OK, I know Americans have short attention spans so here is a brief recap.
A little after 6 in the evening, on September 9th, 2010, there was an explosion in the California city of San Bruno. A gas line exploded, killing 8 people and destroying 38 homes. The owner of the was pipeline was Pacific Gas and Electric. It was later revealed that 100 million dollars that was supposed to be used for safety operations was diverted to executive pay, including bonuses.
The California Public Utilities Commission is considering levying a 2.25 billion dollar fine against Pacific Gas and Electric. That is exactly the wrong thing to do.
They correct thing to do? Charge Pacific Gas and Electric with negligent homicide, or even first degree murder.
The Citizen's United decision says corporations are people. If people commit murder, they go to jail, even face the death penalty. Here is the perfect case to put a lie to that.
The San Bruno district attorney should be filing murder changers against Pacific Gas and Electric. It was their job to ensure the safety of the pipeline, they had the money to do it, they used the money for something else.
When people are killed in a bank robbery, it is first degree murder. It does not matter if the robbers planned to kill someone. They walked into a bank with guns prepared to kill someone.
This is the same. The corporation stole money, and in the process, and as a consequence, people died. If a corporation is a person then that corporation must face the same penalties as any other person would face.
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