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2011-08-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

2011-08-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Punta Colonet Multimodal Project

2010-03-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.kcsmartport.com/pdf/SmtPrtOneRoute.pdfPrint Document
Red China Opens NAFTA Ports in Mexico
The Port Authority of San Antonio has been working actively with the Communist Chinese to open and develop NAFTA shipping ports in Mexico.

Red China Opens NAFTA Ports in Mexico

by Jerome R. Corsi
Posted Jul 18, 2006

The Port Authority of San Antonio has been working actively with the Communist Chinese to open and develop NAFTA shipping ports in Mexico.

The plan is to ship containers of cheap goods produced by under-market labor in China and the Far East into North America via Mexican ports. From the Mexican ports, Mexican truck drivers and railroad workers will transport the goods across the Mexican border with Texas. Once in the U.S., the routes will proceed north to Kansas City along the NAFTA Super-Highway, ready to be expanded by the Trans-Texas Corridor, and NAFTA railroad routes being put in place by Kansas City Southern. Kansas City Southernâ€™s Mexican railroads has positioned the company to become the â€œNAFTA Railroad.â€

Right now, the cost of shipping and ground transportation can nearly double the total cost of cheap goods produced by Chinese and Far Eastern under-market labor. The plan is to reduce those transportation costs by as much as 50% by using Mexican ports.

Cost-savings will be realized by bringing the goods into the U.S. at mid-continent. Equally important is that the substantially reduced cost of using Mexican labor in the ports and to transport the goods once off-loaded. Mexican workers undercut Longshoremen Union port employees on the docks of Los Angeles and Long Beach, just as Mexican truck drivers undercut the Teamsters and Mexican railroad workers undercut United Transportation Union railroad workers. By using the Mexican ports, the international corporations managing this global trade are able to avoid the U.S. labor union workers who otherwise would unload the ships in west coast ports and transport the Asian containers into the heart of America by U.S. truckers or U.S. railroad ground transport moving east across the Rocky Mountains.

In April 2006, officials of the Port Authority of San Antonio traveled to China with representatives of the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio, the Port of Lazaro Cardenas, and Hutchinson Port Holdings to develop the Mexican ports logistics corridor. The goal of the meetings in China was described by the March 2006 e-newsletter of the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio:

"In January of 2006, a collaboration of several logistics entities in the U.S. and Mexico began operation of a new multimodal logistics corridor for Chinese goods entering the U.S. Market. The new corridor brings containerized goods from China on either Maersk or CP Ships service to the Mexican Port of Lazaro Cardenas. There, the containers are off loaded by a new world class terminal operated by Hutchinson Ports based in Hong Kong. The containers are loaded onto the Kansas City Southern Railroad de Mexico where they move in-bound into the U.S. The containers clear U.S. customs in San Antonio, Texas and are processed for distribution.

"Hutchinson Whampoa, a diversified company that manages property development and telecommunications companies, with operations in 54 countries and over 200,000 employees worldwide, is also one of the worldâ€™s largest port operators. Hutchinson Ports Holding (HPH) owns Panama Ports Co., which operates the ports of Cristobal and Balboa which are located at each end of the Panama Canal. HPH also operates the industrial deepwater port of Lazaro Cardenas in the Mexican State of Michoacan, as well as the Mexican port at Manzanillo, also along the west coast of Mexico, north of Lazaro Cardenas.

The Free Trade Alliance San Antonio was created in 1994 to promote the development of San Antonioâ€™s inland port. The Free Trade Alliance San Antonio and the Port Authority of San Antonio are both members of NASCO, an acronym for the groupâ€™s formal name, the North Americanâ€™s SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. A Kansas City Star newspaper article posted on the website of the Kansas City SmartPort, another NASCO member, shows the importance of San Antonioâ€™s inland port to the developing NAFTA Super-Highway and NAFTA railroad corridor emerging along Interstate I-35. According to reporter Rick Alm, San Antonio envisions the opening of a Mexican customs office in their inland port, a move that has been pioneered by Kansas City SmartPort:

"Under this areaâ€™s arrangement restablishing a Mexican customs facility in the Kansas City SmartPort], freight would be inspected by Mexican authorities in Kansas City and sealed in containers for movement directly to Mexican destinations with fewer costly border delays. The arrangement would become even more lucrative when Asian markets that shipped through Mexican ports were figured into the mix. â€œWe applaud the efforts of Kansas City and the Mexican government in developing a Mexican customs facility there,â€ said Jorge Canavati, marketing director for Kelly USA [former name for San Antonioâ€™s inland port established on the former site of Kelly Air Force Base]. He said a Mexican customs function for KellyUSA â€œis something that is still far away â€¦ We may be looking at thatâ€ in the future.

A world map on the North American Inland Ports Network (NAIPN) on the NASCO website graphically highlights in yellow the trade routes from China across the Pacific ocean, to Mexico at the ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, entering the U.S. through San Antonio.

A Free Trade Alliance San Antonio 2005 summary of goals and accomplishments documents the direct involvement of the Bush administration into the development of San Antonioâ€™s inland port NAFTA plans. The following were among the bulleted points:

*Organized four marketing trips to Mexico and China to promote Inland Port San Antonio and met with prospects. Met with over 50 prospects/leads during these trips.
*Continued to pursue cross border trucking by advocating a pilot project with at least two major Mexican exporters as potential subjects. Worked with U.S. Department of Transportation, Dept. of Homeland Security and U.S. Trade Representative on this concept.
*Working with Mexican ports to develop new cargo routes through the Ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Candenas.
*San Antonio is on the route of the Trans-Texas Corridor planned to be built along I-35 from Laredo, Tex., on the Mexican Border, north through Dallas, en route to the Oklahoma border.

The development of a China-Mexico trade route reflects a fundamental shift since the passage of NAFTA. At the peak in the mid-1990s, there were some three thousand maquiladoras located in northern Mexico, employing over 1 million Mexicans in low-paying, assembly sweat-shops. Today, even Mexican labor is not cheap enough for the international corporations seeking only to maximize profits. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, that bubble has burst and the maquiladora activity is down over 25 percent from the peak as the international corporations have found even cheaper labor in China.

As the Port of San Antonio evidences, linking NAFTA inland ports with NAFTA super-highways and NAFTA railroads is an important part of the development plan for the emerging global free trade economy. San Antonio officials by working with the communist Chinese to open Mexican ports for NAFTA trade evidence that plan. International capitalists are now determined to exploit cheap Mexican labor, not so much for manufacturing and assembly, but as a means of saving port and transportation costs in the North American market.

The Bush Administration seems on-board with the plan, aiming to increase corporate capital gains in NAFTA markets rather than worrying about the adverse consequences to Mexican low-skilled workers or to the U.S. labor movement that transferring increasing amounts of manufacturing and assembly to China entails. Copyright Â© 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.

Los Angeles, Long
Beach ports unite on
proposal to fight air
pollution

Updated 6/29/2006 12:33 AM ET

LOS ANGELES — The neighboring seaports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach announced Wednesday a
proposal to crack down on the diesel-powered ships,
trucks and trains that are polluting the air over the
USA's trade gateway to Asia.

Under the proposed five-year cleanup plan, the twin
ports would offer $200 million to owners of 16,000
trucks to replace old rigs with cleaner new ones.
Ships would have to burn cleaner fuel, cut speed
within 40 miles of the harbor and plug into dockside
electrical outlets that are being built. Railroads would
be required to use cleaner locomotives.

The city-owned ports, 20 miles south of downtown
Los Angeles, are the nation's largest. Together they
handle 40% of U.S. cargo-container imports and
account for 600,000 local jobs. They're also a health
hazard as Southern California's "largest fixed source
of air pollution," the South Coast Air Quality
Management District says.

Vessels and vehicles idling at docks spew more
smog-forming nitrogen oxides and cancer-causing
diesel particulates than the metropolitan area's 6
million cars, the district says. Residents of nearby
neighborhoods have high rates of respiratory illness
and the region's highest cancer risk, according to the
California Air Resources Board.

The cleanup plan aims to reduce diesel particulates
nearly 50% and nitrogen oxides 30% by 2011. Arley
Baker, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, says
the regulations could be a pattern for other ports.
Houston and Shanghai also are grappling with air
pollution problems, says Geraldine Knatz, the Los
Angeles port's executive director.

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are landlords
for shipping companies that operate cargo terminals.
The cities compete for shippers' business. Their top
port officials were so mistrustful of each other that
until last January they hadn't held a joint meeting
since 1929, says S. David Freeman, president of the
Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission.

The ports have had separate, uncoordinated
pollution-reduction programs, posing a risk that
dirtier ships would choose the port with lower
standards, Freeman says. "United, there ain't no place
for these shippers to go," he says.

Barraged with lawsuits by environmental groups and
neighbors, the ports united on the cleanup so the
courts will let them expand to handle a projected
tripling of trade by 2020, Freeman says. "The port is

Hundreds of shipping containers move in a train at the Port of Los Angeles. A five-year plan proposed by neighboring seaports in California would require railroads to use cleaner locomotives and ships to burn cleaner fuel.
By Reed Saxon, AP
Hundreds of shipping containers move in a train at the Port of Los Angeles. A five-year plan proposed by neighboring seaports in California would require railroads to use cleaner locomotives and ships to burn cleaner fuel.

one of the largest sources of decent-paying jobs
around here, and it can't grow unless we smash the
pollution," he says.

Some shipping companies here complain that the new
regulations will raise operating costs and make them
less competitive with other U.S. and Mexican ports,
Knatz says. "We tell them we have no alternative.
Development will let customers grow their business
and use the revenue to pay for meeting the emissions
standards."

Freeman says consumers of imported goods won't be
socked with higher prices. The "impact on the
delivery price of television sets and tennis shoes is
essentially de minimis," he says.

The plan disclosed Wednesday is a draft that could be
revised after 30 days of public hearings. A final plan
goes to port commissioners in September.

Port of Punta Colonet, Mexico

Mexico's government is preparing to open bidding on the largest infrastructure project in the nation's history, a $4-billion seaport that could transform this farming village into a cargo hub to rival the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

If completed as planned by 2014, the port would be the linchpin of a new shipping route linking the Pacific Ocean to America's heartland. Vessels bearing shipping containers from Asia would offload them here on Mexico's Baja peninsula, about 150 miles south of Tijuana, where they would be whisked over newly constructed rail lines to the United States.

The massive development, which is to be privately funded, is attracting interest from heavyweights such as Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu. The world's second-richest man is part of a consortium planning an "aggressive" run at the project, according to Miguel Favela, general director of Mexican operations for cargo terminal operator MTC Holdings of Oakland.

Favela said MTC had teamed up with Slim's IDEAL infrastructure company and Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico in an effort to nab the 45-year concession.

Mexico's transportation secretariat will release the request for proposal in June and hopes to select a winner by summer 2009, Subsecretary Manuel Rodriguez Arregui said in an interview earlier this month.

Competition promises to be fierce. Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings, a major port developer and operator whose parent company is chaired by billionaire Li Ka-Shing, said it planned to study the bid documents. So will terminal operators SSA Marine of Seattle and Dubai's DP World.

Ditto for railroads Union Pacific Corp. of Omaha and Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway Co. Several companies had previously expressed interest in the deal but backed off after repeated delays in the launch of the bidding.

"All the major players . . . they'll be here," said a confident Rodriguez Arregui, who will oversee the selection process.

The Punta Colonet proposal will be structured as a joint port and rail project, requiring terminal operators, railroads and construction companies to join forces to win the deal. Hutchison and Union Pacific had formed an earlier alliance that dissolved last year. Sources said SSA had partnered with leading Mexican construction firm Empresas ICA. Those companies declined to comment about their arrangement.

Rodriguez Arregui said Mexico would choose the group that could guarantee the most volume, and he estimated the facility would be capable of handling a minimum of 2 million containers annually at start-up.

The prospect of billionaires duking it out over this remote stretch of Baja underscores just how lucrative the movement of goods between Asia and North America has become. About 30 million containers crossed the Pacific last year, a flow that had been increasing by about 10% annually for more than a decade until recently. And, though transpacific trade has slowed because of weakness in the U.S. economy, experts said those figures would continue to grow over time.

With the West Coast's largest port complex, L.A.-Long Beach, constrained by urban development and environmental regulations, shippers are searching for alternatives.

Punta Colonet has emerged as an attractive option. It's close to the United States. It possesses a wide, natural harbor. And it's located in a rural, lightly populated area offering almost unlimited room for expansion.

"In the long run . . . it could get to the size of Long Beach-L.A.," which last year handled 15.7 million containers combined, Favela said. "Without a doubt, this is one of the biggest green-field projects ever to be done" in the industry.

The plan is nothing if not ambitious. Punta Colonet would be the first major seaport built in North America in nearly a century.

The harbor would have to be dredged and protected with breakwaters. The rail links could prove costly and complicated. Hundreds of miles of new track must be laid in Mexico.

But the ultimate route and U.S. crossing points would depend on which railroad snared the deal and how it would link up with existing networks on both sides of the border.

Mexico's transportation secretariat estimates the winning consortium will have to invest at least $4 billion to get the project launched.

Some industry experts are skeptical. Dubbed the "Port of Illusion" by one Baja newspaper, Punta Colonet has been plagued by legal squabbles and other setbacks since it was first proposed in 2004. While Mexico dithered, competitors forged ahead.

Panama is in the midst of a $5.3-billion expansion of its landmark canal. Canada, whose coast is the shortest sailing distance from Asia, is looking to capitalize on that advantage with $3 billion in port and rail improvements to speed cargo to the United States.

Ports along the West, East and Gulf coasts of the U.S. have begun their own upgrades. So has Mexico's own Puerto Lazaro Cardenas on the Pacific Coast of the state of Michoacan.

"The logic for [Punta Colonet] is not as strong now," said Asaf Ashar, research professor with the National Ports and Waterways Institute in Washington. But others insist there will be plenty of boxes to go around. The Punta Colonet project could be especially appealing to U.S. railroad interests, which don't want to lose business to Canada or Panama.

Union Pacific owns a 25% stake in the Mexican railroad firm Ferromex, which is part of Grupo Mexico. And it controls the U.S. side of the tracks at half a dozen key border crossings from Calexico, Calif., to Brownsville, Texas, making it an obvious contender.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond said the company was waiting to see the Mexican government's request for proposal. She wouldn't comment on whether the railroad was contemplating renewing its partnership with Hutchison or joining a new consortium to bid on Punta Colonet.

Some industry veterans say Mexico's timetable may be overly aggressive and that its insistence on awarding the contract as a package deal rather than divvying it up into separate infrastructure, port operation and railroad pieces will make a complex project even more unwieldy.

Mexico has a spotty track record when it comes to executing big public-works projects on time, on budget and with top-flight quality. Much is riding on the outcome.

"What's at stake here is much more than the project itself," Rodriguez Arregui said. "It's our capacity to show the world that we can do big things."

Not everyone is likely to share his enthusiasm.

A new Baja port could dilute the power of Southern California's unionized longshoremen, whose muscle depends in part on shippers having few options on the West Coast. Surfers will lose a prized spot for catching waves near Punta Colonet. Environmentalists are already worried about potential destruction of some of the area's unique plants and sea creatures.

Mexico plans huge Baja port for U.S. trade
Calderon will open bidding for infrastructure contracts Thursday. The project is likely to transform the village of Punta Colonet.

By Marla Dickerson
August 28, 2008

Mexico's government is setting sail with the largest infrastructure project in the nation's history, a $4-billion seaport that it hopes will one day rival those of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

President Felipe Calderon is scheduled to travel to northern Baja California today to open bidding on a development that his administration hopes will catapult Mexico into a major player in North American logistics.

Plans call for the construction of a massive port in the tiny coastal village of Punta Colonet, about 150 miles south of Tijuana, along with new rail lines to whisk Asian-made goods north to the United States. Mexico's aim is to snatch some Pacific cargo traffic from Southern California's ports, whose growth is constrained by urban development and environmental concerns.

Punta Colonet is expected to have a capacity of 2 million shipping containers annually when it opens in 2014, Mexico's transportation secretariat told The Times But officials envision it ultimately handling five times that amount. Last year, the ports of L.A. and Long Beach handled 15.7 million containers combined.

The massive development is to be privately funded, with the first phase estimated to cost between $4 billion and $5 billion. The government is expected to award the 45-year concession in 2009.

A number of major players are expected to vie for the project, including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, the world's second-richest man. Slim's infrastructure company, known as Ideal, has teamed with Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico and New Jersey-based terminal operator Ports America Group to make a run at the deal.

"We've spent a lot of years working on this," said Miguel Favela, head of Mexican operations for Ports America. "It's going to make Mexico _ much more competitive."

About 30 million shipping containers crossed the Pacific Ocean last year, a flow that increased about 10% annually in the last decade. A weak U.S. economy has slowed the trade, but experts predict it will rebound.

With shippers increasingly worried about congestion at L.A.-Long Beach, Punta Colonet has emerged as an attractive alternative. It's close to the United States. It possesses a wide, natural harbor. And it’s in a lightly populated area offering almost unlimited room for expansion.

When Calderon visits the dusty hamlet of about 2,500 people today, he is expected to talk about the big changes in store. The village will need extensive upgrades to its roads, housing, electrical grid and water supply. State and local officials are planning for a city of about 200,000 to spring up around the port.

The changes envisioned are alarming environmentalists, who worry about the potential destruction of the area's plants and wildlife. But the farmers who scratch out a living there are thrilled at the prospect of a big payday.

"What we need is employment for our kids," said Jesus Lara, representative of several peasant landowner groups that are eager to sell. "Everyone is excited. Having the president come your town is like winning the Lotto."

But whether Punta Colonet turns out to be lucrative for Mexico won't be known for years. Competitors up and down the Pacific coast are in the midst of major upgrades. Panama has begun a $5.3-billion expansion of its landmark canal. Canada’s Prince Rupert port in British Colombia began speeding containers to the American heartland by rail last year and is planning a major expansion.

Little of the cargo bound for Punta Colonet will stay in Mexico, making the port vulnerable to the whims of shippers, who can choose other routes to the United States.

"Nothing is guaranteed," said Asaf Ashar, research professor with the National Ports and Waterways Institute in Washington. "It's a big risk."

Building a seaport from scratch would be difficult enough. But the overland transportation piece is likely to make or break Punta Colonet. The deal is being structured as a joint port-and-rail project, requiring terminal operators, railroads and construction companies to team up in consortia to win the bid. The railroad’s ultimate route and U.S. crossing points will depend on which railway operator is chosen and how it manages to link up with existing rail networks on both sides of the border.

Union Pacific Corp. of Omaha and Forth Worth-based BNSF Railway Co. control the U.S. side of the tracks at most of the key U.S.-Mexico border crossings. Striking a deal with one of those companies to get the cargo to the American side will be crucial, said Paul Bingham, managing director of the global trade and transportation practice for Global Insight, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm.

"They have the ability to essentially choke off that port," Bingham said.

BNSF spokesman Patrick Hiatte said Wednesday that the company was "very interested" in the Punta Colonet project. He declined to say with whom the firm might collaborate to make a bid.

Union Pacific could not be reached for comment. The company earlier had teamed with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings to make a run at the project, but that alliance dissolved last year.

marla.dickerson@latimes.com

Lloyd's List

Mexico's $5bn Colonet project launched

Rainbow Nelson - Friday 29 August 2008

MEXICAN president, Felipe Calderon, has given his official blessing to one of the most eagerly-awaited intermodal projects in Latin America, Punta Colonet.

The Mexican government has compared the $5bn port and rail project to the widening of the Panama Canal, placing it at the heart of its infrastructure program for the next five years.

Mr Calderon, speaking at the official launch of the ambitious scheme, said it was “the largest infrastructure project” of his administration “for now” and that it was without doubt the “most important port project in Mexico for many years”.

“To give you an idea of the magnitude of the project only the land area of the port is four times bigger than the Port of Los Angeles and represents more than five times he Port of Long Beach in California,” he said.

Initial designs of the project, were released by Luis Tellez, secretary for communications and transport.

The Punta Colonet Multimodal Project will house a single container terminal with 32 berthing positions and a land area of 700 hectares. All told the complex boasts 5,300 hectares including 2,600 hectares of coastline. As well as plans for a port and rail link there are proposals to build an air cargo facility at a cost of $226m.

The port, to be built at an estimated cost of $1.1bn, will be connected to the US hinterland by one or two rail lines that will stretch more than 150 km to Mexicali, Yuma, Nogales or El Paso to link up to the US rail network. The rail element of construction is valued at around $2bn. Public utilities including a power plant, roads and water treatment facilities will all need to be constructed taking the total cost to almost $5bn.

Bid documents will be released next week outlining the process in which the port and the rail link will be built and operated by the private sector.

A new port authority will be established to oversee activity when it has been constructed. It is estimated that it will generate up to $500m a year for the Baja California region.

All the major port operators, including Hutchison Port Holdings, SSA Marine, Ports America Group, DP World, APM Terminals, PSA Corp, Cosco Group and the largest rail operators in Mexico, Ferromex and Kansas City Southern, have been working on plans to turn the facility into an alternative gateway to ports on the US west coast.

Mr Tellez said: “Once it is in operation the port will move 6m containers a year, double that moved in the entire port system today.”

The first phase of construction is scheduled for completion within three years of the concession being awarded sometime in 2009. When fully developed, volumes will be five times that of Mexico’s largest container port Manzanillo and ten times that of Veracruz, the largest port on the Gulf Coast.

Access to the US market holds considerable appeal to international operators such as DP World, PSA Corp and Hutchison Port Holdings, which to date have been reluctant or unable to establish US operations due to the high cost of US labour or restrictions imposed in Washington on foreign ownership of US terminals.

Article from Lloyd's List:

www.lloydslist.com/art/20017566232

Published: 29/08/2008 GMT

© 2010 Informa plc. All rights Reserved. Lloyd's is the registered trademark of the Society incorporated by the Lloyd's Act 1871 by the name of Lloyd's

West Coast ports fearing growing competition

Les Blumenthal
WASHINGTON – Struggling to ride out the recession, West Coast ports face new competition as ports in Canada and Mexico, an expanded Panama Canal and even the Suez Canal could steal away some of the cross-Pacific shipping they’ve relied on.

More than 70 percent of Asian goods imported into the U.S. – everything from toys to electronics to autos – pass through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland.

The directors of the ports, in a first-ever joint visit, were on Capitol Hill last week seeking billions of dollars and a federal commitment to improve rail corridors necessary to speed the goods east.

“We need a well-thought-out, strategic freight policy,” said Tim Farrell, executive director of the Port of Tacoma. “We need to focus on corridors from Shanghai to Chicago or Tokyo to Houston. We are just getting started, but the West Coast ports generate more jobs than the Big Three automakers.”

The looming clash over Asian shipping routes is part geography lesson, part the dreams of naval architects as they design ultra-large cargo ships, and part a short course in shipping economics – all of it overlaid with concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada is already developing a national shipping strategy utilizing the Port of Vancouver and a new port at Prince Rupert, 900 miles north of Vancouver. Prince Rupert is roughly a day closer to Shanghai by freighter, and the trains from there to Chicago and other Midwest cities encounter fewer bottlenecks than eastbound trains from the U.S. West Coast.

Mexico announced plans to build a mega-port at Punta Colonet on the Baja Peninsula and has expressed interest in Southwest markets. The existing Mexican ports handle cargo mostly for domestic consumption. However, rail times from the Mexican ports to Houston would be shorter than those from U.S. West Coast ports.

Come 2014, a new set of locks in the Panama Canal will be completed, capable of handling container ships nearly double the size of those now using the canal. The large container ships could bypass West Coast ports entirely and head directly to the East Coast.

However, the biggest drawback to using the Panama Canal might be the fees it charges. Even now, those can range up to $250,000 for a large car carrier. Some shippers sail around Cape Horn at the tip of South America rather than pay.

Goods from countries west of Singapore, such as India and Bangladesh, often come through the Suez Canal on their way to the U.S. East Coast. Though the canal doesn’t have locks, tolls and fees can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“In the very long term, all of these gateways will be needed,” Bingham said. The key for West Coast ports will be improved rail service to the East, he said. “They have to be very proactive.”

At the heart of the congressional lobbying campaign by port directors was the reauthorization of the five-year Surface Transportation Act, which includes highways, roads, mass transit and the movement of freight. The current bill expires later this year.

The ports want the bill to include a greater emphasis on the freight rail corridors from the West Coast to eastern markets.

The funding would help augment improvements railroads are making already, including new track, upgraded signals and new or expanded yards.

Les Blumenthal: 202-383-0008 lblumenthal@mcclatchydc.com

1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2010 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2009/06/28/v-lite/793988/west-coast-ports-fearing-growing.html#ixzz0hEmuPoYC

CANAMEX Corridor Opens New Options for Trade with Asia
Published: May 24, 2006 in Knowledge@W.P. Carey

The topic of international trade these days mostly conjures thoughts of expanding Asian markets and Middle Eastern oil, but one route to prosperity in the global marketplace runs right through Arizona: It is the Canada-American-Mexico Corridor.

The CANAMEX Corridor of Innovation initiative has been working in recent years to plan improvements to public and private shipping, rail, highway and inspection facilities through a multistate cooperative of Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho. Now, most truck and freight train traffic in Arizona goes east and west. CANAMEX (aka "Smart Corridor") has the potential to free up north-south trade in North America and more efficiently reach out to the Far East.

CANAMEX can expand trade to more markets by easing bottlenecks, according to experts at Arizona State University and the W. P. Carey School of Business. Stepped-up trade with China, Japan and other Asian nations has made Los Angeles-area ports so busy that CANAMEX planners are looking south for easier access to Pacific Ocean steamship lines.

One route runs through Guaymas, Mexico, which is on the Gulf of California, about 200 miles south of the Arizona-Mexico border city of Nogales. A recent Arizona Department of Transportation report, "Logistics Capacity Study of the Guaymas-Tucson Corridor," concluded that the Port of Guaymas, "with some minor improvements, such as the acquisition of additional container-moving equipment, is ready to start a container service comparable to other Mexican regional ports, such as the Port of Mazatlan [much farther to the south on Mexico's Gulf of California coast] and Ensenada [on the Baja peninsula]."

CANAMEX appeal growing

"The problems caused by the congestion of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have caused companies to look for other alternatives such as the corridor between Guaymas and Tucson," says J. Rene Villalobos, associate professor of industrial engineering at ASU's Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and a co-author of the Guaymas-Tucson corridor study. Although the CANAMEX Corridor may not be a household name among the general public, Villalobos says people in international business are familiar with the corridor, a concept started in 1995.

Despite the surge in fuel and transport prices, trade with Asian partners still makes sense, Villalobos says: "The increase in transportation prices certainly makes places that are close by more attractive for trade. However, the transportation costs with the Far East countries are still very competitive because of the prices offered by the steamship companies. It depends on the commodity."

Improvements to border-crossing facilities in Nogales and to the infrastructure of Guaymas are vital, according to Arnold Maltz, associate professor of supply chain management at the W. P. Carey School of Business and a co-author of "Logistics Capacity Study of the Guaymas-Tucson Corridor." That study says the main limitation of Guaymas' port capacity is the lack of quay cranes, which are land-based cranes that lift cargo to and from ships.

"This precludes the Port of Guaymas from being able to offer efficient turnaround services to modern container ships that are not geared with their own cranes," the study states. "In order to provide this service we believe that at least two quay cranes are needed, since just one quay crane would not provide enough capacity to make the loading and unloading of containers from the vessels more expedient."

The exact capacity and characteristics of the quay cranes and related issues, the authors state, are a suitable subject for a future study. The Mexican government is providing funds for follow-up studies, Villalobos says. Although Guaymas has adequate rail and highway connections through Mexico to Arizona, the study says the Port of Guaymas lacks a regularly scheduled container service, which railroads need to utilize the corridor's potential.

"While the analysis of the requirements to attract a major shipping line to the port was beyond the scope of this study, we believe that the geographical position of Guaymas may be an issue to attract, in the short term, a company to provide direct service to Asia," the authors wrote. "We believe that the railroad companies are indispensable for the creation of an economically feasible container corridor between the Port of Guaymas and Arizona. Thus, these companies must be encouraged to take an active role in the activation of a container service in the Corridor."

New ports eyed for China trade

"It has always been my understanding that the issues at Guaymas are facilities," says Tracy Clark, an economist with the Bank One Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School. "They have been working on those issues. L.A. is close to maxed out. If there is an alternate port with good land transport connections, it will be used ... There [is] not enough capacity on the West Coast as a result of the ramp-up of the China economy."

The study says improvements also will be needed for the Nogales inspection compound, known as the Mariposa Port of Entry, which every commercial motor vehicle entering the United States at Nogales must go through. Upgrades also will be needed for railroad inspection procedures on the U.S. side of the border. The study says the maximum number of trucks that can be processed daily at Mariposa POE under current operation conditions is around 1,500.

"Considering a current demand of up to 1,300 per day: It can only serve 200 trucks extra per day" before waiting times would be significantly increased, the study states. "Due to inspection time requirements and railroad operations in Nogales, currently only up to eight trains per day can cross the border, which means only one additional northbound train per day can send through the corridor."

The study found no significant point of congestion along Mexico's Federal Highway 15, which links Guaymas and Nogales, but a segment of Interstate 19 that connects with Interstate 10 in Tucson is at capacity or near capacity during rush times.

CANAMEX Corridor initiatives might warrant some cautious optimism for trade within North America and an easing of the U.S.-Mexico immigration issue, although trade with Asia is expected to continue to accelerate despite higher petroleum prices.

"CANAMEX is a route to expanding markets, not shifting trade between areas," Clark cautions. "Asian trade will continue to expand because of rising standards of living in China and continued low cost. Asian trade in high-value, low weight/volume items like computer chips goes by air, and has to go to Asia because that is where the assembly plants are located. Asian trade in low-value, high-weight/volume stuff [the things made out of the computer chips] goes by boat or not at all. The biggest barrier to expanding trade with Asia is the lack of port capacity, not fuel prices."

Clark says Mexican employment was hit hard as China became the low-cost producer. "I suppose that energy prices or wages in China might rise enough to help Mexico regain some of that lost business. However at current energy prices and wages China is still cheaper," he says.

A 'borderless economy'?

Many Mexican workers who lost jobs at maquiladoras -- manufacturing plants near the U.S. border which assemble finished goods out of U.S.-supplied parts and resources -- are among the millions now working low-wage jobs in the United States. Mexican-government incentives for the maquiladora program, initiated by the then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) around 1968, have expired, prompting many Mexican workers to cross into the U.S. One of the stated goals of the CANAMEX Smart Corridor organization is "facilitating provision of professional services in the region through common registration and licensing, which contribute to the creation of a 'borderless economy.'"

How can the CANAMEX goal of a "borderless economy" be squared with the controversy over illegal immigration?

"You can't have it both ways," Maltz says. "But what CANAMEX is about is encouraging development in Mexico, which will make the opportunities greater down there and thus decrease the attraction of illegal crossing. ... This is on the table for many companies right now. Mexico claims to have regained some business, and Motorola has made Nogales a major manufacturing center."

"There is some tension there," Clark says of the immigration issue and CANAMEX goals, "but just as with the fear that bombs will be imported through a port facility, inspection is the answer. We will never have borderless [trade] in the same sense we do between states. I don't think illegal immigration will prevent either trade or somewhat freer movement of goods, although it may delay things just as 9/11 fears set things back at the Canada-U.S. border."

And, although most of the CANAMEX emphasis has been southward, there are issues involving our neighbors to the north.

"There are transportation challenges on the Canadian side," says Dawn McLaren, research economist with the W. P. Carey School of Business. "I've heard from some shippers that it is better to use the old quota system than NAFTA because of the bureaucracy involved."

McLaren describes the CANAMEX Corridor as a "fairly new" concept. "The difficulty is that Mexico borders the southwest United States, and the industrial areas of Canada are in the east [Ontario]. As Alberta comes onto the map with the oil sands, however, that could change quite a bit."

Although second only to the Saudi Arabian reserves, Alberta's oil sands, formerly known as tar sands, are thick and require special extraction and refining methods. Still, oil sand has come to represent about half of Canada's total crude oil output. "As the technology to extract oil from the sands is developed, it becomes more important," McLaren says.

And, although Canada and Mexico export more oil than they use, she notes, "Neither Mexico's nor Canada's oil is of the grade found in the Middle East." Regardless of such complications, the development of the CANAMEX Corridor will aid the flow of oil and other resources and products, which could unify and strengthen the North American economy, including its balance of trade with Asia.

"In my opinion, the existence of an efficient CANAMEX Corridor would make the production and acquisition of some products from Mexico more attractive than getting those products from China," Villalobos says. "Also, very often products produced in Mexico are either based on U.S. raw materials or are finished in the U.S. For every dollar that Mexico imports, around 55 cents are from the USA; for every dollar that China imports, about 8 cents come from the USA. Thus, if the [logistical] efficiency of the Corridor increases, it should, in the mid to long term, have a positive impact [maybe minor] on reducing the U.S. trade deficit."

Among the CANAMEX goals:

* About $4 billion worth of highway improvements are planned and programmed, including the Hoover Dam bypass, which is under way. Smart Process Partnerships in which all five CANAMEX states -- Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Montana -- create efficiency and savings for government, businesses and individuals.
* Telecommunications access for rural areas where broadband is lacking.
* A shared Information Technology System (ITS) that could be used by everyone from freight shippers to tourists.
* Accelerating access to e-government services for business registrations and license renewals.
* An interoperable Digital Signature program for CANAMEX states to coordinate a single set of standards for secure electronic commercial transactions.

2010-01-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Thwarting Mojave train robbers:
It's a scene out of the Wild West

Train robbers are stealing rolling cargo in the Mojave. But today's prize may be TVs or Nikes

By Phil Garlington of The Orange County Register (KRT)

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. — National Park Ranger Tim Duncan has his hands full dealing with speeders, cactus poachers and off-roaders as the lone federal lawman for this arid, 1.4 million acres of protected high desert.

And the most serious criminal activity Duncan faces?

Train robbers.

The Union Pacific railroad line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas runs straight through the desolate heart of the eastern Mojave. Dead center in the national preserve is The Hill, an 18-mile grade, where 11/2-mile-long eastbound freight trains laden with double stacks of containers slow to a crawl.

"It's been bad," says the bearded, jovial Duncan. "Sometimes both sides of the track have been littered with boxes of merchandise the thieves have thrown off the train. This has been one of their favorite spots."

It's night, and Duncan is hunkered under a concrete railroad bridge with Union Pacific special agent David Sachs, who is dressed Ninja-fashion entirely in black, including Kevlar vest and boonie hat. Moonlight casts spectral shadows across sage, tamarisk and gray desert floor. Two other pairs of railroad police, and a German shepherd, are concealed along the tracks.

Half a mile away, another special agent, Darrell Brown, an infared night scope slung around his neck, has taken position atop a railroad signal mast. He's wearing camouflage pants and a black T-shirt with POLICE stenciled on it in white letters.

Over Brown's radio, the not-quite-human voice of an automated sensor reports that the coming freight's brakes are operational:

"Two-forty-three. No defects."

Suddenly, there's the flash of the train's headlamp and the squealing and wheezing of steel wheels as the 120-car freight starts up the grade.

The thieves — if there are any — will be scrunched down in "tubs" between the containers and the sides of the freight cars, invisible to anybody at ground level. But from his vantage point atop the signal mast, Brown will be able to peer directly into the tubs as the train rumbles by beneath him.

"They are difficult to see," says Brown, a muscular veteran of two decades with the railroad. "The train crews seldom spot them, unless they're alerted by a crew on a train going the other direction."

As the six diesels begin the laborious climb uphill, the container train slows to 8 mph.

Often, Brown says, robbers meet the train at Yermo, five miles east of Barstow. During the day, they hole up in abandoned buildings. As night falls, they flit across the railroad yard and hop aboard eastbound double stackers carrying goods from the Pacific Rim. They travel light. Burglar tools and a quart of water. They wear several layers of clothing to cushion the spine-jarring bumping of the freight cars.

Using lengths of pipe, bolt cutters or hacksaws, they cut the seals on the containers and quickly rummage through boxes, looking for electronics, athletic shoes or expensive clothing that can be turned over for quick money.

"We've tried different kinds of locks, but they always figure out how to gain entrance," Brown says.

It's so hit-and-miss, Brown says, thieves sometimes miss valuable electronics because they can't identify the products.

"The people hired by the gang bosses in Los Angeles to rob the trains are very low-level," Brown says. "They're like the drug cartel mules, guys with nothing to lose. They're given a few hundred dollars, and the gangs look on them as being expendable."

The thieves hop off trains and drag the loot into the desert, sometimes for half a mile, cover it with brush, and wait for a truck.

In the past month, thieves have been hitting the trains hard. One double stacker arrived in Las Vegas recently with 24 containers broached.

"We have to keep hammering 'em, or the loss of merchandise would be staggering," says Union Pacific special agent Paul Kunze, whose usual beat is the stretch of track between Yermo and Las Vegas.

"It used to be they'd steal cigarettes, tires and booze," Kunze says, "and the pros could smell the merchandise in the boxcars."

Now it's electronics and expensive clothing, although thieves also have taken outboard motors and even washing machines.

The jackpot for a container burglar, however, is finding a consignment of Nike Air Jordans, Kunze says.

A 31-year veteran of the railroad police, Kunze, at 56, is fit and athletic, and takes pride in being able to pursue fleeing suspects over miles of desert. Last month, during the pursuit of a train robber flushed from a double stacker, Kunze chased the 20-year-old suspect four miles through deep sand, gullies and thorn brush, crossing Interstate 15 twice, until a California Highway Patrol helicopter helped make the arrest. He says that afterward he had to pull the thorns out of his leg with a pair of pliers.

"In the last year we've arrested about 50 train robbers," Kunze says.

Most, however, escape into the desert.

"There's no water out there, and I don't know how they survive," Duncan says. "But they're very tough."

Even when captured, few of the thieves have been prosecuted, Brown says.

"They're just deported. It's impossible to get them to inform on the higher-ups. They know it'd be a death sentence for them."

Often, the agents simply "light up" a train from their perches atop the signal masts by shining lights into the tubs, that way preventing the thieves from cracking into the boxes. "It denies them a payday," Kunze says. "They took a long, uncomfortable, thirsty ride into the desert for nothing."

Another tactic has been to ambush the trucks. Railroad police have recovered a couple of rental vans that got stuck in the sand when they were driven out to load stolen merchandise, Kunze says.

Railroad policing is relatively new to the Mojave. In 1994, what had been the Mojave National Scenic Area, administered by the Bureau of Land Management, became the Mojave National Preserve, run by the National Park Service.

Funding in the first year was exactly $1, because of a squabble in Washington about the amount of off-road use. The park staff got laid off, and for a year no rangers patrolled the back country.

"During that year, the stretch of track between Kelso and Nipton was littered with cartons and all sorts of merchandise the robbers couldn't fit into their vans," Duncan says.

"All of this clothing and jewelry started turning up along the track," says Linda Darryl, manager of the Nipton Store. "Everybody around here was wearing T-shirts and bracelets. We thought it was strange that this stuff was falling out of locked containers."

Rural mail carrier Mike Smith has retrieved and returned truckloads of merchandise scattered by the thieves. One park ranger found (and returned) thousands of cartons of cigarettes.

While Brown and the Union Pacific police mainly are concerned about protecting shipments, Duncan's primary concern is the safety of park visitors.

"The park service isn't happy about the idea of criminals out on the road trying to hitch a ride," Duncan says. "That's not considered part of the National Park experience."

When Brown or Kunze spot thieves in the tubs, they radio the train's engineer to stop at a point where agents are concealed, and the chase begins. "We've had some success using dogs," says Brown, who handles one called Bet.

This night, Max and Bet are still sluggish after the four-hour ride from Vegas. "Achtung!" shouts Max's handler, Steve Stevenson (all commands to the dogs are given in German). "You need to get them fired up." For practice, Max, on command, attacks a padded sleeve worn by a visitor.

Kunze, who now also has clambered up on a signal mast, worries about his Navy Seal wristwatch, which gives off a faint greenish glow, and about the luminous sights on his 9mm pistol. "Can they see that? I might have to go back to a Timex."

"I really don't have animosity for most of these guys," Kunze says of the train robbers. "A few of them are hardened felons. Most of them are just poor Mexicans. When I catch them they say, "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to feed my family." But I want to catch them. With me, it's pride. I don't want them to outrun me."

The former Nebraska football player always carries a bottle of water during these foot races. And a radio. He has called away section crews from their work repairing track to join the chase. When one suspect saw himself surrounded by three Navajo gandy dancers armed with pick handles, he surrendered, and then fainted, Kunzel says.

Once, during a pursuit, Kunze commandeered a squad of Marine Corps ultra-marathoners, who happened to be running alongside the tracks, to help make a collar.

Kunze also says he has to change strategy as thieves change tactics.

"We've been tracking them to where they stash the loot. Now they're starting to brush out their footprints.

"They use one kind of signal marker, we catch on to it, and they start using something else. The trucks used to pick up the loot right away. Now they may bury it and pick it up weeks later.

"It's cowboys and Indians out here."

Visit the Register on the World Wide Web at http://www.ocregister.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

TUCK"n" PATTI

2009-09-24T10:20:00.001-07:00

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Getting Through It - music & words to help you through your grief

the Last Day Prophet

2009-07-22T23:48:00.001-07:00

A powerful shortwave transmitter beamed the Last Day Prophet's gruff
voice into the heavens where it slammed into a layer of electrically
charged gas and bounced back to earth.

"When I speak, he thundered, it's the word of God!"
Soaked in shortwave static, his voice quieted. I've told this over
and over again that God gave me , in the spiritual realm, authority
over this church- the true church- in all these Southern states. And
my influence reaches to the far corners of the world. He was pleading
now, almost crying.

We're getting very close to the final countdown, Call 1-803-538-4202,
and you'll be on the air with the Last Day Prophet of God.

Everyday, R.G. Stair, 60, can be heard on more than a dozen shortwave
and AM radio stations from Sacramento, California to Conway.

During one recent broadcast, he said listeners sent him nearly $1
million last year to proclaim his warnings of the coming apocalypse.
And he said he's increasing his presence on the airwaves. Today I
wrote three checks for 31,000 dollars signing up radio stations, he
told his listeners.

But not too long ago, Stair hoped to have his own shortwave radio
station.

From a ship anchored off the coast of Belize, he planned to broadcast
his messages of doom across the world.

But those hopes were dashed in January.

In January, while the ship was being prepared at a local yard,
federal agents stormed the vessel, claiming transmitters aboard were
broadcasting illegal test tones.

The Federal Communications Commission called his vessel a pirate
radio ship. Stair and his controversial radio expert, Al Wiener,
called the government's action a crime- the work of the devil-
sometimes mentioning in the same breath last year's violent bungled
raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

The story of the seizure sheds light on two very different
subcultures: One is the world of shortwave broadcasting, where
stations broadcast programs across the globe and unlicenced pirates
try to hijack the airwaves.

The other is the doomsday movement, which some observers believe will
grow dramatically as the year 2000 draws nearer- and possibly trigger
potentially dangerous police actions against nontraditional religious
groups and Christian extremists.

The Pirate

On any given night, pirates are on the air. Mostly kids, they
broadcast music, skits and their own shows, usually on shortwave
frequencies. They are called pirates because they don't own FCC
licenses. Some are more energetic than others. One pirate group that
calls itself 'Radio Airplane' reportedly has a transmitter on the
back of a small aircraft.

It's sort of a game to see if they get caught, said Glenn Hauser, a
columnist for Monitoring Times', a radio magazine popular with
shortwave enthusiasts.

Radio piracy isn't always fun and games though. In Roanoke, VA, a man
posing as an air traffic controller broadcast fake instructions to
pilots for several weeks before the FCC nabbed him. But the nation's
most famous radio pirate is Al Wiener. As a teenager, Wiener aired
music on AM and FM stations from his basement. He had no license, and
the FCC eventually arrested him. He was sentenced to one year
probation.

Wiener, a lanky man with long brown hair, eventually moved to Maine,
opened a natural food store, and bought a legitimate AM station. But,
like many small AM stations, he was not allowed to broadcast at
night. Wiener went on the air after dark anyway, usually once a
month. He did so for three years before the FCC shut him down again.

But Wiener's real claim to fame was his pirate radio ship, the Sarah.
In 1987, he installed radio transmitters aboard a trawler, moved the
ship four miles off the coast of New York- outside U.S. territorial
waters- and broadcast alternative rock programs.

Once again, the FCC moved in. Agents boarded the ship, seized radio
equipment, and arrested Wiener on charges of obstructing government
function, charges they later dropped. We want to give him a chance,
explained FCC official.

Al is a folk hero to a lot of people who want to open up the
airwaves, said Anita Louise McCormick, author of Shortwave Radio
Listening for Beginners.

There's no question the FCC hates my guts, Wiener, 41, said recently.
Without the FCC, there would be anarchy on the airwaves, so I think
they have an important role. I'm not an anarchist. I love my country.
But I think the FCC attacks things they shouldn't.

About 18 months ago Wiener received a call from a friend, Scott
Becken, who operated satellite network. Becker said he had spoken
with a radio preacher, R. G. Stair, about financing another radio
ship.

"I said, Oh no, not another one" I said I wouldn't be involved this
time unless it was all on the up and up.

The Prophet

During his programs, Stair often reminds listeners he was born in
Bethlehem- Bethlehem, PA.

Since he was a teenager, Stair has traveled the country, making the
rounds on the evangelist circuits, doing radio shows.

In the late 1970's, he drove past the Carolina Motel on S.C. Highway
15, four miles north of Walterboro. It was a modest motel, a single
story row of rooms, the kind that became obsolete when the
interstates were built. In 1978, he paid $45,000 for it.

Stair attracted a small band of followers who moved into the motel
and several mobile homes behind it. He also bought a nearby farm. He
called his group the "Overcomer Ministry'

He hoped to live a simple life there, like the Mennonites or the
Amish. No drinking, swearing, smoking or television. No buying on
credit and no doctors. They would live off the land. Women would wear
hair long, men would keep it short. Women would wear dresses, men
pants.

In 1987 and 1988, not long after Wiener makes the fronts pages with
his pirate radio exploits, Stair also began to attract national
attention.

He made dramatic predictions: By the end of 1988, the U.S. economy
would collapse and the country would be destroyed in a limited
nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In his broadcasts, he announced he
was creating, 'cities of refuge', small farms throughout the South
where believers might weather the catastrophe.

The message hit home with some, and a handful of listeners across the
country sold many of their possessions and moved to the motel and
farm.

Among them were David Foltz and his wife. The one thing that struck
me was that there were no big cars. No one was living an outlandish
lifestyle, said Foltz, who lived in Stair's community for two years
before moving to a home nearby. He still attends services.

If you had gone to (Jim and Tammy Bakkers) PTL at this time, the dog
houses would have been air conditioned, but with Brother Stair, all
the money that was coming in was going into radio ministry.

As the contributions poured in, Stair was able to buy more radio
time. By mid-1988 he was on nearly 100 stations.

That year, Stair's predictions and allegations that his group was a
cult drew hordes of reporters and television people to the small
motel. Foltz said the cult label was unfair.

It hurts the public that reads it, because it creates a stereotype.
Just because an organization does something different, it doesn't
mean it's a cult. I wasn't brainwashed into their beliefs. I came
down there on my free will.

The media scrutiny intensified in July 1988 when a couple from
Pennsylvania left Stair's group after the woman's baby was born dead.
Stair had discouraged her from going to a doctor, even though she had
trouble delivering her first child. The Colleton County coroner said
the baby probably would have lived had the woman gone to the hospital.

William Alnor, an evangelist and free-lance writer, covered the story
for a Pennsylvania newspaper.

He's always proclaiming the idea of doom, and this serves as a
catalyst. They were drawn to him by fear, said Alnor, author
of 'Soothsayers of the Second Advent'.

There are a number of groups out there like this, and they're popping
up more and more because of the year 2000. In the year 1000, people
were so worried they were living in caves.

But Foltz said it wasn't fear of Stair or the end of the world that
attracked followers. It's really about what's happening with the
country. You look around and see what's going on, and it makes you
wonder if maybe the Amish have the right idea.

After Stairs predictions failed to come true, he began to appear on
fewer radio stations. For the most part, he stopped talking to
reporters. In his broadcasts, he calls them perverted. (He refused
repeated requests to be interviewed for this story.) He still
preaches that the world will end, but instead of setting dates, he
simply says the jig is up soon.

And, he never gave up his goal of spreading this message across the
world.

The Plan

The pieces fell together quickly. Within a few months, Stair, Wiener,
Becker, Wiener's friend in the satellite business, had a 140-foot-
long ship called 'The Fury' and four transmitters from Boston to
Halsey and Cannon Boat yard on the Wando River.

Becker, who also run the business side of the ship, renting three
transmitters to anyone who wanted air time. Stair would have
exclusive use of one shortwave transmitter. They would move the ship
to Belize or another Caribbean country. Wiener was in charge of
building the radio station. Stair's followers chipped and sanded
paint and did other work on the ship itself.

Wiener said the ocean would act like a huge reflector dish,
increasing the power of the shortwave transmitters. Shortwave radio
transmitters are beamed 150 miles from the transmitter. Wiener said
Stair's broadcast from the ship would be heard throughout North
American and possible in large areas of South America and Europe,
where shortwave radio stations are more popular.

Honestly, I saw the hand of God work on that ship, Wiener said. But
in less than a year we were able to throw together the people,
equipment, and the boat, which was incredible.

Becker and Wiener estimate that Stair pumped $250,000 to $300,000
into the ship. Stair told 'Monitoring Times' that he spent $125,000
on the transmitter installation.

Wiener enjoyed working with Stair's group. The best time we had was
at supper, he said. They were people who seemed at peace with
themselves. We could be talking about generators and bilge pumps one
minute and the glory of God in another breath.

Becker was less enthusiastic. The only way I can describe this group
is bizzare.

He said he saw members looking for scraps of food in the trash bin
behind a grocery store. He scares people to come and live with them.
It gives me the creeps. The women dress in long Quaker or Amish
dresses. They walk around like zombies. He's a David Koresh waiting
to happen.

The Bust

It was late December when Johnny Lightning came on the air. One of
the FCC's monitoring stations picked up the transmission. 'Johnny
Lightning was the announcer. He was playing music and there was some
chatter said Lawrence Clance, the FCC assistant bureau chief for law.
Johnny Lightning was on a frequency normally reserved for government
communications, one that's often used by pirates.

We knew right away we had a pirate radio station, Clance said. The
monitoring stations traced the transmission to South Carolina.

In January, FCC agents were dispatched to Charleston. For two weeks
they drove around the area in cars packed with equipment that track
down radio broadcasts.

At 12:15 a.m. on Jan 14, FCC engineers heard something. It wasn't
Johnny Lightning. It sounded more like test tones. Their direction-
finding gear guided them to a dirt road leading to the Halsey &
Cannon Boat Yard- and the Fury. They seemed to be tuning it, said
Richard Breen, an FCC engineer who tracked the transmission.

Breen and the other FCC engineers didn't board ship that night.
Instead, after discussing their findings with their superiors in
Washington, they went to the federal judge and asked for an order
allowing them to seize the Fury's radio equipment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Griffith Jr. said at 8 a.m. on Jan.
19, gun-totting U.S. Marshals and Coast Guard officers raided the
ship. There was no resistance. No one was hurt or arrested. Only one
firearm was found.

The FCC paid electricians and neighboring shipyard crew $7,500 to
remove the transmitters. Wiener was on board when the raid happened.
It felt like evil attached the boat, he said.

The Aftermath

Wiener said the feds went overboard, that seizure was a personal
vendetta against him. The station was destroyed, he said, because
someone in Washington, D.C. apparently doesn't like Brother Stair or
me.

He said he was asleep during the time the illegal transmissions were
alleged to have been made. Besides, the transmitter and generators
weren't working, so it was physically impossible for anyone to
broadcast, he said.

The charges are totally unfounded, he said. Even had there been
transmissions, he said, the punishment did not fit the alleged crime.

Prosecutors could have sought either a restraining order or a fine.

Why was an entirely legal radio station destroyed without a hearing
and due process? What is going on here? Wiener said. A radio station,
a printing press of the air, has been smashed.

Stair has since filed a motion in federal court asking the government
to return the equipment.

The FCC out of Washington takes a strong view of this kind of deal,
particularly in light of who was on board. Griffith answered. The
seizure was done entirely at the FCC's request. I would like to think
there were no personal animosities involved.

He said the agency considered criminal prosecution but was concerned
it would make Wiener a martyr. Taking equipment was a middle road
approach.

Said Clance, "We're simply in the business of shutting down pirate
radio stations.

Apocalypse Later

Immediately after the bust, Wiener left Charleston. We didn't know if
we were going to get shot or arrested. He returned to New York and
began working at another radio station. He began writing to
newspapers and communications magazines criticizing the FCC's action.

The bust didn't slow Stair down either. He bought more air time on
radio stations. During these broadcasts Stair asked for more and more
money.

My dear friends, Stair told his listeners, this message of hope to
the people of God is being heard. They are responding! They are doing
it! This is what stirs my heart. They are obeying! I know that makes
me enemies. So be it.

A listener from Canada said he put a money order for $1000 in the
mail.

Like Wiener, Stair lobbed verbal darts at the government and armed
forces, you, you are the Antichrist.

And he hints at future battles with the government. They will come
after me. I'm sure they are going to, because I'm a voice out here
that they're going to have to reckon with.

Jewish Space Aliens

2007-07-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

Jewish Space Aliens

BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" BACKGROUND="EU___128.GIF">

SAVE OUR TRAILERPARKS FROM

JEWISH UFO'S AND BLACK

UNITED NATIONS HELICOPTERS!!!

Nazi Space Aryans DO NOT PERFORM MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ON WHITE PEOPLE!!!

It is a DOCUMENTED FACT that the space aliens abducting people for medical
experiments are of JEWISH origin from the star system 51 Peg.

In the 16th century, a JEWISH rabbi constructed a golem out of clay to attack
the Christian settlements around them. This golem eventually turned on the
JEWISH population and the rabbi destroyed it. This was the first DOCUMENTED
CASE OF JEWS CONSTRUCTING PEOPLE!!!

Later, as JEWISH technology and NECROMANCY became more advanced, they began
constructing BLACK PEOPLE. In the year 1904, the JEWS INVENTED THE BLACK RACE.
Even today, JEWISH "Archeologists" are creating "ancient" structures they're
"discovering" in Africa and Egypt. For example, the pyramids were mostly
constructed by JEWISH "Archaeologists" in 1973. Just last year, they
"discovered" yet another pyramid. PRIOR TO 1904, THERE WERE NO BLACK PEOPLE
ANYWHERE! Any information to the contrary is A JEWISH HOAX.

Occasionally we Nazi's, with the help of our Aryan Space Nazis from Tau Ceti
Prime, can capture and re-program some of these Black "People" who are in fact
really just biological androids created by THE JEWS. These are the only
"abductions" we Interstellar Space Nazis perform.

Some of the Black "people" we have reprogramed have been:

Louis Farrakahn
Jesse Jackson
Al Sharpton
Michael Jackson (We even made him LOOK White!)
Malcolm Little (Aka, Malcolm X. The JEWS reprogramed him after we did,
so we had to have Farrakahn kill him).

All of the above people were reprogramed by our extraterrestrial Aryan friends
to become Black Nazis and servants of the Interstellar Aryan Space Corps.

THE JEWS, on the other hand, continue to have their Interstellar Zionists abduct
WHITE PEOPLE.

These JEWISH SPACE SHIPS are based in Groom Lake, which is also called Area 51.
This is an area kept secret by the US Government, also known as THE ZIONIST
OCCUPIED GOVERNMENT or ZOG. To cover up their activities, THE JEWS are burning
toxic waste there and have allowed this information to become public knowledge,
but in reality the toxic waste disposal is merely a more sinister front for
their true agenda of ABDUCTING HUMAN CHRISTIANS WITH UFO'S. In the process of
this cover-up, MANY WHITE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN POISONED with known toxins such as
Dioxin, PCB's, Aspratame, dextromathorphan, and even monosodium glutamate which
is being illegally disposed of at Area 51. Of course, we Nazis dispose of toxic
waste by either deporting it to the east or making it into lampshades and soap.
This is almost as awful as the JEWISH SPACE ALIEN UFO ABDUCTIONS.

You will nottice that most of these JEWISH abductions are in the midwest from
trailer parks, which, coincidentally, happens to be where most of our Neo-Nazi
allies come from. What we need to do is set up anti-UFO lasers to defend
trailer parks from JEWISH UFO's and the tornados they unleash with the aid of
BLACK HELICOPTERS FROM THE UNITED NATIONS!!!

Even now, UN Troops from UNICEF may be hovering above your astroturf making your
pink flamingo whirligigs go balistic.

In the meantime, we need to get as many of our Aryan brothers and sisters to the
safety of the Aryan Nazi UFO Mothership at the center of the Earth. Getting
there is easy. Sell everything you have. The JEWS will be eager to buy it.
Get yourself an airplane ticket to McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. Then, once you
are in Antarctica, find a volcano and jump into it. The Aryan Space Nazis will
beam you into their ship as you fall and you will land unharmed in the hands of
beautiful, superior Aryan people from the stars.

-- Ernst Zundel*

My right to free speech supersedes your right to exist.

* Not the real Zundel! This is
a pseudo-Ernst Zundel posting from AOL.

DISCLAIMER FOR THE CLUELESS:

This is humor, folks. I am not a White Supremacist or a Skinhead.

2006-01-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

T

The Assassinated Press

"Opinion poles are designed to gauge whether the agitprop of the
corporate state is having the desired narcotic effect on the general
population. The more the average citizen can parrot back what he has
been told by his betters, the more democracy, as defined by the
elite, can be preserved."---Edward Bernays

Pew Research Poll Whores For White House:
Oil Never Mentioned In Survey
By YASO ADIODI
Assassinated Press Writer

January 17, 2003, 9:15 AM EST

WASHINGTON -- Despite months of lies, President de facto Cheney, up
to his elbow in the sphincter of Old Glory's favorite hand puppet,
G.W. Bush in what is rapidly becoming one of Uncle Sam's classic
political fist fucks, has not yet convinced most Americans there is
justification for U.S. military action to depose Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein, polls show. This despite a complete black out on the word
OIL in the official press as regards Iraq.

"Are the polls asking the right question? Or more accurately are
they whoring the administration WMD line to the exclusion of the
real reason for invading Iraq---OIL?" asked Assassinated Press
pollster Edward Bernays. "I mean, WMD launched against Kurds and
Iranians? How many Americans give a rat's ass about that? Of course,
the results are mixed. Americans are being asked to validate
administration lies through sham polls. Its like being asked to
believe that that cum soaked condom behind your husband's ear is
there because he needed it to reach in and scratch his hemorrhoid
without getting his finger stinky. Lies, even to a group of morons
like the American public, arouse a certain amount of suspicion."

We showed Bernays and his colleague, Ivy Lee, a typical response to
the Pew poll. "I think a little more diplomacy would be in order,"
said Creig Crippen, 84, a retired Air Force veteran from Deland,
Fla. "I don't like this pre-emptive idea. That's imperial. That's
not democratic."

"Now if you asked Mr. Crippen whether the attack on Iraq was over
oil and the little bulb went off and he answered yes, the reason for
the lack of diplomacy would become clear and his insight about
imperialism would be automatically validated. Ockam's Razor? No?"
chimed in pollster Ivy Lee.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll stated
that there is widespread support for ending Saddam's rule, but that
support is conditioned on proof of a threat from Iraq and on the
support of U.S. allies.

"Here you have the whole scam. The parameters of the so-called
debate are set by the media and the most obvious argument is
eliminated---OIL. Then, after the public is indoctrinated by Dan
Blither and Ted Kripple, the Pew hires go out and measure the
effectiveness of the propaganda via the poll.

Further, they reinforce the agitprop devised by the power elite by
steadfastly refusing to mention the obvious reason for the Cheney
administrations hegemonic moves on Iraq. And just like the
experimental method in the sciences from which all of this is
derived, they work at it and work at it, until they get the result
they want. In the meantime, a kind of pathology based on lies
created by the elite infects the electorate and this pathology,
reinforced by the electorate's own ignorance, is called 'a
divergence of opinion' or 'example of democratic expression.' That's
what we shoot for. A sham democracy of baseless opinions. No wonder
the rest of the world thinks were nuts or worse," said Edward
Bernays.

The poll became public as the United Nations said U.N. inspectors in
Iraq looking for evidence of weapons of mass destruction had
discovered about 11 empty chemical warheads south of Baghdad, a
number equivalent to the holdings of a medium sized scrap dealer in
any state, Arkansas or Texas, anywhere, that depends on
military/industrial contracts to survive, which is practically all
of them.

Two-thirds or more in the Pew poll and other recent polls say they
favor military action against Iraq, but only under circumstances
that didn't smack of an all out grab even though OIL, the only thing
worth grabbing, was never mentioned in the poll. Thus, the depth of
the pathology.

For example, the Pew poll suggested that support for war is strong,
76 percent, if U.N. inspectors find nuclear, biological or chemical
weapons in Iraq. But the support for war dwindled to 14% if it could
be demonstrated that the U.S. was the source of these
weapons. "Sure, it's important to keep OIL out of the equation. That
doesn't serve the interests of the people who write my paycheck,"
answered Pew researcher Kip Themdown. "But its just as important to
cut the American people off from their own history because its
widely believed among the kleptocracy that they couldn't handle the
things that have been done in their names. They actually think they
have a stake in things like the Iraq grab. And that cuts both ways.
If you don't really have the stomach for this kind of wholesale
murder, it can radicalize you, or worse."

When asked by The Assassinated press Americans seemed torn. "What
your implying is that every time I fill the tank of my SUV or
whatnot, am I willing to walk around to the back of the vehicle and
sacrifice an Iraqi baby or whatnot on the rear bumper? I'll have to
think about that. My coke dealer lives all the way over in Langley,"
mused Congressional aid, Alan Slothrop.

The support, according to the Pew poll, is evenly split if they find
no weapons but determine Iraq has the ability to make these weapons.
The numbers go way down when manifests from major U.S. corporations
are shown laying out the arming of Iraq with WMD by this country's
business elite.

Because the OIL reason is so obvious, the public does not buy the
administration's canard that Iraq must prove it does not have these
weapons to avoid a U.S. attack. Almost two-thirds, 63 percent, said
Iraq's failure to prove it does not have weapons would not be a
sufficient reason for a war.

More than half, 93 percent, say the president does not have the
mental or moral capacity to explain clearly what's at stake to
justify the United States using military force to end Saddam's rule,
according to the poll. "We feel that if we went to the American
people and said 'Look. This is about OIL and enriching the people
who put us in power,' that we could spin it so that it would not
threaten our plans to snack on Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Don
Rumsfeld. "We've demonstrated that we can sell these schmucks
anything. Even the amoral and criminal truth. But that's not our
way. We prefer the challenge of hawking the immoral and criminal
lie. It just feels right."

The number who say Bush is incapable of thought has grown since his
September address to the United Nations. Those who generally agree
with Bush's position say that his ignorance and stupidity absolves
him of responsibility for his actions.

"That's as American as nipple pie," crowed White House spokes
person, Ari Fleischer. "One way to justify your criminality is to
say you were just incapable of knowing what you were doing. Bush has
got that luxury. He's an idiot. But I wouldn't try to sneak that by
the Rehnquist/Scalia/Pickering/Frist/Lott lot," he quipped making a
gesture as though he was a poor, black or hispanic, retarded,
juvenile being hanged.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush continues to
work on his Cheetah impressions.

"But if Saddam Hussein will not surrender his OIL peacefully and it
becomes necessary to disarm him by force, then what we would be
doing would not be disarming a real and growing threat, but
liberating Iraqi OIL for our betters.," McClellan said in a moment
of shroom induced candor.

The Pew poll of 1,218 dolts was taken Jan. 8-12 and has an error
margin of plus or minus 630,000,897 percentage points depending on
how the questions are worded, if alcohol and blunts are served, or,
as in Orange County, if cash remuneration is stuffed in the elastic
band of your underpants.

"I believe that this is an action that is due because of Saddam
Hussein's complete lack of respect for the international oil
community and their investors," said Philip Pederson, 65, a sales
manager from Wheatland, Calif. He is a Vietnam veteran so he knows a
bit first hand about imperialist wars.

"Saddam has been dissin' us for too long. We gonna bus' a cap in his
ass. But firs' I got's ta gits the 3rd Infantry and the 1190th
between me and dem bullets," is the way Mobil/Exxon CEO, Lee
Raymond, put it at a recent meeting of the board of the OIL giant.

Though the president has been making his case against Iraq in front
of the mirror since September, White House officials say the heavier
lifting doesn't begin until Jan. 28, when Bush has to know how to
read his State of the Union address. That's one day after U.N.
weapons inspectors issue a preliminary report on what the Cheney
administration recommends that they found in Iraq in order to
maintain their health and that of their families.

The drumbeat for war continues Jan. 31, when Bush meets at Camp
David with his staunchest anti-Iraq ally, British Prime Minister
Tony Blare and they both strip down to the scivvies, blow each
other, do a chocolate sandwich with Colon Powell, and perform a war
dance for the amusement of their international investment handlers.
If Bush is told he has chosen to go to war, whenever that might be,
there would be a final, Oval Office address in which he would be
told what reasons to spell out, White House officials say. This task
may be more difficult than it appears. On a dry run for the address,
Mon[k]ey Boy actually began 'spelling out' every word of the speech
handed to him. It took him 6 hours to 'spell out' the 4 minute
speech.

Some in the public will be skeptical no matter what the president
tells them about Iraq.

"I think they've made it very clear," said Rachel Wheatley, 23, of
Washington, "that they're not really interested in what the
inspectors have to say."

"Fuck the inspectors," countered Secretary of Defense, Don Rumsfeld.

my copy right or wrong The Ass. Press 2003

Patriot Act Allows The Seizure of Your Safe Deposit Box

2006-01-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Patriot Act Allows The Seizure of Your Safe Deposit Box

Voice Of The White House

TBR News.com
1-28-6

"I know from the private Republican polls (the ones you never see and never get into the media) that they are in serious danger of losing control of the government come November. The problem is that although the rank and file, and the leadership, know this, they cannot communicate to Bush that sea changes have to be made, at least cosmetic ones, or public anger will get to the point that impeachment is a probability.

Frankly, our President is a nut. He won't listen to anyone and does what he wants. The stupid twit actually believes he is some kind of God and can do anything he likes whenever he likes it. Thank God Bush doesn't get the urge to shoot a hunting rifle at passing tourists. His bizarre and distasteful sex life coupled with his binge drinking makes him a true menace. People thought a lecherous Clinton was bad but this one makes Clinton look like St. Vincent DePaul by comparison.

The leadership has more or less decided that since Bush will not change, he will simply have to go to save the rest of them or, if they are ideologues, for the common good. For themselves, not necessarily for the American people.

Although Bush stubbornly refuses to release any document which he feels might make him look bad, others are doing just that. Tens of thousands of pages of memos, reports, notes, tapes, and all kinds of priceless milestones on George W. Bush's journey to the underworld are being assembled and studied for possible "leaks."

I have seen some of these and am now going to do my frightened friends a huge favor by publishing some of the more awful ones.

For example: According to in-house memos now circulating, the DHS has issued orders to banks across America which announce to them that "under the Patriot Act" (whatever that crap means) the DHS has the absolute right to seize, without any warrant whatsoever, any and all customer bank accounts, to make "periodic and unannounced" visits to any bank to open and inspect the contents of "selected safe deposit boxes." Further, these boxes, taken from a DHS list of people who are considered "hostile to the present government, citizens who have visited outside the United States before or after 9/11 to countries now considered to be hostile to this country" " :Russia, Peoples Republic of China, Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, Italy, Egypt, France, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Turkey or the Sudan" or any citizen who has a bank account in any of those listed countries are considered to be of legitimate interest in the "ongoing investigations into foreign and domestic terrorism."

Further, the DHA "shall, at the discretion of the agent supervising the search, remove, photograph or seize as evidence" any of the following items"bar gold, gold coins, firearms of any kind unless manufactured prior to 1878, documents such as passports or foreign bank account records, pornography or any material that, in the opinion of the agent, shall be deemed of to be of a contraband nature."

DHS memos also state that banks are informed that any bank employee, on any level, that releases "improper" "classified DHS Security information" to any member of the public, to include the customers whose boxes have been clandestinely opened and inspected and "any other party, to include members of the media" and further "that the posting of any such information on the internet will be grounds for the immediate termination of the said employee or employees and their prosecution under the Patriot Act."

Currently, the two major targets of these completely illegal and warrantless searches and seizures, are the California-based Bank of America and the Compass Bank. The former is one of the largest banks in the United States and Compass Bank ( Compass Bancshares, Inc). is a $30.1 billion Southwestern financial holding company which operates 385 full-service banking centers including 139 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 73 in Arizona, 42 in Florida, 32 in Colorado and 10 in New Mexico.

Of extraordinary interest to the DHS are Bank of America records relating to their Bank Of America 'SafeSend Money to Mexico' program.

It should be noted that the DHS states that "in the event that the owners of these confiscated objects do not file an administrative complaint within three (3) months subsequent to said confiscation, the aforesaid items shall pass to the permanent custody of the DHS"

Isn't that wonderful? You and your wife are visiting relatives in France, Uncle Einar's $100,000 collection of gold coins is lifted out of your box and you don't get back to the United States for two months and don't check your looted box for another four months. My, some nice DHS person, or maybe two, has a nice new BMW to show off to his neighbors. Tough luck, Uncle Einar!

Oh, and you might like to know that the spate of "robberies" of bank credit card and personal data that took place in and around February of 2005, were not robberies at all. The DHS, using its muscle, simply went off with trucks full of data to mine at their leisure. The banks involved said nothing, and will say nothing. If they do, their people will be at a nice Federal country club, making shoes for the Army while the DHS bosses, to include the FEMA thieves, will be buying property on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Palm Desert. Or some nice marina like Marine del Ray to keep their nice new 150' yacht.

To date, in California alone (the only report I have seen) over 1,500 banks have been "visited" and boxes rifled between January, 2005 and January, 2006.

Next time, something about DARPA to amuse and entertain you all."
www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2106.htm

2006-01-21T06:51:00.000-08:00

FINAL SOLUTION

2006-01-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

FINAL SOLUTION

2006-01-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

FINAL SOLUTION

ElijahRadioProphet

The Punta Colonet Multimodal Project

Thwarting Mojave train robbers: It's a scene out of the Wild West

TUCK"n" PATTI

the Last Day Prophet

Jewish Space Aliens

SAVE OUR TRAILERPARKS FROM JEWISH UFO'S AND BLACK UNITED NATIONS HELICOPTERS!!!

Patriot Act Allows The Seizure of Your Safe Deposit Box

FINAL SOLUTION

FINAL SOLUTION

Thwarting Mojave train robbers:
It's a scene out of the Wild West

SAVE OUR TRAILERPARKS FROM

JEWISH UFO'S AND BLACK

UNITED NATIONS HELICOPTERS!!!