Friday, January 11, 2013

BDS, Veolia, and the Post Hoc fallacy

After repeated delays, Veolia Water came to the realization that it could no longer obtain the resources necessary to compete for construction of a surface water project.and  reluctantly pulled its bid from the Woodland Davis-Clean Water Agency.

From Vice  president of Business development for Veolia Water North America, Sean Haghighi, quoted in the Jan. 11, 2013 Davis Enterprise:

 “We looked at our resources and at our key staff and we found ourselves unable to respond based on the new timeline, We’re very busy with other pursuits and our resources are concentrated in other places. We just really didn’t feel like we could be gearing up again for this project based on the revised schedule.”

At the agency board meeting on Dec. 20, Mayor Joe Krovoza did not appear thrilled about the development.

“I’m disappointed in Veolia,” Krovoza said. “(They’ve) had an opportunity to watch this process all along. While (it has been) frustrating, it’s been very clear about the timeline.”

Why is this even relevant to a pro-Israel website?

Veolia has been the target of the BDS’holes wrath for daring to provide municipal services to Israel. Around the world, BDS'ers have been lobbying governments to bypass veolia and have been ignored.  Hungry for anything that even resembles a victory,  Mikos Fabersunne of Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights  sent out a email, that was re-posted throughout creation by Anna Baltzer of the US Campaign to End the occupation. 
Veolia Withdraws from California Water Contract Bidding Following Outcry
Against its Abuses of Palestinian Rights

Davis, California – The Davis Committee of Palestinian Rights (DCPR) is happy to report that Veolia Water North America has withdrawn as a prospective bidder on a $325 million dollar project that would provide treated water from the Sacramento River to residents of Woodland and Davis in Yolo County, California.  The announcement came at the December 20, 2012 meeting of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (Water Agency), a joint powers authority between the University of California - Davis and the cities of Woodland and Davis. Veolia’s withdrawal followed efforts by citizens of Yolo County to prevent Veolia’s bidding due to the company’s involvement in the violation of Palestinian human rights....

Bids were initially due in December 2012, but following outcry from citizenry regarding the large impact of the project’s capital cost upon resident’s water bills, the City Council decided to postpone the due date and appoint a citizens’ advisory committee to investigate rate alternatives, revisit the water supply need-assessment, and consider other water procurement options.  Veolia was the only company to withdraw from bidding.

To Mikos Fabersunne, perhaps you’d like to acquaint yourself with the Post Hoc Fallacy (from the Niskor Project)

A Post Hoc is a fallacy with the following form:

    A occurs before B.
    Therefore A is the cause of B.

The Post Hoc fallacy derives its name from the Latin phrase "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc." This has been traditionally interpreted as "After this, therefore because of this." This fallacy is committed when it is concluded that one event causes another simply because the proposed cause occurred before the proposed effect. More formally, the fallacy involves concluding that A causes or caused B because A occurs before B and there is not sufficient evidence to actually warrant such a claim.

After 11 years of BDS failures,  Mikos Fabersunne and his fellow BDS holes are starved for anything that kinda sorta mighta be a victory, and they are willing to bend the truth until it breaks to achieve it.

No, Anna,  No. Miles. The Woodland Davis Water Agency contract is no BDS victory. If anything, its yet another indication of how irrelevant  BDS  is as a tactic in America.

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