>From NEWSMAX.COM
>>Boycott time? A<>E<>R<<
}}>Begin
UK Firms Giving Millions to Republicans, Democrats
NewsMaxUK.com
August 3, 2000 Despite US laws banning foreign firms from directly financing
its elections, UK companies have contributed millions of dollars to Republicans
and Democrats - helping to make this year's presidential campaign the most dear
in American history.
British oil behemoth BP Amoco has given nearly $2.5 million in corporate and
individual donations in the 1999-2000 cycle, according to the non-partisan US
election watchdog Centre for Responsive Politics, - with $818,000 of that total
($535,025 to the Republicans, $283,000 to the Democrats) in controversial "soft
money� donations, ranking it 19th among all donors.
The Republican Party appears to be the biggest winner form British soft-money
generosity.
The cigarette company Brown & Williamson, owned by BAT, has given $441, 380 to
Republicans and only $10,000 to the Democrats, while drugs group Glaxo Wellcome
has given $252,100 to Republicans versus $55, 500 to the Democrats.
These companies can violate the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the
law, because increasing globalisation has produced a boom of cross-border
mergers, meaning that the donations given by UK-owned firms are done mainly
through their US subsidiaries.
"These companies are using the soft money loophole to avoid the law meant to
stop foreign money influencing elections in the US. The system is corrupt and
anyone who participates, on whatever side, is tainted by it," Meredith McGehee,
an executive with US campaign-finance pressure group Common Cause, was quoted
by the Guardian as saying.
Critics of the American campaign system point out that many donations are
merely a quid-pro-quo for donors having special access or advantage from
politicians who have the power to "make or break� them.
Last year BP Amoco survived a protracted and expensive regulatory review of its
acquisition of the US oil major Arco. This year it has given $1.2 million
directly to the Democrats to help pay for their national convention in Los
Angeles later this month.
Ironically, BP does not contribute to Britain�s political parties.
A Common Cause spokesman told CNN on Wednesday that total political
contributions for the 1999-2000 cycle could likely top half a billion dollars.
Reprint Information
Home � NewsMax.com � Columnists � News Links � Best of Britain Jokes
Archives � Shopping Mall � Free E-mail News � Magazines � Forum � Classifieds �
Contact Us
All Rights Reserved � NewsMax.com
End<{{
A<>E<>R
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational
tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the
State among its hapless subjects. His task is to demonstrate
repeatedly and in depth that not only the emperor but even the
"democratic" State has no clothes; that all governments subsist
by exploitive rule over the public; and that such rule is the reverse
of objective necessity. He strives to show that the existence of
taxation and the State necessarily sets up a class division between
the exploiting rulers and the exploited ruled. He seeks to show that
the task of the court intellectuals who have always supported the State
has ever been to weave mystification in order to induce the public to
accept State rule and that these intellectuals obtain, in return, a
share in the power and pelf extracted by the rulers from their deluded
subjects.
[[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N. Rothbard,
Fox & Wilkes, 1973, 1978, p. 25]]
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
