Clipmarks | Land ports Clips

Un1_E3

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:37:47 GMT

clipped by: nlaref

Land (14)

DHS: Important Change in International Land and Sea Travel Document ...

Instead, travelers will be asked to present documents from one of the options below when entering the United States at land or sea ports of entry.

www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1201786444210.shtm - [cache] - Ask, Gigablast

Triad could become an aerotropolis

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:57:37 GMT

clipped by: ckissel

Clip Source: www.news-record.com

The term "Aerotropolis" was coined by economic-development expert John Kasarda to describe a regional economy based in the aviation industry but with equally good links to other forms of transportation.

Kasarda envisions a reinvigorated economy built around Piedmont Triad International Airport and the area's larger transportation network. The Triad's large web of rail and highway routes has been a key attribute for more than a century.

The future will include at least two new interstates, improved air and rail access, and even a possible link between the land-locked Triad and the major ports of North Carolina and South Carolina.

For Triad residents, living in an aerotropolis could mean more job opportunities in more professions, higher incomes and a greater level of direct access - by road, rail and air - to places ranging from the coast to the Midwest, Northeast and Canada.

Tags: north carolina, transportation, aviation, highways, multimodal, economic development

SAVE Act Discharge Petition Filed, Gaining Momentum

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:01:27 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: The Senate attached an immigration enforcement measure sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to its Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Resolution before passage on March 13. The amendment would create a deficit-neutral reserve fund that fully covers completion of the 700-mile border fence and at least 6,000 National Guard troops at the border. The fund also would cover: implementing the exit data portion of the U.S. VISIT entry/exit system at airports, seaports, and land ports of entry; training/ reimbursement for state and local immigration law enforcement under the Section 287(g) program; and expanding the zero tolerance illegal entry prosecution policy to all 20 border sectors.

The principle mission of the caucus, which includes Republican Senators David Vitter (La.), James DeMint (S.C.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.), "promote a true, achievable alternative

Clip Source: www.numbersusa.com

SAVE Act Discharge Petition Filed, Gaining Momentum

(March 19) Supporters of the enforcement-only SAVE Act (Secure America with Verification Enforcement; H.R. 4088) have already gained more than two-thirds of the signers needed to force a vote in the U.S. House. Click to view the 181 bi-partisan signers of the Discharge Petition filed by Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.) March 11.

If the petition collects 218 House signatures, a simple majority, the bill can bypass the committee process and be placed on the House floor for a vote, regardless of any objections by Democratic leaders.

It was reported last week that Democrats are still working on alternative plans for the immigration debate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been pushing a plan to grant legal work permits for millions of illegal aliens currently holding jobs and huge increases in H-2B and H-1B visas for all types of foreign workers.

Tags: illegal immigration, save act, deficit-neutral reserve, enforcement, border fence, national guard troops, airports, seaports, land ports, 287(g)

The game's up: Premier admits rotten donations culture must end

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:01:05 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Be wonderful if this spread and a better system of fund allocation could take some of the corruption out of politics. No politician can argue that they have not been corrupted while they depend on donations of money for election campaigns.

Clip Source: www.smh.com.au

THE night before the federal election, four of NSW's most senior ministers starred at a Labor fund-raiser attended by a developer and a former Wollongong council manager who have emerged as key suspects in the corruption scandal engulfing the Iemma Government.

The Treasurer, Michael Costa, the Minister for Roads, Eric Roozendaal, the Minister for Health, Reba Meagher, and the Minister for Ports and Waterways, Joe Tripodi, all attended the champagne-and-canapes function with Labor apparatchik Joe Scimone and property developer Glen Tabak.

At the same event the year before, Lou Tasich - a developer later found to be corrupt by the Independent Commission Against Corruption - sat at a table with Mr Roozendaal. Six months later, on May 2, 2007, Mr Tasich tried to bribe a Wollongong council officer during a discussion about his proposal to buy a piece of council-owned land. He passed the officer a hand-written note: "30K 4 U."

Tags: corrupt, politicians

Ship emissions kill 60,000 a year

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:01:43 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Most ships run on bunker fuel, which is cheaper than distillate, but more polluting. Many freighters are registered in countries with few regulations. It also occurred to me that the bunker fuel was a product from oil refineries, and companies who need to get rid of it somehow to avoid it lining the bottom of the barrel. Just burn the evidence

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Lindsay Beck

Emissions from ocean-going ships are responsible for about 60,000 deaths a year from heart and lung-related cancers, according to research that calls for tougher fuel standards.

Freight ships emit particulate pollution, sulfur and nitrogen oxide, all of which can harm health kilometres away

Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong, three of the world's five busiest ports, are likely to suffer disproportionate impacts from ship-related emissions, the researchers say.

Their study is published online in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

"For a long time there's been this perception that ship emissions are out there in the ocean and they don't really affect anyone on land and I think this study shows that this is clearly false," says David Marshall, senior counsel at the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force, which co-commissioned the study.

"They do matter and they do need to be controlled."

Tags: ship, freighter, port, oceanocean, emissions, pollution

Terrorist Watchlist at 755,00+ - YES, THAT IS 755,000+

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:46:22 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: The Stasi would be proud. That's roughly 1 in every 400 in the US.

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.

The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.

"It undermines the authority of the list," says Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies. "There's just no rational, reasonable estimate that there's anywhere close to that many suspected terrorists."

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who plans a hearing on the report today, says "serious hurdles remain if (the list) is to be as effective as we need it to be. Some of the concerns stem from its rapid growth, which could call into question the quality of the list itself."

Tags: homeland security, terror, paranoia

Terror List Swells To More Than 755,000

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:54:37 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

WASHINGTON — The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.

The exact number of people on the list, compiled after 9/11 to help government agents keep terrorists out of the country, is unclear, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Some people may be on the list more than once because they are listed under multiple spellings.

But the sheer size of the watch list raised the most alarms.

Tags: go, for, a, million, baby

The spread of the Black Death

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:16:24 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The story continues at the site. One of the dramatic results that was directly related to the deaths of large sectors of the population, was the shortage of laborers, which the land owners 'resented' (apparently now they were expected to pay laborers-sounds familiar.) The Roman Catholic Church was ineffectual against the plague. There are some who believe the black death allowed the Renaissance to develop

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

The Black Death of the Middle Ages was a truly devastating pandemic – a pandemic being the Military-Industrial Full Blown Version of an epidemic. In the mid-1300s, the Black Death killed at least one third of the European population, so it was truly horrible. So most people think that the Black Death began in Europe – but it didn't.

The Black Death probably arose in 1334 in the Chinese province of Hubei. It appears to have spread to Europe along the Mongol trading routes, arriving in Constantinople in 1347. It was next reported in Caffa, a trading city on the Crimean peninsula. Mongols were attacking the city, but their numbers dropped dramatically as the Black Death raged through their troops. They supposedly used the infected corpses of their own soldiers as biological weapons, catapulting them over the walls of the besieged city.

inhabitants of Caffa fled back to their home ports

The ships returned, limping into ports, or being washed up on the shores, with most or all of the crew dead

Tags: bubonic plague, black death, virus, epidemic

Canadian "Patriot Act"

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:06:16 GMT

clipped by: swampfoxz
clipper's remarks: I remember Marshall Law.It was not pretty.

Clip Source: home.cc.umanitoba.ca

War Measures Act, 1914

An Act to confer certain powers upon the Governor in Council in the event of War, Invasion, or Insurrection

POWERS OF THE GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL.

a) Censorship and the control and suppression of publications, writings, maps, plans, photographs, communications and means of communication;
(b) Arrest,, detention,, exclusion and deportation;
(c) Control of the harbours, ports and territorial waters of Canada and the movements of vessels;
(d) Transportation by land, air, or Water and the control of the transport of persons and things;
(e) Trading, exportation, importation, production and manufacture;
(f) Appropriation, control, forfeiture and disposition of property and of the use thereof.

Tags: patriot act

Russian General Says U.S. Continues Preparations for Iran Strike

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 13:44:54 GMT

clipped by: ivan5735

Clip Source: www.prisonplanet.com

“Preparations to strike Iran’s strategic facilities continue. Three major groups of U.S. forces are still in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Altogether, they have up to 450 cruise missiles on alert,” the general said.

“According to our data, up to 150 aircraft are to be involved in each strike on Iran. Land-based air defense systems will be disabled in the first place, then mobile short-range systems, which Tehran has (including some 30 new systems),” he said.

Primary targets will include command centers, air defense installations, the navy, airfields, ports and docking facilities, the general said.

“Nuclear facilities may be secondary targets. According to expert assessments, at least 20 such facilities need to be destroyed in order to stop Iran’s nuclear program,” Ivashov said.

Tags: us.iran

S. Carolina and Ga. Governors Propose New Jointly Run Port

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:12:39 GMT

clipped by: ejoiner2
clipper's remarks: Big news in the ocean freight business.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue announce intention to develop a jointly run port facility in Jasper, SC.

Modelled on the Ports of New York and New Jersey, the new port facility would share responsibility and funding on a bi-state basis serving the southeastern US.

This is huge news as ocean vessels continue to get larger. Savannah, Georgias primary commercial deep water port, is limited in capacity by Savannah River, on which it sits. The new port would be capable of handling increased capacity container ships and as a green field project, potentially attract co-located commercial distribution centers.

Clip Source: www.gaports.com

SAVANNAH – Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford joined together today to announce their proposal for a port in Jasper County, South Carolina that would be owned, developed and operated jointly by the two states.
Under the proposal, the two states would form a Bi-State Port Authority with a Bi-State Compact – to be approved by the two states’ legislatures and ratified by the United States Congress – for a port to be built on land currently owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation in Jasper County, South Carolina. The new entity would function much like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has been in operation for more than 80 years.

Tags: ports, ocean, georgia, south carolina, transportation, logistics

Sussan Collins budget pros and cons

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:26:14 GMT

clipped by: donnydonny

Clip Source: blog.thehill.com

I am pleased that the President’s budget includes $1 billion for strengthened border protection, infrastructure and technology, and funding for 3,000 new border patrol agents to help secure our land borders. The President’s budget also includes funding for the new Offices of Emergency Communications and Health Affairs, both of which were authorized by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act that Senator Lieberman and I authored.

There are, however, some disappointing budget proposals related to Homeland Security, about which I am concerned. For example the fiscal year 2008 budget proposal again highlights the chronic and troubling under funding of first responder grant programs. This year’s budget proposal includes only $250 million for the State Homeland Security Grant Program, a reduction of $275 million from last year’s level. All states, including my home state of Maine, rely on these grant dollars for first responder activities such as emergency planning, risk assessments, equipment, and training exercises. A funding reduction of this magnitude will be a severe blow to states’ abilities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to terrorist attacks and other emergencies.

I am also very disappointed that the Administration has not proposed to fully fund port security grants at the $400 million as was authorized by the SAFE Port Act, which Senator Murray and I wrote. The $210 million included in the budget falls short of the needs American ports have to strengthen security.

Upon Congressional approval of the compromise chemical security legislation as part of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for 2007, DHS was granted, for the first time, the authority to regulate thousands of our nation’s high risk chemical facilities. I am concerned that the President’s request of $25 million for a chemical security regulatory program will be insufficient to get this crucial program off the ground.

Tags: budget, sussan collins, border security

Solid Wall Won't Keep Illegal Entrants From Crossing Over

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 20:56:09 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.azstarnet.com

Published: 09.27.2006

Finding new ways in

STAR INVESTIGATION: As long as jobs here are plentiful and lucrative, even a solid wall won't keep illegal entrants from crossing over

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The expansive waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean flank the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border.

Forty-three legal ports of entry line the southern border, where 5,049 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers face the grueling task of finding illegal entrants hidden in the sea of 960,000 people who cross daily.

As long as U.S. businesses offer better jobs than those available at home, illegal entrants will keep finding new ways into the country, a Star investigation found.

"The costs of a 2,000-mile seal of the land border are prohibitively high," says Wayne Cornelius, head of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California at San Diego. "And the punchline is that it wouldn't be effective because it would just divert crossings to the maritime border and the northern border, unless the jobs disappear within the U.S."

Traffickers already try to move people and drugs up the coastal waters. They also use fraudulent documents or hide people in gas and engine compartments to sneak through legal ports of entry.

Those tactics are rare because large sections of the border remain passable.

"I don't think there would ever be enough barriers, technology or people that could stop desperate individuals from trying to improve their lot in life," says Deborah Meyers, senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.

Illegal entrants already have shifted routes to treacherous areas in response to border crackdowns in popular corridors, and continue to come in the same numbers as a decade ago.

Tags: immigration, border