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sis told to watch moore visitGATT Watchdog spokesperson Aziz Choudry has written to the New Zealand Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) asking it to monitor the upcoming visit of World Trade Organisation boss Mike Moore, who Choudry says was described as a "terrorist" at a recent NGO meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan. Given that one of the stated aims of the SIS is to take an active interest in "the threat to New Zealand's security from extremist groups dedicated to overthrowing or undermining parliamentary democracy," GATT Watchdog believes the service should be keeping an eye on the activities of Moore, who is "the figurehead for a powerful international organisation which operates in a clandestine, unaccountable manner, which makes enforceable decisions that can undermine existing national laws and which could well constrain future governments from charting their own course of economic, political and social development". The GATT Watchdog letter also warns that Moore's visit is likely to incite trouble, citing "the mass mobilisations of many thousands of people in Seattle at last year's WTO Ministerial Meeting and similar events surrounding his various international fixtures since becoming WTO Director-General". "Given that the WTO operates in 'clandestine ways to achieve their objectives' (p17, Security in New Zealand Today) we presume you will seek a warrant to intercept Mr Moore's communications now and in the future. We would however suggest some prior training in the art of breaking and entering as we are a little concerned at the level of skill displayed by some of your officers in the past." Choudry recently received an undisclosed payment for damages after the SIS were caught illegally entering his Christchurch home in 1996 after an anti-APEC conference.
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mcenglishSome people think anarchists have paranoid delusions about McDonald's. Those of you who don't read the capitalist media may have missed a report in The Economist (July 15-21, 2000) which suggests we haven't been paranoid enough. According to this brilliant bastion of the establishment, McDonald's have extended their well-known legal attacks against any business using a common Celtic prefix in their name. The company has sued a sausage stand in Denmark (McAllan's), a coffee shop in California (run by a woman named McCaughhey) and a British sandwich shop (named McMunchies). However, the scary case involves a small internet-based health care company in Switzerland named McWellness. McDonald's wrote to the US patent offices' trademark trial and appeal board claiming the company is likely to "expand the use of its 'Mc' formative marks to include the same services on which the McWellness is intended to be used." McDonald's, it seems, intends to branch out into medical services, and amongst other things claims to have registered ownership of the slogan "Immunise for Healthy Lives".
Other McDonald's-registered trademarks include 'McTravel' and 'McSpaceStation'. A McFuture looms.
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