A slew of reasons.  But within that paradigm that values entities — humans included — only insomuch as they yield economic ends, here’s an unintentional point against the bomb-throwing, Hussein-bribing conglomerate:

Rhode Islanders benefit from the big three’s presence here. Whenever CVS, Hasbro or Textron is mentioned in the national media, or by business consultants, so is their headquarters’ location in Rhode Island. That sends a message.

Indeed — when Rhode Island’s name is connected to gangsters who help wreak havoc across the globe, it casts a pall on all of us.  In the country’s most anti-war and anti-Bush state, we should particularly take that seriously.

Whoa.

Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds—that is, until he steps into an “exoskeleton” of aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as many as 20 times.

The Salt Lake City Tribune reports that local global defense contractor Raytheon, having purchased Jameson’s company, is producing these puppies. (more…)

From the Projo:

Proposals from shareholders that are not supported by management typically fail. That was the case today for proposals from two separate shareholder groups.

One, from a group of religious organizations, called on Textron to issue a detailed report on the company’s foreign sales of weapons and related items. About 93 percent of shareholder votes were lodged against that proposal, according to preliminary results announced at the meeting.

Whom do they sell to?  Just about anybody who’s willing to buy.

Who’s that Mark Penn guy that all the TV shows and what not are discussing this week? Yeah that guy.

The one who was until recently the “chief strategist” of the Clinton campaign. The one whose firm has made 14 million dollars from HRC’s campaign so far. That Bill and Hill are furious at not because his giant global PR firm was working for Countrywide and Blackwater, but because he was personally working to build support for a free trade pact with Columbia that HRC opposes and that Bush is fast-tracking. Probably because this is just a reminder that Hillary threw her support of NAFTA under a bus bound for Ohio. The single biggest advocate for an attack-dog strategy that has pumped Hillary’s negatives and compromised the party. The one whose firm’s lobbying arm was run by John McCain’s top strategist. That guy.

Oh him? He’s just this guy. Don’t worry, he’s still totally working for the campaign though. Totally. (more…)

UPDATE by Will Emmons:

Just got back from this event and it went insanely well. Providence SDS showed up with an anti-imperialist funk machine in the form of two speakers in a shopping cart jury-rigged to a car battery and connected to someone’s mp3 player.  The funk machine was decorated with mad anti-war signs and flags. The greatest moment of my life was watching a shopping cart bumping with Daft Punk leading a train of dozens of colorfully clad activists to take Kennedy Plaza. Many young people who were waiting for buses realized that the FUNK THE WAR dance party was way cooler than where ever they were planning to go and we ended up with a head count of over 50 folks dancing on and around the Civil War memorial which had been taken over with “Providence Students for a Democratic Society” and “Resist U.S. Empire” banners. During an intermission in the dancing, Brown student Sopheya Lambertson, ‘11, and RISD student Kat Poe, ‘09, explained that this dance party wasn’t just about protesting five years of war but also taking back public space for activities other than working and consuming.  Special kudos goes out to the high schooler with the koi tattoo who was break dancing and the folks who fronted the money for the car battery. My only complaint was that no M.I.A. was played.

Check back later for rockin’ pictures and be sure to check out the rest of Providence SDS’s 5th Anniversary of the War Week of Action, like tomorrow’s anti-war march with the RI Spring Mobilization Committee starting at 4:00 PM from Burnside Park (next to Kennedy Plaza) and marching to the headquarters of the war profiteer and cluster bomb manufacturer Textron and then to the State House.  You’ll remember that it was Providence SDS that started this recent round of Textron activism last March with a die-in where Dylan V. Cofer-Shabica was arrested for smearing the building with raspberry jam.  

Oh and to the police who videotaped us: put that shit on Youtube so I can show my mom.

Original Post after the jump: (more…)