Texas Eagle Forum president: Fight Trans-Texas Corridor, North American Union

MyWestTexas.com ^ | September 27, 2006 | Ruth Campbell, Midland Reporter-Telegram

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Border security doesn't seem to matter to politicians, there is a move afoot to create a North American Union where the United States, Canada and Mexico would essentially be one market with a single currency -- the "Amero," a top Texas Eagle Forum official said Tuesday.

Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams spoke to some 54 people at the Petroleum Club. Formed by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972, the St. Louis, Mo., and Washington, D.C.-based Eagle Forum is pro-family, pro-life group.

She said those attending should keep their eye on the 2008 presidential race, ask their state representatives and senators to support eminent domain legislation in 2007, back keeping tolls from the Trans-Texas Corridor in-state and redirect the Texas Mobility and state highway funds to build roads.

Adams said Texas Highway Fund money is now paying for Medicaid ambulances, state employee raises and some was approved to spend on education.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is a 600-mile superhighway that would be run by a Spanish company called Cintra Concessions de Infraestrcturas de Transporte, S.A. It would be operated and tolls collected by Cintra for 50 years, she said.

When state legislators in 2003 approved House Bill 3588 creating the Trans-Texas Corridor, it was thought to be a superhighway built by and for Texans.

But Adams said it has "morphed" into a NAFTA superhighway set to become a 4,000-mile $184 billion international entity called North America's SuperCorridor, regulated by "international bureaucrats," according to a story Adams wrote in the September issue of "Torch," published by the Texas Eagle Forum.

The 12-lane NASCO corridor will include a railroad system running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. It will be the width of four football fields running from Interstate 35 at Laredo to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn. It would "Y" off into the east coast up to Montreal.

Mexican trucks crossing into the United States would be checked electronically through a system called SENTRI. The first customs stop is Kansas City SmartPort Inc., which is to become sovereign Mexican territory, Adams wrote.

Making the Trans-Texas Corridor pact public has been held up in court, but Adams said the contract governing the 315-mile stretch being built between San Antonio and Dallas is now on the Web. She said the corridor would swallow 580,000 acres of Texas farmland.

Cintra would reap from 39 to 61 times their initial investment, she said. Toll proceeds, she said, should stay in Texas.

An agreement dubbed the Security and Prosperity Partnership was signed in 2005 in Waco by President Bush, then-Mexican President Vincente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Edgar Philippe Martin created the NASCO corridor. The plan is to be put in place by 2010. Adams said the contract is a sole executive agreement that bypasses Congress.

Markets in the United States, Canada and Mexico would be merged into a North American Union, similar to the European Union. This would create a new currency called the "Amero," which would replace currencies for all three countries, she said.

If markets, judicial tribunals and money are merged, Adams asked what would happen to gay marriage -- legalized in Canada -- and the right to bear arms. The Mexican government, which she said is corrupt, is propped up by $30 billion from the Untied States, the Mexican drug/terrorist group MS-13 is in 3,000 American communities running illegal marijuana farms in national parks.

She said there were 800 deaths on the border with Mexico last year and the Department of Homeland Security reports from 2001 through the first half of 2005, 605,210 "other than Mexicans" were arrested on the border with 51 percent of those released into the general population.

In Texas, according to a campaign ad being run by Gov. Rick Perry, 120,000 "other than Mexicans" were turned back. Meanwhile, real household income in Texas is down 10 percent since 1999 and the country has an all-time high $68 billion trade deficit.

Personally, Adams, of Dallas, is behind Perry and wants to go after eminent domain and putting the two state highway funds toward building roads. "I don't like the aspect of the (Trans-Texas Corridor) contract where we have the money, but we're not building or collecting," she said.

She added if Perry is re-elected "maybe we need to rework the contract."

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

This just goes to show you how whacked out a given interpretation of actual events can be...

[Southack]

It's sad to see a good group get sidetracked into UFO conspiracy theories...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Trans-Tinfoil Corridor PING!

[jf55510]

Good to see Kathy Adams advocating tax increases for roads. You go girl...

[Orange1998]

The first customs stop is Kansas City SmartPort Inc., which is to become sovereign Mexican territory, Adams wrote

REALLY? This will never ever ever happen. I can't even imagine someone would write such nonsense much less believe it.

[Wallace T.]

Cathy Adams is correct in opposing NAFTA and any other proposed treaty that would compromise American sovereignty under a trinational confederation. We have enough corruption and socialism without importing more from Mexico and Canada. The Trans-Texas Corridor may be a sound solution for transportation problems and international trade, but it should be funded entirely with private funds and the state should not use its powers of eminent domain to force confiscation of privately owned lands.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

You're welcome.

[1rudeboy]

In all fairness, that information did appear on the KC SmartPort website. It's never been clear whether it is correct.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

REALLY? This will never ever ever happen.

I know it won't happen, but that doesn't stop some people from repeating this urban legend as fact.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

From what I've read in articles debunking the whole NAU scenario, the KC SmartPort will NOT be Mexican territory, but there will be a Mexican customs office to clear traffic heading south into Mexico.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[1rudeboy]

My opinion (complete speculation) is that the offending passage was written by someone who didn't understand the difference between an office on sovereign U.S. territory operated by Mexican officials, and an office on U.S. territory operated by Mexican officials and thus sovereign Mexican territory.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

bump.

[wolfcreek]

This just goes to show you how whacked out a given interpretation of actual events can be...


Which parts of her statement did you find 'whacked'?

[demkicker]

I don't understand why the Mexican government is supposed to operate it in the first place. What's up with that?

[1rudeboy]

Speaking generally, countries that have a lot of cross-border movement (goods and people) allow the destination country to "pre-screen" before the physical border is actually crossed.

If you've ever traveled overseas, you might have noticed that it's usually more time-consuming to enter a country rather than leave it. Pre-screening makes the process more efficient.

For this reason I tend to believe that this Mexican Customs facility primarily is to pre-screen shipments to/through Mexico. Frankly, at this stage it's not completely clear.

[1rudeboy]

Here is some material on a similar U.S. program:

Container Security Initiative.

[demkicker]

Thanks

[Wallace T.]

My guess would be that a customs facility in Kansas City would enable Mexican officials to clear truck and rail shipments to Mexico hundreds of miles north of border crossings like Nuevo Laredo or Matamoras, thereby lessening delays at those crossings. Presumably the United States would have a reciprocal arrangement at some place like Monterrey or San Luis Potosi. From an American standpoint, our concern should be whether an inland clearance of goods from Mexico would provide adequate security against drug smuggling and other illicit activity.