CBS News "60 Minutes" slamed by CJR for Chevron Ecuador segment

CBS News 60 Minutes was massively body slammed by Martha M. Hamilton of the Columbia Journalism Review Thursday, for presenting in a May 3, 2009 segment what Hamilton writes was "clear impression that Chevron trashed the place and left, while downplaying the fact that Petroecuador has been operating alone at the former Texaco sites since 1990."

If you're just reading this, the CJR's article is another chapter in the long story of one man, Steve Donziger's, 20-year-old and now $27 billion lawsuit against American Chevron for environmental damage that Donziger claims was done by Chevron without an adequate cleanup effort.

(Proponents will chime in that the lawsuit was presented by indigenous tribes of the impacted areas, but in point of fact, the architect of the suit has been Steve Donziger, who's a brilliant man so this is not personal against him, from day one.)

This song is getting old because now with 1) revelations that an Ecuador judge in the Chevron lawsuit was in on an alleged bribery relationship where his apparently planned decision to rule against Chevron would have resulted in a payoff for that judge, and 2) discovery that the environmentalist on the case rendered a view that cleared Chevron of environmental damage but his writing was replaced with a false report, and 3) the fact that Ecuador has worked to kick out American Oil Companies and nationalize its oil industry, Ecuador looks more like what this blogger always asserted it was: a nation that does not take care of its poorest people, but blames foreign companies for its economic irresponsibility.

People who attack American Oil and American Business, I've found, are really part of an environmental industrial complex that has it's own monetary relationships. One must ask why none of the plaintiff lawyers in the Chevron Ecuador lawsuit ever bothered to sue Ecuador? Why is it that Ecuador's attorney general said Ecuador would collect 90 percent of the court's $27 billion award?

Anyone who attacks their claims that protect Ecuador is painted as someone paid by Chevron, as opposed to having a view that simply disagrees with the lawsuit. Just wait for one person to accuse Martha M. Hamilton of being paid by Chevron.

The fact is that Ecuador must take care of its poor. Chevron proved it cleaned up its mess, but an environmental report saying so was apparently doctored to avoid such news, all the better to win a lawsuit.

None of that helps Ecuador's poor and it was clear from a long time ago that the money from a court win against Chevron would see the pockets of Ecuador's elite before Ecuador's poor ever got wind that a victory happened.

That fact alone should make anyone who really does care about what's happening down there cry.

Stay tuned.

A Day in the Life of an NFL Prospect

12 Days ago We spent the day with Stonybrook University Running back Conte Cuttino.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R_-Zy95w7o

Fabrice Tourre and Goldman Sachs sued for fraud by SEC

London-based Goldman Sachs Vice President Fabrice Tourre and the firm which employed him are the focus of a civil lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud. Fabrice Tourre allegedly packaged Credit Default Swaps (CDS) against the very same subprime mortgage-backed securities he created.

In other words, Fabrice Tourre both created a debt instrument that he allegedly knew was risky, then set up insurance - the CDS - to make money when it failed.

So if you were one of the people Fabrice Tourre convinced to buy into his securities, you were set up for a big fall while he walked away with the cash. That's the focus of the SEC's lawsuit.

But who is Fabrice Tourre? According to The Huffington Post, Fabrice Tourre's a Stanford grad from France who's worked on Wall Street in New York and for Goldman since 2001. Proud of his achievement in creating the CDS at issue, he referred to himself as "The Fabulous Fab" in an email to a friend on January 23, 2007.

Fabrice Tourre's LinkedIn profile shows he has 95 connections and received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Ecole Centrale Paris in 2000, then his MS in Operations Research (a cousin of systems theory and system dynamics, of which this blogger's a expert in) from Stanford in 2001.

In the interest of full disclosure, this blogger is indirectly connected to Fabrice Tourre via 68 connections on LinkedIn but as of this writing as not met or corresponded with Fabrice Tourre. (I have almost 2,000 LinkedIn connections.)

If you want to learn more about CDS and how they work from a basic perspective, look at this online slide explanation that's based on Michael Lewis' book The Big Short with a click here: CDS Scandal.

In closing, as a counter to those who may fall back on the rather empty charge that mortgage loans were given to people who should not have them, a claim that when expanded has the tinge of racism, the fact is no one can pay a loan without a job. The rise in jobs loss caused the subprime loan problem.

Stay tuned.

NFL Draft: Ted Ginn, Jr. trade not the answer for Niners

The NFL Draft is next week, but one trade has some bloggers thinking that what will happen in the 1st round of the 2010 NFL Draft will be altered by it. Here's a tip: don't believe anything an NFL team rep tells the media before the NFL Draft because it's a clear sign that media person's being used to send a false signal. Translation: the San Francisco 49ers still need a speed running back; Ted Ginn, Jr. does not solve their problems.

The Niners trades their 5th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft for Ted Ginn, Jr., the Dolphins Wide Receiver / Returner, who was their answer to Wide Receiver / Returner Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears.

The year Ginn was drafted, 2007, was the same time NFL personnel execs were on the lookout for someone, anyone, who could be the next Devin Hester, the speedster from The University of Miami.

Hester came in and shook-up the NFL with his shocking straight-ahead speed. The one player tagged by many to be the next Devin Hester was Ted Ginn, Jr. from Ohio State. But when the Dolphins took him as the 9th pick in the first round, there were many in the room at Radio City Music Hall who believed they grabbed him too high.

They were right, sort of.

It's not to say Ted Ginn Jr.'s not the deep threat the 49ers need; he is. The main question is can he catch the ball when it gets there?  He was two caught for eight thrown to him against the New Orleans Saints last year. It's just that Ginn's not the only answer for the speed the Niners need; Clemson Running Back C.J. Spiller's still a player the 49ers should work to get. Spiller's 4.27 speed in the back field combined with Ginn, second-year player Michael Crabtree, and fast tight-end Vernon Davis, will on paper give the 49ers the most dangerous offense they've had since the Bill Walsh years.

But Ginn's not the answer.

From the perspective of Miami Dolphins bloggers, Ted Ginn, Jr. did not have a happy time in Miami. The Phinsider reports that Ginn's high selection in the 1st round of The NFL Draft translated to great expectations as a return guy and a wide receiver.

In fairness, while Ginn didn't meet them as a receiver, he did set return records with the Dolphins. Last year, Ginn became the first NFL player since 1967 to score two return touchdowns in the same quarter against the New York Jets. But Ginn's toughness has been roundly questioned, with Dolphins legends like former offensive guard Bob Kuechenberg calling Ginn a "coward."

Ted Ginn for all the world looks like a Vernon Davis project for San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Mike Singletary. If Coach Singletary can have the same impact on Ginn he's had on Davis, Ginn's NFL Draft promise may well be met.

Stay tuned.

Luxury W Hotel San Francisco gets praise for GDC

OK, beyond the LEED award, the W Hotel San Francisco, in fact, the W Hotel chain, has established a level of legendary cool seldom appreciated.

This blogger takes time to gush about The W Hotel because the memory of it as a new, innovative, and deliberately hip place to lay one's head is still fresh. Each W Hotel this blogger has visited has attracted beautiful, well-dressed, intelligent patrons and featured a bar scene that in many cases was part of the social scene for that city: New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, all have prominent roles in their cities.

The W Hotel's combination of dark muted colors, indirect lighting, and smoked glass create a theme popular with tourists, tech industry leaders, entertainers, and even game developers. The annual San Francisco Game Developers Conference brings the biggest heavy-hitters to The W Hotel San Francisco and this blogger was there, first, in 2007; 2009 was not different.

The lobby was teaming with game development executives, graphic artists, and other members of the game industry, meeting and talking about the doings at what's called The GDC. The W Hotel San Francisco played gracious host, and to my understanding no one was unhappy.

This video is from the 2009 GDC and shows how the lobby became a kind of small convention hall itself, and perfect for the presentation of game ideas:



That had to be written because it's not often a business is openly praised for being the perfect place for its patrons, but that's what the W Hotel San Francisco was at the 2010 GDC.

W Hotel San Francisco gets LEED award, has American Idol Kris Allen

This space has been constant in reporting buildings that get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) awards from the U.S. Green Building Council and today's no exception.

The popular luxury W Hotel San Francisco, next to Moscone Convention Center, earned a LEED award and celebrated in W Hotel style and fashion, by hosting American Idol Season 8 winner Kris Allen at a ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday at the hotel at a private, invitation-only ceremony.

The timing is perfect because Kris Allen just scored his own first:  Allen signed a publishing deal with Universal Music.

A LEED award is given to the builders of structures that have efficient, energy-saving HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems that use natural light effectively.

 The W Hotel San Francisco is one of a handful of buildings in America, and even fewer hotels, to earn a LEEDS designation.

Congratulations.

Larry King divorce based on King's gifts to Shawn Southwick sister?

The news that CNN's talk show legend Larry King is divorcing his wife Shawn Southwick has burned up the Internet, but what's interestingly unfortunate is the reported reason for the divorce.

According to TMZ.com, Shawn Southwick found evidence that hubby Larry King bought expensive gifts for her sister Shannon Engemann.

And while King allegedly said he would stop giving the gifts, he never did. That sent Shawn through the roof and making moves toward divorce court, filing legal papers and interviewing potential counsel.

Meanwhile TMZ.com spotted King and Southwick at their sons little league game in Beverly Hills. The blog post reports the two got along famously with King saying "that was the best 30 minutes of my life" and leaving this blogger to wonder what happened to make him say that.

Whatever the present, it's clear Larry King's marriage with Shawn Southwick (Shawkn King) has been anything but easy over the last two year, and in the next post on this you will learn why.

Stay tuned.

Utah Earthquake pushes number of 2010 large quakes to 27

The 4.9 Richter Scale Utah Earthquake that hit Thursday night is the largest in that state in 75 years according to The Vancouver Sun, and pushes the number of large earthquakes to 27 for 2010 and on page to continue to the 92 significant earthquakes (quakes over 4 on the Richter Scale) projected for this year by this blogger.

That is a record pace.

The Utah Earthquake hit at 5:59:38 PM according to the US Geological Survey. The quake was centered five miles from and a mile below Randolph, UT, and 77 miles from Salt Lake City. The "light" earthquake didn't cause much damage or injuries and the Salt Lake Tribune reports it as if it's no big deal.

In fact, the Salt Lake Tribune goes on to report a gross inaccuracy:

The six major earthquakes occurring in the first four months of 2010 puts they year within normal range. There were 18 major quakes from April 15, 2009, to April 14, 2010, which is a number scientists say is within expectations.

That's wrong, and this space wonders if the Salt Lake Tribune is afraid to report the truth. The fact is over that period of time there were 80 large earthquakes, not 18, major quakes using the 2009 and 2010 information to date, and that's using USGS data available from its website.

The Salt Lake Tribune should stop playing games with the facts and report the information as the USGS presents it: a large quake is over 4 on the Richter Scale. The Salt Lake Tribune just mentions "large quakes" but does not define what they are.

The USGS earthquake numbers point to a problem, at least for anyone willing to look at them.

Stay tuned.

Waste Management v. Recology in SF a battle with national implications

Waste Management is angry

Waste Management v. Recology for the right to dump San Francisco waste is a battle with national implications. Why? It essentially pits one giant garbage firm, Waste Management, against it's much smaller competitor Recology and may pave the way for other local firms to have more success in competing against national organizations in the waste business. Waste Management is 43,400 employees in size; Recology, formerly NorCal Waste Systems, has 2,100.

This blogger normally doesn't pay much attention to local trash, preferring the national celebrity brand, but a political battle between two established companies, and the fact that a lot of people from various sides have talked about it without any provocation, caused this space to wade into an argument such that regardless of what is stated, and how reasonable it may be, the other side - or some other side - is bound to be pissed off.

But the reason for the attention from this space was a March 30,2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian (SFBG) article that claimed Waste Management was "Oakland-based"; an online check revealed Waste Management was not Oakland-based but headquartered (another word for "based") in Houston, Texas at 1001 Fannin St.,Ste. 4000.

What giant Waste Management has is an Oakland office, but that's to have a local political face to help land SF Bay Area work. It's just smart business, but Waste Management is not based in Oakland.

Nothing against the media legend that is Bruce Brugmann at all, but the SFBG really went to town in attacking one side against the other. The SFBG made Waste Management look like a local, environmentally-concerned organization, against, well, Recology.

What happened was that Recology tentatively won a contract with the City and County of San Francisco to haul San Francisco's unrecycled trash by train to its Ostrum Road Landfill in Yuba County, starting in 2015, according to Kevin Fagan of The San Francisco Chronicle. The organization they beat for this right by vote of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment was Waste Management, which currently takes the San Francisco trash to Livermore's Altamont landfill area that it owns. Recology has an alternative proposal that takes the trash to Yuba County.

What's interesting is the SFBG went through the scoring for the proposals submitted and nitpicked what scores Recology was given and claimed the process seemed to have some "subjectivity." Any judgement by any government committee is generally subjective, save for one part: cost. Recology's proposal was less expensive than that from Waste Management.

The San Francisco Commission on the Environment made a daring decision: to go with the less expensive Recology proposal. Daring, because the San Francisco Commission on the Environment screwed with a huge value chain of interests, from Waste Management's Altamont landfill to the City of Livermore and the County of Alameda, which make money from it, to The Sierra Club, who has a monetary grant-making interest in the revenue generated from the Altamont Landfill.

Now here comes Recology to screw it all up. In doing so, the attacks on Recology reveal an environmental industrial complex active in Northern California and that seems to block out new organizations from working within it. Recology was fortunate in that it already has a hand in the collection of the garbage in San Francisco, but believes it can do a better job by establishing a fully controlled and more cost effective transport system than what exists by Recology's working with Waste Management.

Recology issued the more cost effective proposal and a brave San Francisco Commission on the Environment picked them. In short, it gave a really local firm a chance to grow rather than be hampered by the environmental industrial complex. Waste Management is not a true local firm; the attempts to make it look as if it is are unfortunate. If Recology can do a better job, and the San Francisco Commission on the Environment thinks it can, give the San Francisco firm a chance.

Of course, it's not that easy; here comes the defenders of the San Francisco environmental industrial complex, here them roar, and all to protect their money.

Stay tuned.

NFL Draft: Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner, blasts Tim Tebow, Bill Parcells

This from the "you should always know a cell phone camcorder's around if you're a celebrity" file. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was caught on camcorder issuing a drunken blast about Tim Tebow just days before the 2010 NFL Draft.

The video above shows Jerry Jones in a rant at some party or bar that involved drinking; Jones ranted on about now-former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach and Miami Dolphins President Bill Parcells and Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow. Someone with a cell phone camcorder caught Jones talking and talking.

The video is hard to hear, so this blogger will turn to the ESPN interpretation: Jones said this:

"Bill's not worth a [expletive]," the video shows Jones saying. After some conversation with an unidentified man off-camera, the video continues with Jones saying, "... to get this [expletive] stadium, I need to bring his [butt] in."

In the video, Jones also said, and ESPN did not report, that Tim Tebow "couldn't get on the field" and said other disparaging remarks about Tebow after someone asked him why a team like Jacksonville (rumored to be interested in Tebow in the 2010 NFL Draft) would draft him, if only to sell t-shirts.

Clearly Jerry Jones should have known better. He's a public figure. To say that he was in a bar, or any other place, does not matter. This would have never happen under the Cowboys of then-owner Clint Murchison and Head Coach Tom Landry.

But it also may reveal how some NFL owners really feel about Tim Tebow.

Stay tuned.

IRS tax day freebies 2010 at Starbucks, Cinnabon; help the homeless

Today is April 15th, IRS Tax Day. That day where people get their last files together to make a list of fiscal expenditures and get their tax report in to the government before midnight.

While today may be a day of dread, fear not, for it's also a time of IRS tax day freebies 2010. Now the trouble is while this is a national trend, not enough retailers or eateries are actually sending out press releases announcing a marketing effort. If this blogger were in the restaurant business, everyone would get a free drink if they purchased a meal and could prove they just filed their taxes.

Now there is one company that seems to get "IRS tax day freebies 2010:" Starbucks. If you bring in a reusable mug on April 15th, or today, you get a free brewed coffee according to their website. Cinnabon, who makes those great, big cinnamon rolls with the thick frosting on top, is also part of IRS tax day freebies 2010.

Between 6 PM and 8 PM at Cinnabon, you can get two free cupcake bites to, as the website reports, "make it less taxing." But if you do this, I personally ask that you give your free cupcake bites to someone who needs food. It's personally sad to see people sitting or begging and know that retailers have these freebees that someone homeless generally doesn't know about.

So if you see someone near by, think about them.

Stay tuned.

iPhone app and Twitter for Small Luxury Hotels of The World

See: small luxury hotels, luxury hotels of the world, iphone app hotels, twitter small luxury hotels

If you think that hotels don't get tech and social networks and aren't willing to try, think again. Small Luxury Hotels of The World, a collection of over 500 hotels in 70 countries has both a Twitter page @SLHLuxuryHotels and an iPhone app. But if you're wondering just what a "Small Luxury Hotel of The World" looks like, here's one in my 2007 video of my trip to New York City to appear as a guest on CNN's Roland Martin Debate This Show:



That hotel at 1:24 is called the Jumeirah Essex House and it's next to Central Park and just a few blocks from CNN's New York studios in The Time Warner Center. It was the first seven-star hotel this blogger ever stayed in, thanks to CNN.

It's not hard to understand why Small Luxury Hotels of The World like the Jumeirah Essex House are so popular, and why a Twitter page and an iPhone app (no blogs or other social network systems so far) are so helpful to the fans of the hotel brand.

While the Twitter page only has 1,259 followers, it has more followers than @SLHLuxuryHotels is following, which is a healthy follower to followed ratio for future growth. Where @SLHLuxuryHotels can grow is by tweeting about subjects beyond the realm of the hotel, thus picking up more Twitter followers. Still, the Twitter use and the frequency of tweets is a great start.

The Small Luxury Hotels of The World iPhone app is both cool and useful and its free. You can find and call to book a room at any one of the hotels in their system right from your iPhone. Then you can share what you've found with your social network contacts.

CNN introduced me to Small Luxury Hotels of The World like the Jumeirah Essex House before this iPhone app; you can bet that when I buy a Verizon iPhone, the Small Luxury Hotels of The World iPhone app is one of the first I'm going to use.

Stay tuned.