[ click pic to enlarge ]
Nothing ever changes ....
Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be,
The future's not ours to see,
Que sera, sera,
What will be, will be. . .
Observe:
By Michael Hiltzik
February 23, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
It would be perfectly proper for BP, the giant British oil company, to feel a sense of corporate remorse.
After all, the firm was responsible for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and well blowout that took 11 lives and created "immense environmental damage" in and around the gulf. (Those words were uttered by a Department of Justice official just over a year ago, when BP pleaded guilty to a dozen felony charges and agreed to pay $4 billion in penalties and fines.)http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20140221,0,1294413.column#axzz2uAlLDfuu
Stop right there! There is much more to the story (link above) about how BP is making an aggressive effort to weasel it's way out of settling lawsuit claims with individuals and business owners along the despoiled Gulf Coast for damages resulting from the man-made ecological disaster that came about from BP's massive oil spill.
As much as that story is worth discussing, what really has The Gadfly clenching his teeth is the bolded part of that excerpt above referencing where "BP pleaded guilty to a dozen felony charges."
Allow The Gadfly some latitude here for a moment.
The Gadfly did a bit of ad hoc research and would like to share a bit of information with you dear readers.
Here is the generally, and legally accepted definition of the term "felony":
felonyn. 1) a crime sufficiently serious to be punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison, as distinguished from a misdemeanor which is only punishable by confinement to county or local jail and/or a fine. 2) a crime carrying a minimum term of one year or more in state prison, since a year or less can be served in county jail. However, a sentence upon conviction for a felony may sometimes be less than one year at the discretion of the judge and within limits set by statute. Felonies are sometimes referred to as "high crimes" as described in the U.S. Constitution.http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=740
Based on that legal definition of the term "felony," The Gadfly would like to know how many of the BP corporate toadies who played a direct role in the responsibility for the "dozen felonies" (which includes the deaths of 11 workers btw) related to the Gulf oil spill have been sentenced to "death or a term in state or federal prison?"
What's that you say dear readers? The excerpt above from the L.A. Times article denotes that BP's punishment consisted of a "$4 billion dollar fine?" Well -- The Gadfly will be a suck-egg mule! He must have overlooked that part of the excerpt.
Actually dear readers, The Gadfly didn't really overlook that part about BP's punishment. He was simply using that diversion to segue in to the core of his rant about what a wonderful "justice" system we have here in America.
Face it folks -- if any one of you, or I, were to be convicted in a court of law for a dozen felonies - hell - make it just one - and felonies which led to the deaths of other human beings no less, our asses would be sent up the prison river so fucking fast, our heads would spin around like Linda Blair's head in 'The Exorcist.'
But here we have a situation where a "dozen" felonies are being plead guilty to and the punishment is just a fine. And in BP's case that $4 billion fine is simply an "off year" in profits for them considering that over the past several years their yearly profits on average are $20+ billion per year. The Gadfly dares any individual American who is convicted of a "dozen" felonies in a court of law to ask the Judge to let you off with just a fine. Go ahead - give it a try.
Which of course, prompts The Gadfly to propose one other question. If, as conservatives in this country were able to convince the U.S. Supreme Court of - that "corporations are people" - then where is the sentencing equity when it comes to the difference between a corporate "person" committing felonies and an individual American "person" committing felonies? Simple question conservatives. Please feel free to explain yourselves in the comments section of this shitty little blog. But The Gadfly knows that you cannot do so - not coherently anyway - so save yourself the effort.
This is why The Gadfly refuses to participate in this kabuki theater thing we do here in America called "jury duty." Every time The Gadfly is called and during the interview process by the attorneys, typically the first question asked is if he has any "biases", to which The Gadfly responds - your damn right he has biases - especially against the corruption and unfairness that permeates the system of justice which we have in this country.
That reply usually results in The Gadfly getting a curt dismissal and he is sent along his merry, dirty fucking hippie way. If by some quirk, they let you get beyond the "bias" question, then just tell them that you are a firm believer in the concept of "jury nullification." That statement is almost 99.999999% guaranteed to get you relieved from having to serve.
But getting back to The Gadfly's primary point. Why are corporate felons offered a plainly less harsh version of justice than individual felons. In this particular case, why aren't some top executives of BP sitting in fucking prison cells as we speak for their dozen felonies -- rotting a few years of their lives away just like some of the guys, who could be their cellmates, might be doing for petty theft crimes like stealing a loaf of bread to feed their kids?
This is why The Gadfly could never support the modern-day conservative movement - even though it could very well be that we do agree on a handful of issues. Until the conservatives can address this blatant contradiction in the words "All Men are Created Equal" and the flagrant inequalities which exist in our justice system between the haves and have nots, and also until they rebuke the totally offensive idea that a corporate behemoth, in it's all powerful entirety, is entitled to the exact same rights as an individual human being, then The Gadfly is your eternal enemy - period.
----TFG
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