TEXAS governor rapped for paving way for construction of Trans-Texas Corridor
One News Now | Chad Groening
FR Posted 08/25/2007 by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Texas Governor Rick Perry is being called to task by an author and investigative journalist for vetoing bills that would have blocked construction of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.
Dr. Jerome Corsi has been one of the leading voices warning the American public about the consequences of the Trans-Texas Corridor, which will be part of a superhighway -- purported to be four football fields wide -- that will allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. and traverse the core of the country all the way to Canada.
The best-selling author asserts that Governor Perry cleared the way for construction to begin in his state when he vetoed several bills passed by the Legislature that would have stalled the project.
"Governor Perry has been 100 percent gung-ho in building this road," says Corsi. "The Legislature voted a two-year moratorium, it voted a redefinition of eminent domain -- [and] Governor Perry vetoed them. [On] at least one of those measures, he waited until the Texas Legislature was out of session so it couldn't even override his veto."
Corsi says it is unfortunate that there has been political pressure to get the project started. "The Federal Highway Administration's lawyer wrote letters threatening the Texas Legislature to cut off federal highway funds if they got in the way of this Trans-Texas Corridor," he says.
Corsi believes the same pressure will be applied on other states, like Oklahoma, to go along with the project. He suggests that would mean a loss of more American jobs and could pose a threat to U.S. sovereignty.
NASCO Map of Corridor
NASCO Members----United States
Texas Dept. of Transportation
Iowa Department of Transportation
State of Oklahoma
Minnesota Dept. of Transportation
Bell County, Texas
Denton County, Texas
Tarrant County, Texas
Webb County, Texas
Jackson County, Missouri
City of Denton, Texas
City of Ft. Worth, Texas
City of Gainesville, Texas
City of Kansas City, Missouri
International Trade Institute of the Americas
Free Trade Alliance San Antonio
Port San Antonio
United States - Mexico Chamber of Commerce
Kansas City SmartPort
The Ardmore Development Authority, City of Ardmore, Oklahoma
Belton Economic Development Corporation
The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
The Allen Group
Hillwood - Alliance Texas
The Ambassador Bridge Detroit/Windsor Crossing
American Airlines
Blackwood, Langworthy & Tyson, Kansas City law firm
Cadre Technologies
Franco Eleuteri & Associates
EWI Risk Services, Inc.
GrowthNet Trading, LLC
International Bank of Commerce
Lockheed Martin
Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores
PROTECT-US, Inc.
Scrub Oak Technologies
Strasburger & Price Law Firm
Trans Am Group
Yellow Roadway Corporation Worldwide
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NASCO: For the Record
The Dallas-based organization, North America's SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO), which receives federal money to promote an agenda of tolled transnational corridors, has raised some eyebrows with their marketing literature touting superhighways, not just in Texas, but across the continent.
NASCO insists that its interests are not directly connected with Gov. Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor, even though the organization changed its name in 2004 from "North America's SuperHighway Coalition" (a name adopted in 1996 at the start of the "internet superhighway" craze) to "North America's SuperCorridor Coalition," a change that coincided with the announcement of the Trans-Texas Corridor. In an extended retort entitled "NASCO Speaks Out," officials of NASCO wrote on their website, "Our name and our initiatives have nothing to do with the proposed new corridor in Texas. It is a coincidence upon which fringe groups have been able to capitalize and confuse people."
NASCO leadership has also been dismayed to see their materials promoting brightly-colored "super-corridors" across North America being used by the "misinformed" to warn people about the proposed plans beyond the Trans-Texas Corridor.
NASCO's leaders write: We … used to have a marketing map on the homepage of our website that had I-35 and our connecting corridors greatly enlarged for viewing purposes and presentations. This was used by conspiracy theorists to show the "blueprint" for the (nonexistent) 'new NAFTA Superhighway.' Some people unfamiliar with our organization were confused and believed these falsehoods. The map was a marketing tool, and has since been updated to show the corridor a bit more drawn to scale (although it is still is not drawn exactly to scale.) The fringe groups continue to use the old, enlarged map to scare people, although we use only the new (scaled down) map.
SOURCE Thom White is editor of CITIZINE, Austin, Texas. Contact Thom @ CITIZINE@CITIZINEmag.com