http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/panamacanal/ en-us Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:33:49 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2217424/posts While running for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, Ronald Reagan stumbled onto an issue that energized his upstart campaign. In stop after stop, he recalled, people expressed “utter disbelief” that an American president — the Republican incumbent, Gerald R. Ford — would even think of relinquishing control over the Panama Canal. Knowing next to nothing about its history, but quite a lot about the politics of flag-waving, Reagan quickly turned the canal into a symbol of American resolve in an increasingly dangerous and disrespectful world. “We bought it, we paid for it, it’s ours,” he told the cheering crowds,... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2217424/posts#comment Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:33:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2145277/posts December 08, 2008, 4:00 a.m. A New Cold War?Western-hemispheric maneuvers. An NRO Symposium What does Russia docking in the Panama Canal this weekend mean? What should the Obama administration be thinking about it? National Review Online asked a group of Russian experts. David Satter The visits of Russian ships to Venezuela and the Panama Canal are part of a campaign of escalating Russian pressure — a campaign designed to prevent Ukraine and Georgia from being admitted into NATO. The inclusion of these two former Soviet republics in NATO does not threaten Russia militarily, but in the eyes of Russian... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2145277/posts#comment Tue, 9 Dec 2008 02:54:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2143532/posts A Russian warship was set Friday to sail through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II in a symbolic challenge to US influence in the region. The large anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko is scheduled to traverse the waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, the Russian embassy in Panama said. "The only time such an event took place was in 1944 during the Second World War, when four Russian submarines passed through" the canal, said the embassy in a statement. At that time, when the waterway was under... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2143532/posts#comment Fri, 5 Dec 2008 18:08:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1515785/posts <p>Fox news ran stories last night based on some of the things we were tracking right here in this post. Here is their on line story.</p> <p>As unfinished as my research is, I feel compelled to release what I've found so far as the story cannot wait any longer.  I am not looking for a scoop on anyone or anything, but at the same time I don't want anyone thinking I made this stuff up after the fact either.</p> Self http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1515785/posts#comment Fri, 4 Nov 2005 19:36:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050994/posts CONCORD – A federal judge dismissed Thursday a Nashua man's legal challenge that Republican presidential nominee-to-be Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was ineligible because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone. The Nashua Telegraph, Nashua, NH http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050994/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:51:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009638/posts County commissioners reaffirmed their stance against the Trans-Texas Corridor, and they took another step toward keeping county government transparent when they met Tuesday. First up on the court's agenda, commissioners heard a presentation by Connie Fogle on behalf of the newly formed Pineywoods Sub-Regional Planning Commission. According to Fogle, the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 391, requires state agencies to coordinate with local commissions to "ensure effective and orderly implementation of state programs at the regional level." "Critical in the code is the word 'coordinate,'" she said. "This does not mean the commission has to cooperate. The intent is to... The Daily Sentinel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009638/posts#comment Thu, 1 May 2008 12:34:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008559/posts Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?... Quarter Horse News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008559/posts#comment Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:29:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1998555/posts KATHMANDU (AFP) — Former US president Jimmy Carter met the leaders of Nepal's former Maoist rebels Tuesday, even though the group remains classified by Washington as a foreign "terrorist" organisation. Carter, whose democracy and human rights organisation is monitoring this Thursday's landmark elections in the Himalayan nation, was given assurances by the Maoists that the polls would be peaceful. "President Carter wanted to know about the election situation and expressed his concern over whether it will be free and fair," Baburam Bhattarai, the Maoists' second-in-command, told reporters after the meeting. "We assured him that the elections will be held in... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1998555/posts#comment Tue, 8 Apr 2008 18:24:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971590/posts TEXAS CITY — A massive superhighway that Texans have protested at public hearings statewide drew heated opposition among Galveston County residents, who said they feared the toll road would cripple the local shipping industry and do nothing to improve insufficient hurricane evacuation routes. The Trans-Texas Corridor would wind from Laredo to Corpus Christi, wrap around the western edge of Greater Houston, parallel Interstate 59 through East Texas and leave the state in Texarkana. But residents at a public hearing Thursday night in Texas City questioned the real purpose for the road, which would also be part of a national Interstate... Galveston County Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971590/posts#comment Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:10:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1959768/posts Leaders with the Texas Department of Transportation sought to allay fears about the Trans-Texas Corridor Thursday night in Rosenberg with a “town hall” meeting. The meeting proceeded fairly smoothly, but hardly seemed to put a dent in the large crowd's seemingly uniform opposition to the proposal of a massive transportation corridor. Hank Gilbert, a regular speaker at TTC events and leader of an anti-TTC non-profit group, drew cheers for suggesting TxDOT officials have failed to make the case for a large, privately owned transportation cluster. “No good argument has been made for the TTC that would allow farmers to be... Fort Bend Herald and Texas Coaster http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1959768/posts#comment Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:00:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939773/posts Panama will take bids from four international consortiums seeking to build new, larger ship locks for the Panama Canal... The locks are a key part of the 5.25 billion-dollar canal expansion project begun in September, aimed at doubling the capacity of the 50-mile (80-kilometer) canal connecting two oceans. Panamanian officials hope the project will be finished by 2014. The four consortiums now have until August 2008 to present final proposals and price tags to compete for the contract... The largest ships that now use the canal carry up to 5,000 containers, but after the expansion supertankers and ships carrying as... yahoo...afp http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939773/posts#comment Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:40:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936856/posts China's influence in North America has reached the point that Canada, the United States and Mexico all are proposing new super-ports to accept mega-ships loaded with thousands of containers of goods from the exporting nation. Now it's reaching into Central and South America as well. The BBC is reporting that the Panamanian National Assembly has approved a plan to make teaching Mandarin obligatory, "in recognition of China's growing importance in the world economy." The report said the bill's supporters believe boosting the number of people who speak Chinese will help boost the economic competitiveness Panama offers the global economy. At... worldnetdaily.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936856/posts#comment Sun, 9 Dec 2007 05:35:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901347/posts ...[The building of the Trans-Texas Corridor] is all too sinister for Jerome Corsi, the Vietnam War veteran who helped lead the Swift Boat charge against John Kerry. Corsi has knitted disparate strands of each of these separate road projects to help convince fellow xenophobes such as Pat Buchanan, Phyllis Schlafly, Lou Dobbs and the John Birch Society that the corridor is the first leg of a secret federal project called the NAFTA Superhighway, a four-football-field wide monstrosity that would run from Mexico's Yucatan to Canada's Yukon... Yet even Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian Republican candidate for president, has fallen... Reason Magazine ("libertarians") http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901347/posts#comment Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:30:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890676/posts PANAMA CITY, Panama - Panama blasted away part of a hillside next to the canal on Monday, marking the start of the waterway's biggest expansion since it opened 93 years ago. In the presence of former President Carter, who signed the 1977 treaty that gave Panama control of the waterway, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos celebrated the start of construction on two wider sets of locks being added to both sides of the canal. "We are witnesses to an exceptional and unique act," Torrijos said moments after the explosion sent up a curtain of smoke and water. The $5.25 billion expansion... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890676/posts#comment Mon, 3 Sep 2007 23:06:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890270/posts MIAMI (AP) - Warships from Canada and more than a dozen other countries joined the U.S. navy for ongoing manoeuvres Sunday near the Panama Canal in an exercise being billed as one of the largest multinational military training events of the year. More than 30 ships began the exercises Wednesday in the waters near the canal, to practise defending the economically and strategically crucial waterway. The exercise is scheduled to continue through Friday in the Caribbean and Pacific approaches to the canal. Thousands of ships pass through the Panama Canal every year, shuttling more than 200 million tons of exports... AP via Sun Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890270/posts#comment Sun, 2 Sep 2007 20:08:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1846060/posts We are exactly one month away from the second annual Texas Transportation Forum to be held July 18–20 in Austin at the Hilton Austin located at 500 East 4th Street, one block north of the Austin Convention Center. Local, regional and state leaders will join national experts in exploring the solutions to "Keep Texas Moving." The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Associated General Contractors of Texas, the Texas Good Roads Transportation Association, and the Texas Transportation Institute are co-hosts for the event. The keynote speaker for the opening session on July 19 will be Alan E. Pisarski, author of... Associated Construction Publications http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1846060/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jun 2007 22:50:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812721/posts A two-year ban on long-term toll road leases with private companies, pockmarked with exceptions and thus largely symbolic, cleared a Texas Senate committee Wednesday on a unanimous vote. However, the more meaningful action on toll roads should begin in the next two weeks, when a large bill addressing a wide range of concerns over tollways will be introduced in the Senate. The much-publicized moratorium bill by Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, Senate Bill 1267, has an excellent chance of passing the Senate, given that 29 of 31 senators have either signed on as co-sponsors or voted for it in committee. But despite... Austin American-Statesman http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812721/posts#comment Thu, 5 Apr 2007 20:47:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812068/posts (April 3, 2007)—Gov. Rick Perry spoke out Tuesday against proposed legislation that would put a two-year moratorium on private toll road projects including the Trans-Texas Corridor and urged lawmakers to “ensure vital transportation projects continue as planned.” Several bills are pending in Austin aimed at putting the brakes on the massive highway project. State Representative Lois W. Kolkhorst of Brenham has filed a bill that would kill the project altogether and a second measure that calls for a two-year moratorium on allowing private entities from buying the rights to build and operate toll roads. During a visit with US Transportation... KWTX http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812068/posts#comment Wed, 4 Apr 2007 21:46:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1782964/posts With a major interstate running right through our area traffic is a common topic for Central Texans. How do we solve the problem of more traffic on i-35? Is the Trans Texas Corridor a realistic solution and do we even need it? In part two of our Trans Texas Corridor series we look at the project from a needs angle. There are basically two sides to the Trans Texas Corridor project, those for it and those against. One thing both sides gree on is that something needs to be done. There are twenty one million Texas residents. 45 percent of... KCEN-TV http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1782964/posts#comment Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:29:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657253/posts As the Senate Finance Committee considers President Bush’s nomination of Henry Paulson to be the next secretary of the Treasury, the question is not whether he will be confirmed. That seems assured, as senators in both parties behave like star-struck groupies in the presence of a Wall Street “master of the universe,” whose net worth, from his time as a senior executive of Goldman Sachs, is estimated to be on the order of $600 million. Rather, the question is: Will any of his Senate interlocutors even bother to explore the nominee’s troubling fifteen-year ties to Communist China and the potential... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657253/posts#comment Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:00:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1622194/posts Americans were rightly outraged over the possibility of an Arab nation with ties to terrorists taking control of six major American ports. Protests from across the nation helped to squelch the deal. However, the job’s not finished. The Communist Chinese still control ports at Long Beach. Congressman Charlie Norwood, (R-GA) made a strong case for getting the Chinese out of the port of Long Beach when he noted that while Dubai has been a reliable partner for America in the War on Terror, Red Chinese officials have threatened invasion of America’s ally on Taiwan and nuclear war against the United... American Policy Center http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1622194/posts#comment Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:22:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609750/posts Panama Canal set for $7.5bn revamp By Jane Monahan in Panama City The Panama Canal was opened in 1914 For nearly 100 years the Panama Canal has been a key link in international shipping routes, handling an estimated 5% of world trade each year. The recent rapid growth of Asian economies like China and India has led to a surge in shipping worldwide and the canal is now operating at near full capacity. The body that runs it has now decided that it is about time the waterway had a major refit. It has approved plans for a $7.5bn... BBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609750/posts#comment Wed, 5 Apr 2006 19:00:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1586990/posts 2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is expanding her complaint about foreign companies owning U.S. ports - and now says a 1999 deal to let a Chinese company takeover the ports at each end of the Panama Canal was a mistake. Speaking at the 92nd Street YMCA in Manhattan yesterday, Clinton told the Jewish Community Relations Council: "There are those who say we can't [prevent foreign governments from operating U.S. ports] because look what happened in the last 20 years ... You know, we have the Chinese running the Panama Canal. We have other government-controlled entities controlling our ports." According to... NewsMax http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1586990/posts#comment Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:28:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1586696/posts 2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is expanding her complaint about foreign companies owning U.S. ports - and now says a 1999 deal to let a Chinese company takeover the ports at each end of the Panama Canal was a mistake. Speaking at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan yesterday, Clinton told the Jewish Community Relations Council: "There are those who say we can't [prevent foreign governments from operating U.S. ports] because look what happened in the last 20 years . . . You know, we have the Chinese running the Panama Canal. We have other government-controlled entities controlling our ports."... NewsMax http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1586696/posts#comment Tue, 28 Feb 2006 01:08:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1567729/posts When asked by the media for his thoughts on the Hamas triumph in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, former President Jimmy Carter replied that while they have a terrorist past, at least they're not corrupt. One of the complaints by many in the Middle East was the corruption within the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party. Arafat himself squirreled away millions of dollars from aid packages that were intended to help the Palestinian people. However, Carter's comment appears to dismiss the years of death and destruction perpetrated by Hamas on the Jewish State. One of the first statements made by... The New Media Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1567729/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:43:24 GMT