substandard wages? check
unpaid overtime? check
poor health care coverage? check
10
Richest Americans, 2003:
1. Gates, William H III Microsoft $40,700,000,000.
2. Buffett, Warren Edward Investments $30,500,000,000.
3. Allen, Paul Gardner Microsoft $20,100,000,000.
4 . Ellison, Lawrence Joseph Oracle $16,600,000,000.
5. Walton, Helen R Wal-Mart $16,500,000,000.
6. Walton, S Robson Wal-Mart $16,500,000,000.
7. Walton, John T Wal-Mart $16,500,000,000.
8. Walton, Jim C Wal-Mart $16,500,000,000.
9. Walton, Alice L Wal-Mart $16,500,000,000.
10. Ballmer, Steven Anthony Microsoft
$11,100,000,000.
headquarters: Irving, Texas
#1 Global Warming
Villian
stalls international efforts to combat global warming resolutions
does not invest in renewable energy alternatives
2nd largest contributor to Republican National Committee
Don't buy gas at Exxon / Mobile / Esso stations !!!
Cell
Phones
A University of Toronto study in 1997 published in the New
England Journal of Medicine showed that
talking on a cell phone while driving increased the risk of an accident four-fold,
the same factor as a blood
alcohol level at the legal DUI limit. "Hands-free" car phones
were rated as slightly more dangerous than
hand-held terminals.
The
evidence is so compelling, the cellular industry does not deny it. However,
it has
lobbied aggressively against any legislation. AT&T Wireless
funded a study by the Harvard Center for
Risk Analysis in July 2000. Their finding - outlawing calls while
driving would harm the economy, because
the financial benefits of the calls outweigh the damage from crashes.
Another study, produced by the same Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
(but not funded by AT&T) and
published in February 2003 Risk Analysis calculated that a U.S.-wide
ban would have zero net economic impact,
and save up to 8,000 lives per year. In 2002, the state of Hawaii paid
$1.5 million to a hitchhiker left permanently
disabled when he was run over by a teacher who was calling one of her student's
parents while driving.
-Network Magazine, March 2003
A truck driver fumbling for a
cell phone plowed his tractor-trailer into a stopped school bus in rural
North Carolina yesterday, killing a 5-year-old girl as she boarded the bus.
Her mother and more than
a dozen other children were injured. The force of the crash propelled the bus
more than 400 feet and
into the yards of nearby houses. The truck driver told reporters "he
was distracted because he was
trying to locate his cell phone, which he had dropped on the floorboard."
-Associated Press, January 19, 2004.
Men who regularly carry cell
phones have a 30% reduced sperm count.
Men who carry cell phones on their belt have even more than a 30% reduction.
Lockheed
Martin Corporation
has agreed to pay $37.9 million to settle charges that it inflated
costs
on four Air Force contracts, the Justice Department said yesterday.
Albert Campbell, former company employee, will receive $8.8 million
under the whistlebolwer provision of the False Claims Act.
-Associated Press, August 28, 2003
Monsanto
Genetically altering
plants for profit.
Europe, Africa, and most of the rest of the world
have outlawed genetically altered food.
Did you have corn flakes or an english muffin today?
Union
Carbide = Dow Chemical = Death
In 1984, a gas leak at a pesticide
plant in Bhopal India killed over 20,000 people and poisoned hundreds of
thousands more. Dow Chemical refuses to clean the mess. The drinking water in
Bhopal is still contaminated.
The former Chief Executive of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, is wanted in India.
He is currently living in the Hamptons, on New York's Long Island.
The
Producers of Landmines
(and their stockholders):
Alliant Techsystems, Inc.
General Electric Co.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Raytheon Co.
Is she in your 401k portfolio?
JetBlue
Airways
Violating its own privacy
policy, JetBlue Airways gave 5 million passenger itineraries to a Defense Department
contractor that used the information as part of a study seeking ways to identify
"high risk" airline customers.
The transgression
sparked denunciations Friday from civil liberties advocates concerned about
the government’s
use of commercial data to skirt the 1974 Privacy Act. The law prohibits routine
data collection on ordinary Americans.
- The Associated Press,
September 20th, 2003
JetBlue
Airways has admitted that it secretly gave passenger records including names,
addresses, phone
numbers and flight information to a Defense Department contractor. Torch Concepts
then matched those
records with data from data aggregator Acxiom. By matching the JetBlue passenger
list with the Acxiom
information, Torch was able to extract demographic information including income
information, social security
number, occupations, and years at residence for approximately 40% of those passengers.
Lawsuits and investigations have been initiated.
- Privacy News, September 24, 2003
Comcast
Cable
Comcast has pledged $50
million worth of free advertising for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
In New Hampshire, Comcast Cable refused to allow MPP "Marijuana Policy
Project" to purchase airtime for their TV commercial.
The Least Fuel Efficient Vehicles of 2003
city mpg / highway mpg / tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year *
8
/ 14 / N.A. GM
Hummer H1, Hummer H2
12
/ 16 / 13.6 Cadillac
Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade Ext
12 / 16 / 13.6
GMC
K1500 Yukon, Yukon XL
12 / 16 / 14.0 Land
Rover Discovery Series II
* Not only does most of
the fuel you put in your tank become greenhouse gas emissions, but the carbon
in the fuel combines with oxygen in the air, almost tripling the weight of the
fuel itself. The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and
methane.
You also must consider the energy and materials that are used to build the vehicle.
U.S. Companies that don't pay any taxes
TYCO International, Ltd.
In 1997, TYCO "moved" to Bermuda. (actually, they only
changed their business address).
In 2001, Tyco was awarded $100 million in contracts for terror-related emergency
response services.
Ingersoll-Rand
An American
Company. They made the jackhammers that were used to carve Mt. Rushmore.
Ingersoll-Rand avoids paying about $40 million a year in US taxes, by claiming
to be a "Bermuda" corporation.
Ingersoll-Rand had over 200 US Government contracts in 2001.
The IRS estimates that $70 billion dollars per year is being siphoned off from the US Treasury by this "loophole".
however...
"The
improvement on earnings is powerful enough that maybe the patriotism issue needs
to take a back seat to that."
- Kate Barton, an Ernst & Young tax partner
If this woman ever got hungry, I worry for her children. She might eat them.