[lbo-talk] astounding science fiction (was amazing story about loose nukes, Chinese hackers and more)

B. docile_body at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 23 21:55:17 PDT 2007


The NASCO Corridor site sez, "There are no plans to build a new NAFTA Superhighway - it exists today as I-35." http://www.nascocorridor.com/pages/about/about.htm

This is true: I-35 exists. I drive on it almost daily. It does indeed feed into Mexico and has for a long time along with many other US roads. (Which I think is cool.) It's almost always backed up and gridlocked, which is not very pleasant. I'd welcome widening it, though I wouldn't want homeowners to be displaced if they didn't want to go, or natural parks to be wiped out. Widening it would actually cover over a lot of current strip malls that are nestled along side of it.

The story about the "NAFTA Superhighway" seems to be mixed with the Trans-Texas Corridor, the I-69 stuff, and I-35 proposals, like making sections of I-35 a toll road.

But if you do a search for "NAFTA Superhighway," most hits returned will be stuff from Pat Buchanan's syndicated column (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PatrickJBuchanan/2006/08/29/the_nafta_super_highway), Lou Dobbs stoking the fire of xenophobia (http://youtube.com/watch?v=MBmFrYWPoG8 , for ex., one of many clips Dobbs has featured about the "NAFTA Superhighway"), southern GOP Rep. Virgil Goode's proposed bill to outlaw anything called a NAFTA Superhighway (copy of bill here: http://www.rense.com/general75/rep.htm), and WorldNet Daily (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53378), a big right wing news clearinghouse.

GOP Pres. candidate Ron Paul even has a page at his gov. site titled "The NAFTA Superhighway." It reads:

"The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union--complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether. A new resolution, introduced by Representative Virgil Goode of Virginia, expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a NAFTA superhighway, or enter into any agreement that advances the concept of a North American Union. I wholeheartedly support this legislation, and predict that the superhighway will become a sleeper issue in the 2008 election."

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2006/tst103006.htm

Stephen Colbert did a take on the "NAFTA Superhighway" idea here: http://colbertondemand.com/videos/Spur_of_The_Moment/NAFTA_Secret_Highway

-B.

Chuck wrote:

"The NAFTA superhighways are something much bigger than just adding a few lanes to the highways. They are a huge corporate welfare project for the highway-industrial complex. The plan is to create super-corridors along the highways, with rail being added to the mix along with communications lines and energy infrastructure. I'm sure that the developers would love to build one continuous strip mall along I-35 from Texas to Kansas City to Minneapolis. :-("



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