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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review June 22, 2009 / 31 Sivan 5769

Oil and water mix in Ecuador

By Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "We certainly recognize that Chevron does not make a sympathetic victim here," company spokesman Kent Robertson told me over the telephone.


No lie.


In May, "60 Minutes" ran a TV report on Ecuadorans in the Lago Agrio area — with graphic video of foul-looking petroleum waste pits — who are suing Chevron for damages and to clean up toxic oil waste in their village. One of the plaintiffs, Emergildo Criollo, showed up last month at Chevron's shareholder meeting, where he said he had lost two children and an aunt to health problems he blames on oil-field contamination, as The Chronicle's David R. Baker reported. "We don't want to keep dying," Criollo said through an interpreter.


Oh yeah, and because Chevron lawyers convinced a federal judge in New York that Ecuador had legal jurisdiction, the trial will be in Ecuador, where Chevron now says it does not expect to get a fair trial. A court-appointed expert has assessed the oil giant's damages at a whopping $27 billion. It's like Bingo.


I can't think of an American who would find it acceptable to live near the contaminated pits of toxic oil waste shown on "60 Minutes."


Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope put the natural reaction to Chevron's plight simply at a June 10 Commonwealth Club event with Chevron CEO David O'Reilly: "If I spill my milk and I didn't mean to, I still have to clean it up."


But 20-plus years later and after a predecessor paid for a cleanup? That's not cleaning up — it's extortion.


That's why Chevron has a case.


Chevron inadvertently bought this nightmare when it purchased Texaco in 2001. Texaco had held a 37.5 percent interest in a consortium with the state-run oil company Petroecuador from 1964 to 1992, when it turned the whole operation over to Petroecuador. In the 1990s, Texaco and Ecuador reached an agreement, under which Texaco spent $40 million cleaning up some of the sites (because the company owned only a portion of the venture).


"In return for that" $40 million cleanup, "60 Minutes" reporter Scott Pelley asked attorney Steven Donziger, who represents Ecuadoran Amazon residents who filed suit against Texaco in 1993, "the Ecuadoran government signed off and said you're released of liability. How can you have a lawsuit now?"


To which Donziger replied, "Well, our clients never released Texaco."


Mitch Anderson of Amazon Watch — an independent human rights and environmental organization that supports the Amazonians' lawsuit — argues that Chevron should settle because this 16-year-old litigation has turned into "a legal Vietnam."


But in Donziger's answer, you see the very reason why Chevron has no incentive to settle.


For starters, Chevron execs can argue that Petroecuador owns the pits and that Ecuador should have cleaned up the mess years ago. And rightly so. They can point to a similar but separate lawsuit against Chevron, which a federal judge in San Francisco dismissed because the attorneys for those Ecuadoran plaintiffs "manufactured" cancer claims.


But the main reason why Chevron can't settle is that any deal it makes with the villagers of Lago Agrio could only serve to encourage more lawsuits.


Indeed, when I asked Amazon Watch's Anderson if other Ecuadorans should sue Chevron if the corporation reaches a settlement with the Lago Agrio residents, he would not answer yes or no. He said, "We think that Chevron is entirely responsible for environmental disaster and the human rights problems in Ecuador." Which sounds like: Yes.


And that certainly lets Petroecuador and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa off the hook, doesn't it? His government can fail to clean up oil waste, fail to clean up drinking water, and human rights groups blame a company that left the country two decades ago.


The villagers must figure that they stand to make out better with a foreign big bad oil company than with their own elected government.


In December, Ecuador defaulted on its foreign debt — which Correa called "immoral and illegitimate."


With Correa's track record for not honoring his country's obligations, and not honoring its agreement with Texaco, Chevron's Robertson asked, "How do you get a government that has a track record of not honoring contracts to honor contracts?"


It's been my experience that large corporations prefer settling lawsuits that make them look bad. And Chevron does not look good when spokesmen make claims like this one from Robertson: "The idea that oil is making people sick is something that has yet to be substantiated." Chevron argues that fecal matter and bacteria have poisoned the water. Maybe, but even if you boiled it for days, you couldn't get me to drink that stuff.


Still, I have to agree with Robertson's point that if Chevron loses, then "You're going to have American companies that are getting taken to the cleaners over and over again not on the basis of evidence, but on the basis of emotion and populism and near-term political gain."

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© 2009, Creators Syndicate

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