Mexican truckers take pride in their rides such as this Kenworth photographed in Laredo Texas. This is what opponents refer to as "dangerous", "sub standard Mexican junk"
That’s the question being posed on the Landline Now Media blog by Sandi Soendker, and it’s a valid question.
The obvious answer to the question is of course, no. However, in their absence of a credible argument opposing the cross border trucking program with Mexico, OOIDA and other opponents are knowingly and willfully preying on the ignorance and prejudices of their members and the public at large, to turn opinion against Mexican truckers.
So far once we can agree with OOIDA when Soendker writes;
If American truckers are opposed to cross-border trucking with Mexico, are they racists? If they are concerned with issues like safety, jobs, national security, fair treatment – is that racism? Concerns for other issues like immigration, customs, reduced tax revenue for roads, lack of clear enforcement – is that racism? Of course it isn’t.
The safety issue has been debunked. Mexican trucks and their drivers have been shown to be as safe, and in most cases safer, than their US and Canadian cousins.
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A Good Example of the drivel from Mark Reddig
The countdown has started to the opening day of cross-border trucking with Mexico.
And even as that date approaches, efforts by OOIDA to stop the program dead in its tracks continue as well.
Truckers and others are also hitting the phone lines, calling members of Congress, federal officials and more, trying to get the message across to a Congress bullied and bruised from the heavy-handed lobbying of the ATA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (an organization that clearly doesn’t deserve the name,) and the huge multinational companies that crave the cheap labor south of the border.
For some folks, it’s all a bit much. They are tired of having to fight this battle over and over, tired of the fact that even when Congress votes 411-3 to stop this idea, that the friends of big business keep bringing it back again and again, like some kind of monster in an old horror film that – no matter how many times you shoot it – just keeps shambling forward.
But this battle is too important. And those people should not be rewarded for their attempts to thwart the will of the American People, and of Congress.
We need to flood Capitol Hill with phone calls, letters, faxes and emails.
You’re likely to receive a response, but it very well may not say what you’d like to hear.
Don’t let it get you down or dissuade you from continuing this fight.
I recently called all three of the folks who represent me in Congress – my representative and both of my senators.
I received, in return, form letters. That’s not a big surprise.
However, what was a big surprise to me is that the members’ letters indicated that at least one of them is accepting this drivel from DOT that they’ve fixed all the problems and we’re good to move ahead with this.
Believe me, I will call and correct that error. I hope all of you will join me.
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Absent any proof, opponents continue to scare the hell out of Americans into thinking that 100 or so Mexican trucks will put tens of thousands of US truckers out of business and into the welfare line.
Ridiculous when you consider Canada has 37,000 or more trucks with free access to the US, and they have not cost us jobs. Landline Now host Mark Reddig doesn’t miss an opportunity to warn US truckers that 100 Mexican trucks will “destroy” the US trucking industry. And because of ignorance, bigotry and prejudice, people believe such an incredulous lie.
When they refer to “national security”, they want you to believe that terrorists are lining up to hitch a ride on the first Mexican trucks to cross the border while ignoring the fact that their are more than 25,000 Mexican drayage trucks who cross the border daily. They also pointedly ignore the fact that to our north, across one of the longest unsecured borders in the world, is the largest population of people from the middle east, the so called “New Canadians”, who can cross our border at will. And with a Canadian commercial license, they can do so in a big rig.
They talk of “fair treatment” which is nothing more than equal access. Many people don’t know that after we slammed the door in the face of the Mexicans in 2009, they continued to allow American carriers total access to their country. Four US carriers continue that access today.
OODA President Jim Johnston stood at a stakeholders meeting in 2009 before Secretary Ray LaHood and when asked about Canadians breaking our cabotage laws, shrugged his shoulders and said “It happens” and in the next breath insisted Mexican carriers should be barred because they “might” be inclined to break cabotage, notwithstanding the fact that if a Mexican breaks our cabotage laws, he is also violating his H2b visa and can have it cancelled and himself deported.
On the other end of the debate, we welcome pieces of crap such as this old FLD Freightliner from Canada into this country and onto our roads, without the least bit of worry about the safety and mechanical condition of the rig
They’ll have you believe that the Mexican carriers who will enroll in the program will be waiting to carry drugs and illegals into this country. 100 of the most closely monitored, strictly controlled trucks on our roads, while ignoring the report of the one of the largest cocaine busts in Nevada history, on a Canadian truck, a story which only garnered a mention on LandlineNow. Had it been a Mexican truck, all hell would have broken loose over at OOIDA.
OOIDA and other opponents have stooped as low as to turn to acknowledged hate groups such as FAIR, to spread their agenda against Mexico and their trucking industry, while keeping a safe distance from the results of their efforts. Using the hatred and bigotry of these fringe nutcases to get their message out. Disgusting!
Another Mexican Kenworth (KenMex) in Laredo Texas. How different is this from what you're driving?
So is it racist to oppose cross border trucking with Mexico? Not in the least if you have a valid reason and proof to back up your position. But to use the ignorance, prejudice and bigotry of some to promote hatred and violence against the Mexican truckers is decidedly racist.
Absent any proof that allowing a few more Mexican trucks access to the United State under the upcoming Cross Border Pilot Program, will encourage more smuggling of contraband or worse, opponents of the pilot program, their allies and spokesmen on trucking talk radio are making an all out effort to fabricate a problem that does not exist, and enlisting acknowledged hate groups with ties to white supremacists, and convicted child murderers to to further spread fear and misinformation about Mexican trucks.
There have been posts by OOIDA members on hate sites such as STORMFRONT.ORG which have titillated and agitated the wannabe “turd reichers”, but not much has come of it. But on July 8, two days after resolution of the impasse on cross border trucking with Mexico was reached, that all changed.
On that day the Federation for American Immigration Reform, known by it’s acronym FAIR, released a statement that closely mirrors Teamster President James Hoffa’s ludicrous and debunked charges about unsafe and dangerous Mexican trucks.
For those not familiar with them, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a group with one mission: to severely limit immigration into the United States. Although FAIR maintains a veneer of legitimacy that has allowed its principals to testify in Congress and lobby the federal government, this veneer hides much ugliness. FAIR leaders have ties to white supremacist groups and eugenicists and have made many racist statements. Its advertisements have been rejected because of racist content. FAIR’s founder, John Tanton, has expressed his wish that America remain a majority-white population: a goal to be achieved, presumably, by limiting the number of nonwhites who enter the country.
BACKGROUND ON FAIR
John Tanton founded the Federation for American Immigration Reform on Jan. 2, 1979, in Washington D.C. Roger Conner, an environmental lawyer, was appointed executive director, while Tanton served as the chairman of the board of directors. Before establishing FAIR, Tanton had experience working with groups concerned about how population growth affected the environment. Tanton served in several Sierra Club leadership posts, and he had been the president of Zero Population Growth, a group founded by biologist and longtime FAIR adviser Paul Ehrlich, from 1975 to 1977.
The founding of FAIR was a major change for Tanton. But he was driven to shift his efforts to the battle against immigration by his increasing concern that it was the primary cause of population growth. As a result, FAIR focuses exclusively on immigration issues. Its goal, according to its website, is to set immigration quotas “at the lowest feasible levels” and to prevent all illegal immigration. The group attempts to appear moderate, even though its record is extreme, particularly on racial issues. This strategy has paid off: In August 2009, FAIR President Dan Stein boasted that FAIR leaders had testified before Congress about 100 times.
On Oct. 9, 1988, the Arizona Republic published excerpts from embarrassing memos that had been sent by Tanton and Conner to members of FAIR’s leadership. The documents were known as theWITAN memos; they came from an October 1986 conference in which Tanton met with a number of anti-immigration activists for a strategy session. The memos revealed Tanton’s innermost, and controversial, thoughts. Tanton warned of a “Latin onslaught,” complained of Latinos’ allegedly low “educability.” He asked, “Will Latin American migrants bring with them the tradition of the mordida (bribe), the lack of involvement in public affairs, etc.?” He also wondered: “Can homo contraceptivus[meaning whites] compete with homo progenitiva [meaning Latinos] if borders aren’t controlled? Or is advice to limit ones [sic] family simply advice to move over and let someone else with greater reproductive powers occupy the space?”
You can read the entire history of FAIR here.
Some of FAIR affiliates are THE SOCIAL CONTRACT PRESS routinely publishes race-baiting articles penned by white nationalists. The press is a program of U.S. Inc, the foundation created by John Tanton, the racist founder and principal ideologue of the modern nativist movement. TSCP puts an academic veneer of legitimacy over what are essentially racist arguments about the inferiority of today’s immigrants
CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES (CIS) bills itself as an “independent” think tank that seeks “to expand the base of public knowledge”about immigration, the Washington, D.C.-based group is only interested in one thing. CIS’s reams of reports, as well as its blog postings, editorials, and frequent panels and press conferences, incessantly push the idea that America’s immigration system is an unadulterated evil and that the only way to save America from impending doom is to cut drastically the number of immigrants. CIS has blamed immigrants, both legal and undocumented, for everything from terrorism to global warming. To make its case seem as strong as possible, CIS often manipulates data, relying on shaky statistics or faulty logic to come to the preordained conclusion that immigration is bad for this country. But CIS studies have been regularly debunked by mainstream academics and think tanks including the Immigration Policy Center, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and America’s Voice.
Minuteman child killer and FAIR spokesman Shawna Forde now sits on death row for the murders of Brisenia Flores and her father Raul
Shawna Forde, 41, the nativist extremist who was recently convicted of the home invasion robbery in Arizona where 9 year old Brisenia Flores and her father were murdered, is known as the leader of Minuteman American Defense (MAD), a hard-line group opposed to undocumented immigration. But six years ago, appearing on a televised immigration roundtable organized by a local Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate in Washington state, Forde was repeatedly identified as a representative of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Shawna Forde is currently on Arizona’s Death Row.
It is shameful that opponents of cross border trucking, groups such as The Teamsters and OOIDA have resorted to such underhanded methods to push their agenda, especially in the absence of any credible data to support their positions.
OOIDA enlists talk radio to spread misinformation and lies
OOIDA, a strong advertiser on satellite radio service SIRIUS/XM has long reached out to popular radio hosts such as Dave Nemo and more controversial hosts such as Steve Sommers of America Truckers Network and his father, Dale “Trucking Bozo” Sommers. While Nemo and Steve Sommers have always been fairly moderate, Dale Sommers is less so, allowing fruitcakes from the trucking industry such as his friend Rusty “Yoda” Wade and others who agree with his North American Union theories and Mexico is the cause of all our ills viewpoint to blather on.
Dave Nemo, in the past a moderate voice presents us with an “expert” to further press the idea that 100 or so, closely monitored, rigidly inspected trucks will give the cartels a leg up in their efforts to move more contraband across our borders.
Dr. George W. Grayson, member of the Center for Immigration Studies Board of Directors, has transformed himself into an expert on Mexican trucking issues courtesy of Dave Nemo and other opponents of cross border trucking
George W. Grayson, who is the Class of 1938 Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary, is a member of the Center for Immigration Studies Board of Directors. He is also a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He has made more than 200 research trips to Mexico and authored approximately twenty books and monographs on Mexico, Latin America, and international affairs. (Hell, I’ve got him beat. I live in Mexico and have made thousands of safe trips)
Bringing Grayson on today to spread his theories which seem tailored to the oppositions desperate last ditch effort to sabotage the cross border program, shows that Nemo has finally crossed the line and lost any relevance as a truckers advocate.
It’s a shame with all the hatred in the world, organizations such as TEAMSTERS, OOIDA and their allies and spokespeople see the need to use this hatred to spread their misinformation.
"We're as close as you can be," Mexican Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari (left, shown here with US Trade Rep Ron Kirk) said yesterday, confirming that his country is preparing to sign the formal Cross Border Trucking agreement to end the trucking dispute with the U.S. as early as this month
“We’re as close as you can be,” Mexican Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari said yesterday, confirming that his country is preparing to sign the formal Cross Border Trucking agreement to end the trucking dispute with the U.S. as early as this month, setting the stage for the country to remove the punitive tariffs that have cost 25,000 or more US jobs and market share.
Opponents of the program, The Teamsters and OOIDA in particular, in their desperation appear to be pulling out all stops, including turning to recognized HATE GROUPS to spread their message.
In this case, the organization in question is FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM (FAIR), a misnomer meant to confuse the public and lend them legitimacy.
FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, has employed white supremacists in key leadershpi roles, has accepted over a million dollars from a eugenics foundation AND, as if that weren’t enough, has helped to bolster racist conspiracy theories throughout the country.
FAIR is not the voice of the mainstream, it’s the voice of individuals who have helped fuel the 40% increase in the number of hate groups in the US. These aren’t citizen advocacy groups, or simply groups of concerned folk- they are hate groups plain and tall. But then, neither is the TEAMSTERS nor OOIDA.
A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, outlines the story of FAIR as a hate group, and it justifies their official addition to the national list of hate groups maintained by the organization.
It’s been proven that opposition to Mexican trucks has nothing to do with safety, the ability of the Mexican carriers and their drivers to comply with and follow our rules and regulation, but is simply a veiled attempt to keep Mexicans out of this country. Jumping in bed with organizations such as FAIR, the largest and most vile anti-Hispanic organization in the US further proves this.
FAIR has an “Action Alert” posted urging all their nativist members to harass Congress to stop the program. Not much chance of that happening of course, but it there. and like this article in the CONSERVATIVE DAILY NEWS, has OOIDA executive vice president Todd Spencer’s prints all over it. As the article states, “Where is the Outrage?” We should all be outraged that these two groups, insignificant at best, continue to cost Americans thousands of jobs while pushing their anti-Mexican agenda.
For the most part, they’ve failed. More than 1400 trade associations, the majority of Congress have gotten behind this latest effort to bring us into compliance with our international obligations.
Despite being proven otherwise, we still see people showing their gross stupidity of the issue, or maybe it’s not stupidity, but their bigotry and prejudices coming to the surface such as this letter written to the Tuscaloosa News by Dwight Stripling of Northport Alabama.
Stripling writes;
Dear Editor: Under the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement, which President (Barack) Obama is working to get passed, Mexico will be entitled to haul goods throughout the United States.
But it was discovered that many of the trucks used in the program were poorly maintained, uninspected, and overloaded. Their brakes were bad, their tires were bald and almost always dangerously over the legal weight limit, but that’s not the worst of it.
The United States has safety regulations about how many hours a trucker can drive before he has to take a mandatory break, but the Mexican drivers have no such restrictions, and most are popping pills to keep themselves awake. There is also a possibility of them transporting illegal aliens, drugs, and potential terrorists and their weapons.
When Mexico began sending its trucks across the border, most of the drivers who were stopped for inspection were carrying some kind of contraband to supplement their incomes.
Back then, they carried marijuana and illegal aliens. Today, who knows what they could be carrying in those trucks besides drugs and illegals? Terrorists? Roadside bombs? Anthrax? Think about it!
As you can see, Stripling hasn’t a clue what he’s writing about. He blindly follows what he’s been told.
Rusty Wade, aka Yoda, webmaster for Dale “Trucking Bozo” Sommers website, even jumped into the mix with a article he titled, “UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED AGAIN”. Yoda claims;
A friend sent me pictures from his cell phone of trucks in Arizona that had just come across the border from Mexico at Nogales, Az.
I wondered how safe these Mexican trucks were, so I decided to check them with the FMCSA.
Things I noticed, the authorities were all valid, and there is nothing in that authority that specifies only in the border region, many of those trucks have both Mexican and Arizona tags. I have seen trucks tagged like this in every state of the union. Some do have a “z” after the DOT number some do not!
The absolute truth is these trucks are unsafe, they have repeated inspections that find the same defects.
What did Yoda think he found? Well, one company with 3 drivers, 2 tractors, 2 straight trucks and 4 trailers would seem to have racked up a total of 607 vehicle inspections, 752 driver inspections and 128 haz mat inspections in a 2 year period and they have an AWFUL CMS score if you look at it on the surface. However digging down, you see the majority of the driver violations is for a “non English speaking” driver, and all inspections of this cross border drayage company were done in Arizona.
Another company he lists, LOGISTICA DE CARGA DEL NOROESTE SA DE CV, similar stats. A vehicle OOS rate of 22% and a driver OOS rate of 2%, comparable to that of US drivers.
And it goes on. Many of these violations of these companies could probably be “DataQed” and removed, but at the end of the day, it’s more smoke and mirrors to mask the truth and shows the lengths opponents of Mexican trucking will go to.
So many extremist groups today claim to be America’s Voice or the Voice of the working American when in reality, they are nothing more than Klansmen of old in leisure suits.
In Truth,America’s Voice is people such as me and you, tired of the lies and the pompous posturing of those who use the Immigration debate to fill their hip pockets and spread their peculiar brand of hate.
We’re coming upon that time of the year when they have what seems to be becoming an annual affair, called “Hold their feet to the fire” or some silly ass name. Remember last year when Steve Sommers of America’s Trucking Network went to Washington to smooze with the bigots?
So who is behind this and who are they? Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has insinuated themselves into the extremist movement and proudly proclaim that they are the ones the media and Congress come to when answers are needed about the Immigration debate and possible solutions.
FAIR is bringing people to visit Congressional offices to discuss immigrants and immigration policy. As Members of Congress and their staff prepare to meet with FAIR supporters, you should know some key facts about the group’s origins and leaders. Did you know that:
- The Southern Poverty Law Center has named FAIR a “hate group.” The list of other groups which have earned this distinction from SPLC include: the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, and the Aryan Nations. (Link)
- FAIR was founded by a supporter of eugenics, John Tanton, with funds from the Pioneer Fund, a foundation committed to the belief that some races of people are genetically and intellectually superior to other races. Tanton continues as a leader of FAIR and sits on its board of directors. ( Who else believed this? Wasn’t it a gentlemen by the name of Adolph?)
- FAIR employed and continues to employ known anti-Catholic bigots, including Rosanna Pulido, who said of the Catholic Church in the United States:
What better way to fill your pews and fill your offering coffers than with inviting in and giving sanctuary to illegal aliens? . . . What is being passed off right now by the Catholic Church is not Catholicism. It has nothing to do with Christianity or the Bible.(Link)
And FAIR Executive Director Dan Stein went further, targeting Latino Catholics:
Certainly we would encourage people in other countries to have small families. Otherwise they’ll all be coming here, because there’s no room at the Vatican. . . . Many immigrants hate America, hate everything the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans. (Link)
Read the rest of the evidence and more at America’s Voices and then decide if your hard earned money is going to the right place such as F.A.I.R. and wannabes such as Willie Gheen’s ALIPAC.us which is in the middle of his beggin drive at the moment!
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