<a href="http://www.sfgate.com">SFGate</a> reports that a <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/11/07/state1353EST0066.DTL">federal appeals court has determined</a> that the $5 Billion punitive damages levied against Exxon for the Valdez disaster are "excessive". <span class="quote"><q>Exxon, which later merged with Mobil, argued that it shouldn't have to pay any punitive damages. The oil giant said it learned its lesson and spent more than $3 billion cleaning up the Prince William Sound area and to settle federal and state lawsuits. ... R.J. Kopchak, 52, a fisherman in Cordova near the oil spill, said there are no herring left in the waters and minimal salmon. "We no longer can make a living commercial fishing," said Kopchak, whose herring fishing operation is now defunct.</q></span> <a href="http://adbusters.org">AdBusters</a> has published <a href="http://adbusters.org/magazine/28/usa.html">an excerpt</a> from a new book, <a href="https://secure.adbusters.org/orders/culturejam/">Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America™</a>, which talks about the rise of corporate power in America™: <span class="quote"><q>We, the people, have lost control. Corporations, these legal fictions that we ourselves created two centuries ago, now have more rights, freedoms and powers than we do. And we accept this as the normal state of affairs. We go to corporations on our knees. Please do the right thing, we plead. Please don't cut down any more ancient forests. Please don't pollute any more lakes and rivers (but please don't move your factories and jobs offshore either). Please don't use pornographic images to sell fashion to my kids. Please don't play governments off against each other to get a better deal. We've spent so much time bowed down in deference, we've forgotten how to stand up straight.</q></span>