Daily Rant – May 5, 2009
May 5, 2009
Warren Buffett predicts massive inflation thanks to economic policies of unbridled deficit spending from our government… but he still likes Barack Obama.
Speaking of which, I saw an Internet e-mail about Obama filing for financial aid as a foreign student while at Occidental College under the name Barry Soetoro. The story was in the AP and Britain’s Daily Mail. It was scrubbed from the Arizona Sentinel which might indicate it is a fake. We’ll see. There are court cases pending challenging his legitimacy as our president by being foreign born.
- FedUpEditor
Companion Piece to 60 Minutes Chevron Story
May 4, 2009
More has come to light about the Chevron lawsuit in Ecuador. Apparently the judge is being pressured by the president of the country to decide in favor of the plaintiffs which would pump billions of dollars into his economy and make him the hero of his people, regardless of what is right or who is to blame.
One thing can be said, this will hurt the chances of Ecuador to make deals with other American companies wishing to do business there. Once they see how the country treats its guests who bring money and jobs, they might think twice about setting up business there. – FedUpEditor
August 15, 2008
Statement Responding to the Government of Ecuador’s Offer to Mediate in Ongoing Trial
San Ramon, Calif. – Aug. 15, 2008 – On August 9th, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa offered to facilitate settlement discussions between Chevron and the Amazon Defense Coalition in order to resolve the ongoing civil lawsuit underway in Ecuador. The mediation offer was repeated by Ecuador’s Attorney General Diego Garcia in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. In response, Chevron issued the following statement:
“Chevron desires to have a fair and complete resolution to the Lago Agrio case. In 2004, we requested that Petroecuador engage in arbitration. The Republic of Ecuador and Petroecuador have sued Chevron to prevent such a conversation. Chevron remains open to an amicable solution, but such a dialogue would need to include discussion of Petroecuador’s unfulfilled contractual obligations and a commitment from the Ecuadorian state to stop interfering in the ongoing trial.”
Note to Editors
For more information on the arbitration, please see http://www.texaco.com/sitelets/ecuador/en/legalarchives/Arbitration.aspx
Chevron is requesting that Petroecuador fulfill contractual obligations to the company. They are:
- Assume its contractually-mandated share of litigation expenses
- Provide adequate assurances that it will indemnify Chevron for any potential adverse judgment
- Provide adequate assurances that it will undertake and fund any additional remediation activities that the court or any other competent body requires be undertaken
Interference on the part of the Ecuadorian state has been undeniable. In Ecuador, where the International Bar Association has concluded that “there is a serious politicization of the judiciary” and “that in many cases no effective independence exists,” such pronouncements have a profound effect on a trial.
Arturo Torres, editor of the judicial section of El Comercio, an independent Ecuadorian newspaper, told Dow Jones Newswires that, “Judges fear ruling in any way that could be seen as going against Correa.” He also said, “They know they can lose their position and that they can be called traitor to the country.”
Examples of the Republic of Ecuador exerting its influence include:
March 20, 2007 – Dow Jones Newswire: “The support from the government will translate into help in gathering proof and support for the population directly affected by the contamination Texaco produced,” Correa said in a press release.
March 26, 2007 – CRE Radio, program Noticias: “We met with our friends that have fought for many years in the Amazon against Chevron Texaco. Our friends can be certain that they have the entire support of the country in which is considered one of the largest disasters in history: the spills, the waste, the pits that were left by ChevronTexaco during its disastrous operation in the country.” – President Rafael Correa
April 26, 2007 – AP Newswire: “No remediation was done here, they just covered all the waste,” expressed Correa in support of the plaintiffs’ judgment. It is the first demonstration of support of an Ecuadorian president in this cause.
April 28, 2007 – Radio Caravana (Presidential Radio Network): “Here we have Chevron-Texaco’s attorneys, these lawyer turncoats, who for a fistful of dollars are capable of selling their souls, their country. We also have people from Petroecuador who in 1998 signed an agreement declaring everything had been remediated, when many of these pits had not been even covered.
“I hereby call the Attorney General to present a report to the General Comptroller’s Office establishing criminal responsibilities against Petroecuador’s officials who signed this nonsense. They said everything was remediated when nothing had been done. I ask that this cause is processed and criminal indictment against these corrupt turncoats is started, because despite contamination could be seen, they said everything was remediated.
“I want to take this opportunity to show my solidarity to our fellow countrymen in the AmazonÃa, especially Luis Yanza and those who have fought for justice. Our dear friends Luis and Pablo, you have set an example for everyone.” – President Rafael Correa
January 19, 2008 – President Correa’s weekly radio program: “We continued with our regular office activities and then received representatives of the Amazon Defense Front who have been fighting for decades against ChevronTexaco; they have all the support of the National Government.”
August 7, 2008 – Dow Jones Newswires: The Correa administration’s position on the case is clear: “The pollution is result of Chevron’s actions and not of Petroecuador.” – Ecuador’s Attorney General Diego Garcia
Daily Rant – April 4, 2009
May 4, 2009
All the talk today was about this so called GOP summit that took place over the weekend. They are trying to reenergize the party. So where was Sarah Palin? She can energize a room just by being there, but was she invited? No. Had she not been the VP nominee for McCain, he would not have gotten as many votes as he did, I am convinced.
What they keep missing is this: conservatism. If they would start talking about that, the party would get energized. But all we keep hearing about is this attempt to “re-brand” the Republican Party and make it something like the Democrat Party, only better. Tom Delay dealt with that in his book. And his denial of that strategy helped Republicans win the house and senate for the first time in many years. So why is it so hard for these GOP geniuses to grasp that? It’s beyond me. If they go down the NCNA path, we will lose yet another election!
It is clear these people are politicians not statesmen who are pandering to different groups to buy votes. It’s not how conservatism works. What should be done is to look at all people, rich or poor, black or white or anything in between as AMERICANS! The United States guarantees equal opportunity under the Constitution, not equal outcome. But Republicans, in trying to be compassionate, are loathe to tell the truth for fear of offending a constituent. But pandering takes us down the wrong path, one that will lose the next election unless that someone comes along who can articulate a conservative message!
- FedUpEditor
60 Minutes Distorts Chevron Lawsuits in the Amazon!
May 4, 2009
I got a note this morning from Mr. Higgs at Chevron in California regarding the piece 60 Minutes aired last night. I do not usually watch the program because of its liberal bias and lack of in depth reporting. But as it so happened, I actually saw the show he was talking about.
My wife and I had several comments on what we were being told as we watched the program. One of our thoughts was that this is nothing more than a money grab by a New York environmental lawyer who wants to become a famous trial attorney. Even though he said he would donate all his fees to some worthwhile cause if he won, it will no doubt get his name in the news, and he will benefit from having taken the case… even though there is no standing, in my opinion!
My wife’s father was an oil man for Phillips Petroleum and was the land man for the Alaska pipeline, so he knew well about the rabid environmentalists and their tactics. Although they act in the guise of being for the little guy, it is all about money, property, power and prestige, make no mistake.
The opening statement of the article to which we’ve linked below says it best, “When $27 billion is at stake, some companies would pay big bucks to win a PR battle, but one side of an environmental lawsuit doesn’t have to, since CBS is pushing its position for free.” Amen! – FedUpEditor
Justin Higgs – Chevron: I’m not sure if you saw 60 minutes last night. If by chance you caught the segment, I wanted to get this over to you to point out some of the inaccuracies portrayed in the piece. Given your background, I thought this would be of interest. Please let me know if you have any questions on this or anything else.
http://businessandmedia.org/articles/2009/20090504063206.aspx
Democrat Barney Frank is At Fault for Economic Meltdown!
May 4, 2009
Ed McGill Talks About the Eroding of Our Society
May 4, 2009
Talking in context of the first 100 days of the Obama administration, Ed McGill educates the listeners of the Changing World Views radio show. Here is the interview.
Daily Rant – April 3, 2009
May 3, 2009
Who is the Democratic Underground? A bunch of liberal malcontents who sit around and criticize conservatives because they have no ideas of their own. Bashing is all they can do. They have no ideas.
They recently brought up Ayn Rand and her writings as having a resurgence because conservatives have no new ideas of their own. WAKE UP, Democratic Underground. There are no new ideas! And your socialist ideals are some of the oldest in the world!
Forever humans have been obsessed with getting what’s rightfully theirs. But now, new socialists want to take what others produce and redistribute it among themselves rather than try and produce anything of value themselves. It is precisely because they have nothing to offer that they want to tear down Rand.
What these neo-nazis don’t realize, their Democrat leaders do not see them as equals, only as useful idiots. A bunch of stooges. If not, wouldn’t all those trillions of dollars somehow find their way into the liberals’ pockets? But it never does, thus it is the MAN who is keeping them down. Pitiful.
My suggestion? Go out and use that hateful energy to create something that serves mankind and maybe you will one day be in a position where government can take what YOU own and give it to the people do contribute nothing to society! WAKE UP!
- FedUpEditor
Daily Rant – May 1, 2009
May 2, 2009
You would think Warren Buffett, with all his wealth and prestige, would be able to tell the truth. Today he praised the actions of the government, even though they are in direct contrast to the free market principles that made him rich! Buffett is an Obama supporter so it would be hard to disrespect the guy he voted for. But the truth is… Obama is doing it WRONG!
You can’t bailout failing corporations and expect them to turn things around. Afterall, they have been doing things wrong for years to get them in this situation, so throwing money at a problem only prolongs the inevitable… and so it did. Last week Chrysler declared bankruptcy, even after the billions of dollars infused into it by us taxpayers. So Obama’s plan failed since the company had to file chapter 11 anyway! Good plan, Mr. President! Experts think this is what’s in store for GM as well. We’ll see. With unions now owning almost 35% of the company, the failure would be a bigger deal. Read the article here.
Yet Buffett praises the economic plan. WHY? It isn’t working. He admitted today the economy wasn’t coming back. Even a financial genius like that should be touting the merits of a free market economy, not the communist-style take over of private corporations by the government! He is obviously past his expiration date.
- FedUpEditor
Those GREEDY Oil Companies
May 1, 2009
I say that facetiously. Compared to the Wall Street companies earnings, oil companies’ earnings were much less. Here is a report from API:
Here’s a little food for thought for you today. The oil companies’ earnings during the first quarter of 2009 are one-half of the earnings reported by the companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 5.1 cents per dollar of sales for the oil companies, as contrasted with 10.2 cents per dollar of sales for the DJIA. These figures are based on the companies that have reported their first quarter earnings so far. More will report over the next couple of weeks.
We’ve produced a new fact sheet on oil industry earnings. It’s available here on Scribd, where you can download it quite easily.
- Jane Van Ryan
