California's love affair with Big Oil - letters from a Corporate Feudalist State.

[JohnWxy]

Who is John Daum?

... John Daum was one of the lawyers who represented Exxon Mobil in the Exxon Valdez case filed against Exxon-Mobil for damages resulting from the "worst oil spill in environmental history". Mr. Daum "was able to lower the punitive damages that were to be paid to fisherman, landowners and others to one-tenth of the original damages."

..and who is Mr. Daum's wife? ... that would be Mary Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board. ..now you can begin to understand why the CARB instituted carbon emissions numbers for ethanol that had nothing to do with scientific empirically validated research.


http://domesticfuel.com/2010/02/08/californias-love-affair-with-oil/">California's Love Affair with Big Oil - DomesticFuel.com.

Last week, the Southern California Association of Governments turned down $11 million in stimulus money for Pearson Fuels to install 55 E85 stations. Huh? And this shortly after the expanded rules were announced for the Renewable Fuels Standard, not to mention the Low Carbon Fuel Standard that went into effect on January 1.

What would cause the most notorious state, hailed around the world for its progressive environmental policies, to shun a lower carbon fuel? Hmmm…could it maybe, just possibly be that it is blinded by it’s Big Love for Big Oil?

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Last year California Lawyer Magazine Awarded its Clay Awards which are given to lawyers who show extraordinary achievements. Lawyers John Daum and Mary Nichols both won a Clay Award for two very different achievements. Daum won for his co-counsel regarding the worst oil spill in environmental history – the Exxon Valdez. But he didn’t win for his work to hold Exxon accountable for its actions – he won the award because he was able to lower the punitive damages that were to be paid to fisherman, landowners and others to one-tenth of the original damages. The magazine writes, “This was truly a signature punitive damages case, and it could have major implications for environmental and other torts in the future.”

While Daum was given an award for his work in defending Big Oil’s environmental offenses, Mary Nichols, who is the chairman of the California Air Resources Board and Daum’s wife, was given an award for her role in passing the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This piece of legislation is intended to reduce CO2 emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. While the final rules are just now coming through the pipeline, the policy could potentially regulate all areas of energy use including land use and will be enforced through a “cap-and-trade” program. It is important to note that through this program, Big Oil doesn’t have to reduce its CO2 emissions solely through alternative fuels. If they bring to market technology that reduces CO2 but still uses fossil fuels, the technology will still meet policy requirements.
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.. and check out the http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x275921#275951">hundred million dollar grants made by Big Oil (EXXON-Mobil, BP) to California Universities)

[txlibdem]

1. The system is broken. It needs to be scrapped and rebuilt.

And don't forget the Supreme Court judge whose wife is paid by the companies affected by SC cases.

The system is broken. It needs to be scrapped and rebuilt. Every person in power is concerned with one thing: their own self interests. There are no more Abraham Lincolns, no more JFKs, no more FDRs. America was a fun little experiment while it lasted. It is dead. Capitalism and self interest killed it.

We need to rebuild a nation founded on equal distribution of wealth and fair distribution of labor. We have all the natural resources that we need to do away with money, build robots to make everything we need, never have to work again. We could all spend our lives finishing our education, pursuing a passion like art or the theater, etc. But instead we're all stuck in jobs that we hate, working far too many hours, killing ourselves, and for what? So some rich SOB can have the extra cash needed to move all the factories to China?!?

We don't need Capitalism to be happy, fulfilled, content, well fed, etc. We don't need Capitalism at all. We've just been convinced that we need it -- just like a drug pusher gets you hooked on "the stuff" first, then turns you into his prostitute and keeps you hooked. Let's end our addiction to money, our addiction to Capitalism, before it kills us all.

[JohnWxy]

2. I did not post this as a diatribe on capitalism. I do not agreee with your position that:

..."We need to rebuild a nation founded on equal distribution of wealth and fair distribution of labor."

You cannot set up a 'perfect' system. Private ownership is how people are built. What we do need is transparency. People need to be able to find out what is going on. this is why we need journalists who can tell the truth. Now, we have the problem of advertising and ownership of the communications media which seriously compromises journalists' integrity (when people need to keep their means of employment they can be persuaded to say anything or obfuscate any issue). That is why a free internet is so important.

But saying we need to set up a system founded on "equal distribution of wealth and fair distribution of labor" is really, just not realistic (really it's just patent nonsense, but I'm trying to not be too harsh). It's just not do-able. And as I said, people are designed around ownership of what they have created, built, worked for. No system that does not respect that truth is workable.

[txlibdem]

3. Fancy meeting you here. I remember you now.

Last time our paths crossed I said some unkind thing about your being hopelessly indoctrinated into a system that is both stealing from you and your children (and theirs, etc., etc.) and is also destroying the world. Literally.

Of course I don't agree with you that "people are built" to love Capitalism. Capitalism is a system that was forced upon the masses by brute force, and anyone who didn't like it was either tortured or killed or both. Most likely both. If that is being "built" for it then that is what you may call it.

You state that one small group stealing all the wealth from 98% of the population by institutionalized Capitalism is "realistic" but I say that formation of your sick society is the anomaly and it cannot last. Capitalism eats its seed corn day after day and must seek out new sources of money and new untapped resources to steal. One day there will be no "unaware" and "naive" people left to subjugate and on that day Capitalism will begin its slow painful death. It is inevitable. Capitalism died 15 times already in the past 150 years and needed government support and massive influx of "printed" money to bring itself back to life. That is not a "realistic" system. That is an abomination.

[JohnWxy]

4. obviously capitalism, without some standards of conduct, established and enforced by the community

does not work either. Without monitoring, disallowing and punishing unethical conduct, capitalism just devolves into a free-for-all leading to cycling from boom to bust, with us people without power being ground up the worst.

I am not interested in debating something which is obvious to rational, practical people. That is, I am not interested in talking religion or 'final answers' to the problem that humans will always be human (no system humans can devise can eliminate that fact of life). We just have to keep working on that fact (that humans will be selfish and will cheat) and make every effort to keep the unprincipalled from getting away with 'too much'. Note, it would be nice to be able to prevent the unprincipalled from getting away with ANYTHING but I am being realistic and practical when I say, probably the best we can hope for is to keep them from getting away with "too much".

please be advised I am not interested in talking religion, i.e. perfect 'answers'.

[txlibdem]

5. Not interested in talking religion, i.e. perfect 'answers'

I'll agree to your terms in this hostage negotiation, sir. You and I both realize that Capitalism cannot be compared to any other economic system without losing on every metric. So I'll agree to never attempt to hold Capitalism to any objective standard. After all, there are no 'perfect' economic systems so we might as well stick with the worst of the bunch, right?

So, now that all other economic options are off the table we are mentally jailed with the psychotic and brutal fellow inmate, Capitalism, that I'll just call "Big Bubba" for the remainder of this post. Gosh, I love that metaphor.

So rational, practical people would 'want' to spend night after night trapped with Big Bubba and no escape.

Rational, practical people would never question why they are forced to be trapped with this psychopath, Big Bubba.

Rational, practical people would never ask that Big Bubba be removed from their lives, never to return.

Rational, practical people 'like' being brutalized and abused by Big Bubba. (that's actually a question: they LIKE IT?)

Rational, practical people do not want any other options for their lives than Big Bubba.

Rational, practical people who want to live healthy, happy lives 'know that they also have to include' Big Bubba in their plans as well, even though Big Bubba is the antithesis of happy and healthy lives.

It's just so practical.

It's just so rational. I see that now. Thank you John and I apologize for doubting the soundness of your reasoning.
:sarcasm: <== I knew that you would need this...


PS, the system you describe has never existed in the USA. You are describing the European Socialist Democracies. On that point I agree: we should have the European version instead of the American version (if we must choose one of the two). The point you and both agree on is that American Capitalism as it is actually practiced (not the fantasy world in econ 101 texts) is deadly to life and liberty and needs to be destroyed.