Two weeks ago I heard from my coworker who works at a rape crisis center about a female whose car had broken down on I-64 who was forcibly taken by some truckers who pulled over to "help."  They had her for several days, doing very bad things to her to put it delicately, until she managed to escape.  It sounded like something right out of a (horror) movie.  From what I understand, this story was not reported in the local media. 

(oh yeah...and just remembered the movie "Suspect Zero," about a serial killer using a big rig truck to continually criss cross the country, kidnapping - hundreds and hundreds - of people.  While it was "only a movie" it did leave me wondering just how much "shady happenings" go on under the guise of cross country trucking, stuff that the average person will never get a glimpse of if they're not connected to it in some way.   And conversely, the things truckers must see in their travels...the stories they probably have....)

Anyway, I hear stories like all of these, and admittedly it does leave one feeling...negative towards the idea of truckers and the whole trucking industry.    So unless you hear the stories or are involved in trucking in some way, and connected to it, then it remains an invisible entity in this country.  We the average person don't give them a second thought - for good or bad - until we hear stories, either regarding the seedy underbelly activity or the positive ways in which trucks keep this country going, 24/7.

seatrout wrote:

To answer your first question if trucks were to park and refuse to move for lets say one week then everything would come to stand still. The stores would run out of everything, the gas stations would run out of gas, and construction would stop. The reason is because trucks and the people that drive them move everything in the US.

You bet!

I think "civil disobedience" through an organized trucker strike is a great idea, if it is purposed to draw awareness to an issue that needs to be addressed!!  Like say, ohh, massive clandestine operations by shadow-governments...

Well, in my opinion there should be a greater emphasis put upon building railways throughout the continent, to link the North and South together to supply the needs and demands of the populace. Trucks are a highly innefficient means of transporting goods, and to add ontop of that, they clog up highways and produce high ammounts of greenhouse gases.
So, for the sake of reducing traffic, reducing transportation costs for goods, reducing greenhouse gases, and to improve highway safety and make your travel more streamlined, I say build more railways.
There are high speed maglevs that are throughout Europe and Japan. Though they may cost an arm and a leg, they pay for themselves over time, and they are well worth the effort to build and maintain.

I'm in complete agreeance with you, MM.  I have the belief that there should be a national public transportation system via some form of railway.  If this were stressed in society I am sure that there would be progress from a technological standpoint for efficient energy and production for said system.  One does wonder, why the promotion of cars - a beings independent vehicle which only increases the isolation from our fellow human beings.  The evolution down that path continues today with the iPod, etc.  The destination may be out of sight now but once reached we can look back and see how we got there.  I am not sure that collective mankind is headed down a 'healthy' hallway of reality.