I thought this deserved its own thread...below is a reply a made to one of the previous threads ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=24473&site=3 ) and I am anxious for someone to refute it...or maybe I'm right.
Not quite...it seems everyone is muddling the details on this.
It seems that James McCann, who donated the stocks to the WT, invented an improved rotary engine called a Rand Cam engine. His company, the Rand Cam Engine Corp is a privately held company, but he has donated 50% of the stock to the WT (but retained the voting proxy so the WT has no say in what is going on), he owns 34% and the balance is owned by several shareholders. This company is half owner of another company called Rand Energy Group. The other partner is Reg Technologies.
These two companies, Rand Energy Group and Reg Technologies are the developers of the Rand Cam engine.
The website you referred us to, http://www.regtech.com/press/press1995.htm , simply says the following..."Hercules Aerospace company has merged with Alliant TechSystems, Inc. that creates a $1.3 billion company in annual sales. Alliant is currently completing the drawings on the Diesel Engine to be completed within ninety days."
So neither Rand Cam Engine Corp, Rand Energy Group, or Reg Technologies own or have merged with this company. Instead, Alliant is working in conjunction with Reg Tech to develop a diesel version of this rotary engine.
So, in effect, the WT owns half of a company (with no voting proxy, mind you) that owns half of another company that has a subsidiary that is working with another company that is developing their engine for a military application.
So I wouldn't go so far to say that WT is into Military stock big time, but I would say that if the WT is aware of this military connection, you would think they would donate the stock back so as not to stumble anyone. Who knows how many different stocks they own and if they are tracking the actions of each company they have a vested interest in? Maybe they don't realize this, maybe they do, I don't know.
If someone understands this differently, please respond.