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Activism See other Activism Articles Title: ANTI-NAU WARRIORS BEGINNING TO MOVE THE ROCK UPHILL Just a year ago most would have predicted there was no way to stop the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) which many believe will become a North American Union (NAU). The proponents are rich, powerful and determined. From the White House to huge, wealthy international corporations, these proponents of the SPP are used to getting their way. The little people back in their grassroots are just silly pawns to be manipulated or ignored. But there are signs that the huge rock at the bottom of the hill that is the unmovable NAU is beginning to budge uphill as heroes are emerging in the fight. Some close to the movers and shakers are beginning to hint at a concern that they just might not be able to implement the SPP - that darned opposition just won't go away. At the same time, anti-NAU forces are beginning to see signs of progress as the movement is getting energized. Victory is certainly not in sight, but now there is hope. One Man Wrecking Crew Of course the Paul Revere of the anti-NAU forces is Jerome Corsi. Just over a year ago Corsi began to dig up details of an effort to "harmonize" the three nations of the North American continent. The more he found, the more concerned he became. Corsi began to write about his findings. The first articles appeared on the pages of Human Events and then the Internet news site World Net Daily picked up on the issue. That's when the news flashed across the Internet that the Bush Administration was putting together the beginnings of a North American Union. To travel with Jerome Corsi, as I've had the privilege to do in recent months, is a revelation. The man is a human dynamo. He has been on more than 500 radio shows in just the last few months. He sometimes spends as much as 5 - 8 hours a day on the radio in interview after interview. Last January, during the organizing meeting of the Coalition to Stop the North American Union, on Capitol Hill, I sat next to Corsi at the head table. Three times during that meeting Corsi left the room to do yet another radio interview. In August, while we were in Ottawa, Canada to protest the President's participation in yet another SPP Summit, Corsi couldn't even wait for the restaurant to prepare lunch. He was off to another interview. I had to bring it to him in his room as he talked on the phone. And most recently I witnessed the most remarkable feat. As he and I waited to board a plane for a meeting in Tulsa, Corsi received a call from a Gannet news reporter. As we passed by the ticket taker, he talked, attacking Bush for his treachery; as we walked out on the tarmac, his voice was nearly drowned out by the jet engines; ascending the stairs to the plane, I heard him quoting Greek philosophers mixed with American history as he made his point to the reporter. He kept talking until the flight crew shut the door of the plane and made him put the phone away. In between interviews he conducts a furious schedule of speeches, while pouring out article after article on new details about the SPP. Each new article flashes around the Internet, fueling the grassroots with more ammunition. Somewhere in the midst of all of this he found time to write a book about the whole issue, entitled "The Late Great USA." The book details how the NAU is being created, step-by-step. Despite the fact that there has been virtually no national media reporting on the NAU issue, Corsi's book has become an instant national best seller. It is now in its fourth printing. Americans are beginning to get the message. Corsi is a one man wrecking ball and the undisputed field general in the war to preserve American sovereignty and independence. Exposing the Hand of TxDot Some of the very best information on how the Trans Texas Corridor is being forced on the people of that state comes from an organization called Corridor Watch. Their revelations and early call to arms was instrumental in forcing the Texas Legislature to finally recognize there was really an effort to create a NAFTA Super Corridor straight through Texas. Here are just a few of the details Corridor Watch has exposed on their web site www.corridorwatch.org: The Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) will be a quarter of a mile wide. It will travel straight up the center of Texas. It will take by Eminent Domain more than 580 million acres of private land, much of it prime Texas farmland. It will displace more than one million Texans. The full plan for the TTC by the Texas Transportation Commission (TxDot) outlines 4,000 miles of corridors that crisscross the state. The corridor is so wide that it will literally divide the state in two. There are very few plans for overpasses to cross it, yet it will be impossible to cross without them. The TxDOT has basically told local communities that if they want overpasses, then the communities will have to supply them - at an estimated cost of about $2.5 million each. Without the overpasses fire, police and ambulances will not be able to serve their communities. Property owners may find it cuts down the middle of their land. To get from one side to the other they may have to travel many miles to an overpass. The TTC is not highway improvement for Texas. There are few exit ramps planned for the TTC. Car lanes will be in the center of the corridor. There will be few opportunities to get on and off the TTC. Communities that now depend on traffic from existing highways for such services as restaurants and gas stations will lose that business. Instead, the Spanish company Cintra, which has the 50-year lease to build and operate the TTC will establish facilities down the center of the corridor and control that business. The key to the lease with Cintra is a legal document called a "Comprehensive Development Agreement" (CDA). These contracts often include equity guarantees, debt guarantees, exchange rate guarantees, subordinated loans, shadow toll payments, and minimum revenue guarantees. In other words, the state has signed a 50-year lease with Cintra, giving it absolute guarantees of a specific rate of return on its investment. TxDoT is turning over assets paid for by the taxpayers of Texas and guaranteeing that no highway will compete in any way with the TTC. To achieve these revenue guarantees, there is no way for the Texas government to control what Cintra charges for tolls and there will be no alternative route for drivers to take if the tolls are too high. The TTC is being built for one reason and only one reason - massive profits for corporations who want the highway to run goods as cheaply as possible. Once built there will be no chance for anyone or any community in its path to obtain justice for taken property or reduce toll rates. Local courts will have no say in the matter. All disputes will be handled by an International court system either through NAFTA or the SPP. These are just some of the facts Corridor Watch has been able to expose to the people of Texas. Revelation of these facts has caused an uproar in the grassroots and in the Texas Legislature. Forcing the State to Deal with the People Desperate people are forced to get creative when dealing with a government which refuses to protect people's rights or to even engage in dialog. Such has been the case in Texas, where Governor Rick Perry and his administration have not only vetoed any legislation aimed at slowing down the TTC process, but have refused to even discuss it. However, Governor Perry and his legions hadn't counted on the creativity and determination of Attorney Fred Kelly Grant and his group Stewards of the Range. Grant, Stewards' president, has been a leader in the nation-wide property rights battle, using his extensive knowledge of the law, Grant has successfully developed a unique process to force State and Federal governments to deal with local communities. He teaches the process in seminars across the country. Now Grant has employed the technique against the TTC to stop the Corridor. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: christine (#0)
Corsi has been doing a great job, but I first heard about the North American Union from Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly.
Internal report to Congress, obtained by 1200 WOAI news, urges Congress to 'repeal' laws prohibiting tolling Interstates By Jim Forsyth Wednesday, August 29, 2007 At the same time local officials assure us that tolls will 'never' be charged for traveling on existing highway lanes, 1200 WOAI news has obtained a Texas Transportation Commission report in which Tex-DOT officials discuss ways to impose tolls on existing interstate highways. The report, entitled 'Forward Momentum, a Report to the 110th Congress,' makes several recommendations to Congress on how best to upgrade the state's highway system. One section, entitled "Tolling Authority EXPANSION" (the capital letters are included in the report), discusses strategies Congress could use to allow Texas to charge tolls on existing Interstate highways, including Interstates 10, 35, and 27. "Federal law generally prohibits imposing tolls on interstate highways for which federal funds have been used," the report reads on page 11. "In several situations, however, Congress has enacted specific legislation to allow states to 'buy back,' or re-imburse the federal government, for federal funds applies to a highway segment, thereby relieving it of the prohibition against tolls." That's right. Your state tax money would be used to 'buy back' highways your federal tax money has already paid for, so the state could charge you tolls to drive on that highway. Chris Lippincott of TexDOT confirms the language in the report, but stresses that any tolling would not be done without the consent of local officials and the public. "Even if the Congress allowed states to purchase back parts of the interstate, state law would still be in effect, and it would require TexDOT to seek the approval of not only a county's Commissioners Court, but also the voters in that county, before we tolled existing lanes," Lippincott said. So we've gone from 'existing lanes will never be tolled,' to 'existing lanes might be tolled with your consent.' The TexDOT report proposes that 'restrictions on tolling programs' be removed, to 'give states such as Texas, as many opportunities as possible for new funding alternatives.' The report suggests that if Congress 'authorizes states to implement interstate tolling options beyond current pilot programs' it would 'allow revenues from toll-financed facilities to be used for other critical system needs.' "I'm not a political guru, but I would suggest to you that the likelihood of an existing lane being turned into a toll lane is pretty slim," Lippencott said. The TexDOT also brags that the Government Accountability Office has 'cited Texas (and Governor Perry specifically) as a leader in using tolls to "reduce congestion")' Texans are being told that tolls would be collected to build badly needed highways, not to 'reduce congestion.'
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