From outreach at countercorp.org Wed Sep 13 22:15:11 2006 From: outreach at countercorp.org (CounterCorp) Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:15:11 -0700 Subject: [Corporations] Sept. 27 screening of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" in SF Message-ID: The 2006 CounterCorp Anti-Corporate Film Festival presents a benefit film screening event ?IRAQ FOR SALE: The War Profiteers? Find out who?s getting killed ? and who?s making a killing Wednesday, September 27, 7:30 p.m. Brava Theater Center 2789 24th Street, San Francisco In his previous film ("Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"), director Robert Greenwald showed the insidious and far-reaching effects of 'Godzilla capitalism' on ordinary people across the U.S. and around the world. Greenwald's latest work, "IRAQ FOR SALE: The War Profiteers", examines what happens to everyday Americans ? and Iraqis ? when corporations go to war, revealing the inside story of the soldiers, truck drivers, widows, and children whose lives have been changed forever as a result of the staggering amount of corporate profiteering in post-invasion of Iraq. The film uncovers the connections between a small group of private U.S. companies that have made literally billions of dollars doing jobs that the military used to do ? and that the Iraqis themselves could do better, faster, and cheaper ? and the policymakers and bureaucrats who have allowed these firms to turn no- bid contracts into a license to steal from American soldiers and taxpayers. Among the waste, fraud, and abuse documented in the film: ? Halliburton executives living in five-star hotels while providing unsanitary water to U.S. troops, burning perfectly good cars and trucks just so that they can buy new ones, and ?losing? $9 billion in cash ? Blackwater, a private mercenary army that masquerades as a ?security company? and operates with near total impunity in Iraq, cutting corners in order to make even more money and getting four of its employees killed in Faluja ? CACI and Titan, two virtually unknown companies in the U.S., providing the untrained guards and nearly useless translators who brought about the humiliation, torture, and national disgrace known as Abu Ghraib Although the privatization of the Pentagon began long before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the sheer extent and brazenness of the profiteering in Iraq ? and the total lack of government oversight or accountability for a handful of well-connected American corporations ? have resulted in the deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians, alienated most of the Iraqi population, turned Iraq into a recruitment and training center for militant Muslims, and helped to foment a sectarian civil war that threatens the stability of the whole region, and beyond. The film will be followed by a panel discussion, and preceded by a protest at the headquarters of war profiteer Bechtel Corporation at 50 Beale Street in San Francisco (Embarcadero BART) from 4:00-6:00 p.m., led by Global Exchange/CodePINK and other members of the Declaration of Peace coalition (www.declarationofpeace.org). Tickets are $10 and are available online at www.countercorp.org, or at the door starting at 7:00 p.m. Beer, wine, and munchables will also be available for purchase at the theater (cash only). Proceeds go to cover the costs of the 2006 Anti-Corporate Film Festival in November. For more information on the screening or the festival itself ? as well as downloadable flyers and e-calendar events ? visit www.countercorp.org. # # # CounterCorp Film Festival 2017 Mission Street #305 San Francisco, CA 94110 www.countercorp.org filmfest at countercorp.org :-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-: To get tickets to CounterCorp's Sept. 27 benefit screening of "Iraq for Sale", visit http://virtuous.com/events/countercorp/ To subscribe to CounterCorp's news and events e-mail list, visit http://list.countercorp.org/mailman/listinfo/countercorp-news To add CounterCorp events to your computer or iPod calendar, click on webcal://icalx.com/public/CounterCorp/CounterCorp.ics To donate to the festival, select CounterCorp from the drop-down menu at https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695 To see every show at the 2006 festival for as little as $7.50 each, get a "Full-Fest" pass at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5620 From paraconsistent at comcast.net Sun Sep 17 23:05:53 2006 From: paraconsistent at comcast.net (Eubulides) Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:05:53 -0700 Subject: [Corporations] Yet another reason the corporation as legal-cum-technological organization must go Message-ID: <000001c6dad7$bec4cc30$6701a8c0@paraconsistent> World's leading companies lack plan on climate change By Saeed Shah Published: 18 September 2006 Most of the world's 500 biggest companies have no programme in place, with explicit targets, to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, despite mounting evidence that the earth is heading towards environmental catastrophe. The most comprehensive study of the environmental behaviour of the world's biggest corporations, by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), found that emissions from these businesses are rising at an alarming rate and most are not acting to tackle the issue. Among the worst performers in the research, which rates companies on a scoring system, were Pepsi, the soft drinks giant, Nintendo, the computer gaming group, and the financial services giant American Express. Among the 33 British companies, the company doing the least, by far, to address the issue is BAE Systems, the arms manufacturer that employs thousands of people in this country. CDP is an international coalition of institutional investors, which together manage assets worth $31.5 trillion. It includes the likes of Aberdeen Asset Management, Hermes Investment Management and HSBC in the UK. The research, which examines companies in the FT500 global index, is based on the extent to which businesses are aware of climate change issues and how much they are doing to reduce their emissions of harmful greenhouse gases, rather than which companies have the greatest absolute level of emissions. Of the 500 biggest companies in the world, 360 provided information to the CDP and although 87 per cent of them recognised climate change as a key risk, 52 per cent of these businesses had no targets to reduce their emissions. Even more worrying for the researchers was the 140 companies that did not provide any data, suggesting an even lower level of concern about the environment. Among these were Honda, Bridgestone, Apple Computers, Goldman Sachs, Kellogg, Philips, Google and Yahoo!. Counting together those with no reduction programme and those unwilling to provide information, 65 per cent of the world's biggest businesses have not implemented an emissions reduction programme. The companies surveyed are responsible for 10 per cent of the world's annual greenhouse gases emissions, producing 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide this year. James Cameron, chairman of the CDP said: "The findings confirm that awareness of the risks and opportunities posed by climate change has risen dramatically among investors and the companies they own. But awareness alone will not drive the changes in investment and corporate strategy needed if disastrous climate change is to be avoided. For that, investors will have to put the CDP data to work." On the CDP scoring system, the British companies did relatively well, averaging a score of 75, with the exception of BAE, which scored just 25 out of 100. The UK companies scoring below average were Standard Chartered, Scottish & Southern, SABMiller, Royal Bank of Scotland, Prudential, O2, Lloyds TSB and BAT.