"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
The First Amendment, that most scrutinized, analyzed and tyranized set of 45 words was trod on again in Manhattan by Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
Kaplan ordered documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, creator of the film Crude: The Real Price of Oil to turn over to Chevron his raw footage of the polluted territory in Ecuador that Chevron has been fighting not to have to clean up since 2003. Chevron, who bought Texaco in 2001, but claims not accountability for Texaco's oily footprint in Ecuador as well, has been fighting accountability for their toxic behavior since. Chevron hopes there might be something - anything - in the footage that will help their case. Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan apparently wants to help Chevron, too. Judge Kaplan said that Chevron had done all that was necessary to "override" First Amendment protection. Wow.
Read the Bill Moyers/Michael Winship story here, WSJ's Law Blog here, and sign the petition at Amazon Watch.
President Obama talked today about holding BP, Transocean, and Halliburton accountable and responsible for oil still pouring into the ocean today, and in the same speech, asked for Congress to hurry up and pass federal money to clean up what can be cleaned up so far. Does BP have a checkbook? Transocean? Halliburton?
Very good post! Couldn't have said it better myself. We the People want the oil companies to clean up the mess they made...they need to use some of that profit that they earn from our wallets to do the job right.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I'll be adding my new "good read" to the pile soon, I just got my proof copy of The Fractured Hues of White Light yesterday morning and as soon as I'm done looking her over (counting her fingers and toes) I'll click the right button to give the okay. Love it!