Rachel Corrie and Caterpillar revisited

Yesterday was Caterpillar, Inc.'s annual meeting, and predictably the pro-terror crowd was out in force trying to force the company to not sell to Israel. The company rejected their arguments vehemently.

Over a year ago, the pro-terror crowd said they were suing Caterpillar, presumably for building bulldozers that could accidentally kill people.

If one goes through the Rachel Corrie website, for some reason one cannot find a single call for Arab nations or Palestinian Arabs to boycott Caterpillar! As the chairman pointed out yesterday, Arab nations themselves rejected the idea of a boycott, and the wonderful, warm Palestinian Arabs who Rachel was defending somehow manage to get their hands on some Cat bulldozers as well:


And now for today's gratuitous swipe at the MSM: It is widely believed and reported (in the article linked to above, for example) that Corrie was "crushed to death in 2003 by a Caterpillar tractor." In fact:

The army report obtained by the Guardian says Corrie: "was struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle's operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death.

"The finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved."

Finally, for all of the supposed human rights supporters calling for hurting Caterpillar, it is fun to once again see how its stock has been doing since Corrie's death.

On the day she died, Caterpillar stock was at $22.10 in today's terms, after splits and dividends. Today it is at $70.85, more than tripling its price in a little over three years. Not too shabby! Perhaps an anti-terror mutual fund should be created - it would probably beat the market.