Prosper Inc.—where slow sellers are put on two-week notice, the supervisor keeps a "2x4 of motivation" on his desk, and the team leader "threatened to draw a mustache in permanent marker on the face of sales people for 'negativity'"—doesn't sound like a healthy place to work even on good days. But Hudgens was somehow surprised by the severity of the "team-building exercise" this time around.

Christopherson called the men into the break room and announced, "We're going to do an exercise." He asked for a volunteer.
 
Hudgens raised his hand. [Never raise your hand, Hudgens! First rule!]
 
"Keep in mind," he said, "the last time we did a team-building exercise outside, we did an egg toss."
 
Prosper maintains that Christopherson explained what would happen next, and Hudgens knew what he was in for, even handing his cellphone and keys to co-workers before lying down. Hudgens insists he had no clue.
 
"So they held me down," Hudgens said, "and the next thing I know, Josh has a gallon jug of water and he's pouring it on my face. I can't scream because the water's going down my throat.
 
"And halfway through he stopped for a second. I tried to mumble the words, 'Stop, knock it off.' I tried to get that out and he continued to pour."
 
"I'm not getting any air," Hudgens said. "Toward the end, I'm starting to black out. I'm getting very dizzy, light-headed. The sensation that's going through my head is, 'I'm going to drown.' "
 
That is the oft-described whole point of waterboarding, though Hudgens said he was not then familiar with the word. He said that what he told a friend in the human relations office two hours later, after "coughing, choking, mucus" was: "My team just tried to kill me."

That's what goose-liver snarfing Chicagoans are discovering after a recent ban on foie gras was imposed in the Windy City, courtesy of Alderman Joe Moore. "This is a product that involves the torture of an animal, and all this ban does is ban the product of animal torture," he said. Fair enough — but then again, I just watched a documentary about how baboons like to rip the flesh off of trapped gazelles alive, and for me, that pretty much put foie gras in perspective.

But the DEA's not about to go splintering doors over the gelatinous dollop of a fattened goose liver. It's all up to citizen's arrest. Meanwhile, foie gras afficionados think this is pretty much the stupidest thing ever: "I don't think it's up to an alderman to decide what food should be served or not serviced in Chicago," said Tammy Cozzi, a Chicagoan. Welcome to the nanny state, Tammy!

Owner Plans to Sue Over Foie Gras Ban [CBS]

Exxon's unhappy with the ruling, claiming that it sets a bad precedent that allows American companies to be held responsible for the actions of foreign governments. But the International Rights And Labor Fund says Exxon's involvement goes further than being coerced into giving up their premises for human-rights abuses: there seems to be strong indication that Exxon was actually paying the Indonesian Military for security during this time, making the Indonesian soldiers responsible Exxon contractors.

But even if that isn't true, is it truly a bad precedent, to hold American companies that operate and comply with regimes that torture, rape and murder their own people responsible for their complicity? No. Lip service to the dignity of people is cheap and meaningless when a company is unwilling to actually make sacrifices to help achieve that goal.

Exxon had a say in the matter: aware of Indonesia's human rights abuses, they could have opted to move their business elsewhere. They didn't — they paid the Indonesian military for security and allowed their premises to be used for torture. Exxon may have kept their hands technically free of blood, but that doesn't change the fact that they implicitly condoned it and paid for it.

Link: Exxon: Torture Suit Sets Bad Precedent