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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (18144)8/31/2009 2:54:22 PM
From: longnshort  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 103300
 
sounds like rev Wright, they guy Obama listen to for 21 years



To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (18144)8/31/2009 11:32:20 PM
From: Hope Praytochange  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 103300
 
Chevron's Shakedown
Posted 07:28 PM ET

The Law: If there's any doubt Ecuador's $26 billion lawsuit against Chevron
is nothing but a scam to shake down Big Oil, check out a new video of
Ecuadorean operatives who prove how justice works in that country.

Chevron, which has been battling the most expensive lawsuit in history from
Ecuadorean environmental radicals, released a video Monday showing the
"political coordinator" from Ecuador's ruling party telling a couple of
contractors that he'd be glad to get them contracts to remediate rain forest
pollution - for a $3 million fee.

See, the fix was already in that an Ecuadorean judge would rule against
Chevron on a $26 billion lawsuit. After that, the "remediation" gravy would
flow. Nevermind that Ecuador's state oil company created the pollution. It
was already in the bag that the judge would make Chevron pay.

The $3 million the "political coordinator" of Ecuador's ruling party tried
to extort would be divided three ways: $1 million for the judge, $1 million
for "the presidency" and $1 million for the plaintiffs - a radical group
known as the Amazon Defense Coalition.

But little did the Ecuadoreans know, their mafioso way of getting paid so
repelled the two contractors, Wayne Hansen and Diego Borja, that they
recorded it.

We understand why - their 22-minute video showing the shakedown plays like a
sleazy knockoff of "The Godfather." One of the contractors, who had done
work for Chevron in the past, gave it to the company. The film can now be
seen by anyone who cares about the facts of the case (or who just likes
mafia movies) at chevron.com/ecuador. "If this was in the Onion, it would be
funny," Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson told IBD.

But the tapes confirm three serious things: the Ecuadorean judge has already
decided to rule against Chevron later this year, even before he's heard the
evidence; that he can no longer preside over this case; that the government,
though not a party to the lawsuit, will benefit from the $26 billion
jackpot; and that the judge can no longer credibly preside over the case;
and that any appeal of the court's decision would be, in the judge's words
on the video, "a formality."

Whatever this is, it's not justice.

The merits of Chevron's case are irrelevant to Ecuador, whose judge is
internationally recognized as the arbiter of the case. And the U.S.
government's passivity in this case is foolish. Chevron's fate should be a
lesson: Ecuador's crooks will shake down American corporations for
everything they have - and then some.