FirstTimeVoterAt37 (33 posts) Sat Jun-12-10 03:24 PM
Original message
Am I going too far here?
Edited on Sat Jun-12-10 03:26 PM by FirstTimeVoterAt37
After watching Bill Maher ask what it would take to make something good come out of the gulf catastrophe, I came up with my own answer. Be forewarned I know dick-all about law and legalese.
That's alright, Bill Maher knows less than dick....
Start by charging the company as a whole with criminal negligence.
Then hit the Horizon rig using the criminal negligence charge to subpoena all the records, and do a thorough investigation on every single corner cut. Then you start at the bottom of the chain of command and work your way up until you reach the CEO’s, decision-makers, and money-movers. Charge those parties with criminal negligence as well.
This is the most important part - right on the heels of that, charge those individuals with eleven counts of of either negligent homicide or criminally negligent manslaughter.
Then retrace your steps back down the chain of command and start handing out charges of aiding and abetting a felony through gross or criminal negligence. If nothing else sticks, go for reckless endangerment.
Now with criminal negligence established and half of management busy trying to find a nice non-extradition country, you can get to the destruction of property charges. That’s going to be a biiiiiig pile of paperwork.
One small problem. PROOF! You must PROVE intent and negligence in order to PROSECUTE for it....
It's in the Constitution, you know, that little piece of paper that (supposedly) limits the government from doing such things....
Ultimately, BP has to go bankrupt, as in out of business, dismantled and auctioned off. Their stockholders are screwed, sorry. Revenue generated through selling them off goes to paying their legal obligations first. Regarding the lost jobs issue, another company will step in to buy BP’s equipment and drilling operations, so the jobs will be recreated. There must be a stipulation that anyone convicted of charges relating to BP cannot be employed by the new company. I think that’s the best that can be done there.
You mean, like how Lord Zero handled GM?
How about we let BP stay in business, intact, operational, making a profit so they can CONTINUE to pay off their legal obligations. Stockholders (ie, us and our 401K's, IRA's and invested pension plans) will NOT be screwed, sorry, and no need to "recreate" jobs, since none will be lost in the first place.
It's called "the KISS principal":
Keep
It
Simple,
STUPID!
Yes, the drilling will continue. But after watching all this go down, every single drilling operation will be in utmost tippy-top shape from this day forward. Anyone who considers a cost-cutting measure of any sort is going to think of how Tony Hayward is busy serving eleven consecutive life sentences, right beside a dozen or so of the richest, formerly most untouchable men on the planet. Disgraced and rotting away in prison for murder.
Question for DUmbass FirstTimeVoterAt37:
Which is cheaper for the oil companies? Obeying the regulation to the letter, or cutting corners, having a disaster like this spill happen, and having to pay for cleanup?
Also, even if all known and some unknown regulations are followed and something like this STILL happens, are we going thru the whole ritual of what you propose for EVERY ACCIDENT THAT HAPPENS?
Do we need MORE regulations to GUARANTEE this NEVER happens again? WILL more regulations guarantee this will never happen again?
As a result, drilling will be more expensive even disregarding possible new regulations, because sneaky cost-cutting measures will no longer be popular. Rather, expensive octuple backup systems and intense maintenance will be demanded by CEO's covering their own asses. As a result of that, drilling itself will be unpopular as other types of energy automatically become more cost effective with the bonus of being less risky to the guy in charge.
If the government gets involved, you can bet your sore ass it WILL be more expensive. But so will gas for your hybrid, electricity for your house, and everything you use, buy, touch, and consume, because EVERYTHING IS MADE, MOVED, AND STORED uses ENERGY!
Yes people will be hurt, jobs will be lost, and the fallout won't only be on the guilty. But criminal charges must be levied, and among those must be eleven counts of negligent homicide.
Again, there's that pesky little thing call PROOF that needs to be addressed first, and not by you, but a court of law....
In a nutshell, BP and those individuals responsible for this mess must be made an example of.
And if there is no "bogeyman", then what?
Anyway, thanks for letting me air my headmeats out.
Thank you for your mental diarrhea....
