What's all this Non-Sense

What’s All This Non-Sense?

What’s all this nonsense of you people opposing the Trans Texas Corridor. Why, this plan has got to reign supreme of the accomplishments of this great state’s great Governor. What other Governor could win the gubernatorial seat against two other Republicans and one Democrat opponents and could still force legislation through Austin. He wears the tag 39% proudly.

Just think about the wide benefits that might be reaped by the completion of this Highway System.

First, numerous family farms will be shut down. Well, farmers are going broke anyway since they cannot sell their produce at the actual cost of production. In a letter I got from the Governor’s own office, Dede Keith writes, "No property will be taken without just compensation." Well, if they’re losing money anyway, isn’t it a gift to them to pay them anything at all?

Cintra Zachry will not only make that land more profitable from toll revenues for 50 years, but can also claim farm subsidies for every acre they do not use.

Second, all these proposed roads go to other states that have no similar system designed. Now wouldn’t ya’ think that those folks in Oklahoma might see what we have and want something like it? They aren’t going to want these super highways to come to their borders and just stop are they?

Third, in that same letter from the Governor’s office, Keith writes, "Demographers predict that the Texas population will double over the next 25-30 years." So there may be twice the number of cars on all the roads. So why not expand the TTC and just double the size of every road? Why talk about rail transport when more concrete can solve the problem.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what a super highway might look like. Eight lanes each way might work best. One lane for joggers and walkers, and I guess those homeless people with their grocery store carts so they can all go town to town. Second, a lane for bicycle riders. Third a lane for people trying to hitchhike since they can’t afford the price of a car or even of the gasoline. Fourth an entry and exit lane. Fifth a lane for slow drivers. Sixth a lane for the triple trailer semis coming from Mexico. Seventh a lane for those car poolers (some people call them HOV lanes) --now isn’t that the solution for air pollution. Finally, a lane for those people who are in a hurry, ya’ know, no speed limits.

Now just think, all eight lanes with Tolls, maybe charging the speeders a little more in case they hit someone else, and not charging the truckers as much as the walkers since they are really transporting products around. Oh heck, just let the trucks keep on going for free since they belong to companies, and why should the drivers be hurt.

When ya’ think about it, why do your kids need to see Grandma anyway? If ya’ can’t afford the toll, then why are ya’ driving anyway? And when ya’ factor in all those who couldn’t afford unregulated tolls, maybe not too many folks will be likely to get out onto that super highway anyway.

Now Cintra Zachry could fret a bit over that, but then they will get their farm subsidies anyway, just like the Railroad Lines in California -- the number 1 recipient of farm subsidies in California.

Finally, what is so special is what Keith also wrote, "You should also know that limited tax dollars will be spent on the corridor." Since our gas tax goes to building roads I assume she meant the taxes from the State and Federal Governments. Why shouldn’t tax payers help to build roads for a private company, isn’t that like these new Stadium deals all over? And if they’re going to limit the amount of these tax dollars going into building these roads, then isn’t that a great deal?

And those Federal dollars are going to stop anyway since most of Texas cannot reach the EPA’s demands. But air pollution ain’t all bad -- it keeps doctors and pharmaceutical corporations busy.

Now some people are complaining about the cost of food and all going up. But I say, so what. If you’re so tight for money then just quit driving and paying so much for gasoline and tolls. Ya’ couldn’t even gripe about unregulated insurance charges then either.

Three things in life are sure -- death, taxes, and inflation.

But just think about no one driving because they can’t afford to. That would also reduce air pollution which all you tree huggers fret so much about.

Just think about the game that hunters could go after when the migration paths are blocked. In a decade or so all those pesky deer could be gone, and fishing licenses could begin to rise since more people might be looking to help feed their families.

Unregulated Tolls on roads paid for by tax dollars and profiting, as Keith writes, "a Spanish Company" and a "family-owned Texas company." Now if that ain’t Texas Family Values, what is?

So all you whiners, what’s you’re problem now?

Breaking News . . . Toll Road Giant Buys Newspapers to Silence Critics

Constitutional Lawyers . . . Where Are You?
By Daneen G. Peterson, Ph.D. American Chronicle - December 2, 2006 - Updated January 20, 2007

© Daneen G. Peterson, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved

Critics charge that the Macquarie [an Australian Bank] purchase of American Consolidated Media is designed to silence critics of a Texas toll road project [Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC-35)].

Australian toll road giant Macquarie agreed Wednesday [1/24/07] to purchase forty local newspapers, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma , for $80 million. Macquarie Bank is Australia's largest capital raising firm and has invested billions in purchasing roads in the US, Canada and UK.

Most recently the company joined with Cintra Concesiones of Spain in a controversial 75-year lease of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road.(44)

Our country is being sold out from beneath us, often to foreign entities who will control them in times of national emergencies and in violation of the Exon-Florio law and our Constitution. All is being accomplished while many Americans remain uninformed by the media AND those who loudly object are being ignored or silenced by the fascist One World Monopolists, in collusion with the corrupt main stream media, in their drive to conquer America from within.

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This article is found with additional photographs here:

Constitutional Lawyers . . . Where Are You?

Daneen G. Peterson, Ph.D. The American Chronicle - January 31, 2007 - © Daneen G. Peterson, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved

Of course all lawyers are very busy, but there's a significant issue that needs your attention which could be of substantive legal import regarding the creation of a Mexican customs office which is planned for the KC SmartPort. It will stand on American soil as part of the federal government's Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a stealthful mega-project being developed under the aegis of the Department of Commerce. Supposedly, the Kansas City SmartPort agreement will allow Mexico to claim 'sovereign territory' on American soil and arrogantly fly their Mexican national flag over it.

It is posited here that a learned Constitutional lawyer might be able to stop ALL the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) projects in their tracks since they ALL involve the signing of agreements with 'Foreign Powers' ALL of which are being done without Congressional approval, in violation of our Constitution, as detailed below in Part I.

In addition to the KC SmartPort . . . there are other signed agreements with foreign governments for the CANAMEX corridor, and the Trans-Texas-Corridor (TTC-35) also discussed below. There exists many more signatories since there are some 80 super-corridor projects planned and in motion across the country. All these projects are aimed at creating the North American Union without ANY congressional oversight in violation of our Constitution.

It would be a coup de grace for 'We the People' if the One World Monopolists were stopped in their tracks using the very instrument they seek to shred, crush and destroy . . . our Constitution.

Also below in Part II is a discussion that will detail the selling of our infrastructure that ALSO violates the aforementioned Constitutional law as well as others, such as Exon-Florio. What's being done is part of creating the North American Union (NAU) that is being fraudulently forged under the radar, without Congressional approval or oversight, nor the knowledge or agreement of 'We the People'.

These machinations are the work of a cabal of elite globalists, both within and without our government, who are working towards a North American Union (NAU) as part of their quest for a One World Monopoly (OWM). It is a world monopoly that they have euphemistically called a 'New World Order'. All that has been accomplished thus far, was deviously facilitated by a complicit and deliberately silent media

Part I ~ Constitution Violations Involving Signing Agreements with Foreign Powers
The Constitution of the United States . . . Article I: Section. 10.
Clause 1:

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

Clause 2:

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

Clause 3:

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Signed Agreements with a Foreign Power: KC SmartPort

Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, Prepares to Sign Cooperative Agreement with Kansas City, March 15, 2005, Kansas City Smart Port: Press Room, http://www.kcsmartport.com/sec_press/releases/lazaro_031505.htm.


KANSAS CITY, MO – March 15, 2005—Officials from Kansas City and Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico, will sign a historic cooperative agreement next week to establish a new trans-Pacific trade corridor that will alleviate delays and congestion at West Coast ports. The signing, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22, will take place at Cathedral Square, 427 W. 12 th St. This significant agreement will promote trade growth and development along the new corridor.

“This signing is an exciting and historic moment for the international trade in the Kansas City region,” Chris Gutierrez, president, KC SmartPort, said. “The partnership with Lazaro Cardenas puts Kansas City in a pivotal position to become the Pacific port’s primary U.S. inland port and puts KC another step ahead of our competition for economic growth and job creation.”

A delegation of seven Mexican officials including Eloy Vargas Arreola, Secretary of Economic Development, Government of the State of Michoacan, will spend three days—Monday through Wednesday, March 21-23-- in Kansas City, MO.

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Kansas City SmartPort to Sign Trade Route Agreement with Province of Manitoba: North American Inland Port Network Initiated, October 11, 2005, http://www.kcsmartport.com/sec_press/releases/manitoba_101105.htm.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., October 11, 2005 – Kansas City SmartPort President Chris Gutierrez today announced that Kenneth Hoffman, chairman of Kansas SmartPort, and Gary Doer, premier of the Province of Manitoba, will sign a memorandum of understanding to establish a secure trade and transportation corridor between Kansas City and the Province of Manitoba on Friday, October 14, 2005 at 1:15 p.m. in the Kauffman Foundation's Town Square Room. The agreement, which will create a streamlined transportation network between Kansas City and the Province of Manitoba, which includes the city of Winnipeg and the deepwater port of Churchill, will take place during North America Works in Kansas City, a conference to promote development and expansion of transportation links and infrastructure across Canada, the United States and Mexico.
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KC, Mexican officials will set up trade corridor, March 21, 2005, The Kansas City Business Journal, http://www.kcsmartport.com/sec_news/media/articles/kcbj_032105.htm.

Officials from Kansas City and the Mexican city of Lazaro Cardenas will sign an agreement March 22 to establish a new trans-Pacific trade corridor and establish the Kansas City area as an inland port.

The creation of the trade corridor also is designed to alleviate delays and congestion at West Coast ports.

A signing ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 22 at Cathedral Square, 427 W. 12th St.

"This signing is an exciting and historic moment for the international trade in the Kansas City region," Kansas City SmartPort President Chris Gutierrez said in a written release.

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U.S.-Mexico trans-PAC corridor deal, March 28, 2005, Journal of Commerce, http://www.kcsmartport.com/sec_news/media/articles/joc_032805.htm.

Officials from Kansas City, Mo., and Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico, signed a cooperative agreement to establish a new trans-Pacific trade corridor to alleviate delays and congestion at West Coast ports, and promote trade growth between the U.S. Midwest and Mexico.

Under the agreement, Kansas City and Lázaro Cárdenas will jointly fund a neutral marketing campaign designed to attract trans-Pacific traffic between the cities' ports, promote in-bond transfers between the cities' Foreign Trade Zones, and promote the development and deployment of security tracing and tracking systems along the U.S. Midwest-to-Mexico corridor.

"In terms of opening the Midwest to Asian trade through Mexican ports, this agreement signifies substantial completion of [some] extensive efforts over the past several years," said Alfred Figuly, president of the greater Kansas City Foreign Trade Zone, in a prepared statement.


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Signed Agreement with a Foreign Power: TTC-35 (Trans Texas Corridor)

Comprehensive Development Agreement TTC-35 High Priority Corridor, by and between: Texas Department of Transportation and Cintra Zachry, LP, March 11, 2005, keeptexmoving.com, http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/pdfs/projects/ttc35/TTC-35cda_signed_version.pdf.

This is actually who they are dealing with as all others are front groups with Limited Partnerships:

In addition, copies of all notices to proceed, notices regarding Disputes, and suspension, termination and default notices shall be delivered to the following persons:


Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. Plaza Manual Gomez Moreno, 2 Edificio Alfredo Mahou 28020 Madrid, Spain Attn: General Counsel Telephone: 0013491-418-5615 Facsimile: 00134-915-556-786 E-mail: lucas.osorio@cintra.es

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24.5.1 TxDOT and Developer shall each designate an individual or individuals who shall be authorized to make decisions and bind the parties on matters relating to the Contract Documents ("Authorized Representative"). Exhibit P to this Agreement Note: Exhibit P was not available with this document.

Note: Since those with the authority to make decisions would indicate who REALLY is in charge it would be interesting to see Exhibit P.

READ MORE (Much more of this heavily researched and footnoted article by Dr. Daneen G. Peterson, PhD, former professor at Temple and Jefferson Universities in Philadelphia, PA, where she taught behavioral science research methodology and statistics. After leaving academia, she created and directed the first Department of Research and Program Evaluation for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America's National Office in Philadelphia, PA.

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Angela Hunt Proves It: The Mayor's Been Lying About the Trinity River Toll Road

By Jim Schutze - The Dallas Observer - May 01, 2007

Angela Hunt has just blown the center right out of Laura Miller's defense of the Trinity River toll road, and she has done it with a bit of investigative reporting that should have our tree-climbing ex-reporter mayor tied in little green Boy Scout knots.

Miller has been defending her plan for a big fat expressway through the park we're trying to build on the Trinity River downtown by saying the idea was OK'd, blessed and signed off on by the expert she brought down here a couple years ago from Harvard, Alex Krieger. Now, by filing open records demands for Miller's e-mails, Hunt has found the smoking gun: On the Trinity Vote Web site this morning is an e-mail from Krieger to Miller telling her he is dismayed that the city intends to build "a great big interstate highway instead of a parkway" along the Trinity.

Miller's other expert, transportation planner Bill Eager, also weighs in with an e-mail agreeing with Krieger.

What Hunt has uncovered here is an enormous public deception on Miller's part. In appearance after appearance, statement after statement, Miller has insisted that Hunt doesn't know what she's talking about. Miller keeps saying the current design for the toll road is what everybody agreed on and the Harvard guy designed.

Now we learn that Krieger wrote Miller a month ago telling her the road had bloated into something he didn't recognize. Here is the full text of Krieger's e-mail:


From Alex Krieger
March 22, 2007
to Bill Eager, Laura

Laura,

I'm not sure in what context the issue of alternative alignments for the Trinity Parkway has come up, but during my recent visit -- at the initial charette with the Trinity Lakes Planning Team -- what concerned me most was that the engineering of the road was proceeding as if it were a great big interstate highway instead of a parkway and that there was absolutely no evidence of concern for the "context sensitive design" that was promised as part of the balanced vision plan. Devoting MUCH MUCH more attention to the design of the roadway - and making sure that it results in a road worthy of being part of great park and open space environment -- is what I think is most immediately necessary.

Best,
Alex Krieger

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Feuds, failures in Austin may cost lawmakers

By Jay Root - Star-Telegram Staff Writer - Wed. May 30, 2007

Republican Jon Taylor, a political scientist at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, said the infighting could leave the GOP badly fractured in 2008, which is already shaping up to be challenging for the party.

"There could be a lot of blood on the floor and then some come primary time in 2008," Taylor said. "The Republicans could easily lose the state House as a result of this."

He cited in particular the formation of a political fundraising organization called We Won't Forget PAC, designed to punish Craddick loyalists who deserted him. Taylor said the speaker would "guarantee the legacy of being an autocrat or an outright dictator" if he did not halt the efforts to defeat his enemies.

Craddick, elected in 1968, was one of eight Republican lawmakers when he first walked onto the floor of the Texas House. Thirty-four years later, he became the first GOP speaker since 1871. Since then, Republicans have controlled every statewide elected office and both houses of the Legislature.

Craddick presided over some of the most bruising legislative battles in modern times, including a redistricting effort spearheaded by former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. But, like DeLay, Craddick paid a political price for the confrontational tactics he used to produce policy victories.

In January he survived a tough speaker's race, in which fellow House members choose a presiding officer. Then, a few days ago, the struggle morphed into a Shakespearian political drama. Betrayed by loyal allies who helped elevate him to his powerful post, Craddick came within a hair of being removed. He beat back the challenge by claiming that the rules gave him "absolute discretion" to ignore his opponents, even if a majority wanted him out.

Looking ahead

Mike Hailey, editor of the online newsletter Capitol Inside, said the ploy paid off in the short term by keeping Craddick in the speaker's chair. Further down the road, it could be a different story.

"It could hurt him in the long run," Hailey said. "It has a lot of potential to backfire." Taylor, the GOP political scientist, said the messy fight in Austin projected an unseemly spectacle for voters, and the speaker's use of phrases like "absolute" power and "there is no appeal" conjured up images of tyrants from another era.

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Craddick opponents walk out - Lack of quorum shuts down business after budget passes.

By Laylan Copelin, Jason Embry - AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF -
Monday, May 28, 2007

Dozens of lawmakers shut down the Texas House shortly after midnight by walking out after a member tried to take a roll call vote on Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership.

Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso, stunned the House leadership when, during a personal privilege speech, he began taking a roll call vote on Craddick's leadership. Meanwhile, the Midland Republican sat on the podium.

As Haggerty called out the members' names, he asked them to shout out "aye" or "no." Many of Craddick's supporters stood and objected when their names were called.

When Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, who had been presiding, finally stopped the roll call, Haggerty urged the members to leave the chamber.

As the rebel House members streamed out of the chamber, led by Haggerty, a crowd that had been watching in the gallery quickly poured into the hallways and began cheering. Shouts echoed through the Capitol: "Go! Go! Go! Out! Out! Out!"

Inside the chamber, Turner called for a vote. With only 94 votes registered — many suspect because members who left were shown present — there was no longer a quorum. Turner adjourned the House until 2 p.m. today.

The 140-day session ends at midnight, and more than 30 bills are pending on the House calendar. It will take a two-thirds vote of members present to consider any legislation. Among bills in danger are ones dealing with water, child protective services, border security and parks.

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