Justice Roberts, STFU
At the High Court, Damage Control
Exxon Mobil, the giant oil corporation appearing before the Supreme Court yesterday, had earned a profit of nearly $40 billion in 2006, the largest ever reported by a U.S. company – but that’s not what bothered Roberts. What bothered the chief justice was that Exxon was being ordered to pay $2.5 billion – roughly three weeks’ worth of profits – for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history.
“So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?” Roberts asked in court.
The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. “Well,” he said, “it can hire fit and competent people.”
The rare sound of laughter rippled through the august chamber. The chief justice did not look amused. </em>
Of course he didn’t look amused. The ruling class rarely has cause to smell the truth, and it offends, oh it offends.
Now, what Exxon can do is to go ahead and pay the people who’s lives they destroyed, due to the fact that the oil giant was too cheap to repair the radar that would have alerted the third mate- (who was at the helm, btw, the “drunken captain” story is bullshit) to the dangers ahead:
On Wednesday, March 24, the Tenth Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster was commemorated with the re-telling of lies. The official story is, “Drunken Skipper Hits Reef.” Don’t believe it.
This story remains untold: the true cause of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe was the oil giants’ breaking their promises to the Natives and Congress, cynically and disastrously, in the fifteen years leading up to the spill. As to Captain Joe Hazelwood, he was below decks, sleeping off his bender. At the helm, the third mate would never have collided with Bligh Reef had he looked at his Raycas radar. But the radar was not turned on. In fact, the tanker’s radar was left broken
and disasbled for more than a year before the disaster, and Exxon management knew it. It was just too expensive to fix and operate.</em>
What can a corporation do, Chief Justice Roberts?
It’s called “responsibility”. Look it up, although to be fair, you’ll have to leave DC to find a true definition. Exxon is scum, and so are you.
