Thursday, April 25, 2013

Killer explosions: West, Texas vs. Boston

When that West, Texas fertilizer plant blew up it killed more people than the vicious Boston terrorist bombers did. It wounded more people. And it destroyed more property.

Now if this accident were just that--an unavoidable accident--then it doesn't make sense to compare them. But what if--as seems already to be the case--the West, Texas owners and management turn out to be as guilty of criminal negligence as the owner of the 8 story building in Dacca, Bangladesh, that collapsed yesterday with 2,000 people in it? (The building in Dacca was erected without regard to even Bangladeshi building codes, and it started cracking the day before, but the bosses ignored the warning signs. As was easy for them to do, since nothing will happen to them.)

If your wife is killed by a terrorist who wanted to kill her, or is killed by a fertilizer plant owner whose desire for profit outweighed any concern for your wife's safety--why should the penalties for each crime be different? In each case your wife is just as dead--and dead as a result of human wickedness.

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