Ordinarily, 2 terms as Texas' Governor would count, but given the recent antics promoted by that office it may make one wonder; was it fallout from that particular 2 terms that subsequently set the stage for that office to take the wide detour from performing in politics to going into peformances somewhere between Vaudeville and Weird Science of the Mentally Retarded? Roger that.

Houston is spittin' mad at Perry. The 2 year toll road moratorium bill passed in both chambers, 139-1. Perry said he would veto it, b/c Harris County (Houston) wanted to build its own toll roads at less cost to the toll road users. Perry's bill sells toll roads to "the highest bidder" from private contractors (as opposed to county govt folks) and expects toll users to pick up the tab. The legislators were about to lynch Transportation Chair Ric Williamson and overide the Perry veto.

North American Union, Bilderberg & Gov. Rick Perry

Gov. Rick Perry may not be the spider, but he certainly has become one of the strands in the web of international conspiracy for those who see a stealth plan to merge the United States with Canada and Mexico.

A key element of that alleged plan is Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor, specifically the 1,200-foot wide toll road that is proposed from Laredo to the Oklahoma border. A toll road likely to be built by a consortium headed by Spanish Cintra S.A. and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio.

Jerome Corsi, in his new book The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada, makes the case that the first step to creating a North American Union is merging the nations' transporation systems. The Trans-Texas Corridor is the first step, he says.

Corsi gained national attention in 2004 as the co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.

Perry also has been criticized by Austin-based talk show host Alex Jones for the Trans-Texas Corridor and Perry's trip earlier this summer to the Bilderberg conference.

Bilderberg is an annual gathering of about 120 business, political and media leaders from Europe and North America. It's stated purpose is to promote a better understanding of one another and that the meetings are held privately to promote open discussion.

Jones and other say the Bilderberg group is secretive because it is an international cabal of bankers and power brokers who want to dominate the world. On his Web site, Jones as a mug-shot like poster of Perry that declares: Wanted for Treason.

"Rick Perry is a champion of the establishment, the good old boys globally," Jones told your blogger. "Perry is actively waging war, economically in the interests of the elites and neomercantilism."

Jones asked Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Lake Jackson about Perry's Bilderberg trip in June. Paul said the trip was ``a sign that he's involved in the international conspiracy.''

Other groups promoting the idea that there is a North American Union Conspiracy include the Eagle Forum, the John Birch Society and the Conservative Caucus.

The conspiracy revolves around the Security and Prosperity Partnership that President Bush agreed to with the leaders of Mexico and Canada during a meeting at his Crawford ranch in 2005. The SPP Web site has an entire page debunking the North American Union as myth.

The cooperative efforts under the SPP, which can be found in detail at www.spp.gov, seek to make the United States, Canada and Mexico open to legitimate trade and closed to terrorism and crime. It does not change our courts or legislative processes and respects the sovereignty of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The SPP in no way, shape or form considers the creation of a European Union-like structure or a common currency. The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers.

The North American Supercorridor Coalition, NASCO, based in Dallas also is fighting to dispell the idea that it is part of the North American merger. The group is a tri-national cooperative effort between government and business to enhance trade along the Interstate 35 corridor.

There are no plans to build a new NAFTA Superhighway - it exists today as I-35.

NASCO board member Rider Scott said the group neither supports nor opposes the Trans-Texas Corridor. He said the group is mostly intersted in promoting trade. Scott said the North American Union controversy is not really about highways.

"There are a lot of different threads in the tapestry. When you have the sovereignty questions that are raised with the North American Union, their issues have to do with the border security and with illegal immigration and the sovereignty of our country vis a vis Mexico.

"You also have those who are opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor for a host of various reasons.

"NASCO is committed to taking the assets we currently have and enhancing their ability. The trade is not going to go away. It is not going to stop. The 18-wheelers are not going to slow down on I-35. So you need an environment where we can both have the economic benefits of trade, but we can remove the congestion."

Perry's spokesman, Robert Black, denied the governor wants to participate in the merger of the United States with its neighbors. He dismissed the controversy as a conspiracy theory.

``Conspiracy theories abound, and some people have an awful lot of time on their hands to come up with such far-fetched notions,'' said Black.

Texas Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams said she believes the facts prove a stealth effort is being made to create a North American Union. She said those promoting the union cannot argue the facts so they try to dismiss the opponents.'

"If you cannot argue the facts then you undermine the credibility of the messenger," Adams said.

Whatever the reality, the superhighway and North American Union debate has permeated the national political psyche so deep that Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert made fun of it in a faux news commentator routine earlier this month.

``I'm not a conspiracy theorist,'' Colbert told his audience. ``There is one conspiracy I know is true because I got it from the Internets.''