What a year 2007 was.
The war in Iraq continued and the casualty count is now well over three thousand and for what? To allow KBR civilian contractors and others to get rich scamming the government as those who were recently indicted in Afghanistan have shown us.
Blackwater security employees used Iraq as their personal killing fields, putting themselves above the law, and now it appears, they will succeed.
And how about the new “training” facility being built in San Diego county just a few klicks north of Tecate Mexico? That ought to make the hard core anti immigration folks amongst us happy as hell! Wonder how long it will be until we hear of “accidental” killings in that part of the border.
And of course, February brought us notice of the intent of the FMCSA to COMPLY with OUR AGREEMENT made under the NAFTA accords. Imagine that! A President willing to do what was right. And oh, did it piss off a few people!
The Mexican Cross Border Program, Mexican Truck Pilot Program, Cross Border Demonstration Program, call it what you will!
Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters came out with that piece of gonzo journalism they paid Charles Bowden in 1999 to hack and tried to portray the Mexican trucking industry as a bunch of drunk, drug addled highway killers driving sub par junked out trucks.
That set in motion events that brought Mexico Trucker into the picture to combat and denounce these transparent lies and exaggerations with documented facts and photographic proof to the contrary, with some success.
Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen, aligning herself with OOIDA and some self styled “public safety” organizations, denounced the program with outrageous claims of more than 10,000 “dangerous Mexican trucks and unqualifed drivers” preparing to invade the United States.
Todd Spencer of OOIDA, continues to this moment, to try to convince his membership that this is all about allowing the border shuttle fleet full access to the U.S., despite conclusive evidence to the contrary. But hey, it gained them an additional 3000 + members who bought their bullshit! Follow the money!
The debate over illegal immigration intensified. Curious that this happened at time when things were not going so well in Iraq. A comprehensive immigration reform bill was introduced in Congress that ultimately failed due to the anti hispanic/illegal/immigrant (label them what you will) forces objecting to any form of amnesty. We lost a good opportunity to do something about a bad situation, and failed! Likewise, the failure of the DREAM act which would have given options to children of illegals who were here through no fault of their own. Another failure to address the situation.
And at every roll of the dice, illegal became synonomous with Mexican, and the Hispanic community, both legal and illegal, felt the heat of the inherent racism that lays close to the surface of our society.
And the debate continued, focusing on the Hispanic population, while ignoring the more than 7,000,000 OTM (other than Mexicans) who entered the country legally and overstayed their visas, blending into American society. America, as a country, can’t racially profile nor single out individuals unless they or of Hispanic heritage!
And of course, how can we forget, the lawsuits filed to stop the Mexican trucks. OOIDA, the Teamsters, Public Citizen and The Sierra Club, all went into the 9th Circuit in San Francisco to try to stop the program, only to be denied injunctive relief. I think in 2008, we’ll see the suit thrown out for various and sundry reasons. At any rate, by the time it is heard and a decision rendered, the cross border program will be coming to an end.
Now, we’re entering into the first days of 2008, and it has been interesting here at Mexico Trucker. We’re on a new, more secure server, with 50 gigs of storage and 500 gigs of bandwidth per month. Ready to kick ass in the new year!
Sen. Byron “The Dork” Dorgan, as you know, introduced the amendment to the omnibus spending bill, that would supposedly stop the cross border program dead in it’s tracks. But apparently, the stupid son of a bitch, has a problem with words, and was not specific in the amendment. Now, he is crying, whining and threatening FMCSA with sanctions for ignoring the “spirit” of the law! Forget about the “word” of the law as it is written when it doesn’t accomplish your purpose. I imagine his “handlers” are furious at the money that went into his PAC to gain his cooperation was wasted.
Now, it’s back to work. Both on the road and on this site. We’re in the process of a new design. For a short while, you may experience errors in your browsing experiencem but those will be corrected.
And while that is happening, the cross border program will continue. Safely and with absolutely no threat to America’s safety, security or economy, despite what the opposition would have you believe with their fear mongering tactic.
Let’s all have a great 2008 and come to understand that there or much more serious problems confronting us than a few Mexican trucks, who, incidently, will continue to have authority to operate in the US, even if the program was canceled tomorrow
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