Quote:SAUDIS HIRE GOP SPIN DOCS


May 1, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia has hired a slew of D.C.'s most powerful lobbying and p.r. firms - including turning to an ad-buying company that's helped top Republicans - to buff its post-9/11 image, The Post has learned.
One firm, Sandler-Innocenzi, which has worked for the Republican National Committee, recently was used by the Saudis to place TV spots portraying the kingdom as an ally against terrorism, according to the group that won the contract.

Qorvis Communication, which signed a $200,000- per-month public-relations deal with the Saudis last November, sent its commercial-placing job to Sandler-Innocenzi, said Qorvis executive Michael Petruzello.

Despite the company's efforts, several cable TV networks - including the Weather Channel and A&E - rejected the Saudi ads as inappropriate. Some local stations aired the spots.

The Saudis' image in the United States has been hurt by revelations that 15 of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, that it makes payments to families of homicide bombers, and promoted a national telethon to raise money for Palestinian "martyrs."

The Saudi strategy is to "increase awareness" and promote their "commitment in the war against terrorism," according to the p.r. contract with Qorvis.

The firm also lists House GOP Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) - sponsor of a strongly pro-Israel resolution in Congress - as a client.

The RNC said it hasn't used Sandler-Innocenzi since 2000.

It's unclear how much the Saudis paid the company. The firm's representatives didn't reply to requests for comment or register as foreign agents with the Justice Department.

The Saudis also have hired the powerhouse lobbying firm Patton Boggs for a flat fee of $100,000 for two months - and recently entered into a one-year $77,000-per-month agreement with p.r. giant Hill and Knowlton, according to foreign agent registration records kept by the Justice Department.

Just eight days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the kingdom paid about $2.5 million to the p.r. firm Burson-Marsteller to buy national newspaper ads, including one expressing condolences.

Lobbyist Jamie Gallagher, a former GOP Senate aide, was paid $20,000 to advise the Saudis for their recent meetings with President Bush and GOPers on Capitol Hill.

Quote:What I really don't understand is why the car companies aren't using 9/11 as a good excuse to look into alternate fuel sources.

Quote:What I really don't understand is why the car companies aren't using 9/11 as a good excuse to look into alternate fuel sources. I know they have done reasearch and even built some cars, but they should be trying extra hard now to find those alternate sources.

Quote:We don't want to drive cars that get good gas milage or you'd see a hell of a lot less SUV's and swarms of Geo Metros

Quote:. What is that all about??

Quote:alternative fuel vehicles won't get off the ground

Quote:Let's completely corrupt a pristine area of nature because we're too lazy and won't to find other means of power, which could be readily available if we put our scientific and monetary resources together.

Quote:We are dependant on oil, NOT just for power, but for a bunch of things. Do you know where plastics come from...long chain hydrocarbons. Do you know where we get long chain hydrocarbons?

Crude oil.

Everything that is plastic was made from oil.

Quote:I mean, otherwise everyone would need Billu Bong Thorton

Quote:Hemp is the world's strongest natural fiber. It has been used to make cloth and rope for over 10,000 years. Hemp was the first crop ever cultivated for textile production.

Hemp cloth is stronger, longer lasting, more resistant to mildew, and cheaper to produce than cloth made of cotton. Hemp ropes are known for their strength and durability. The original Levi Strauss jeans were made from a hempen canvas. Even Old Glory was made from hemp fiber. A 44 gun frigate like “Old Ironsides” took over 60 tons of hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable 25 inches in circumference.

Hemp can be used to make virtually anything that is currently made of cotton, timber, or petroleum. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. Until 1883, more than 75% of the world's paper was made with hemp fiber.

In 1937 Popular Science magazine called hemp "The New Billion Dollar Crop."

Then the big money people struck out to protect their interests. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst led the crusade to ban hemp. Hearst owned millions of acres of prime timber land and a machine that simplified the process of making paper from hemp had just been invented. Hearst used his power as a publisher to create public panic about the evils of hemp and marijuana. Another big money player Pierre DuPont held patent rights to the sulfuric acid wood pulp paper process. In 1937 DuPont patented nylon rope made from synthetic petrochemicals. Along with Duponts backer Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon the big money people prevailed and near the end of 1937 Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. By placing a prohibitively high tax on hemp production it destroyed the industry. This was done to protect these big money interests of the timber, petrochemical, and cotton industries. Hemp was briefly re-legalized during W.W.II. The U.S. government produced the movie Hemp for Victory to encourage farmers to grow hemp. Even 4H clubs were asked to grow hemp to help their country in wartime. The parachute that saved George Bush's life in World War II was made of hemp fiber.

Henry Ford dreamed that someday automobiles would be grown from the soil. In 1941 the Ford motor company produced an experimental automobile with a plastic body composed of 70% cellulose fibers from hemp. The car body could absorb blows 10 times as great as steel without denting. The car was designed to run on hemp fuel. Because of the ban on both hemp and alcohol the car was never mass produced.

Industrial hemp can replace cotton. Cotton is typically grown with large amounts of chemicals that are harmful to people, wildlife and the entire environment. Close to 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton. Hemp grows well in a wide variety of climates and soils. It requires far less fertilizer and pesticides than most commercial crops.

All parts of the hemp plant are useful. Hemp can be used to produce everything from fuel to soap. The oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats.

Industrial hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield. It can replace wood fiber and help save our forests. Trees take approximately 20 years to mature - hemp takes 4 months. Paper made from hemp lasts for centuries, compared to 25-80 years for paper made from wood pulp.

Hemp is the perfect source for fuel. It produces more biomass than any other plant. If we had to pay at the pump for all the military costs to keep the oil flowing clean burning alcohol fuel produced from hemp would be a bargain.

Today industrial hemp is cultivated in Canada, China, Russia, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, England, Poland and many other Eastern European countries.

Quote:There was a story a while back that Exxon, Mobil, Shell and other US oil companies have bought the patent and production rights to alternate fuel types with the sole intention of never producing them. Why? Why would you shoot your cow when you can milk it forever.