posted on June 4, 2002 08:23:24 AM new
This promises to be interesting reading. Notice that it's presented in both an abreviated list form and again in an annotated, more detailed one. I've only scanned through it all and noticed some familiar and expected names as well as some surprises, but it looks complete enough to be a source of fuel to feed the fire of nearly everyone's favorite gripe.
What an overwhelming list of corporate criminals and only the tip of the iceberg!
There is one glaring mistake on this list.
The name of George Bush should be number 1
In addition to corporate crime, the disproportionate distribution of money in this country and througout the world is criminial. It's simply unacceptable for one in six children to be living in poverty in the United States. While the wealthy have concierge healthcare, more than 40 million people in the United States have no health insurance coverage at all. Children throughout the world are dying because there is no clean water to drink.
Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, for example, is now offering special programs for their super rich customers while a block away from the hospital are children and citizens of this country living in conditions of squalor that resembles that of third world countries. These children don't receive any care whatsoever.
This is simply obscene and totally unacceptable for Americans to tolerate.
Now, Bush is starting to "chat" about his domestic programs in preparation for the next election. What Bull $hit that is!!!!
Baltimore is only an hour away from DC. Why doesn't the bastard take a walk around the block and see what's happening in this country. The truth is that he doesn't give a dam.
He only wants his well heeled corporate buddies well taken care of...even if it takes war and the killing of thousands of people.
posted on June 4, 2002 12:26:40 PM new
A couple more facts to consider .....while we think about poverty in this country.
* U.S. corporate tax payments are slated to drop to historic lows as a result of the tax bill enacted into law earlier this year. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, corporate taxes will plummet to only 1.3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product this year, the lowest since fiscal 1983, and the second lowest level in the last 60 years.
* More than half of the tax cuts enacted last year that are scheduled to take effect after 2002 will go to the best-off 1 percent of all U.S. taxpayers.
posted on June 4, 2002 12:35:35 PM newit looks complete enough to be a source of fuel to feed the fire of nearly everyone's favorite gripe
krs
I'd go along with that, therefore I won't do any finger pointing.
A couple of things that stood out when I read it are as follows;
>>>>>5) Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $125 million
Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping pled guilty to federal criminal charges in connection with the March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled from the Valdez, fouling 700 miles of Alaska shoreline, killing birds and fish, and destroying the way of life of thousands of Native Americans.<<<<<
It just boggles the mind that they were only fined 125 mil. It isn't enough as far as I am concerned. This disaster along with all of the other environmental criminal violations and all the ones that go unreported or unprosecuted are absolutely unconscionable in their scope of damage done to the environment.
>>>>>17) Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc.
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $20 million
The Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc. pled guilty to 40 counts of violating the Clean Water Act and other federal statutes at its Summitville Gold Mine operation in southwestern Colorado from 1984 to 1992.
Summitville, which opened in 1986, introduced a technology called "cyanide leaching" to extract gold from ore. This process, invented in Scotland and first used in South Africa, involves spraying cyanide solution on the ore to extract gold. The cyanide waste that was left over was
supposed to be stored in lined and covered ponds to prevent contact with local animals which can die if they drink the water. However, the cyanide solution did not stay in the ponds but leaked through the lining into nearby creeks. By 1990, a 16-mile stretch of the Alamosa river was biologically dead.<<<<<
I mention this one because this process is the same process that Goldfields mine does/did at it's mines above the communities of Cerrillos and Golden, NM. Now in both of those communities the ground water is so contaminated that peolple living there have to haul water from Santa Fe. Goldfields Mining is a company from England, operating in the USA and may be related to Summitville. It seems I have heard that name before in conjuction with Goldfields Co. I worked at the Goldfields mine in the early 80's and the amount of environmental damage to the surrounding areas is enormous. You wouldn't know it by looking at their mine in the distance from the highway but up close you can see all sorts of illegal dump sites.
posted on June 4, 2002 12:59:39 PM new
No! NO! NO! Corporations are the greatest benevolent benefactor of Mankind! Why, they employ nearly everyone - what would you do for money if they didn't exist? They provide you with everything that your greedy consumer's heart desires. And they elect their own Strongman into political power with their own political party in order to keep the status quo for you. And here you go, complaining about a few unfortunate corporations who were only doing their jobs by following orders; or had unlucky mishaps, like the Exxon Valdez. Shame on you!
posted on June 4, 2002 01:15:21 PM new
Borillar
So what are you saying exactly, it's hard to tell by your riddle post. Are you saying that I am not entitled to form my own opinions of the criminal environmental violators. Shame on me? Shame on you!
posted on June 4, 2002 01:30:19 PM new
That is OK - the rich here are slowly making themselves into such a seperate class that they will have to live like the rich in other countries do. They have to live behind a wall with guards and can't enjoy the normal movement and freedom of people without wealth. How sad to be unable to walk in the wilds or on a beach unless it is a safe preserve fenced off and guarded against trespass. How sad too worry every day that your children might be kidnapped or your home targeted.
In some countries the rich have abused the poor so badly that just to drive down the road in a big car is to invite the poor to pick up a rock and throw it because the assumption is you are an oppressor. Sad to say more often than not it is correct. When a friend of mine lived in the Philipines she lived ina walled compound with broken glass set in the concrete on top and guard dogs loose all night. The neighbor man who had lived there for years was always warned to never roll his window down on the car and one morning he rolled it down only about two inches and they found hom sitting half way to work with an arrow through his head where he had allowed a shot.
They have no vision of what it will be like in a generation.
posted on June 4, 2002 02:05:50 PM new
No, yellowstone, it was meant to echo some of the posts by pro-corporatists who used to post regularily in the RT, but now rarely do so, but still read threads like this one. My previous post above is dedicated to them - you know who who are!
posted on June 7, 2002 10:29:39 PM new
I recall seeing broken glass set into concrete on the tops of stone walls in Bangkok and in the Phillipines when I was a kid. I always thought of th epoor kitty cat trying to walk that stone wall and not getting its paws all cut up.
