The National Restaurant Association has hired Alexandria, Va.-based Smith & Harroff for an ad campaign to encourage Americans to dine out as a way to boost the economy, the food service industry, and as a return to daily life after the September 11 attacks reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. The restaurant industry says it has lost business and has had to lay off workers as a result of the attacks. Premiering October 23 in U.S. dailies, the "Help America Turn the Tables" campaign promotes the restaurant industry as a "$1 trillion 'cornerstone' of the U.S.

Pacifica Foundation vice chairman Ken Ford is playing the "terrorist card" at the formerly progressive radio network, currently in a financial crisis as it faces mounting bills from lawyers and PR firms. Outside vendors are not being paid, employee paychecks are in question, and four lawsuits alleging everything from financial malfeasance to by-law violations are scheduled to go to trial in January. Responding to charges of mismanagement, Ford characterized critics of Pacifica as "zealots," adding, "I see parallels between this group and al Qaeda, the terrorists who bombed New York.

American people remain largely uninformed about the many foreign policy decisions (including aiding in the overthrow of leaders in Iran and bombing Lebanon, Afghanistan, Sudan and Libya) that have inflamed much of the Islamic world. We instead are told that we are hated because we are rich, free and angelic. Nor are most Americans aware that Central Asia, according to the Oil and World Journal, will account for 80 percent of our oil by 2050, and that some people with connections to the Bush administration have commercial interests in that exploration.