Safety has never been an issue for those opposed to Mexican trucks, only an excuse, as this photo illustrates, Mexican trucks are exactly like ours

Safety has never been an issue for those opposed to Mexican trucks, only an excuse, as this photo illustrates, Mexican trucks are exactly like ours

With tariffs hampering $2.4 billion in goods bound for Mexico, more than 150 U.S. manufacturers, companies and agricultural interests have announced the formation of a group called the Alliance to Keep U.S. Jobs.

The Alliance to Keep U.S. Jobs is a diverse coalition of U.S. manufacturers, companies and agricultural interests in danger of losing tens of thousands of American jobs as a result of Congress’s action to violate portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

In response to this violation, Mexico imposed tariffs on 90 U.S. products, which has resulted in $2.4 billion in lost trade for American companies and workers. Mexico is the U.S.’s third largest trading partner and the harm done to these industries has put hundreds of millions of dollars in markets, capital and other investments directly at risk.

In addition, the impact on America’s small towns and main streets will have damaging consequences in an already difficult economic time.

This group is going to press the Obama administration and Congress to fix an ongoing U.S.-Mexico trade dispute.

These companies were subjected to tariffs by the Government of Mexico only days after the U.S. Congress terminated a U.S. pilot cross-border trucking program, an act that put the United States in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Obama administration promised to take action several months ago, but no action has been taken. Alliance spokesman Steve Mulder says the Alliance was formed because the industries had become innocent victims of a lengthy political dispute.

Ken Willetts, vice president of marketing and strategy for Appleton Papers, the world’s largest producer of carbonless paper, says the 10% tariff puts his company at a competitive disadvantage to Asian and European companies that enter Mexico duty free.

“These tariffs come at time when our company, like so many U.S. manufacturers, has been forced to lay off employees as we struggle to battle some of the worst economic conditions we have ever faced,” Willetts said. “Appleton is a 100% employee-owned company. We have very engaged, hardworking employees who are doing everything they can to help us remain competitive in these tough economic times. But the tariffs were not something we could have anticipated or can control.”

Tagged with:
 
Police escort Arnold Rueda Medina, reported to be the right-hand man of La Familia founder Nazario Moreno González, during a presentation in Mexico City, July 11, 2009. After Rueda was detained in Morelia, Mexico, early Saturday, gunmen carried out attacks against federal police in at least six cities in drug-plagued Michoacan state, killing five officers. (Gregory Bull - AP)

Police escort Arnold Rueda Medina, reported to be the right-hand man of La Familia founder Nazario Moreno González, during a presentation in Mexico City, July 11, 2009. After Rueda was detained in Morelia, Mexico, early Saturday, gunmen carried out attacks against federal police in at least six cities in drug-plagued Michoacan state, killing five officers. (Gregory Bull - AP)

MORELIA, Mexico (AP)— Twelve people tortured and killed in a cartel-plagued Mexican state were federal agents investigating organized crime, the government said Tuesday, marking one of the boldest attacks on federal forces since President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drugs.

Mexico’s national security spokesman, Monte Alejandro Rubido, said the 11 men and one woman were off duty when they were ambushed and abducted by members of the La Familia drug cartel in Calderon’s home state of Michoacan, which has been a center of his crackdown on organized crime.

Their bodies were found piled up along a mountain highway late Monday near the town of La Huacana. Michoacan state prosecutor J. Jesus Montejano initially said Tuesday that they were soldiers, but the army denied that.

Initial reports indicated the victims were likely killed over the weekend, when federal agents arrested Arnoldo Rueda Medina, a reputed chief of operations of the Michoacan-based La Familia cartel.

Police say his arrest Saturday set off a string of brazen attacks against federal forces that left six federal police officers and two soldiers dead. Gunmen threw grenades and fired on federal police stations and hotels where the agents were staying in three states.

“This marks an important change in the drug war in that they are attacking federal forces directly,” said Jorge Chabat, a Mexican drug expert. “It also suggests the capture of this person has affected the operations of the cartel. It was a major blow and this is a reaction out of weakness not strength.”

Federal forces arrested politicians in several Michoacan cities, including La Huacana, during an unprecedented sweep in May against local officials believed to be cooperating with drug traffickers. Seven mayors, one former mayor and the state prosecutor remain jailed on charges of protecting the La Familia cartel.

Since Calderon took office in December 2006, he has sent more than 45,000 troops to drug hot spots. More than 11,000 people have been killed in drug violence.

Michoacan, located on Mexico’s western coast, has been wracked by a wave of killings and arrests in recent weeks. Federal forces there are fighting La Familia, which is locked in a battle with the Zetas drug hit men, who form a branch of the Gulf cartel. On Tuesday, three bodies were found in the town of Nuevo Urecho.
In the northern state of Chihuahua, meanwhile, gunmen killed the mayor of the town of Namiquipa, officials said.

Hector Mixueiro was driving his pickup truck near Namiquipa when gunmen opened fire Tuesday. A message left on a Ciudad Juarez bridge hours earlier threatened Mixueiro saying he had helped soldiers arrest 25 gunmen last month in the town of Nicolas Bravo, said state prosecutors spokesman Fidel Banuelos.

In neighboring Coahuila state, four police officers in the border city of Piedras Negras were kidnapped hours after the police chief was pulled from his patrol car, Piedras Negras’ Public Safety Director Jose Castillo said Tuesday.

Gunmen kidnapped Piedras Negras Police Chief Rogelio Ramos on Monday morning.

Officials said the kidnappings could be related to efforts to curb corruption by militarizing the police force in Piedras Negras, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. The city is one of many in Mexico that have turned to the armed forces for help controlling cross-border drug trafficking.

Castillo’s predecessor, army Col. Arturo Navarro, was shot and killed in April — less than three weeks after he took over the local force with the aim of purging alleged corruption.

Also Tuesday, soldiers detained 19 police officers from the wealthy Monterrey suburb of San Pedro who are suspected of links with organized crime, authorities said.

The San Pedro officers were detained Monday evening and Tuesday morning, said a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to give his name.

The detentions follow the June 26 capture of a Beltran Leyva cartel operative in San Pedro who police said was carrying a list with the names of San Pedro police officers.

Tagged with:
 

Assemblyman Joel Anderson, 77th District (Ca), is giving  Compean an Accommodation for his service and attached is a copy of the last letter the Assemblyman wrote to George Bush asking him to pardon or commute the Agent's sentences.

Assemblyman Joel Anderson, 77th District (Ca), is giving Compean an Accommodation for his service and attached is a copy of the last letter the Assemblyman wrote to George Bush asking him to pardon or commute the Agent's sentences.

On Friday, July 3rd, 2009, Jim Gilchrist took a break from slinging mud against his compatriots and along with staff and independent Minutemen and Friends of the Minuteman Project, Inc. attended the Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly Dinner meeting honoring Ex Border Patrol Agent and convicted felon Jose Compean.

It is truly shameful, that in America today, liars and cowards, such as Ramos and Compean are, are hailed as heroes and Patriots.

In the words of Jim Gilchrist, leader of the Minuteman Project and close associate of indicted Minuteman child killer Shawna Forde;

(more…)

Tagged with:
 

Former NFL Quarterback Steve McNair found dead in Nashville Condo

Former NFL Quarterback Steve McNair found dead in Nashville Condo

Former Oilers quarterback Steve McNair and a woman were found shot to death Saturday inside a residence in Nashville, police said.

Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron confirmed that authorities were called to a condominium and found McNair and a woman shot to death inside. Aaron said police don’t yet know the circumstances of the shootings.

“I don’t have any answers for you now as to what’s happened, who’s responsible,” Aaron said.
Aaron said police tentatively have identified the woman but did not release her name.

“There are persons who were around the complex today, visitors, who have been taken to headquarters for questioning, just to see what they know, what they may have seen,” Aaron said. “No one is in custody right now.”
(more…)

Tagged with:
 
Page 10 of 195« First...6789101112131415...Last »

Sponsored by