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INSIDE THE SYSTEM
We want normal meat

February 22, 2002 | Page 4

EVEN OLYMPIC athletes can't get a decent meal. Athletes from Belarus, the former USSR republic, have filed a formal complaint with U.S. Olympic organizers for not providing enough food and feeding them McDonald's hamburgers.

"The biathletes have not received dinner for three days," said Ivan Ryzhenkov, the captain of Belarus' Olympic team. "We've had trouble with food from the first day."

Even worse, say the athletes, when food does come, it's usually from McDonald's. "Our sportsmen are getting sandwiches from McDonald's and various hamburgers," said Alexander Grigorov, the Belarus Deputy Sports Minister. "But they need normal meat, fresh juice, hot soup."

--Reuters, February 12, 2002

Coming to a store near you?

THE U.S. company CMG Worldwide recently purchased exclusive rights to the image and brand name of "Mahatma Gandhi." The leader of India's fight for independence from the West now joins the ranks of Marilyn Monroe, Princess Di and James Dean on CMG's roster of celebrities.

The deal was struck by Gandhi's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, the managing trustee of the Gandhi Foundation. The firm has already helped Tushar earn approximately $60,000 from an ad agency that wants to use the Mahatma's image for promoting an unspecified product.

Proceeds from the commercial use of Mahatma's image will go to the Gandhi Foundation. Tushar Gandhi was apparently convinced to strike the deal with CMG when they called and warned him about the "possible misuse" of Mahatma's name and image.

"I do not want his name or image to be used irreverently, such as on a meat product or on lingerie," Tushar said.

--Tribune of India, February 8, 2002

Heard it through the grapevine

"IF DEMOCRATS were saying the kinds of things that we were saying about Enron, this scandal would be blowing wide open. But they're not saying much, are they? That's how bad it's gotten: They can't even seize an issue like Enron."
--Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader

"WE ACTUALLY may not be able to afford to look after all the orphans. Even in cold, clinical terms, it may be more expensive to the developed world to let them die."
--U2 singer Bono at the World Economic Forum, on AIDS victims in poor countries

"I DON'T think [big pharmaceutical companies] are the bête noire that all my friends think. I think they need to make profits."
--Bono

"ACCORDING TO some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."
--Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, admitting that the Pentagon "can't remember" where it's been spending its money

"IF I want to sit by myself and watch football by myself with the dogs, I'm going to. I even fired up a pretzel the other day, and it went down smoothly."
--George W. Bush

"I GOT $3,500 over 10 years, but our friend, Kay Bailey Hutchison, she got $99,000. Hell, I'm the chairman of the committee. That wasn't a contribution. That was an insult."
--Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, on his contributions from Enron

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