HavenWorks.com/news/archive/2001/03 March 2001 News

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March 2001 News, 2001 March News

March 2001 News:

20010331

Rick Berman

Corporate

Media

Marketing

Food

Safety

Animals

Workers

Consumers

Health

Science

Politics

Law

Enforcement

"Berman & Co.: "Nonprofit" Hustlers for the Food & Booze Biz." ... "Restaurant-industry lobbyist Rick Berman says there are two things that set his firm, Berman & Co., apart from others in the trade. The first is that "we always have a knife in our teeth." The other is that "we don't chase the smaller issues. . . . Our work is restricted to and focused on issues that affect shareholder value. These big issues include labor costs as they relate to health insurance and the minimum wage, achieving operator sales increases, and tax rates as they are affected in particular by payroll and excise taxes."" ... "Based in Washington, DC, Berman speaks for hotels, beer distributors, taverns, and restaurant chains such as Cracker Barrel, Hooters, International House of Pancakes, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Steak & Ale, TGI Friday's, Uno Restaurants, and Wendy's. His strategy for helping these chains maximize "shareholder value" is aimed at two goals: minimizing wages for restaurant employees, while driving up sales of his client's high-markup products--in particular, booze, soda pop, fatty foods, and cigarettes." ... ""Other groups drive consumer behavior on meat, alcohol, fat, sugar, tobacco and caffeine with outrageous quotes, exaggeration, junk science and even violent acts," Berman said in a 1999 interview with the Chain Leader, a trade publication for restaurant chains. "Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger," Berman went on. "Given the activists' plans to alarm beyond all reason, we've got to attack their credibility as spokepersons."" ... "By way of disclaimer, we should note that our attention was first drawn to Berman & Co. when our 1997 book, Mad Cow USA, was attacked recently by one of Berman's front groups--the "Guest Choice Network," whose stated mission is to expose what it calls "the Nanny Culture -- the growing fraternity of food cops, health care enforcers, anti-meat activists, and meddling bureaucrats who 'know what's best for you.'"" ... "According to the Guest Choice Network, Mad Cow USA "set new standards for food scare tactics." Guest Choice has even produced a report, titled "Mad Cow: A New American Scare Campaign," which insinuates that we are the masterminds behind recent headline stories about mad cow disease that have appeared in places as far apart as Agence Press France, ABC World News Tonight, and the Wall Street Journal. The report includes sinister-looking charts and arrows alleging hidden conspiratorial ties between us and groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Center for Food Safety, Consumers Union, Fenton Communications, the Organic Consumers Association, Dr. Tom Pringle (who until recently managed a website about mad cow disease, at www.mad-cow.org), and CJD Voice (an internet-based discussion and support group for people who have lost family members to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a mad cow-like disease in humans)." ... "Guest Choice claims that all of these groups and individuals are part of a massive "junk-science smear campaign" to "ignite a U.S. panic" so that anti-meat "food police" can "frighten us all into eating only what bears their imprimatur."" ... "It is a curious honor, of course, to be accused of "junk science" by a flack for junk food. Given some of the garbage that Berman's clients feed to an unsuspecting public, it's hardly surprising that he would see a need to "attack our credibility as spokespersons."" ... "But what about Berman & Co. itself? How much credibility should anyone give a restaurant industry spokesperson who brags of having "a knife in his teeth"? The sad fact is that the news media has given him plenty. " -By Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

-PRWatch.org

20010327

"Search engines grapple with constant Web growth"

-CNN

20010324

"Lobbyists Go Full Tilt in Bid to Ease Patient Privacy Rules: Effort appears to be one of the largest ever undertaken to block implementation of a federal health care regulation." By ALISSA J. RUBIN -

LAtimes

20010323

"California Investigates Natural Gas Prices" -

LAtimes

20010321

"Foul mood pounds stocks" -

ChicagoTribune

20010320

"Bush To Repeal Work Safety Rules" -AP via Netscape

20010319

"Is your computer being monitored?"

-CNN

20010319 (26)

Basic Medical Privacy is Still Years Away -AMedNews

20010318

"Massive Spy-Satellite Program to Cost Billions" -LAtimes

"Train derails in rural Iowa; 1 dead, 90 hurt" -ChicagoTribune

20010317

"Posting of Instant Messages on Net Is Firm's Nightmare" -LAtimes

20010316

.Slashdot threatened by Scientoligists -Slashdot

20010312

.Afghan Taliban Destroy Buddha Statues

-CNN

20010311

.Gore Won Florida - Lost Butterfly Ballot

-PalmBeachPost- story via CNN

.Bush says No to Airline Labor

-AP via Salon/news

20010308

.Crashing Russia's Mir Station Safely

-CSMonitor

20010305

Enron News - "

Is Enron Overpriced? It's in a bunch of complex businesses. Its financial statements are nearly impenetrable. So why is Enron trading at such a huge multiple?" (1, 2, 3) -Bethany McLean

-Fortune

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March 2001 News
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