Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.
The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000.
Personally, if a rep from BP came knocking on my door and asked me to surrender my right to sue for a measly five grand, I'd sick my guinea pigs on him. Since conservatives are all about personal responsibility, and insist corporations, being persons under the law, should be treated the same as individuals, I wonder how many conservatives are going to insist that BP do the right thing and face the consequences of their actions.
If there is even one, I'll be surprised.
I realize that BP could potentially be destroyed, financially, should litigation move forward. I also realize this is an accident, not a deliberate act on their part. Yet, they know, because they are British Petroleum, the necessity of redundant safety measures required in other legal jurisdictions where they drill. Since the Bush-Cheney gang said that all that safety stuff should be "voluntary", BP volunteered not to install it. This is why voluntary, rather than legally mandatory, regulation is necessary (as if we needed more object lessons). People are dead, and the whole country is facing an environmental disaster. Sorry to say, but I don't trust any corporate entity to act in any way that poses a threat to its basic function - to make money. This most definitely includes endangering the lives and health of its employees.
So, no, Mrs. Palin, I guess I won't trust the oil companies. They have screwed the Gulf Coast. Now, they are trying to screw the residents who live there, bribing them with quick and easy cash. It might just be time to consider how it is we allow foreign companies to operate in ways that are potentially hazardous to our national environment. You know, all that sovereignty stuff might come in handy about now.
