize that the argument wasn't answered."

At the news conference, Bush failed to respond to the Fox News question with a denial of the plans for a North American Union.

And, Corsi said, "Bush did not address the fact that Texas Gov. Rick Perrry vetoed a 2-year moratorium on the Trans-Texas Corridor project," believed to be the starting point for an eventual continent-wide grid of NAFTA Superhighways.

"Just to ridicule the idea, when he had a change to categorically deny it, raises doubts in peoples' minds, especially when these meetings aren't transparent," Corsi said.

The meeting this week, which focused on economic issues, was attended by representatives of dozens of multinational corporations anxious to have their manufacturing and sales processes smoothed.

However, Corsi said, "not one person who objects is permit inside the room."

At the same time, Bush did affirm that there is a plan under consideration for the United States to provide military assistant to Mexico's military in its battles in the drug war, although officials were not ready to announce what that plan includes.

The three national leaders simply affirmed that drug trade in a continental problem, and would demand a continental solution.

The formal statement from the three leaders talked about the "opportunities and challenges facing North America and to establish priorities for our further collaboration."

They said the three nations already have agreed to a North American plan for avian and pandemic influenza, a "Regulatory Cooperation Framework," an intellectual property action strategy and a "Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science and Technology."

"The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), announced last year in Cancun, has provided us with thoughtful recommendations on how we could strengthen the competitive platform for business," the statement said.

The statement said the Regulatory Cooperation Framework will allow various rules to be streamlined across borders.

"In the coming year, we ask our ministers to consider work in areas, such as the chemicals, automotive, transportation, and information and communications technology sectors," the statement said.

And the Intellectual Property Action Strategy "also gives us an invaluable tool for combating counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine innovation, harm economic development and can have negative public-health and safety implications," the three said.

Food safety, and border security, also were discussed. "Our governments will continue to address the safety of food and products imported into North America, while facilitating the significant trade in these products that our countries already have and without imposing unnecessary barriers to trade," the leaders said.

"It is sometimes best to screen goods and travelers prior to entry into North America. We ask our ministers to develop mutually acceptable inspection protocols to detect threats to our security, such as from incoming travelers during a pandemic and from radiological devices on general aviation," the statement said.

But protesters who staged events in Ottawa as the meetings were moving forward, warned of the integration and harmonizing the SPP seeks.

"The SPP is pursuing an agenda to integrate Mexico and Canada in closed doors sessions that are getting underway today in Montebello," Howard Phillips, the chairman of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, told an earlier press conference in Ottawa.

"We are here to register our protest," Phillips added, "along with the protests of thousands of Americans who agree with us that the SPP is a globalist agenda driven by the multi-national corporate interests and intellectual elite who together have launched an attack upon the national sovereignty of the United States, Canada and Mexico."

Connie Fogel, head of the Canadian Action Party, agreed with Phillips.

"Canadians are complaining that the SPP process lacks transparency," Fogel told the press conference. "Transparency is a major issue, but even if the SPP working groups were open to the public, we would still object to their goal to advance the North American integration agenda at the expense of Canadian sovereignty."

[Shammu]

Prophecy Unfolding Before Our Eyes? Summit In Canada Prompts Fears Of "Super-Government"
August 20, 2007

By Jon Ward - OTTAWA — President Bush's two-day summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, beginning today in nearby Montebello, is raising fears among some conservatives that the three governments are planning a European Union-style super-government.

Concerns about such an agreement and where it could lead started on Web sites and among talk-radio hosts, picked up by CNN commentator Lou Dobbs and gained traction among some of the House Republicans who successfully derailed Mr. Bush's immigration-reform plan, which critics described as an amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens in the United States.

"We want you to be aware of serious and growing concerns in the U.S. Congress about the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership you launched with these nations in 2005," 21 Republican members of Congress, along with one Democrat, said in a letter to President Bush.

The House has adopted an amendment barring U.S. transportation officials from participating in future meetings of the partnership.

The White House dismissed suspicions of a coming North American Union as a "silly" conspiracy theory. "Americans are going to remain Americans, Canadians are going to remain Canadians and Mexicans are going to remain Mexicans," a senior Bush administration official said on the condition of anonymity.

But the fight over immigration policy, in which some conservatives accused Mr. Bush of siding with multinational business interests to adopt policies undermining U.S. sovereignty, has aggravated fears about cross-border cooperation with Mexico.

"A couple of events I've done this week, this question did come up about the issue of open borders, and how much is this country doing to cut these arrangements with Canada and Mexico to basically give free access in and out of this country," said Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, who signed the letter of concern.

Rep. Chris Cannon, Utah Republican — who did not sign the letter — said he has heard questions and complaints from many constituents about the three-party talks and how they could affect U.S. sovereignty.

"Any time you're talking with another country about how you do things, by nature you're giving up sovereignty," Mr. Cannon said. Talks among the three nations' working groups should be more open, with Congress participating.

"If we're going to enter into agreements, they ought to be part of a ratifiable process. You want the Senate involved in ratifying them."

Howard Phillips, a newspaper columnist, conservative activist and one-time Nixon administration official, organized a press conference to be held this morning to announce opposition to the Partnership. "We're not getting a North American Union overnight, but it's headed in that direction incrementally," he said.

The Bush administration official said the White House has made the Partnership, a series of talks begun in 2005, overly complicated. "If people think it's that complicated, then there's something more to it," he said. The purpose of the Partnership is to build upon the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said has generated $884 billion in trade among the United States, Mexico and Canada over the past 12 years. He said the Partnership adds a security element to the economic and trade partnership.

"We've tried to recognize that this is an economic relationship, but also in a post-9/11 world, we have to have security. You can't have one without the other," he said. "None of these three countries are talking about changing their fundamental political structure or their fundamental constitutional structure in any way, [nor] adding either a common currency or a "bureaucratic superstructure."

But with many of the working groups discussing security measures that the Bush official said cannot be fully disclosed, the element of secrecy continues to raise suspicions. Said the congressional letter to Mr. Bush: "We urge you to bring to the Congress whatever provisions have already been agreed upon and those now being pursued."

Mr. Bush will meet individually with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello resort. Tomorrow, he will take part in three-way meetings and a press conference, and then fly to Minnesota for a fundraiser for Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota Republican.

Prophecy Unfolding Before Our Eyes? Summit In Canada Prompts Fears Of "Super-Government"

[Soldier4Christ]

Mexican rigs
ready to roll 
Truckers in 'demonstration'
expected on roads Sept. 1

The requirements for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Mexican Truck Demonstration Project have been met, and some 37 Mexican trucking companies have been approved to run their long-haul rigs through the U.S. starting as early as Sept. 1, according to a Mexican government report.

In the United States, the inspector general of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Aug. 6 issued to the House and Senate Appropriations Committee an audit about implementing NAFTA's cross-border trucking provisions, the last hurdle DOT faced before allowing the Mexican truck demonstration project to begin.

As required by Congress, the report was withheld from public release until August 21 – 15 days after being delivered to Congress.

At that point, industry commentators instantly noted that the FMCSA inspector general requested that additional improvements be made in two areas: to improve the quality of the data used to monitor Mexican commercial driver traffic convictions in the United States and to ensure adequate capacity to inspect Mexican buses.

The first industry reaction was that the report had blocked DOT from allowing the Mexican truck demonstration project to start until the FMCSA had adequately satisfied the deficiencies noted in these two recommendations.

However, the Mexican government report, posted in Spanish Aug. 14 on the Mexican government's Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes website, came to a different conclusion.

It said, "The conditions for the beginning of the Cross-Border Truck Demonstration Project have been met."

The Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes also announced in the document that 37 Mexican trucking companies had satisfactorily met the U.S. Department of Transportation's requirements for participating in the demonstration project.

Also little noted in the U.S. was a press release issued by Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez reporting the Mexican government anticipates starting the demonstration project in the last week of August.

A careful reading of the Aug. 6 FMCSA inspector general's audit shows that no sentence in the report states that DOT may not proceed with the Mexican truck demonstration project until the requirements of the audit's recommendations are met.

Focusing on the yet unmet recommendations, American industry leaders had just assumed that the additional demands would block DOT from giving approval to the Mexican trucks to proceed.

But the fine print of the Aug. 6 report signals the unmet recommendations were just that, recommendations, not requirements.

"These improvements are needed more urgently than ever because Mexican motor carriers may be granted long haul authority in the near future," the report said.

This month, the FMCSA and DOT have been unusually silent on the status of the Mexican truck demonstration project, dodging questions about their response to the Aug 6 audit.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told WND the behavior of the FMCSA and DOT in pushing the Mexican truck demonstration project has been "reprehensible."

"The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation under Secretary Mary Peters continue to thumb their noses at legitimate issues and important questions that have been raised by the American people and their elected representatives," Spencer told WND.

Spencer said he considered it "possible" that DOT would give the green light to the Mexican truck demonstration project as early as next week, since the Aug. 6 audit did not specifically prohibit them from doing so.

Spencer noted that a start date as early as Sept. 1 would be an additional affront, since Congress is still out of town for their annual August recess.

"The Bush administration is determined to push this Mexican truck project down the throats of the American people and Congress," Spencer stressed.

"Reading the inspector general's report, there are many serious safety concerns that are still far from resolved," he said. "Now we're just supposed to ignore those recommendations and let the Mexican long-haul rigs roll anywhere they want in the United States, regardless whether it's safe or not?"

WND previously has reported that on May 15, the House of Representatives passed the Safe American Roads Act of 2007 (H. R. 1773), by an overwhelming bipartisan 411-3 margin.

WND also reported a White House strategy to pressure the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation not to hold hearings or take any action on the House-passed Safe American Roads Act of 2007.

WND further reported the White House was trying to persuade senators on the transportation committee that the requirements of the Safe American Roads Act were wrapped into the provisions of H.R. 2206, the Iraq supplemental funding bill, which was signed into law by President Bush on May 25.

The Bush administration argued that a May filing by the FMCSA in the Federal Register was sufficient to satisfy the H.R. 2206 requirements to post safety regulations before the Mexican demonstration project was permitted to start.

Now that the FMCSA inspector general has issued the Aug 6 audit, the published government reports in Mexico suggest DOT is ready to take the position that the last congressional requirement has been met with the publication of this report.

WND left multiple requests with Brian Turmail, FMCSA spokesman, and Madeline Chulumovich, spokeswoman in the FMCSA's inspector general's office, asking for an interpretation of the audit requirements and the date for the program to begin, without getting a response.

[Faithin1]

"The Bush administration is determined to push this Mexican truck project down the throats of the American people and Congress," Spencer stressed.

"Reading the inspector general's report, there are many serious safety concerns that are still far from resolved," he said. "Now we're just supposed to ignore those recommendations and let the Mexican long-haul rigs roll anywhere they want in the United States, regardless whether it's safe or not?"

This is just another example of the intransigence of Bush.  He thinks he's a dictator, so he will ignore Congress, the Teamsters and anyone else.  This arrogant cretin needs to be stopped before he completely destroys our country.  Watch, these will be the next category of jobs "Americans won't do."

However, the Mexican government report, posted in Spanish Aug. 14 on the Mexican government's Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes website, came to a different conclusion.

It said, "The conditions for the beginning of the Cross-Border Truck Demonstration Project have been met."

So now we should believe a report issued by the corrupt Mexican government?  Give me a break!

American truckers should form a line at the border to prevent the Mexican trucks from having access to our roads.  This is a disaster waiting to happen.  Furthermore, our government is well aware that the drug cartels own the majority of the Mexican trucking industry.  It is asinine to offer millions of dollars to the Mexican government to battle the drug cartels while granting these same criminals unfettered access to our roads. 

[Soldier4Christ]

This is just another example of the intransigence of Bush.  He thinks he's a dictator, so he will ignore Congress, the Teamsters and anyone else.  This arrogant cretin needs to be stopped before he completely destroys our country. 

We could have had the alternative administration which not only fully supports this same action when they are in office but they also support many other things that Bush has done much better against. I agree that Bush has done a lot of damage to this nation but I don't think so much as the democrats have. With the way both the republicans and democrats are doing I also think it is time to get someone else in office that is neither.

[Faithin1]

Pastor Roger, I totally agree.  That is precisely why I recently changed from Democrat to Independent.  It's sad, but we really have no good leadership.

[Soldier4Christ]

Unfortunately there is not a good candidate in the Independent field either. They all have their major drawbacks and problems.