More on Kenneth Feinberg

The man in charge of doling out the $20B BP settlement money is a sly, slick S.O.B., so anyone who will be filing a claim against BP better have a lawyer with him. Below is a little history on Mr. Feinberg:

H/T to American Zombie for a link to this article detailing Feinberg's past as a man willing to manipulate anyone suing large corporations into settling for less than what is their due. From the above link:

Feinberg learned his expertise way back in the Agent Orange litigation:

Federal court judge Jack Weinstein was seeking to impose a settlement on thousands of such cases brought by veterans against the companies that made Agent Orange – the dioxin-laced herbicide used in Vietnam.

Weinstein even had a settlement figure in mind – $180 million – half of what the chemical companies were willing to settle for.

He brought in Feinberg to “do his dirty work,”
Weinstein’s mission was to limit the liability of the defendants,” according to public interest attorney Rob Hager. “That’s very clear.”

“Weinstein felt that lawyers would be encouraged to bring more toxic tort cases into the federal courts if the Agent Orange litigation were successful.”

“The Second Circuit Court of Appeals called the $180 million settlement a nuisance value settlement.”

“And Weinstein wanted to make sure that the settlement amount was viewed as a nuisance value settlement.”

“He didn’t want it to go up to what the defendants were willing to pay – which was at least double – $360 million – or even much more if Weinstein had actually allowed the case to go before a jury.”

“That number would just keep going up.”

“Agent Orange victims could have obtained the largest recovery in American history because of the number of veterans involved, the bad actions of the defendants in covering up the fact that their product had dioxin in it, and the predictably favorable attitude of juries toward the claimants.”

“So, it was looking to be a major historic case. And Weinstein put a lid on it and kept a lid on it, saving Dow, Monsanto and the other chemical companies from potential bankruptcy.”

“And Feinberg helped him do that.”

“More important for our purposes, Feinberg learned at the knee of the master how to do this – how to keep the companies off the hook of liability for massive tort.”

White Boot Brigade

From Louisiana Seafood Newsroom [info@louisianaseafoodnews.com]

 

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When the White Boot Brigade Will Bring Shrimp to America's Table Posted: 26 Jul 2010 10:01 PM PDT In the summer of 2006, a year after Hurricane Katrina, a group of Louisiana commercial fishing families, traveled more than 1,000 miles to New York City to spread the word that Louisiana Shrimp was not just safe to eat, but a delicious and affordable American delicacy. Under the banner of the White Boot Brigade, the group even paid for their rooms at the Carlton Hotel with "Louisiana Gold" – wild caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. Four years later, the White Boot Brigade is again hearing a call to battle as commercial fishermen across the Gulf Coast struggle to sustain their livelihood and their culture. Closed fishing grounds, increased competition in open fisheries, and shrinking buyer markets resulting directly from consumer fears over seafood safety are financially strangling coastal communities – communities still recovering from the worst natural disaster in American history. The White Boot Brigade is again hearing a call to battle as commercial fishermen across the Gulf Coast struggle to sustain their livelihood and their culture. "What's interesting about this disaster is that its so very obvious that the most clearly effected community are the commercial fishermen families and their fragile economies that are still not rebuilt," says Richard McCarthy of Marketumbrella.org who helped organize the White Boot Brigade over a decade ago. "The unanticipated benefit is at least all eyes are on the fishermen." McCarthy is the co-founder and Executive Director of Marketumbrella.org, an organization that is both the practitioner who runs the farmers markets, as well as the non-governmental organization (NGO), the think tank, that looks at the management, the evaluation, and the use of markets for innovated purposes. One of those revolutions is the White Boot Brigade, a self-described traveling shrimpers road show, hell-bent on sustainable harvests, cultural preservation, and business innovation. Born and raised in a New Orleans, a city that values home-grown food and culture, McCarthy earned his masters degree at the London School of Economics studying sustainable development, international relations, and third world country development. "The more I studied the more I realized it sounds an awful like home," recalls McCarthy. "The disasters have only reinforced that." According to McCarthy, similar to many third world or caribbean nations, the Gulf Coast region or "Who Dat Nation" as he puts it, has a plantation economy based on agricultural mass production of a few staple crops and an over reliance on dangerous, centralized industries like oil making it more vulnerable to disasters – disasters from which it takes time to recover. "Time is the greatest enemy to any fragile family enterprise that doesn't have the cash flow to withstand long periods of time without income," says McCarthy who believes most families will only be able to last six months. "I think every time fishermen go out of business, or an older fishermen dies, the craftsmanship that they possess doesn't get transfer to the next generation that becomes increasingly troubling because this is really the greatest asset of this industry- the knowledge the fishermen have of biome regions, the species, and the skills of how each boat is fine tuned." McCarthy believes that even after the oil is contained, and the Gulf of Mexico is deemed clean, there will be a huge delay before Americans outside the Gulf region feel 100% comfortable buying seafood again. In his mind, the disaster is not over until the food system is restored and the seafood industry is stable. "When disasters hit, people find unlikely partners," says McCarthy. "New leaders will emerge with new ideas, some will fail and some might be the future. I don't think the future is one thing. I think the answer is many different things." A good leader is like a good gumbo, able to bring all people to the table. Richard McCarthy embodies both the knowledge, but more importantly, the passion necessary to lead the White Boot Brigade on its future battles to return Louisiana shrimp to American kitchens. The question is, will America follow?

 

 

The Season has begun

July 26, 2010...Monday...5:45 pm

All day long we've been having heavy rainstorms with thunder and lightening.

Typical Gulf Coast weather.

This afternoon about 5:45 power went out after three little "blips". It stayed out till 8:15 this evening.

Actually it wasn't that bad. Hubby and I took our evening cocktails out on the patio and discussed my upcoming forced retirement and our love for our cats and nature, followed by him bringing his guitar and strumming some wonderful acoustic sounds.

At about 8-ish the power came on and "wooze" could be heard all around the neighborhood.

This is our wakeup call. Time to check the battery supply, time for hubby to run that line to plug in our generator, time to get ready for mother nature's decisions.

We'll be okay. Been here, done that. We can handle this after BP. But pray for us nonetheless, y'all.

Thanks!
"

a shill for corporate america

My title is taken from this post on American Zombie blog.

Apparently Kenneth Feinberg, the man currently serves as the government-appointed administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund.

However, this same Kenneth Feinberg whose law firm represents the following corporate clients:

Altria Group, Inc.
American Express
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
British Airways
Conoco, Inc.
Dow Corning Corporation
DuPont (E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co.)
Eli Lilly & Company
Exxon Corporation
Ford Motor Company
General Electric Company
Hoechst Celanese Corporation
Mastercard
Pfizer, Inc.
Philips Electronics N.A.
Purdue Pharma
Raytheon
Shell Oil Company
Virgin Atlantic
Visa

I'm not saying that Mr. Feinberg has a conflict of interest or anything. After all, his law firm doesn't represent BP, but the fact that some of his clients ARE oil companies makes me wonder if he can be fair to the Gulf Coast residents who are honestly pursuing claims from the damage that the BP oil disaster has caused in their lives. We shall see, I suppose.

Salazar is a Scuzzbucket

From the Wall Street Journal.

"There were some unusual moments during the first hearing of the presidential commission on the BP-Deepwater Horizon accident. And no, we’re not talking about the speakers who showed up claiming to represent the Communist Party. Or the witness who pulled out a guitar and crooned a song about the accident.



No, the really odd moment came when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement that he was looking to the commission for information that could inform the administration’s position on halting deepwater drilling."

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Andrew "I'm a journalist" Breitbart.

So called blogger who takes things out of context, who accepts money from probably many tea bag partiers.

This guy isa trashy and "odious" (a cool word from Anderson Cooper). He takes opportunistic pieces of videos and soundbites to promote his side of a story.

Take the Shirley Sherrod story. Breibart took JUST what he needed from a story of Ms. Sherrod and used it to portray her as a racist. That's pretty scummy.

oh, crap

click on graphics to view larger pictures.

Fort Pike Closing

Fort Pike and four other state historic sites will be shuttered starting Monday under a legislative directive to save money, the director of the Office of State Parks said Wednesday.

The closure of the five facilities brings to seven the number of sites closed, according to Stuart Johnson, assistant secretary of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, and head of the parks office.

Besides Fort Pike in eastern New Orleans, which has been closed to the public and used as a staging area for oil spill operations for several weeks, the other four that will be closed on Monday are:


- Centenary State Historic Site in Jackson.

- Fort Jesup State Historic Site near Many.

- Native American mounds at Marksville State Historic Site in Avoyelles Parish.

- The Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site in Plaquemine.

Johnson said the closure of the seven sites will save the state about $350,000 a year. He said his office is exploring ways to reopen the facilities in a few months by getting local governments or historical societies to help run them.

Thanks, Legislature. You greedy bastards couldn't find some other place to find that measly $350K from? Sure, just close down wonderful sites like the above so you can have your perks and make sure your pet projects are funded. This is disgusting.

Just 11 months ago my husband and I were thrilled during our last visit there to see how far the Fort had come since Katrina and then Gustav.

I'm tired of bad news.

From a Transocean Survey

From a NYT article Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Concern About Safety

Only about half of the workers interviewed said they felt they could report actions leading to a potentially “risky” situation without reprisal.
“This fear was seen to be driven by decisions made in Houston, rather than those made by rig based leaders,” the report said.

“I’m petrified of dropping anything from heights not because I’m afraid of hurting anyone (the area is barriered off), but because I’m afraid of getting fired,” one worker wrote.

“The company is always using fear tactics,” another worker said. “All these games and your mind gets tired.”

Investigators also said “nearly everyone” among the workers they interviewed believed that Transocean’s system for tracking health and safety issues on the rig was “counter productive.”

Many workers entered fake data to try to circumvent the system, known as See, Think, Act, Reinforce, Track — or Start. As a result, the company’s perception of safety on the rig was distorted, the report concluded.

Here’s the address of the full article
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/22transocean.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&emc=th

Be the One

Sign the petition at , be the one

Be the One

Here's the story about the video

Petroleum Products (partial list)

A partial list of products made from Petroleum (144 of 6000 items)

One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make things like:

Solvents	Diesel fuel	Motor Oil	Bearing Grease
Ink	Floor Wax	Ballpoint Pens	Football Cleats
Upholstery	Sweaters	Boats	Insecticides
Bicycle Tires	Sports Car Bodies	Nail Polish	Fishing lures
Dresses	Tires	Golf Bags	Perfumes
Cassettes	Dishwasher parts	Tool Boxes	Shoe Polish
Motorcycle Helmet	Caulking	Petroleum Jelly	Transparent Tape
CD Player	Faucet Washers	Antiseptics	Clothesline
Curtains	Food Preservatives	Basketballs	Soap
Vitamin Capsules	Antihistamines	Purses	Shoes
Dashboards	Cortisone	Deodorant	Footballs
Putty	Dyes	Panty Hose	Refrigerant
Percolators	Life Jackets	Rubbing Alcohol	Linings
Skis	TV Cabinets	Shag Rugs	Electrician's Tape
Tool Racks	Car Battery Cases	Epoxy	Paint
Mops	Slacks	Insect Repellent	Oil Filters
Umbrellas	Yarn	Fertilizers	Hair Coloring
Roofing	Toilet Seats	Fishing Rods	Lipstick
Denture Adhesive	Linoleum	Ice Cube Trays	Synthetic Rubber
Speakers	Plastic Wood	Electric Blankets	Glycerin
Tennis Rackets	Rubber Cement	Fishing Boots	Dice
Nylon Rope	Candles	Trash Bags	House Paint
Water Pipes	Hand Lotion	Roller Skates	Surf Boards
Shampoo	Wheels	Paint Rollers	Shower Curtains
Guitar Strings	Luggage	Aspirin	Safety Glasses
Antifreeze	Football Helmets	Awnings	Eyeglasses
Clothes	Toothbrushes	Ice Chests	Footballs
Combs	CD's & DVD's	Paint Brushes	Detergents
Vaporizers	Balloons	Sun Glasses	Tents
Heart Valves	Crayons	Parachutes	Telephones
Enamel	Pillows	Dishes	Cameras
Anesthetics	Artificial Turf	Artificial limbs	Bandages
Dentures	Model Cars	Folding Doors	Hair Curlers
Cold cream	Movie film	Soft Contact lenses	Drinking Cups
Fan Belts	Car Enamel	Shaving Cream	Ammonia
Refrigerators	Golf Balls	Toothpaste	Gasoline

Americans consume petroleum products at a rate of three-and-a-half gallons of oil and more than 
250 cubic feet of natural gas per day each! But, as shown here petroleum is not just used for fuel.