The Idaho House passed a memorial this morning asking Idaho's congressional delegation to oppose a proposed highway from Mexico to Canada.For those readers who haven't heard of the "proposed highway", it's a big deal over on the "black helicopter" side of the 'net, as part of the "North American Union" being created from the framework of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America". You can Google either linked term to get more "information" on the extent of the conspiracy; it's basically an opportunity for a "perfect storm" of crackpots from both sides of the political spectrum to join together -- be they anti-immigration and anti-UN types from the right, or "Bush will do anything that is evil" moonbats from the left. (Both groups seem to be represented by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who's both a "Bush probably did 9/11" and "the UN wants to take your guns" guy.) I think the only reason this conspiracy theory hasn't gotten as much traction as it probably should is that the underlying assumptions (President Bush wants to turn over American sovereignty to an international organization, for one) are so hopelessly foolish that even the most jaded newsperson can't bring themselves to keep a straight face when mentioning it. Of course, that doesn't keep the Idaho House of Representatives from buying into it.
Lawmakers said they fear the superhighway could threaten national security and border security, and hand import and export business from American ports to Mexico.
Plus, the agreements between U.S. agencies and foreign governments have the powers of a treaty but were never presented to the U.S. Congress, some said.
"It appears to me to be an end-run around the Constitution," Athol GOP Rep. Phil Hart said.
Here's what's really happening. The Council of Foreign Relations issued a paper in 2005 about how it would theoretically be nice for North America to go in the direction of the EU. This paper mentioned a 2005 initiative between the leaders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that created the Security and Prosperity Partnership for North America. It was the creation of this organization that "some said" in the article about the Idaho House was an agreement "between U.S. agencies and foreign governments (that has) the powers of a treaty but were never presented to the U.S. Congress". Actually, this is one of those initiatives that are required by tradition to come out of every major meeting between world leaders, which is announced with great fanfare, then sits there and does nothing until it's eventually cancelled in a cost-cutting move a few years down the line. Looking at the SPP website, it looks like the main thing they're doing now is coming up with a repetitive FAQ explaining why they aren't a threat to American sovereignty. ("Ah-ha, the New World Order is trying to fool us!", the black helicopter types will say while adjusting their tin-foil hats.) Here's what they say about the "proposed superhighway":
Myth: The U.S. Government, working though the SPP, has a secret plan to build a "NAFTA Super Highway."Even the aforementioned Rep. Ron Paul admits that Congress has only "provided small amounts of money to study the proposal". Now that the Idaho House has spoken out, though, the project is sure to fail!
Fact: The U.S. government is not planning a NAFTA Super Highway. The U.S. government does not have the authority to designate any highway as a NAFTA Super Highway, nor has it sought such authority, nor is it planning to seek such authority. There are private and state level interests planning highway projects which they themselves describe as "NAFTA Corridors," but these are not Federally-driven initiatives, and they are not a part of the SPP.
As long as the black helicopters don't get the Idaho House members first...
(Edited 0907 13 March to correct typos put in by the New World Order)
Update 2212 13 March: Here's the text of the House "memorial". Note that it's essentially all about the SPP.
