Home » CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES » Archive for category 'Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali' (Page 2)

Archive for the Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali Category

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After four years of fighting the good fight and spending countless hours at my computer documenting the rampant Fraud, Waste and Abuse of U.S. tax dollars in the hands of , I have submitted a petition on We the People.

was set up by to take action on important issues facing our country.  I think lying and stealing from the taxpayer is an important issue.  Harming our troops in the name of profit is an important issue. I believe violating the / is an important issue.  I think the powers that be, need to get off their collective asses and hold someone accountable.

If you agree with the contents of the petition, I ask that you please sign it. I believe MsSparky.com readers are as fed up and disgusted with this as I am.  If the petition meets the signature threshold of 25,000 signatures in 30 days,  it will be reviewed by the Administration and an official response will be issued.  Here is the link (Click HERE).

If you are not already registered with We The People, there is a VERY short registration required before you can sign or generate petitions. While you are there, please peruse the list of other petitions and sign those that are important to you and if you have an issue, by all means generate a petition. My petition is below:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Enforce the law by prosecuting the corporations & criminals who have stolen $60 billion from the U.S. taxpayer

The Commission on Wartime Contracting estimates waste and fraud have amounted to as much as $60B during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense contractors have subjected US military personnel to substandard services, shoddy work and chemical exposure resulting in permanent injury and death.

While the Pentagon may deem egregious behavior as satisfactory and indemnify this negligence as a cost of doing business, we the people do not. We call upon our government to hold accountable the corporate entities and individuals responsible for the heinous acts committed against the citizens of the United States and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

War profiteering has never been so profitable for the wrongdoer and so dangerous for our troops and the taxpayer. (SIGN HERE)

We want out $60 Billion back! And if someone ended up going to jail for it, that would be nice too!

~Ms. Sparky

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Published: Thursday, February 09, 2012, 2:20 PM     Updated: Thursday, February 09, 2012, 2:33 PM

By Mike Francis, The Oregonian

An unspecified number of the 34 Oregon National Guard soldiers suing contractor KBR Inc. over their exposure to sodium dichromate in Iraq will have their cases set aside when the case goes to trial. The trial in U.S. District Court has been rescheduled for Oct. 9, four months later than the previously scheduled date.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Papak told lawyers Wednesday in a conference call that 34 plaintiffs would make the case “too unwieldy” for trial, said Jeffrey Eden, a Portland lawyer helping to represent .

As a result, the parties agreed generally on a formula that would let the soldiers’ attorneys choose four plaintiffs, and the defense lawyers and the court another four each. Then those 12 plaintiffs would proceed to a trial, with the remaining plaintiffs’ cases shelved until the first case is resolved.

However, some of those 12 may be dismissed, as their cases for damages are likely to be challenged by KBR before the case reaches trial.

Still to be settled are whether the outcome of the first trial will be binding for the other soldiers currently listed as plaintiffs.

At the same time, Judge Papak continues to consider KBR’s request to dismiss the entire case. He has asked the lawyers for additional information about the expert opinions used in the litigation, so his decision may not come for months, said David Sugerman, a Portland lawyer helping to represent the soldiers.(see original article HERE)

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Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – January 27, 2012 – Lawyers for defense contractor Inc. asked a federal judge in Portland Friday to dismiss the suit brought by a group of soldiers who said the KBR knowingly exposed them to a carcinogenic compound while they served in Iraq in 2003.

U.S. District heard the arguments for two hours Friday morning, then said he would rule on KBR’s request in the coming weeks.

Friday’s arguments, while delivered in calm and measured tones, included some stinging accusations. KBR’s lawyer said the soldiers’ primary medical expert is “a junk scientist who cannot be trusted.” And the soldiers’ lawyer said KBR committed “fraud” in its conduct at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant and in its actions afterward.

While KBR is technically asking the judge to dismiss the entire case brought by 34 Oregon National Guard soldiers, KBR lawyer Geoffrey Harrison of the Houston law firm of Susman Godfrey acknowledged that he expects some subset of the group will survive the legal challenge and proceed toward trial.

Read the remainder of this entry »

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David Isenberg – (Huffington Post) – January 20, 2012 – Some things just seem to go together: day and night, bread and butter, Romeo and Juliet, Abbott and Costello, Crosby and Hope, Batman and Robin, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Cheech and Chong, Sonny and Cher, Beavis and Butthead and sharks and suckerfish (remora) for example. In light of that last pair, another symbiotic pair is private military and security contractors and lawyers.

When historians try to calculate the various benefits that the past decade of privatized contingency operations has brought, one hopes they won’t forget to include the huge number of billable hours that various law firms representing various plaintiffs and defendants have amassed. Firms like , and DynCorp alone have doubtlessly enabled scores of lawyers to pay for their children’s education all the way up through doctorates.

For example, earlier this month the security company once known as Blackwater, now , agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by six victims or their families in the Sept. 16, 2007 shootings in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, an incident that remains a lightning rod over the use of private contractors in war.

According to Charlotte, North Carolina law firm Lewis & Roberts, who represented the victims in this case, the lawsuit was the “last active civil suit stemming from the incident,” in which five Blackwater guards were accused in 14 deaths of civilians.

Also this month the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (), announced that DynCorp International, a Falls Church, Va.-based private military contractor and aircraft maintenance company, will pay $155,000 and furnish other significant relief to settle a sex-based harassment and retaliation lawsuit.

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Let me get this straight, Judge Papak is allowing to bill the soldiers and surviving family members for legal fees that the taxpayer is obligated to pay because the Pentagon, in their infinite wisdom, gave an indemnity clause in their contract that covers their corporate ass even if the company is proven to be at fault or liable!  If KBR isn’t footing the bill for this litigation in the first place what legal expenses have they incurred?

I have to believe that Judge Papak made this decision based on the letter of the law and to avoid grounds for appeal as this case moves forward.  However, this is the second time a judge has allowed these corporate vultures to collect money from plaintiffs aka victims for legal fees.  You have to know that the merry band of misfits KBR calls managers have added this tidbit to their arsenal of threats right along side “chicken or pasta.”

What’s next,  a “fact sheet” touting how the company is saving the taxpayer money by recouping legal fees from injured soldiers and the survivors of those that have died; at the hands of companies who were hired to serve and protect our warriors serving the United States in a combat zone? ~Ms Sparky

National Guardsmen to Pay for Late Maneuver
Nick McCann – (Courthouse News) – PORTLAND, Ore. – January 4, 2011 – A group of members who say KBR exposed them to toxic at an Iraqi water-treatment plant are on the hook for part of the defense contractor’s legal fees, a federal judge ruled. Read the remainder of this entry »

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