[PEN-L:36356] kill people and win more money

Reuters
Boeing, Bell get $192 mln for further Osprey work
Monday March 31, 5:47 pm ET

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Monday said it had
awarded a $192 million contract to Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - News) and
Textron Inc.'s (NYSE:TXT - News) Bell helicopter unit for further work
on the V-22 Osprey experimental aircraft.

The contract, a modification of a previous contract, provides additional
funding for engineering and testing of the Osprey, which returned to
flight testing last year.

The Pentagon grounded the Osprey, which takes off like a helicopter but
flies like a plane, in December 2000 after two crashes that killed 23
Marines.

[PEN-L:36357] RE: kill people and win more money

[PEN-L:36358] buying the Parties-State

Former French Oil Chief Says Company Paid Millions to Political Parties
By Pierre-Antoine Souchard
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 1, 2003; 12:00 AM

PARIS -- The former president of Elf Aquitaine testified Monday that the
French oil giant paid about $5 million to French political parties
during his leadership -- including to President Jacques Chirac's former
party.

Loik Le Floch-Prigent said nearly all the money went to Chirac's former
party until then-President Francois Mitterrand, a Socialist, demanded
the cash be spread to both sides of the political spectrum. Chirac, a
conservative, succeeded Mitterrand as president in 1995.

"We absolutely needed French politicians who supported us," Le
Floch-Prigent testified. "There were politicians who didn't want to
favor Elf ... We had to keep them quiet, to have them on our side."

Le Floch-Prigent was Elf's president from 1989 to 1993. He is one of 37
former top officials on trial over allegations that Elf, once France's
largest company, paid and received enormous commissions and used
inflated bills and other devices to enrich a chosen few.

Le Floch-Prigent testified March 19 that leaders of African nations
where Elf did business were among the beneficiaries of lucrative
commissions.

Le Floch-Prigent faces myriad charges, including abuse of company funds,
publication of false information and presentation of inaccurate
accounts.

During his leadership, the state-run company allegedly misused more than
$145 million in public funds. Elf was privatized in 1994 and taken over
in 1999 by TotalFina, making it a French-Belgian concern.

Le Floch-Prigent's testimony was certain to rattle France's political
elite. Chirac's office had no immediate comment on the testimony.

Le Floch-Prigent testified that, under his leadership, Elf paid parties
in the political right, including Chirac's Rally for the Republic, and
left. The funds were skimmed off commissions paid on oil deals, he said.

A previous corruption case that centered on Elf, one of the world's
largest oil companies, ended in January. Le Floch-Prigent is serving a
30-month jail term from that trial and faces five years in prison if
convicted this time.

Le Floch-Prigent said the man once known within Elf as "Mr. Africa,"
Andre Tarallo, took care of parties on the right, while Alfred Sirven,
the former No. 2 man, handled the left.

Tarallo and Sirven are among the top defendants in the case. Sirven fled
France but was arrested in the Philippines in 2001 and received a
three-year sentence in the earlier trial.

Le Floch-Prigent was first jailed for questioning in the case in 1996,
when he headed the state-run train authority, the SNCF.

AP-ES-03-31-03 1142EST

[PEN-L:36360] pray for our leaders

[PEN-L:36361] Re: pray for our leaders

Devine, James wrote:

>Friday's prayer cuts to the chase: "Pray that the President and his 
>advisers will recognize their divine appointment ..." It includes 
>some helpfully illuminating scripture, Romans 13:1: "Every person is 
>to be in subjugation to the governing authorities. For there is no 
>authority except from God, and those which exist are established by 
>God."

So much for "Thou shalt not kill" and "Turn the other cheek."

Doug

[PEN-L:36362] Re: Re: pray for our leaders

Not to mention that "divine appointment" shit. Is that what happens when 
you don't actually get elected?

Will they suspend the next election and just bring out the anointing oil?

Motherfuckers.

Joanna

At 06:47 PM 03/31/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Devine, James wrote:
>
>>Friday's prayer cuts to the chase: "Pray that the President and his 
>>advisers will recognize their divine appointment ..." It includes some 
>>helpfully illuminating scripture, Romans 13:1: "Every person is to be in 
>>subjugation to the governing authorities. For there is no authority 
>>except from God, and those which exist are established by God."
>
>So much for "Thou shalt not kill" and "Turn the other cheek."
>
>Doug
>

[PEN-L:36363] new radio product

I've just added three shows to my radio archive 
<http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html>:

* March 27, 2003 DH on politics and economics of war * contributors 
to Implicating Empire, on war, globalization, fundamentalism, and 
legitimacy: Heather Gautney (co-editor), Pete Bratsis, Michael Hardt, 
Ellen Willis

* March 13, 2003 DH on why a show mostly not about war * Tom 
Athanasiou and Paul Baer, authors of Dead Heat, on global warming * 
Mickey Z, editor of The Murdering of My Years, on how artists & 
activist make ends meet without selling out

* March 6, 2003 Ahmet Tonak on the political economy of Turkey & the 
war * Susie Bright, editor of The Best American Erotica 2003 [ignore 
promises at the top of the show that Ed Vulliamy would be on; he had 
quietly skipped off to DC to cover Bush's press conference]

They join:

* February 13, 2003 MARATHON SPECIAL: IF A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, 
WHAT MIGHT IT LOOK LIKE? Walden Bello on the World Social Forum (WSF) 
and rural development * Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and Fences and 
Windows, on how Argentines are taking governance and businesses into 
their own hands and the arrested adolescence of the globalization 
movement * Njoki Njehu, director of the U.S. 50 Years Is Enough 
campaign, on the global justice movement and peace

...and...

* Joseph Stiglitz on the IMF and the Wall St-Treasury axis
* William Pepper on the state-sponsored assasination of Martin Luther King
* Sara Roy on the Palestinian economy
* Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, and Cynthia Enloe on the then-impending 
war with Iraq
* Michael Hardt on Empire
* Judith Levine on kids & sex
* Christopher Hitchens on Orwell and his new political affiliations
* Mark Hertsgaard on the U.S. image abroad
* Ghada Karmi on her search for her Palestinian roots
* Jonathan Nitzan on the Israeli economy
* Alexandra Robbins on Skull & Bones
--

-- 

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
38 Greene St - 4th fl.
New York NY 10013-2505 USA
voice  +1-212-219-0010
fax    +1-212-219-0098
cell   +1-917-865-2813
email  <mailto:dhenwood@...>
web    <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com>

[PEN-L:36364] Re: buying the Parties-State

So French politicians are also pretty inexpensive.
--

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@...

[PEN-L:36365] Halliburton makes money. Iraq provides clients.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Halliburton Co. has been awarded a $9.7 million
contract to build an additional 204-cell detention camp at the U.S. naval
base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to hold additional suspected al Qaeda and
Taliban prisoners, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The move will expand the high-security prison on the base, where hundreds of
such "detainees" from Afghanistan are already being held in 612 small cells.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station has played a major part in the
U.S. war on terrorism declared after September's attacks on America in which
more than 3,000 people died. No prisoners have been charged, but some could
eventually face military trials.

Brown and Root Services, an engineering division of Halliburton, will build
the additional 6-by-8-foot cells on the windward side of the remote U.S.
base at the southeastern tip of Cuba, the Pentagon said.

The work is expected to be completed by October. But the Pentagon suggested
on Friday that the facility could grow even more and that the contract could
eventually total as much as $300 million if additional options were
exercised over the next four years.

----------
By Peter Baker at Marine Combat Headquarters, Iraq, Tom Allard and agencies
April 1 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/31/1048962706871.html

United States forces have begun rounding up Iraqi men in civilian clothes
suspected of being involved with paramilitary squads attacking them in
southern Iraq and may ship some to the notorious detention centre at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Coalition lawyers have put aside the original rules of engagement and are
drafting new guidelines for front-line troops on when to take into custody
Iraqi men - and possibly women. Among those already targeted are men in
civilian clothes who appear to be well fed and are hanging around dangerous
areas abandoned by other civilians.

[PEN-L:36366] US wages

US wages divide is wider than ever

David Teather in New York
Tuesday April 1, 2003
The Guardian

The gap between the earnings of America's chief executives and its average
workers was wider than ever last year. This was despite a fall in profits
and share prices and the cautionary tales of excess which have brought
down some of the biggest names in business.

Chief executives in the top 100 US companies earned an average of $1,017
an hour, compared with $16.23 for the average worker, according to a
survey published in USA Today.

The average compensation package was $33.4m, but nearly one-third banked
more than $50m in salaries, bonuses and shares. Salaries and bonuses for
executives were 15% higher in 2002, while workers received pay rises of
3.2%.

A handful made more than $100m. Including the potential value of options,
Michael Dell of Dell Computers earned $119.7m. Patrick Stokes, who runs
the brewing group Anheuser-Busch, made $125.6m, and Honeywell's David Cote
made $145.5m. The highest paid though was Jeffrey Barbakow of Tenet
Healthcare who took home $188.8m.

Concerns over corporate governance and more active shareholders had led
many to expect the inexorable growth in compensation to either slow or
even go into reverse. Analysts are waiting for this year's figures to see
whether reforms of Wall Street and corporate America have had any effect.