Jon Stewart on America's history of balancing power in the middle east

Chevron Using Unethical Tactics In Rainforest Trial

When one of our corporations behaves badly it really affects us all.

Chevron Using Unethical Tactics to Avoid Judgment In $10 Billion Rainforest Trial, Coalition to Defend the Amazon Says

Series of Legal Setbacks In Ecuador Haunt Oil Giant; Charges of Fabricating Scientific Evidence

QUITO, Ecuador, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/

-- Coalition to Defend the Amazon issued the following statement: Amazon leaders are accusing Chevron of fabricating evidence and engaging in a "campaign of intimidation" in Ecuador to derail a class action rainforest pollution trial as it nears completion, said a spokesman for the Coalition to Defend the Amazon, the non-profit group bringing the case.

Plaintiffs maintain a final judgment in the case - considered one of the largest environmental litigations in history -- could surpass $10 billion. Three indigenous groups report they are near extinction in areas of the rainforest where Chevron operated.

The evidentiary portion of the trial is expected to end in months, with
a decision in 2008.

"As judgment day nears, Chevron has resorted to these unethical tactics because it knows the weight of the evidence is stacked against it," said Pablo Fajardo, the Ecuadorian lawyer for the 30,000 plaintiffs and a spokesman for the Coalition.


Chevron is accused of intentionally dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest during the 28 years (1964 to 1992) it operated an oil concession in Ecuador, or 30 times more pure crude that was spilled in Exxon Valdez disaster.

Among Chevron's growing legal problems over Ecuador, according to Fajardo:

-- Soil and water sampling at Chevron's former production sites in Ecuador show levels of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs) and other toxic chemicals at thousands of times higher than maximum amounts tolerated in the U.S. - yet Chevron misleads its shareholders, claiming the results pose no risk to human health. For an analysis of Chevron's fraudulent science, see materials at http://www.texacotoxico.com or http://www.chevrontoxico.com.

-- Chevron recently was dealt a setback by U.S. federal judge Leonard Sand, who ruled the company had no right to force Ecuador's government into arbitration to determine who should pay for the damages.

-- In Ecuador, Judge German Yanez recently denied Chevron motions to delay the trial. Instead, Yanez imposed a strict 120-day deadline for the damages assessment to be completed.

-- The trial judge also ordered police tape to be put around contaminated well sites to prevent Chevron lawyers and technical personnel from interfering with the scientific work of the court-appointed expert. A roving band of roughly 25 Chevron lawyers and technical personnel had been "stalking" the expert, said Fajardo.

-- Chevron is fabricating evidence in two ways. First, its scientists lift soil samples away from a contaminated production site (such as the top of a nearby hill) and then claim they came from the site itself. Second, Chevron refuses to test for certain toxins and then uses their purported "absence" to claim there is no danger.

"Chevron's trial strategy is to use junk science for public relations purposes," said Steven Donziger, an America legal advisor to the plaintiffs. "It is the same type of fake science that denies global warming. Eventually, that approach catches up with you."

If you have read this far you might as well DO SOMETHING about it. Here are the members of the Public Policy Committee:

Sam Nunn, Chairman
Robert J. Eaton
Sam Ginn
Donald B. Rice
Ronald D. Sugar
Rhonda I. Zygocki, Secretary

Chevron's Business Conduct and Ethics leads me to believe that the members of the public policy Committee would be interested in hearing your opinion on this matter.

Here is some contact information:

Office of the Corporate Secretary
Chevron Corporation
6001 Bollinger Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583
Telephone
+1-925-842-1000

Chevron Europe - London
2 Portman Street
London
W1H 0AN
England
Telephone
+44 (0)20 7487 8100
Fax
+44 (0)20 7487 8905

Chevron Europe - Aberdeen
Seafield House
Hill of Rubislaw
Aberdeen AB15 6XL
Scotland
Telephone
+44 (0)1224 334000
Fax
+44 (0)1224 717455

Ideas Worth Sharing

Fascinating academic presentation that has a very positive message. Using new visualiation software Hans Rosling shows us how the world have been developing.



Another fascinating presentation on ideas and how they are spread.

Montebello and the North American Union

People are finding out about Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) as a result of the Sûreté du Québec's use of Agents Provocateurs at Montebello. Very few people know much about the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and that's exactly the way it was supposed to remain.

Time to blow the lid on this dirty little secret.

Here is a presentation by Connie Fogal on the SPP. Canadians should probably look at this one first.


Here is a video from the Conservative Roundtable interview of Jerome Corsi by Howard Phillips.




Here is another video that describes the concept and includes video of our leaders discussing the SPP.

Update: Sûreté du Québec Agents Provocateurs at Montebello

I heard part of the press conference where the Sûreté du Québec made a statement. This statement was made under duress, they didn't want to make a statement but pressure has been building in both the Quebec National Assembly and the House of Commons all week and they essentially had to say something.

Their words were chilling. They admit to using Agents Provocateurs, they do not see anything wrong with their actions and have no intention of changing their approach. This is a rogue police agency!

The Sûreté du Québec insists on using their Orwellian New Speak words and take offence to the truth which is the fact that they were caught red handed using Agents Provocateurs in an attempt to provoke a riot. This type of behavior is to be expected from fascists as they twist the truth in order to make the unacceptable suddenly perfectly ok.

Update: Sûreté du Québec Agents Provocateurs at Montebello

THEY DID IT! The Sûreté du Québec dressed up some of their officers as punks with masks and tried to pick a fight with the Sûreté du Québec riot squad.

The Quebec Police have admitted it! Just in case there are some convenient historical revisions I'll just paste the whole press release here:


La Sûreté du Québec précise certains faits concernant le Sommet de Montebello

23 août 2007

À la suite de la diffusion d’un extrait vidéo sur le site Internet Youtube.com, impliquant possiblement des membres de la Sûreté du Québec lors du Sommet de Montebello, cette dernière aimerait apporter certaines précisions. Après avoir analysé son contenu, en plus de prendre connaissance des vidéos enregistrées par les corps policiers, elle est maintenant en mesure de confirmer que ces individus sont des policiers de la Sûreté du Québec. Ces derniers avaient le mandat de repérer et d’identifier les manifestants non pacifiques pour ainsi éviter les débordements. Les policiers ont été repérés par les manifestants au moment où ils ont refusé de lancer des projectiles.

En aucun temps, les policiers de la Sûreté du Québec ont agi comme agents provocateurs ou commis des actes criminels. De plus, ce n’est pas dans les politiques du service de police ni dans ses stratégies d’agir de cette manière. À tout moment, ils ont répondu à leur mandat de maintenir l’ordre et la sécurité.

The CBC has reported on the police admission in this video:



For those of you that reviewed the video from the crime scene; do you believe Sûreté du Québec? The Agents Provocateurs were discovered when they refused to throw rocks. Excuse me! The Sûreté du Québec Agents Provocateurs were the only ones with rocks!

These three Agents Provocateurs are guilty of attempting to start a riot. They need to be identified and charged. These men were not acting alone, their hierarchy knew and endorsed these activities. This is criminal behavior exhibited by Canadian police agencies and it needs to be fully investigated and all guilty parties reprimanded.

Unless the police are above the law, in which case this will be quickly forgotten and swept under the carpet. Contact your member of parliament tell them that the use of Agents Provocateurs by the Sûreté du Québec is unacceptable and MUST be addressed.

How many other protests in Canada have been disrupted by the use of Agents Provocateurs?

The War on Democracy by John Pilger

Fascinating documentary that got me to thinking about the reasons to our ongoing wars and I think we need to look at our history to understand why all these wars are waging.

Israeli policies and military can be very brutal to individuals but when I look at what happened to the Jewish people in World War II I think I can understand that they will not restrain themselves in their defense.

Each of our countries are like children stumbling around on the planet. There are adults among these childish nations, unfortunately for us; average folk, these adults seem to be much more interested in their own self interests.

America took on the massive struggle for global domination in World War II. At the end of World War II's open hostilities they had not accomplished world domination. Plans were drawn up for it. It meant using successive nuclear strikes all around the world as America invaded. That idea got shot down and we were left with the status quo which was a bipolar cold war. We are finding out more about the methods used in the cold war.

We are witnessing America continue to use force to maintain domination. Global War on Terror or keyword GWOT has been declared and is actively being fought. For the benefit for those not realizing it, world war III have been declared and is being fought.

Something that most non Muslims probably don't understand is that Muslims don't want any conflict with the west. The idea we all have of an Islamic terrorist is a total straw man representation. Even if there were a couple of these bad boys out there that were not sponsored by some government agency, the amount of damage they can inflict is really rather minor. If you are thinking of bringing up 911 as an example of their capabilities I'd call you a child, sent you to the corner for a few minutes so that you can reflect on some of the facts.

Montebello Update:

I've seen the pictures myself. Agents Provocateur were used by the police. Quebec Police Agents Provocateur were dressed up like punks and were starting fights with uniformed police in riot gear. Check out the video so that you can get the proper context and then follow the comment on the article for the pictures of the boots. All of their boots are identical; Quebec police and Quebec police Agents Provocateur.

What laws restrict your freedom?

Trip Report from Cindy Sheehan, in Amman

"The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. - "Chronicle of Young Satan" Mark Twain"

08/20/07 The above quote from Mark Twain is how things have always been throughout the ages and throughout our American experience. These sentiments allowed an entire native population to be virtually wiped out and for black Africans to be enslaved for generations. Who cares if 600,000 Filipinos were wiped out during the Spanish-American War to "liberate" them from Spain, but to really have a coaling station for our Navy, or hundreds of thousands of Japanese slaughtered by the evil h-bomb when those people weren't even white, Christian Americans? Now this slimy rationale is allowing for the decimation of the Iraqi people and we have killed a million during this war to plant permanent bases there as we have permanent military facilities in Japan and the Philippines to this day.

Our small peace delegation that traveled here to Amman, Jordan to meet with refugees and other prominent Iraqis, like physicians and parliamentarians, have been humbled that these oppressed people would turn to us, their oppressors, for help. That they would trust us enough to know that we will help them says a lot about the Iraqi character and just how desperate they are!

Everyone that we have met stabs me in the heart again. We listen to their stories and we apologize on behalf of our country and they all, without fail, look at us with weary smiles filled with resignation of their fate and say: "inshallah" or "If God wills it." I wish I had that simple faith, but I can't believe that any God, except George's God of hatred, destruction, greed, and murder would "will" what is going on here in the Middle East.

I have already written about Bethena whose body and life were torn apart by an American mortar. When we promised to help her, her response was, "Inshallah."

I met a woman at a hospital yesterday who was kidnapped, tortured and held for a three hundred thousand dollar ransom. When I told her we were trying to help get a hospital for Iraqi people, run by Iraqis, here in Amman, she quietly said: "inshallah," through her tears.

We have spent a lot of time with an Iraqi parliamentarian whose 10 cousins were slaughtered after "Hamad" had exposed a secret Shi'a prison that imprisoned, tortured, and killed Sunni. His story is on a documentary called "Death Squads." When I saw the footage of the carnage where his cousins were killed I looked over at him in shock, and you guessed it, he whispered: "inshallah," to me.

Our group had a meeting in a Jordanian hospital that is allowing Iraqi doctors to work and help the refugees. The doctors explained to us how, if they had their own 50-bed hospital, they could treat the Iraqi refugees here in Amman at about 40% of the cost of what the Jordanian hospital charges the refugees. The doctors all had horror stories of family members being killed, raped, dismembered, displaced and terrorized. We listened to them vent and explained to them that we were truly sorry and that's why we are here, to help. "Inshallah."

The most touching meeting at the hospital was by a prominent Iraqi sheikh who had brought another sheikh of an opposite sect to the hospital after he had survived an assassination attempt. The wounded sheikh lie on the hospital bed while the other sheikh stood guard over him. The doctors brought us into the room to dispel the myth of any prior sectarian strife. The Iraqis wanted to assure us that the violence between Iraqis is caused and encouraged by the Americans who want Iraqis fighting each other to create this chaos that allows America to steal their oil and otherwise destroy their country. The sheikh told me that he was sorry about Casey, but he has lost 8 family members and many more dozens of members of his tribe. He encouraged us Americans to rise up against our country and force our government to end the occupation. I told him that we have been trying very hard, but we will try harder. He looked skeptical, because he knows the will of the American public is not to rise up against our government, and he had that same hopeless look on his face that we have encountered repeatedly, but he bit his tongue and said: "Inshallah."

As we were leaving the hospital, one of the doctors grabbed my hand and also told me that he was sorry about Casey. In a quiet voice, he told me that even though it is sad for me to have lost a son that it was so that I could lead America towards peace and use my sorrow to help the people of Iraq, "inshallah." I lost my faith after Casey was killed and it is so profound to witness the faith of the Iraqi people when their country has been decimated for no reason, their national treasures and antiquities destroyed or defiled by barbaric acts, one million people dead, six million people displaced, and so many wounded and ill that can't access medical care. This trip has been so difficult for us as people with hearts, but it has also reminded me how fortunate we are to live in a country that has been almost virtually free from war on our soil for about 150 years, but also so angry that we allow it to happen to other peoples on their land on an almost continuing basis. Also, to think that anything is going to change if a Democrat gets into office is naïve. Bill Clinton is a Democrat who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis more than George. Throughout US History political parties have interchanged the White House and NOTHING has ever changed. The fascist power elite will always use their puppet in the White House to kill other people for their benefit and profit.

The American military has not been victorious in Iraq and we won't be as long as we are occupying foreign lands. That is a given. If we allow the occupation to continue for a decade, our way of life, as we know it, will die as the Soviet Union did after their decade long farce in Afghanistan. What we are allowing our government to do in the Middle East dishonors and endangers us all. Like the parliamentarian from the city that was totally shattered by the Marines, Falluja, told me: "You Americans are also being held hostage by your government," and he is right.

As the sheikh told me: We must rise up. We must assert our need for peace with justice, not only to save our troops who are in harm's way for Halliburton, et al, but for the dear people of Iraq who never asked for the US to "liberate" them. Our governments don't care about them, or us, so we must care about each other.

www.CindyforCongress.org

2007 Anniversary of September 11th is coming up

Those of you that know the truth know exactly why I choose these three photographs.

Sûreté du Québec Agents Provocateurs at Montebello

All that evil needs in order to thrive is for good men to remain silent. Thankfully Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is a good man and he choose to speak up.

Here is an article posted to The Star's web site. I've reposted the article in full because stories such as this have a habit of being removed.

Police accused of using provocateurs at summit

Aug 21, 2007 09:14 PM

Canadian Press

OTTAWA – Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello, Que.

Such accusations have been made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged "agents provocateurs" have been caught on camera.

A video, posted on YouTube, shows three young men, their faces masked by bandannas, mingling Monday with protesters in front of a line of police in riot gear. At least one of the masked men is holding a rock in his hand.

The three are confronted by protest organizer Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. Coles makes it clear the masked men are not welcome among his group of protesters, whom he describes as mainly grandparents. He urges them to leave and find their own protest location.

Coles also demands that they put down their rocks. Other protesters begin to chime in that the three are really police agents. Several try to snatch the bandanas from their faces.

Rather than leave, the three actually start edging closer to the police line, where they appear to engage in discussions. They eventually push their way past an officer, whereupon other police shove them to the ground and handcuff them.

Late Tuesday, photographs taken by another protester surfaced, showing the trio lying prone on the ground. The photos show the soles of their boots adorned by yellow triangles. A police officer kneeling beside the men has an identical yellow triangle on the sole of his boot.

Kevin Skerrett, a protester with the group Nowar-Paix, said the photos and video together present powerful evidence that the men were actually undercover police officers.

"I think the circumstantial evidence is very powerful," he said.

The three do not appear to have been arrested or charged with any offence.

Police confirm that only four protesters were arrested during the summit – two men and two women. All have been charged with obstruction and resisting arrest.

Veteran protester Jaggi Singh, who is helping to circulate the video as widely as possible, said all four of those arrested are known to organizers and are genuine protesters.

"But we see very clearly in that video three (other) men being arrested . . . How do (police) account for these three people being taken in, being arrested? Where did they go?" Singh said.

"I have no hesitation in saying they were police agents . . . and they were caught red-handed."

Singh, a member of the Montreal-based No One is Illegal, believes the agents were meant to provoke a confrontation and give the police an excuse to use some of their "toys," such as tear gas and rubber bullets.

"To a certain extent it's self-fulfilling logic. You provide police with this kind of equipment and they end up using it and one way to justify it is to plant some people that toss a rock or two."

Neither the RCMP nor the Surete du Quebec would comment on the video or even discuss generally whether they ever use the tactic of employing agents provocateurs.

"I cannot answer your question because I don't have the information," said Const. Kane Kramer, a spokesman for the RCMP at the summit.

We normally think of our police as being good upstanding citizens that have taken an oath to uphold the law. Unfortunately this logic does not seem to apply when citizens wish to voice their political will, because it has been demonstrated that the police are quite capable and willing to break the law in these cases.

Italian media have been publishing transcripts of an inquiry into the policing of the 2001 Genoa G8 summit in which officers admit fabricating evidence against protesters.

At the centre of the inquiry is a police raid on a school being used as a dormitory by anti-globalisation demonstrators, in which dozens of people were injured.

A senior officer, Pietro Troiani, reportedly admitted under questioning that two petrol bombs allegedly found at the school were planted by police to justify the raid.

Here is a link to the full article from the BBC

Hurricane Season 2007 - Dean

As I write this the first major storm of 2007 is smashing into Mexico. Dean is a Cat 5 monster. He smashed into the Yucatan Peninsula and has made it back into the Gulf as Category 1. He's expected to climb back up to 2 as he rakes Mexico's oil production facilities.

Mexico's oil production facilities are taking a direct hit. I don't think Dean could have chosen a better path if he were deliberately trying to hit Mexico's oil production. As I understand it most of this infrastructure is protected by the Yucatan Peninsula which I hope means this has not been a catastrophic world event.

While I have not seen many pictures from Jamaica I can tell you what has just happened. A hurricane has a stronger side and a weaker side. The strong side is on the leading edge with forward moving wind. The strong side of Katrina hit Biloxi and this is where the pictures of paved neighborhoods came from. So as he approached Jamaica Dean dropped a bit south so the eye wall would not hit Jamaica. You'd think this is good, save Jamaica from a direct hit. That would be wrong. Dean's strongest punch possible was thrown at Jamaica and Dean saved his internal pressure to grow even stronger.



This is a great way to evaluate the current hurricane risk. The dark red areas are capable of supporting a storm. By the looks of this map you would think that a hurricane caught up in an errand jet stream could climb up and hit Europe. Remnants of hurricanes have climbed up the eastern side of North America to hit Canadian provinces it the last couple years.

Storm2k is doing a great job of providing hurricane tracking information.

Subverting Sovereignty in America, Canada and Mexico

Canadians Protest At The Montebello Summit

Montebello Protests

Diebold Election Systems tries to hide

"This is both a fresh identity for our company and a unique opportunity for us to concentrate our focus solely on providing best-in-class elections solutions for current and potential customers," said Dave Byrd, president, Premier Election Solutions.

You can find the full press release in pdf format here.

I can understand this company seeking a new identity. Their products have lost their certification, they can no longer be used in California, last I heard. Aside from the profit motive of private corporations and the desire to be able to 'fix' elections, I can see no good reason why our elections need automated systems. These automated systems are vulnerable to tampering in ways simply not possible with a good ol paper ballot. Eliminate the machines from our election process and drive these irresponsible, unethical and in some cases down right criminal companies out of business. They are a threat to our democracy.

For those of you that still think automated voting machines are good, please do some additional research and see how these systems have already been used to circumvent our democracy. A good place to start would be Black Box Voting.

Ron Paul Update: Ron Paul WINS!

According to this article:

Dr. Paul received 208 votes (73%) for a landslide victory against Mitt Romney today at the Strafford County, New Hampshire straw poll.

Ron Paul received 216 votes for a commanding first-place finish in a straw poll today sponsored by the West Alabama Republican Assembly. Mitt Romney came in second with 14 votes.

Removing the machines from our elections

An article from We The People Foundation describes the efforts that are being taken to remove machines from the election process. These machines have been the cause of irregularities and hacks have been publicly demonstrated.

However examined or weighed, the potential gains in vote counting "efficiency" cannot be used to justify placing our fundamental Right to Vote at known risk by the use of provably defective and un-secure voting machines and by tolerating election procedures, such as non-public "back-room" vote totaling, that are so obviously constitutionally deficient that their use is unconscionable as part of a "free" nation.

Lawsuits in every State, and if necessary, civil disobedience must be the order of the day, beginning now.

Iraq Veteran Speaks Out On War Crimes

LET THE TRUTH RING OUT!

What did Dick Cheney think of invading Iraq in 1994?

Surprising evaluation of the options from one of the men that lead us into this war.

The Shift

There is a light and you don't have to go to the end of the tunnel to find it.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: 911 Facing the Fallout

The CBC starts to ask some of the uncomfortable questions.

Ron Paul's Debate Performance

Ronpaul
Uploaded by krs601

A leader that calls a spade a spade!

The Killer Robots have arrived

It's a mistake to give these machines lethal weapons. If a physical deterrence is required then give them a nonlethal acoustic weapon. By choosing to make these systems lethal people will put far more effort into defeating them.

Since these models use huge amounts of bandwidth (4 real time video feeds per SWORD?) RF jamming will be the first strategy. The nature of the beast is that the weapon will have to get better so the next logical development is to give the weapon platform the ability to operate autonomously. Then we have automated killing machines (a.k.a. Terminators) running around the world.

What is a Hadji?

"It is the battered wrecks of men and women who return from Iraq and speak the halting words we do not want to hear, words that we must listen to and heed to know ourselves. They tell us war is a soulless void. They have seen and tasted how war plunges us to barbarity, perversion, pain and an unchecked orgy of death."

Are you still watching the mass media and their prepackaged view of the war? Are you listening to your veterans?

Willful denial is not a defense. Ignoring the the reality of the situation does not absolve you of your responsibilities. Find out what your soldiers are doing, in your name.