Free Republic

FORT WORTH -- The Trans-Texas Corridor is now so controversial, merely uttering the words in most political circles is taboo. "We're calling it a 'regional loop' because you can't say 'Trans-Texas Corridor' in the state of Texas anymore," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "The Trans-Texas Corridor is a lightning rod," he told visiting state representatives this week while explaining how the corridor would connect to regional highways by 2030. Opposition to the proposed construction of a $184 billion network of toll roads during the next 50 years is so strong statewide that...

FEW issues find common ground among right-wing conservatives and left-of-center liberals. But the so-called "NAFTA Superhighway," potentially stretching from the Mexican border to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn., is apparently one of them. Across the political spectrum people have worked themselves into a frenzy over a massive futuristic transportation project that may simply be a figment of their imagination. Talk of a new north-south Texas toll road to accommodate extra truck traffic coming from Mexico has renewed bipartisan passion about the feared superhighway. There is almost a conspiratorial edge to some critics who are convinced that the "Trans-Texas...

WASHINGTON - A new Texas road being planned to accommodate truck traffic between the United States and Mexico has riled Ohio members of Congress who fear it's the first phase of a "NAFTA Superhighway" that would be used to funnel cheap imports to the Midwest as it links Mexico, the United States and Canada. Texas and federal highway officials deny that a proposed North-South toll road running parallel to Inter-state 35 is part of a planned international superhighway, and say there are no plans for a transcontinental road. They insist the new thoroughfare would merely handle some of the extra...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today forced out Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., as regional whip of the mid-Atlantic region for his comments blaming Jews for war in Iraq. But the Democrat hypocrisy continues. Pelosi and company still refuse to criticize or even comment on Rep. Marcy Kaptur's apologia for terrorism, and the pro-Democrat media establishment isn't pressing them one bit. "I have taken this action because Congressman Moran's irresponsible remarks were a serious mistake," Pelosi said. She said Moran has accepted responsibility for his remarks and expressed his "sincere regret." And right on cue, Moran released a statement saying:...

Patty Murray and Marcy Kaptur...Osama Mamas.

<p>WASHINGTON - Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) found herself in political hot water yesterday after Republicans blasted her for remarks in which she seemed to compare Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to America’s founding fathers.</p> <p>Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh excoriated her on his nationwide radio show yesterday and both the Democrat and the Republican on CNN’s Crossfire criticized her, as did the No. 2 House Republican leader, Rep. Tom DeLay (R., Texas).</p>

Filed at 8:44 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Agriculture Department has failed to adequately answer questions about how the agency handled a recall of 19 million pounds of contaminated hamburger meat, four members of Congress said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. The four lawmakers -- Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Mary Kaptur, D- Ohio; Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.; and Sen. Richard Durbin R-Ill. -- demanded in a letter Thursday that the agency explain why it failed to quickly recall the meat after initial tests showed it was contaminated with E. coli bacteria. They said Elsa Murano, the department's...

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel and Marcy Kaptur will be in Cuba over the weekend to check for future business and agriculture trade possibilities. Rangel said Thursday that the trip was intended "to have business people get a better understanding of the opportunities in Cuba if and when" the four-decade U.S. trade embargo ends. Kaptur said she would pursue agriculture interests and the repatriation of remains of an American who fought for Fidel Castro's guerrilla army but was executed when he criticized Castro's regime. Rangel, who has been to Cuba several times, said he did not know all of...