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10 August 2005

Bush Signs $286.4-Billion Highway Bill

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, please be seated. (Applause.)

Thanks. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's such an honor to be here at Caterpillar. I want to thank the men and women who build the machinery here. I want to thank you for your hard work. I want to thank you for your -- for putting out a great product.

And I'm here to sign the highway bill because I believe by signing this bill, when it's fully implemented, there's going to be more demand for the machines you make here. (Applause.)

Source: Whitehouse

In other words, "Hey guys, we've secured continuity of oil supply, Iran's up next, now let's build some more of those lovely roads."

Pass the sick bag.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know I hadn't realised that the clothing and footware brand Caterpillar had anything to do with these machines until I went to the War on Want website.

http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=9969

My kids were sporting trendy Caterpillar T-shirts (which have since been binned), and I felt sick at how Caterpillar were manipulating young people into associating their name with trendy clothing rather than machines of barbarity.

Since 7/7 I have come out of my 'coma' and woken up to the real world (with some help from reading your pages I must add).

The Antagonist said...

Caterpillar have a long an interesting history which includes things like Palestine: U.S. Bulldozer Firm in Mid-East Row in its illustrious past.

Noam Chomsky has cited Caterpillar in relation to studies of how large corporations drive their workforces from "defiance to compliance" through various underhand tactics that remove their rights and their wages simultaneously.

More information is available from a couple of excellent Chomsky publications including the freely available:

Class Warware - Interviews with David Barsamian [PDF]

and

Understanding Power - The Indispensable Chomsky [Entire book as single PDF]