Right Wing looney tunes subverting the minds of America’s youth
Jun 6, 2008 NAFTA, Opinions, Talk Radio
You hear it every night on late night talk shows such as Rollye James and Art Bell and George Noory and it’s expected that some losers actually believe the talk about North American Unions, Superhighways to benefit Mexico and China and the like, and each time I hear these claims, I shake my head in pity at the people who don’t have the wherewithal to think for themselves.
But then I come across a website such as In Freedoms Cause, and it angers me to think that this bullshit is poisoning the minds of this nations youth.
The author of this blog, a 16 year old named Daniel Berkompas who describes himself as a 16 yr. old Reformed Presbyterian living in the good ol’ rainforests of southwest Washington. Beautiful country, Washington State, good people and a lot of free thinkers.
Danny has taken on the issue of the fictional North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and for a seemingly intelligent young man, has taken the stance of the conspiracy theorists and nativists who oppose this fictional union.
Some points the young man makes:
Open Borders. They want trade to be able to flow smoothly and easily through the borders, without any more impediments than they can help. For this purpose, they have implemented a “trusted traveler” program, where Mexican trucking companies can register themselves as “trusted” and thereby simply cross the border, no questions asked. No checks, no stops, just breeze straight across the border.
The Trusted Traveler Program is generally recognized as a program where frequent fliers on US airlines can pay a fee and submit to a complete background check in order to obtain credentials to use expedited TSA lanes at US airports. It has nothing to do with Mexican trucks, Mexican truck drivers nor does it allow said drivers to breeze right through Customs without stopping or checks.
Perhaps he was thinking of another program under the US Governments “Trusted Traveler” programs, called SENTRI or Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection Well, SENTRI has nothing to do with Mexican trucks either. It permits travelers returning from Mexico or Mexican citizens access to a special inspection lane which uses a transponder to identify them prior to their reaching the inspectors.
Wait a minute. Danny must have been thinking about FAST, or FREE AND SECURE TRADE. This enables truck drivers from all three countries to apply for the clearance, pay a fee and receives an intensive background check in order to obtain credentials to enter the US from Mexico or from Canada and vice versa. Truckers cannot enter at will and avoid inspections. Ah, the frivolity of youth and public school education.
Danny goes on to make a second incorrect assumption:
# North American ID. In order to make it easy for Mexican truckers to travel throughout America, they advocate either an ID that would be recognized by all 3 nations, or equal status for all national ID’s.
Guess what Danny, they already exist and have for as long as I’ve been alive and they have nothing to do with Mexican truckers specifically. They are called PASSPORTS The US has them and they are accepted worldwide. Canada also has them as does Mexico. Mexican truckers are required to have them, in addition to a B1/B2 visa stamp, for which they undergo a background investigation including criminal check, before the visa stamp is issued. In addition, Mexican truckers or tourists are required to obtain from the US Department of State, an I-94 entry/exit document. Canada is exempt from both of these requirements.
The third point little Danny makes is this:
# Unified Trade Code. When you have a bunch of foreign trucks coming through, you need to have universal highway code that applies to them. After all, if there is an accident, would you judge the incident by American or Mexican law? The resulting unified trade code would trump U.S. law, making us subject to a form of international law.
Who has heard of a Unified Trade Code? Another example of the lunacy going on in the mind of Jerome Corsi to sell his books? And why does Danny mention trade when he is referring to highway laws and regulations? Of course, Danny probably hasn’t completed driver ed yet, if they still offer it in public schools in the US, but traffic laws generally are the same anywhere you go in the world. But let’s concentrate on Mexico as opposed to the US.
In Mexico, the national speed limit on Federal highways is 110 kilometers per hour. In the US, it varies from 65 to 80 mph. In Mexico, you never make a right turn on a red light. In the US, it is permissable. Stop means STOP, ALTO means STOP. The signs are the same. When a foreign national, in this case a Mexican, is operating a motor vehicle within the confines of the United States, he is bound by the laws of the State and the County or Municipality he is operating in. HE is bound as we all are by the laws of the State, County, City and Federal Government. No special treatment.
The same as when I am home in Monterrey or transiting between the border and Monterrey. I am bound by all traffic and criminal laws and statutes of the States and Cities I travel through. My Mexican auto insurance covers me in the event of an accident the same as a Mexican driver’s US insurance would cover him. Is that such a difficult concept to master?
And finally, Danny makes an absurd comment about the supposed NAFTA superhighway:
# Superhighways. They also endorse the building of massive superhighways, such as the Trans-Texas corridor, which would facilitate open border travel throughout all the way from Mexico to Canada, and the ability to get off anywhere in between.
Guess what? We already have highways that transit the US from the Mexican border to Canada. I-5 corridor. The I-35 corridor, I-15, to name a few. At some point in our lifetime, we will see a Trans Texas Corridor or whatever you want to call it. Our interstates are aging and some date back to the administration of Dwight Eisenhower. The country is growing and the infrastructure needs to grow with it. And one can imagine that when the great cross country interstates were being built, there were similar outcries against them. And where would we be today without them.
A Superhighway, Trans Texas Corridor, NAFTA superhighway, whatever tag you put on it, will eventually alleviate traffic congestion and expedite travel of all types. Maybe not in my lifetime, but it will happen.
But yeah, it saddens and angers me that the youth of today, tomorrows leaders are exposed to this type of crap in their formulative years. And after having heard Jerome Corsi spew his propagando numerous times on Rollye James and America’s Trucking Network, and occasionally reading his articles on World Net Daily, he is definitely not the type of role model these kids should follow.
Thank God 16 year olds do not have the right to vote.
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Tags: America's Trucking Network, ATN, Jerome Corsi, Mexican trucks, NAFTA, National ID, Rollye James, SPP, Trans Texas Corridor, WND
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June 6th, 2008 at 7:47
There is a reason all those people (Art Bell) are on at 2am in the morning!
Seriously though, Jerome Corsi’s relationship with the John Birch Society is all that I needed to know. The JBS has a history of looking for a conspiracy in everything. They opposed the Civil Rights movement because they feared that it was infiltrated by communists.
The NAU is a myth. There is nothing wrong with trade partners agreeing to agree. It just makes trade smoother so that every one benefits. Unfortunately, this myth came at just the right time (immigration debate). Now its taken on a life of its own.
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June 11th, 2008 at 3:13
There’s one extremely critical NAFTA issue that all of the parties, pro and con, have either ignored or dodged. The issue is the denial of Mexican mandated labor and human rights by the US companies of the hapless Americans relocated to work in Mexico. The resulting contingent liabilities owed by each one of the thousands of US companies in Mexico will probably eclipse the corporate indiscretions of Enron.
Recently (2007), the Mexican Supreme Court upheld a lower courts adverse rulings against Halliburton. These two rulings shed light on the despicable practices by US companies to defraud compensation, evade payroll taxes, avoid social security levies, and reject minimal workplace safety measures - to name a few.
The Halliburton rulings are just two of a long litany of comparable rulings dating back to the 1930’s. The abuse is not unknown to the Mexican Government that accedes to the corrupt influences of NAFTA and Maquiladora industry representatives.
Why would the US companies commit such indiscretions? Money - lot’s of money. Estimates place the abuse of the Americans working in Mexico at c. $4.5 billion dollars yearly. Furthermore, the US companies avoid payment of c. $2.5 billion in taxes, fees and levies to the Mexican and US Government’s. To recoup lost corporate revenues, the Mexican Government has levied a personal income tax against the hapless Americans. The $6 to $7 billion dollars of income benefits the executives of the US companies who receive promotions, raises, bonuses and stock options as rewards for their activities.
The American citizenry are injured when neighbors lose their jobs because US executives decide to succumb to the temptations of dishonest higher profits and export their jobs. But, this is not the only wrong. American manufacturer’s who’ve not succumbed to temptation, must compete with intentionally undervalued goods made by the scofflaw US corporations. The American consumer is wronged when they’re duped into buying purposely undervalued goods believing they’re made by honorable US companies.
Why would the US companies leave themselves open to redress for their dishonest activities? The activities have gone on for more than seventy years. But, the last forty years has shown a dramatic growth. The hapless Americans are not told their rights by either their employers or the Mexican Immigration or Labor Departments. If one or more of the Americans happens to learn of their rights and they seek redress through the corrupt Mexican legal system, they are rewarded with a ruling that only they can levy. The Mexican Government is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the laws – the courts have little recourse.
The US companies are protected by a duplicitous Mexican Government, complicitous industry representatives, and uninformed American workers in Mexico. Representatives of the executive and/or the legislative branches of the US Government dodge the issue because it will either impact corporate donors and/or upset a whole voting segment of the American citizenry.
The President and Congress need to suspend all connections with the scofflaw corporations and their rapacious executives until all corrective actions have come to fruition. The Federal law enforcement agencies need to gather the evidence necessary to pursue charges of fraudulent transfer pricing schedules, fraudulent US Customs valuation reports, false financial reports, and false Sarbanes-Oxley reports. All of these deceptions lead to underpayment of US and State taxes, fees and duties and Mexican taxes, fees and duties.
The US Supreme Court ruled in Pasquantino vs. The United States that intentionally unpaid foreign taxes are an offense of the RICO laws of the United States. In the United States vs. The Palumbo Brothers, the court ruled that the use of the mails and wires in furtherance of payroll fraud is also a RICO offense. Most of the US companies use the mails and/or wires to gather and transmit payroll and tax data. The mails and/or wires are further used to remit payroll and taxes.
To mitigate the actions to be brought by the US Attorney, the US companies should be required to remit all earned monies, including interest, to the unfortunate Americans who’ve worked in Mexico. The US companies should also deduct the appropriate Mexican and US levies from the earned monies and interest and remit this sum including late filing charges to the US and Mexican Governments. The US companies should also compute all relevant Mexican and US corporate levies, including late filing fees and interest, and remit these sums to the Mexican and US Governments. The consequences expected to befall on the culpable US executives should depend on the repayment of all dishonestly earned rewards.
The billions due the Mexican Government will do much to; restore the pensions due retired Mexican workers, reinstate and expand the medical services provided to Mexico’s citizens, revive and enlarge the investment in the education system, provide decent wages for Mexico’s beleaguered law enforcement, and upgrade Mexico’s infrastructure. This will go a long way toward re-establishing hope among Mexico’s poor and provide them with the jobs they so desperately need.
The billions due the US and State Governments will do much to restore their fiscal security and relieving pressures to cut essential services and raise taxes. If the scofflaw US companies had fulfilled their ethical, moral, legal and fiscal responsibilities from the beginning, many of the ills facing the US and Mexico would not exist or would be ameliorated to a point irrelevancy.
For those who want to access the two Halliburton rulings, first go the Mexican Supreme Court website @ http://www.scjn.gob.mx/PortalSCJN/. Next, click on “Actividad Jurisdiccional”, then click on “Jurisprudencia”, then click on “IUS 2006”, and then click on “BUSQUEDA POR NUMERO DE IUS (TESIS).” Next input 182067 or 182068 into the space and press “BUSCAR.” When the synopsis appears, click on the underlined number. Viola!
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