The Real Terrorists are the Corporate Execs Who’ve Bought the Regulators

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-lindorff/49149/the-real-terrorists-are-the-corporate-execs-who-ve-bought-the-regulators

The Real Terrorists are the Corporate Execs Who’ve Bought the Regulators
by Dave Lindorff | April 19, 2013 - 9:16am

The way I see it, we had two acts of terrorism in the US this week. The first took place at the end of the historic Boston Marathon, when two bombs went off near the finish line, killing three and seriously injuring dozens of runners and spectators. The second happened a couple days later in the town of West, Texas, where a fertilizer plant blew up, incinerating or otherwise killing at least 15, and injuring at least 150 people, and probably more as the search for the dead and the injured continues.

~snip~

The villains in the West Fertilizer Co. explosion are can be much more easily identified: the managers and owners of the plant.

West Fertilizer was built in the middle of the small town of West, TX, a community founded in the 19th century and named after the first local postmaster, T.M. West. It makes no sense, of course, to put a facility that uses highly toxic anhydrous ammonia as a primary feed stock -- a compound that burns the lungs and kills on contact, and that, because it must be stored under pressure, is highly prone to leaks and explosive releases -- and that makes as its main product ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Ammonium nitrate is the highly explosive compound favored by truck bombers like the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. It was the fertilizer, vast quantities of which were stored at the West Fertilizer plant site, which caused the colossal explosion that leveled much of the town of West.

Building such a dangerous facility in the midst of a residential and business area, and allowing homes, nursing homes, hospitals, schools and playgrounds to be built alongside it, is the result of a corrupt process that is common in towns and cities across America, where business leaders routinely have their way with local planning and zoning commissions, safety inspectors and city councils. Businesses small and large also have their way with state and federal safety and health inspectors.

[bemildred]

1. Racketeers is what they are, they have turned our government into a racket. nt

[whathehell]

2. They are both "real" terrorists, just of a different type.

Really no need to "compare". Both should

be pursued by all legal means possible.

[elleng]

3. 'Regulators' have been co-opted by 'regulatees' for many years,

its 'tradition,' and in particular, OSHA has been de-funded by Fed govt/Dept of Labor for a long time. A DUer wrote about this recently, as having worked at OSHA some years ago.

EDIT: DUer worked at OSHA: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=458943

West company was not 'built in the middle of West,' but West grew up around it. I think 'chimp' should get its facts together.

[golfguru]

4. So when a politician is corrupt, whom do you blame?

The corporation who bribed him or the politician?

When I bribe a traffic cop for not giving me a ticket, whom do you blame?
The cop or me?

IMHO the authority in charge who accepts a bribe is the culprit.
Such as the regulators in your case.