This story appeared in this mornings edition of The Pittsburgh Tribune Review. If you have been reading this site for long, you’ll recall that the Trib is the home to Dimitri Vassilaros, who wrote a scathing and totally false editorial [cref another-mexican-rigging-more-idiocy-and-misinformation which we discussed in this posting.]

This editorial, while anonymous and more moderate, still skews the facts. But one thing the writer does say rings very true. It all comes down to TRUST, or in spanish, CONFIANZA.

But as President Reagan once said, “Trust but verify”, and from all I have read of the information published by the FMCSA, and from my own personal observations in Mexico, the trust has not been misplaced.

But I take exception to the use of the words “poised to race” and “overrun” used in this article, as 150 trucks and drivers will not make a blip on the publics conscience.

Furthermore, this has little to do with President Bush other than his desire to follow through on a promise previous administration made to one of our closest allies and trade partners. Right is right and as America’s status in the world community continues to plummet, I applaud the President for doing the right thing. And don’t get me wrong, because there is very little I have agreed with this president on over the past 6 years.

They also mention President Bush’s “open door policy” with Mexico. Isn’t this the same policy with have with our neighbors to the north? Ooops! Silly me! Canadians are white, english speaking people, except for those from Quebec who refuse to speak English when operating on our highways, but hey, They’re WHITE, non English speaking truckers.

And the comment about controlling the violence on our southern border? For the most part, the violence is within Mexico, and President Calderon seems to be making progress in controlling the problem. And from what I’ve seen in the news, the bad guys being arrested in Laredo and other border cities, are mostly, Mexican-Americans or Mexican nationals with LEGAL access to the country.

Nice try folks, and thanks for the moderate comments. But you’re still pandering to a very small minority of people who oppose this program.

Mexican backfire

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The American trucking industry is very concerned about the Mexican trucks poised to race through the U.S. We all should be. Thank the North American Free Trade Agreement. All of the fears — the driving skills of alien truckers, the safety of their vehicles and their ability to communicate in English, keep accurate records and obey commercial carrier laws — can be distilled into one word:

Trust.

The test program permits up to 100 Mexican-based trucking companies — with no limit to the size of their fleets — to overrun the United States to pick up or deliver. The 18-wheelers were set to roll out no later than this summer; a congressionally mandated audit by the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General could delay that until 2008.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, is responsible for implementation. However, given the Bush administration’s indifference to enforcing immigration law, why would anyone trust that President Bush suddenly will begin enforcing test program rules?

Mr. Bush’s virtually open-door policy with Mexico — and his refusal to control the lawlessness along the southern border — very well could cause this NAFTA trucking scheme to backfire.