Be still my heart!
Will the wondrous glory of Exxon/Mobil never cease?
Massive oil spills?
Torture too?
Oh how the bestiality-loving catholic -- in the universally- and utterly-united sense -- five on the U.S. Supreme Court must love the corporate person of Exxon/Mobil:
In a major ruling with wide implications for corporations that operate overseas, a divided federal appeals court in Washington today said Exxon Mobil Corp. is not immune from liability for alleged brutal conduct that agents of the company allegedly orchestrated against a group of Indonesian villagers.
The plaintiffs, 15 Indonesian villagers, sued Exxon in two actions in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming government security forces, working for Exxon, killed and tortured villagers in Aceh, Indonesia.
The villagers, represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, alleged Exxon employed Indonesian military as private security to protect a natural gas facility. The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued Exxon had control over the soldiers.
“The law of the United States has been uniform since its founding that corporations can be held liable for the torts committed by their agents,” Judge Judith Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in the opinion, joined by Judge David Tatel. “This is confirmed in international practice, both in treaties and in legal systems throughout the world.”
The majority judges—Judge Brett Kavanaugh voted in dissent—sent the case back to Washington federal district court for further proceedings. The initial suit has been pending for a decade.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/...
Mark that on your calendar for the next session of the U.S. Supreme Court, for surely the violence-loving corporately-catholic five of SCOTUS will place it there to side with minority dissenter Justice Bret Kavanaugh who said that the Alien Tort Statute does not reach conduct that occurs in a foreign country.
The statute, the judge said, gives aliens access to federal courts for action that occurred in the United States.
“The presumption helps the United States avoid conflicts with other nations, which of course have a strong interest in policing and regulating conduct in their own countries,” Kavanaugh said. “The ATS contains no textual indication that it was meant to apply to conduct in foreign countries.”
Kavanaugh noted that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently ruled that the Alien Tort Statute does not apply to corporations. The judge also said the United States government has expressed concern that allowing the tort claims to proceed with harm foreign policy interests.
The dictum of Kavanaugh: Embrace torture to avoid conflict. After all, torture seems to be a value which enhances our foreign policy interests, n'est-ce pas?
And that ancient panty-waist George Washington, the reputed father of our nation...
Fie to you, old George and your pathetic humanitarian ideals:
"In 1776," wrote historian David Hackett Fischer in "Washington's Crossing," "American leaders believed it was not enough to win the war. They also had to win in a way that was consistent with the values of their society and the principles of their cause. One of their greatest achievements … was to manage the war in a manner that was true to the expanding humanitarian ideals of the American Revolution." ...
In an order covering prisoners taken in the Battle of Princeton, Washington wrote: "Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren…. Provide everything necessary for them on the road."
http://www.commondreams.org/...
Out with the old George, I say, in with the new...
Ex-president George W. Bush insists he's still right on the use of harsh interrogation tactics, critics be damned.... Bush insisted "I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, 'I've done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.' I can tell you that the information we got saved lives."
Bush'[s comments came in a speech before his largest post-presidency audience to date, in front of an audience of 2,500 at the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/...
And torture away -- as the new and shiny and sexy -- American value.
I can't wait until the corporately-catholic Supreme Five meet again, to solidly establish torture as a true American value, true and red and bloody, but not sexy, just forget I said sexy. No sex, just raw pain and the raw joy of the corporately-catholic Supreme Five in watching it.
Thank you, Exxon/Torture, for your endless work in establishing torture as an intrinsic American value...
And those backward Indonesians... How dare they challenge the absolute God-given right of Exxon/Torture to torture!