Court ruling gets Mexican trucks ready to roll tomorrow - 44 trucks first 30 days

[1776Forever]

Court ruling gets Mexican trucks ready to roll

(9/4/2007)


http://www.feedstuffs.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=F4D1A9DFCD974EAD8CD5205E15C1CB42&nm=Breaking+News&type=news&mod=News&mid=A3D60400B4204079A76C4B1B129CB433&tier=3&nid=DA680EB0D1D64D38B0BBC6EE81B54DA1


Mexican-domiciled trucks could begin operating in the U.S. as early as Thursday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, Cal., refused to stay a demonstration project. The court denied an emergency stay requested by the Teamsters Union, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and others that have joined in a lawsuit challenging the Bush Administration's demonstration project. The administration agreed to initiate the project, which could allow as many as 100 carriers to be authorized to participate, following a 2001 ruling by a North American Free Trade Agreement tribunal. That ruling required the U.S. To open its borders to Mexican trucks, according to the Public Citizen web site.

A Department of Transportation statement said, "Each year, trucks from Mexico make 4.5 million trips across the border into U.S. cities like San Diego (Cal.) and El Paso (Texas). These trucks have a safety record that meets and in some cases exceeds the safety record of U.S. trucks.” Public Citizen charged that an Aug. 6 Inspector General report from the agency said monitoring of Mexican drivers with license convictions is not yet adequate. In protesting the emergency stay, the DOT filing said the demonstration project “will have no impact on safety, given the thorough pre-screening and safety inspections that every truck from Mexico will have to endure before being allowed to travel into the U.S. and beyond the existing commercial border zones.”

The agency noted that 44 trucks from Mexico are expected to participate during the first 30 days of the program. Currently, Mexican trucks are permitted to operate in the U.S. only in specified commercial zones along the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to Public Citizen. The opponents have pledged to continue with the lawsuit despite losing the emergency stay.

......................

Related sites:

Public Citizen.org

The Coming NAFTA Crash: The Deadly Impact of a Secret NAFTA Tribunal's Decision to Open U.S. Highways to Unsafe Mexican Trucks

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=6839

[soothsayer]

1. i feel safer already! about our borders, about terror, about US jobs, about

highway safety, about immigration, about all kinds of things.

[liberal N proud]

2. Are the teamsters still talking about blockade?

I know at one time they said they would blockade in attempt to stop them.

[1776Forever]

5. The Teamsters and others are trying to get this stopped - Here is the latest from Teamster's Website

Federal Court Denies Injunction Blocking Unsafe Mexican Truck Project
Official Statement From Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa

http://www.teamster.org/action/political/NAFTA/nafta.asp

September 1, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) - On Friday, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the emergency injunction filed by the Teamsters, Sierra Club and Public Citizen, saying the petition failed to meet legal hurdles. The case now must be argued before the court.

[lonestarnot]

11. GO DAMN TEAMSTERS! GO!

[yella_dawg]

3. This is the scary part.

"following a 2001 ruling by a North American Free Trade Agreement tribunal"


Fuck our national sovereignty.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

8. Thank you Bill Clinton.. n/t

[1776Forever]

12. And Georgie's Daddy who 1st started this mess - Check Link:

History of the implementation

NAFTA - wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement

NAFTA Initialing Ceremony, October 1992. From left to right: (Standing) Mexican President Salinas, US President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney, (Seated) Jaime Serra Puche, Carla Hills, Michael Wilson. Source: George Bush Presidential Library and MuseumThe agreement was initially pursued by conservative governments in the United States and Canada supportive of free trade, led by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and the Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The three-nation NAFTA was signed during December 1992, pending its ratification by the legislatures of the three countries. There was considerable opposition in all three countries, but in the United States it was able to secure passage after Bill Clinton made its passage a major legislative initiative in 1993. During his presidential campaign he had promised to review the agreement, which he considered inadequate. Since the agreement had been signed by Bush under his fast-track prerogative, Clinton did not alter the original agreement, but complemented it with the aforementioned NAAEC and NAALC. After intense political debate and the negotiation of these side agreements, the U.S. House passed NAFTA by 234-200 (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor, 156 Democrats, 43 Republicans, and 1 independent against).<4> and the U.S. Senate passed it by 61-38<5> Finally, Clinton sanctioned the ratification in November 1993.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

14. You expect it from Republicans..

From a Democrat..

Not so much.

[Vilis Veritas]

4. The times they are a changing...come on get with it people...

You must pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the north american alliance
three nations
under our scrutiny
divisive and
totally screwed.

Peace.

[Gregorian]

6. I talked with the Calif Highway Patrol about this yesterday.

They said that up until now, Mexican truckers stopped short of the border and US trucks went in and loaded up with the supplies. And the only thing that is changing is that the Mexican truckers will be allowed in for short distances only.

Furthermore, there is a truck inspection station there. These are not trucks that are in violation of our safety standards.


I still have questions though. Why? Why then are they needing to cross the border.

[1776Forever]

9. OK - Are the Mexican trucks going to have escorts to make sure they only go so far??????

How many of the trucks are going to have the cargo checked?

Do they have insurance that meets the U.S. standards?

Are they going to have drug testing like our truckers do?

So many questions!

[Gregorian]

22. Right. That's a lot of stuff.

And I seriously doubt they'll have all of that.

Our highway patrols are the ones who will be dealing with this. I suggest we all get their thoughts. I'll call back.

[robinlynne]

10. not short distances only. That is how it was. The offical border station for checking

the trucks will now be in kansas. The road goes to canada! I do not know if the distances are regulated at the beginning, but they are at least allowed to drive to kansas, and that is not a short distance.

[Gregorian]

21. That's what I was going to tell the officer I spoke with. I should have!

Thanks for the reminder.

He was so certain. Well, we'll have to call back and talk to someone else then.

[robinlynne]

27. The only part I'm not sure of is whether it is kansas or kansas city, missouri.

[Maggie_May]

7. Do we have people who

will be checking these trucks like there contents. I feel for the truckers but as a wife of a auto supplier worker we have seen more and more of our jobs going to Mexico. We need to organize all unions and have a work stop. As we American shoppers need to hold back our crave for more cheaper Chinese goods. We are losing people we are losing our jobs to cheaper labor.

[Vincardog]

13. The real question is who the hell is a "North American Free Trade Agreement tribunal"?

Who authorized them and by what right do they rule?

[1776Forever]

15. You can check out the spp.gov site but they deny any wrong doing - yeah right

http://www.spp.gov/prosperity_agenda/index.asp?dName=prosperity_agenda

This link will take you to the Prosperity Agenda
Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America and the official United States Administration sanctioned information.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Is this not the funniest crap you have every seen? Remember how they named the No Child Left Behind bill? Now they are calling this Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America - Prosperity for who??????????
:rofl:

Sure as heck not the longshoremen and truckers of this country! Come on - this is not about the Mexican truck drivers by the way it is about the Corporate thief's who now plan on putting the final juggernaut! :mad:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Aren't Canadian trucks allowed south of the border?

And American trucks north?

[1776Forever]

18. Canadian trucks have full access to U.S. roads - From DOT Site - They have an agreement

http://www.bts.gov/programs/commodity_flow_survey/methods_and_limitations/commodity_classification_in_1997/background.html

Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG) Codes
Background
The Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG) has been created jointly by agencies of the United States (U.S.) and Canadian governments to address statistical needs that the U.S. and Canada share in common, and to meet the individual needs of each country in regard to products transported. The U.S. effort has been led by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) under the sponsorship of the United States Department of Transportation's (DOT) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The Canadian effort has been led by the Standards and Transportation Divisions of Statistics Canada.

The specific goals that the SCTG has been designed to address include:

Improvement of the product categories used for collecting and reporting U.S. CFS data;
Creation of integrated product categories for reporting Canadian marine, truck, and rail freight data; and
Capability to directly compare Canadian and U.S. freight movement data.

U.S.-Canadian Interest in Using the Same Product Code for Freight Analysis

)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

And in this statement you can see that the Mexican government does not have one with the U.S. and Canada:

Following the adoption of the SCTG for use by both U.S. and Canada, international shipments between the two countries will be directly comparable for the first time ever. This first step is expected to make an important contribution to a smoothly functioning post-NAFTA environment. In time, it will be important to include Mexican Product groupings under the SCTG as well.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. So if U.S. and Mexico had the same agreement...

there wouldn't be a problem? Right.

[1776Forever]

40. Mexico has not been making any advances as to this measure yet.

It is a shame that cheap labor and huge corporate earnings are the mantra of the Mexican and U.S. companies that use Mexico's people for their profit making ventures. It would be good to see the Mexican people rise up to this assult and make sure their people are treated fairly. It must be very hard for them to do that. With the richest man in the world in Mexico it is certainly an oxymoron.

[Xithras]

17. One of my neighbors is a truck driver.

He said that a lot of truckers are talking about slashing the tires of the Mexican trucks when they're in the stops. A slashed tire delays a load, and if a customer consistently has problems getting their freight on time from one company, they'll switch to another. If the Mexican trucks gain a reputation for regularly running late, many shippers will just avoid using them. On top of that, the average profit margin for a run is usually less than a thousand bucks for a shipper once the driver and fuel costs are factored in. Replacing tires every run because of slashed sidewalls will destroy their profit margins. If it happens enough, Mexican trucking companies will stop sending their drivers over here.

He said that quite a few drivers had even advocated violence against the Mexican drivers, including running them off the freeways. The Teamsters are talking about freeway shutdowns, but the vast majority of truck drivers are NOT union and have no organized way to act out. Faced with the end of their livelyhoods, some of them are talking up some serious shit. Let's hope it's just talk (I don't want Mexican drivers here, but I don't want them dead either...I can deal with the slashed tires).

A lot of American truck drivers are extremely pissed over this and are ready to play hardball.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

20. Slashing tires could easily cause someone to get hurt or killed..

Those who slash tires or engage in violence should face the full penalty of law.

The American people, including those truck drivers, voted for the politicians that brought us this nightmare, they should be prepared to pay the price.

And I include myself in that category.

[Karenina]

24. I fully expect violence.

And this is just the beginning... :cry:

[Xithras]

25. That's been thought of. They were actually talking about cutting air lines AND tires.

If you're not familiar with trucks though, you wouldn't know what the impact of a cut air line would be (which is why I didn't mention it). If you slice the tires on a truck, and then slice the rubber air line going to the trailer, the brakes will lock and the truck won't be going ANYWHERE. He also mentioned jamming holes in the air bags that support the cab and trailer...an expensive sabotage that can damage loads or make a truck undriveable. There's apparently a whole list of quick ways to sabotage a truck in under 30 seconds.

But to be honest, it sounded like some of the people he'd spoken to wouldn't really care about the possibility of Mexican drivers getting hurt anyway. Some of them are apparently taking on a "war of survival, us versus them" mentality. It's not entirely misplaced...if Mexican trucks take over U.S. roadways, many of these men and women will end up unemployed and broke...but that kind of mentality can lead people to "justify" some things that would horrify us. When you factor in the fact that truck driving still has a LOT of poorly educated racist redneck types, the situation gets a little scary.

A lot of it, I think, depends on how aggressive the Mexican trucking companies are in moving into the U.S. If they move in slowly, over 5-10 years, the change will be gradual enough to avoid most problems. If they flood across the border en masse, I'd bet good money that we'll see some very real confrontations.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

30. I *used* to work in construction..

Illegal have pretty well taken over that industry.

I really have no animosity toward them though, they're just doing what it takes to survive.

And yes, I do know enough about trucks to sabotage one fairly easily.

Lots and lots of other things too...

Cutting air lines at least isn't going kill anyone.

The truckers really ought to be enraged with the politicians who made this all possible, not with poor damn Mexicans who are just trying to put food on their families too.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. You and your firends do know that Ameirican Companies

have BOUGHT mexican companies.

Thought you'd like to know

Also the enemy is not the truckers. NAFTA is just as popular down there as it is up here... which is to say not really... it has cost way, and I mean WAAAYYYY too many jobs down there too

The enemies are the corporations who have benefited

I'd try to organize with the mexican truckers... oh never mind, they are brown

[Xithras]

32. Not my friends.

Just clarifying. Neighbor. My friends don't typically advocate hurting people.

Personally, I don't even like this neighbor all that much. He's got a nasty habit of firing his truck up at 3AM and letting it idle for an hour while he gets ready for work in the morning, and we've gone around more than once about the fact that he likes dumping old motor oil from his trucks along the property line to keep down weeds (10 feet from the edge of my garden). Not the most considerate of people.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Well what I personally fear is that

we will have an undeclared war, and the people getting hurt are the ones already getting hurt

As to your neighbor, what he is doing violates many, and I mean MANY ordinances... you may want to take action in more than just talking, especially due to environmental polution

[Xithras]

38. I've already called the county, and they've been useless.

They came out the first time I called and gave him a warning. The investigator then told me that the volume he was dumping, a gallon or two a year, was too small to do any serious damage, and way to small to justify an "enforcement action". Since it's his personal oil and it's a rural area, I haven't been able to get them back out since. Apparently they prefer to reserve their "enforcement actions" for industrial or commercial polluters.

Welcome to red county California :eyes:

[Elwood P Dowd]

35. In a few years you can kiss your garden goodbye

if he keeps doing that.

[Xithras]

39. I've already protected against it.

I had to run a new water line along that edge of the property last year, and since I had the trench dug anyway I dropped in a root barrier wrapped in some impermeable sheeting. If any oil does leach onto my property, it will be at least 36" down, putting it well below the root level of my garden.

My bigger concern is my well. It's 50 feet from the property line, but it's only 15' down. I have my well water tested yearly anyway (ag chemical runoff is a huge issue around here), and the FIRST time I detect oil in my water I am going to sue the sumbitch and I'll OWN his property. So far everything looks clean though.

[judaspriestess]

23. oh theres a great solution

very well thought out. lets kill the mexcuns

[Xithras]

26. Well, I'm not going to get into that except to say...

Pick up an old CB sometime and cruise over to your local truck stop. Thirty minutes of listening to them should dispel any notions you might have about them all being Ivy League educated cerebral types ;)

I'm not saying that all truck drivers are stupid, but there are certainly some that would make you question your assumptions about the evolutionary superiority of the human race.

And I say this as one who worked his way through college on a class A. I have nothing against truckers, but anyone who tries to tell you that the classic racist redneck stereotype doesn't exist in the field is trying to sell you something.

And if you think that type won't strike out when threatened...

[VP505]

19. If the Presidential Candidates

who claim to be supporting working (middle) class Americans are NOT speaking out LOUDLY against this then they don't deserve the working (middle) class vote.

[Disturbed]

28. Non Rich American Citizens are expendible.

Neither Party cares. One of these days there might be a real War within the USA; a Class War!

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Ok folks stop blaming the Mexicans

NAFTA is as popular in Mexico as it is here... which means, NOT VERY MUCH

who you should all be blaming is... drum rolll... THE CORPORATIONS and political parties who play to them.

That said, you should also be blaming George H W bush for negotiating this piece of crap...

Ah yes, the bush crime family, the gift that keeps on giving
Now I said it.

[BeHereNow]

36. But don't you DARE try to board an airplane with a bottle of WATER.

Sorry, my mind just keeps going back to the fact
that in the so called interest of "security"
US CITIZENS are subjected to gestapo treatment
at airport security check points while our borders
have now been laid wide open...

BHN

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. Flying out of Mexico City is just as bad

with one caveat

They have theh usual mommy devices, but from what I undestand they check bellies of planes more often

Sometihng about the advisors from Israel they got on security after 9.11

But if their flights are to be allowed into US Air Space they still need to play the games with water and the rest of the innanity