Question (rhetorical) If you or I were to knowingly poison someone and cause harm to their health and well being wouldn’t we at the very least be sued or at best be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law?  Individuals have to take personal responsibility for the harm they cause…right? Well if caught they certainly do anyway.  It would seem though that the same rules do not apply to corporations and or large companies.  I ask this because there are at least two news stories right this very minute where corporate greed and corruption has trumped the lives of innocent ordinary citizens.  It not only sickens me, but lights a fire in my soul.  I feel it should light a fire in all our souls.  We need to stand up when this is happening even if it isn’t happening directly to us, because if we don’t one day it will.  Make no mistake about that.

I am sure you have seen the headlines about an entire town being poisoned with leaded drinking water.  They  were told that it was safe to consume when the officials knew damn well it wasn’t.  You might think… it was a mistake or they just realized, and that the guilty parties would be prosecuted at the very least for lying and causing physical harm to innocent citizens.  You would be wrong.  The town of Flint Michigan has been poisoned with unclean unsafe leaded drinking water…not for a few days, not for a few months, but for over a year.  The Governor of Michigan has STILL not asked FEMA for help, and only days ago declared emergency status.  The town has been poisoned by people who knew the water was poisoned and lied about it…for over a YEAR!!!!! Still there is no accountability, and no help.  WTF!!!??? A YEAR!!!! These people have been drinking contaminated water for a YEAR!!!??? You or I would be in jail if we committed such a horrible act against another human being, let alone hundreds or thousands of human beings.  The officials and companies involved need to face criminal charges. They won’t…. unless there is a tremendous public outcry, and even then they may only be fined, penalized, and possibly sued.

Second story is very close to home. I am likely suffering some of the effects myself. We can smell the gas in the air when we open our windows…especially when it is windy, which is often here.  In California (Porter Ranch) there is a huge methane gas leak.  The likes of which we have never seen before on land.  Schools have been closed.  Families have been evacuated.  People are suffering, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, chest pain, exhaustion, loss of motor skills, headaches, dizziness, nose bleeds, skin rashes, itching, increased asthma attacks for those that suffer Asthma.  I am a town over and have had increased abnormal headaches myself.  This leak started in October of 2015. It is January 2016 and the leak is not expected to be repaired until March-ish.  The Gas Company has not hurried to fix the leak and refuses to take measures that would put an end to this quicker due to lost revenue.  They are poisoning an entire town and to some degree surrounding towns, but their profit margins are their main concern.  REALLY!!!??? How does that work? How do they get to be concerned more about their profit than the people they are harming!!!??? Shouldn’t they be criminally prosecuted the same way you or I would be for harming an entire community.  They are being sued, but the truly sad fact is that getting sued is just the cost of doing business for large companies and corporations.  They do criminal harm until they get caught and sued and it is still cost effective for them to do so.  What that means is it is more profitable for them to do the harm until they get caught and then pay the fine and suffer the hand slap then it is to do what is right. It is very commonplace.

It makes me sick.  It should make us all sick.  We need to stand in solidarity with Flint Michigan, and Porter Ranch California, and demand as citizens that this kind of greed does not go unpunished.  Until we start changing laws at the ballot box these kinds of horrors will continue.  If we do nothing you or I could be the next victim of greed vs humanity.

Here is a quote…there exists many versions…but you get the point.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

We need to be outraged that entire communities of people can be poisoned and displaced so that companies/corporations can continue to profit and meet their quarterly bottom lines and bonuses at the expense of human suffering. We need to demand that companies be made to make the upgrades that will prevent these kinds of disasters in the first place!