Another Reason The USA Patriot Act Should Be Revoked (The New Trucking Regulations).
Hello again everyone. I am back today with a real rant on a subject that may not affect you...yet.
Today's subject concerns my chosen profession. As some of you may know, my chosen profession is being a truck driver. I currently hold a Commercial Drivers License class A (CDL-A) with a hazardous materials (hazmat) endorsement. These facts bring us to the subject of today's rant, specifically the new regulations imposed on CDL holders with a hazmat endorsement.
To begin with, I should note that these regulations are not the work of any one state. The new regulations have been imposed by the federal government as part of the USA Patriot Act (just another reason to hate this law). The Patriot Act requires that all CDL holders wishing to also hold a hazmat endorsement pass through a system of checks to make sure that they aren't a security threat. These checks consist of being fingerprinted (for the new FBI file on you) and passing through a Federal criminal background check. The fingerprinting is to be carried out by an individual state's police (or highway patrol). The background check is to be conducted by the FBI. The entire package is to be approved or disapproved by the Department of Homeland Security-Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). Once the TSA has established that you're not a nut, a criminal, or a terrorist, then they will send the information to your local DMV and you can get your hazmat endorsement (provided you pass the USDOT-required written renewal exam). The cost of all of this is NOT bourne by the federal government (who imposed it), it is to be paid by the driver who wishes to receive the hazmat endorsement. The cost is $24 for the fingerprinting and $34 for the background check. That is a total of $58 in federal fees. Those fees do NOT include the cost of renewing your license. Here is PA, the renewal fee is $76 for a CDL-A with a hazmat endorsement. That brings the grand total to $134!! The regulations for current CDL holders go into effect on 31 May 2005. For those who are getting their hazmat endorsement for the first time, the regulations went into effect on 31 January 2005.
Now $134 might not sound like a lot of money, and these regulations might not sound too bad, but consider these facts:
1. What other professional license (and that's what a CDL is) can be revoked at the drop of a hat and without just cause or due process of law?
2. What other professional license, when revoked, not only prevents you from practicing your chosen profession, but also prevents you from being able to drive to your new place of employment?
3. Correct me if I am wrong, but I'd have sworn that they flew planes into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon on 9/11, not trucks.
4. There have been NO trucks (4-,6-,10-, or 18-wheeled variety) involved in a terrorist attack in the US since the attack on the Federal building in Oklahoma City. And that was a Ryder (6-wheeler) truck placed there by a DOMESTIC terrorist (not a member of Al Queda)!!!
5. These regulations are meant to prevent a terrorist from blowing up places like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel. If a truckload of high explosives went off on the Golden Gate do you know what would happen? After the intial confusion, the only damage would be a large hole in the bridge, it would not collapse (not even if it was set off by a bridge support. Remember that it was designed to withstand earthquakes.) If the know-nothing, knee-jerk morons in Congress would bother to check, they would find that the Lincoln Tunnel has a clearance of 13'0". That is 6 inches less than the minimum required for the average tractor trailer pulling a box trailer (tractor trailers are [avg] 13'6"). What that means is that you could try to take your truck into the tunnel, but you wouldn't get far, and when you were done you'd have a nifty convertible truck and trailer!!!
The sheer fact of the matter is that these checks will do nothing to stop a terrorist. However, they will pose an undue burden on the average driver in the form of higher fees. Also, these checks will not catch a truck driving sleeper agent. A sleeper agent (if he is any good at all) will have nothing in his background to indicate that he or she is any kind of threat. In other words, the sleeper agent's background check will come back clean. I mention this because the terrorists who pulled the 9/11 attacks were just such people.
These regulations will, however, put a lot of drivers out of work. I will explain. In the world of over-the-road (interstate) trucking, a hazmat endorsement has almost become essential. It is hard to find a company anymore that doesn't require a driver to have one. Now the new regs state that you can't be a criminal, a mental patient, or a terrorist and get a clearance to hold a hazmat endorsement. So, have you ever had a DUI? How about a traffic ticket? (They don't say just felonies and/or misdemeanors, a traffic ticket is a criminal offense after all [a summary offense if I recall correctly]). Have you ever been depressed and sought help? How about seeking help for problems with stress? (trucking is a stressful job). Are you muslim? Have you ever had a muslim friend? Ever given to a charity? Did you know exactly what that charity did with its money, that is who it gave the money to? These are all things that could disqualify you from holding a hazmat endorsement. Think I am being extreme? Guess again. If you are a driver, then you know the amount of institutional/governmental hostility that surrounds you already. Now they have ratcheted it up AND given themselves an excuse (in the form of these new regs) to keep anyone that they consider to be a "threat" off the highways. What constitutes their definition of "threat" is at best subjective, and at worst extremely prejudiced. I personally resent the imposition of these additional and ultimately ineffective regulations upon an industry that is already over-regulated to the n-th degree. For me, it isn't the additional fees, but being treated like I am some sort of national security threat! Drivers, these new regulations imply that we are a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode! They imply that we are members of a terrorist network, the next Bin Laden. They imply that we are all mentally deranged criminals. I don't know about you, but if someone called me a mentally deranged criminal, I'd probably ask him to step outside! Why should the government be allowed to imply that we (drivers) are a threat to the security of this nation and not be made to either prove their assertions or be forced to shut up?!!? This assertion that we are a threat is preposterous. Gentlemen and ladies, it is time for us to step up to the plate and put an end to this. We haul everything that this nation needs to survive on a daily basis. We haul the food, the clothing, the materials for shelter, and all of the "essential" consumer goods that the people of this nation need to conduct their lives. And what do we get for it? We get treated as though we are criminals in most cases, and now the government is seeing fit to treat us like terrorists too! How long will it be before those "innocent" background checks are used to deny us not only hazmat endorsements, but CDLs, or even other employment not requiring a CDL? My fellow drivers, we MUST stop this now! I urge you to write, call, email, or otherwise get in contact with your Congressman or Senator and tell them that the era of treating truckdrivers like criminals and terrorists is over. It is time that we as a group and an essential industry asserted our collective power. These regulations need to go! If Congress will not act to revoke them, perhaps it is time to pull the long called for, never carried out, general strike. This isn't something as transient as fuel prices or wages, this is much more important, this is an attack by OUR government upon our livelihoods. Would the doctors or the lawyers stand for this type or treatment? Hell no! We are just as much professionals as they are, and just as essential to the operation of this country, so why should we stand for it? Gentlemen, the time for words is past, the time for action is now!
I am Chuck and I probably have just disqualified myself from ever holding a hazmat endorsement!
Today's subject concerns my chosen profession. As some of you may know, my chosen profession is being a truck driver. I currently hold a Commercial Drivers License class A (CDL-A) with a hazardous materials (hazmat) endorsement. These facts bring us to the subject of today's rant, specifically the new regulations imposed on CDL holders with a hazmat endorsement.
To begin with, I should note that these regulations are not the work of any one state. The new regulations have been imposed by the federal government as part of the USA Patriot Act (just another reason to hate this law). The Patriot Act requires that all CDL holders wishing to also hold a hazmat endorsement pass through a system of checks to make sure that they aren't a security threat. These checks consist of being fingerprinted (for the new FBI file on you) and passing through a Federal criminal background check. The fingerprinting is to be carried out by an individual state's police (or highway patrol). The background check is to be conducted by the FBI. The entire package is to be approved or disapproved by the Department of Homeland Security-Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). Once the TSA has established that you're not a nut, a criminal, or a terrorist, then they will send the information to your local DMV and you can get your hazmat endorsement (provided you pass the USDOT-required written renewal exam). The cost of all of this is NOT bourne by the federal government (who imposed it), it is to be paid by the driver who wishes to receive the hazmat endorsement. The cost is $24 for the fingerprinting and $34 for the background check. That is a total of $58 in federal fees. Those fees do NOT include the cost of renewing your license. Here is PA, the renewal fee is $76 for a CDL-A with a hazmat endorsement. That brings the grand total to $134!! The regulations for current CDL holders go into effect on 31 May 2005. For those who are getting their hazmat endorsement for the first time, the regulations went into effect on 31 January 2005.
Now $134 might not sound like a lot of money, and these regulations might not sound too bad, but consider these facts:
1. What other professional license (and that's what a CDL is) can be revoked at the drop of a hat and without just cause or due process of law?
2. What other professional license, when revoked, not only prevents you from practicing your chosen profession, but also prevents you from being able to drive to your new place of employment?
3. Correct me if I am wrong, but I'd have sworn that they flew planes into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon on 9/11, not trucks.
4. There have been NO trucks (4-,6-,10-, or 18-wheeled variety) involved in a terrorist attack in the US since the attack on the Federal building in Oklahoma City. And that was a Ryder (6-wheeler) truck placed there by a DOMESTIC terrorist (not a member of Al Queda)!!!
5. These regulations are meant to prevent a terrorist from blowing up places like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel. If a truckload of high explosives went off on the Golden Gate do you know what would happen? After the intial confusion, the only damage would be a large hole in the bridge, it would not collapse (not even if it was set off by a bridge support. Remember that it was designed to withstand earthquakes.) If the know-nothing, knee-jerk morons in Congress would bother to check, they would find that the Lincoln Tunnel has a clearance of 13'0". That is 6 inches less than the minimum required for the average tractor trailer pulling a box trailer (tractor trailers are [avg] 13'6"). What that means is that you could try to take your truck into the tunnel, but you wouldn't get far, and when you were done you'd have a nifty convertible truck and trailer!!!
The sheer fact of the matter is that these checks will do nothing to stop a terrorist. However, they will pose an undue burden on the average driver in the form of higher fees. Also, these checks will not catch a truck driving sleeper agent. A sleeper agent (if he is any good at all) will have nothing in his background to indicate that he or she is any kind of threat. In other words, the sleeper agent's background check will come back clean. I mention this because the terrorists who pulled the 9/11 attacks were just such people.
These regulations will, however, put a lot of drivers out of work. I will explain. In the world of over-the-road (interstate) trucking, a hazmat endorsement has almost become essential. It is hard to find a company anymore that doesn't require a driver to have one. Now the new regs state that you can't be a criminal, a mental patient, or a terrorist and get a clearance to hold a hazmat endorsement. So, have you ever had a DUI? How about a traffic ticket? (They don't say just felonies and/or misdemeanors, a traffic ticket is a criminal offense after all [a summary offense if I recall correctly]). Have you ever been depressed and sought help? How about seeking help for problems with stress? (trucking is a stressful job). Are you muslim? Have you ever had a muslim friend? Ever given to a charity? Did you know exactly what that charity did with its money, that is who it gave the money to? These are all things that could disqualify you from holding a hazmat endorsement. Think I am being extreme? Guess again. If you are a driver, then you know the amount of institutional/governmental hostility that surrounds you already. Now they have ratcheted it up AND given themselves an excuse (in the form of these new regs) to keep anyone that they consider to be a "threat" off the highways. What constitutes their definition of "threat" is at best subjective, and at worst extremely prejudiced. I personally resent the imposition of these additional and ultimately ineffective regulations upon an industry that is already over-regulated to the n-th degree. For me, it isn't the additional fees, but being treated like I am some sort of national security threat! Drivers, these new regulations imply that we are a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode! They imply that we are members of a terrorist network, the next Bin Laden. They imply that we are all mentally deranged criminals. I don't know about you, but if someone called me a mentally deranged criminal, I'd probably ask him to step outside! Why should the government be allowed to imply that we (drivers) are a threat to the security of this nation and not be made to either prove their assertions or be forced to shut up?!!? This assertion that we are a threat is preposterous. Gentlemen and ladies, it is time for us to step up to the plate and put an end to this. We haul everything that this nation needs to survive on a daily basis. We haul the food, the clothing, the materials for shelter, and all of the "essential" consumer goods that the people of this nation need to conduct their lives. And what do we get for it? We get treated as though we are criminals in most cases, and now the government is seeing fit to treat us like terrorists too! How long will it be before those "innocent" background checks are used to deny us not only hazmat endorsements, but CDLs, or even other employment not requiring a CDL? My fellow drivers, we MUST stop this now! I urge you to write, call, email, or otherwise get in contact with your Congressman or Senator and tell them that the era of treating truckdrivers like criminals and terrorists is over. It is time that we as a group and an essential industry asserted our collective power. These regulations need to go! If Congress will not act to revoke them, perhaps it is time to pull the long called for, never carried out, general strike. This isn't something as transient as fuel prices or wages, this is much more important, this is an attack by OUR government upon our livelihoods. Would the doctors or the lawyers stand for this type or treatment? Hell no! We are just as much professionals as they are, and just as essential to the operation of this country, so why should we stand for it? Gentlemen, the time for words is past, the time for action is now!
I am Chuck and I probably have just disqualified myself from ever holding a hazmat endorsement!
posted by Chuck | 01:39
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