Mr. Bush has said the bill would force companies to quietly adopt unlawful hiring and promotion quotas in order to avoid costly lawsuits.

As a result, they said, employers would have to quietly adopt quotas to forestall discrimination suits.

Many states quietly adopted laws requiring these provisional ballots to be thrown out if they are cast in the wrong precinct.

Prior to the changes, some lawmakers said, the only way employers could avoid losing costly discrimination suits was to quietly adopt quotas.

But in due course they will abandon their realism and quietly adopt Mr. Bush's numbers.

Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders quietly adopted new rules over the weekend that will make it virtually impossible for the constitution to fail in the coming national referendum.

Egypt is already quietly adopting the role of custodian in Gaza, putting Egyptian colonels in control of Palestinian border brigades, training the security services and leaning on terrorist organizations to cease their activities.

While Clear Channel Communications, the largest owner of radio stations in the country, has been the most public in promising change, other media companies are quietly adopting policies that may be considered just as ground-shifting.

Mr. Arafat quietly adopted Mr. Yassin's children.

Another law, adopted quietly last fall, requires all the people who use encryption software to register with the government by Monday.