Is this cartoon unfair?

http://now.msn.com/rick-perry-disgusted-by-cartoon-depicting-texas-explosion/

Nobody is asking questions about Boston and the response by the criminal justice systems.....yet when a newspaper runs a cartoon.......there is an uproar. This country has huge issues.

It is fair because that plant has not been inspected in nearly seven years. Rick Perry wants the government out of business' hair in Texas and it may have resulted in this explosion. He has no right to complain.

How is wisconsin doing?

bluemoon wrote:It is fair because that plant has not been inspected in nearly seven years. Rick Perry wants the government out of business' hair in Texas and it may have resulted in this explosion. He has no right to complain.

Exactly so, bluemoon.

Floridatexan wrote:

ANY cartoon that ridicules the death of innocent people says a whole lot about the author of the cartoon and those who think it is "funny". Pathetic.

Firemen are killed doing their duty. People living their lives are suddenly gone and the Progressives are rolling in the aisles.

Hard to figure out how they live with themselves.

Markle wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:

ANY cartoon that ridicules the death of innocent people says a whole lot about the author of the cartoon and those who think it is "funny". Pathetic.

Firemen are killed doing their duty. People living their lives are suddenly gone and the Progressives are rolling in the aisles.

Hard to figure out how they live with themselves.

That cartoon is most definitely NOT ridiculing the people who were hurt or killed; it is ridiculing Rick Perry, the governor who never met a dollar he didn't like and wouldn't sell his soul for.

Markle wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:

ANY cartoon that ridicules the death of innocent people says a whole lot about the author of the cartoon and those who think it is "funny". Pathetic.

Firemen are killed doing their duty. People living their lives are suddenly gone and the Progressives are rolling in the aisles.

Hard to figure out how they live with themselves.

Boy, you really missed the boat w/ this one. A plant that hasn't been inspected in years explodes killing people and a Gov. that advocates low regulations? People paid for his policies,didn't they?

If Perry is guilty then so are Obama and the federal government. I am no fan of Perry but the cartoon is in bad taste and is not entirely accurate in its finger pointing. It hadn't been inspected by OSHA since 1985 and this is ALL Perry's fault? Where was OSHA during these decades?? There have been several Democratic governors in Texas since 1985, including Ann Richards. Are we blaming Richards and the other governors, too?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-didnt-regulators-prevent-the-texas-fertilizer-explosion

(First page of article)....

A week after a blast at a Texas fertilizer plant killed at least 15 people and hurt more than 200, authorities still don't know exactly why the West Chemical and Fertilizer Company plant exploded.

Here's what we do know: The fertilizer plant hadn't been inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 1985. Its owners do not seem to have told the Department of Homeland Security that they were storing large quantities of potentially explosive fertilizer, as regulations require. And the most recent partial safety inspection of the facility in 2011 led to $5,250 in fines.

We've laid out which agencies were in charge of regulating the plant and who's investigating the explosion now.

What happened, exactly?
Around 7:30 p.m. on April 17, a fire broke out at the West Chemical and Fertilizer Company plant in West, Texas, a small town of about 2,800 people 75 miles south of Dallas. Twenty minutes later, it blew up. The explosion shook houses 50 miles away and was so powerful that the United States Geological Survey registered it as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake. It flattened homes within a five-block radius and destroyed a nursing home, an apartment complex, and a nearby middle school. According to the New York Times, the blast left a crater 93 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and the fire "burned with such intensity that railroad tracks were fused."

The blast killed at least 15 people, most of them firefighters and other first responders.

Have fertilizer plants ever exploded before?
Yes. A plant in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, that manufactured ammonium nitrate fertilizer 2014 the same explosive chemical stored in West 2014 exploded on Dec. 13, 1994, killing four people and injuring 18.

But fertilizer plants are safer now, said Stephen Slater, the Iowa administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "All kinds of technologies have had huge improvements," he told the Des Moines Register. "And we haven't had any bad experiences at the plants in the 20 years since [the accident]. I'm knocking on wood." (Slater didn't respond to our requests for comment.)

Who regulates these fertilizer plants?
At least seven different state and federal agencies can regulate Texas fertilizer plants like the one in West: OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service.

Markle wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:

ANY cartoon that ridicules the death of innocent people says a whole lot about the author of the cartoon and those who think it is "funny". Pathetic.

Firemen are killed doing their duty. People living their lives are suddenly gone and the Progressives are rolling in the aisles.

Hard to figure out how they live with themselves.

Sadly, the LOL, LOL, LOL's on this thread is all about politics and not about the real issue of inspections over the past 25+ years (and how both federal agencies AND state agencies may have dropped the ball on inspections) and it certainly isn't about the families in Texas who are suffering the loss of loved ones.

And who's in charge of the state agencies? Who boasts of low regulations?

Dreams, governors have no control over OSHA (a federal agency) and it is OSHA that has the most authority to inspect these plants. That is a fact. If we are going to blame regulatory agencies for the explosion, then OSHA is first on the list. And according to the article I posted, OSHA hasn't inspected the plant since 1985. But if it makes Democrats LOL, LOL, LOL to blame only the current governor for the explosion, then so be it.

As much as I dislike Perry, I didn't like the "cartoon" either, for the same reasons I didn't agree with the "cartoons" that were posted after the Boston attacks.

I will add this though. When I was blowed up real good in 1982 while working in the Texas oil field, I got a bird's eye view of the lengths they will go to engage in a cover-up or effort to downplay the severity of an "accident".

For the two years prior I saw how EPA and OSHA were a willing dance partner for the Oil Well servicing industry. When they were going to inspect our yard they gave us a courtesy call that always seemed to be enough time for compliance.

Isn't that odd...?


I do believe that fertilizer plant went off the reservation under Reagan and Bush, and once they tasted freedom, well who would expect them to self-regulate and obey those damned rules..?

Just sayin...

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/28/17956849-fugitive-owner-arrested-as-bangladesh-building-collapse-death-toll-climbs?lite=

I think the owners should be held responsible..

Nekochan wrote:Dreams, governors have no control over OSHA (a federal agency) and it is OSHA that has the most authority to inspect these plants. That is a fact. If we are going to blame regulatory agencies for the explosion, then OSHA is first on the list. And according to the article I posted, OSHA hasn't inspected the plant since 1985. But if it makes Democrats LOL, LOL, LOL to blame only the current governor for the explosion, then so be it.

Nah,nah. Perry is over the state agencies that regulate this. You can try and blame OSHA but the plant was inspected partially in 2011 and got fined. Perry is responsible for regulating his state's agencies and they failed to do that.

Let's just skip over the Clinton administration. Geez...
Maybe, perhaps, OSHA and the EPA as well as other federal and state agencies have sometimes or often failed under both Democratic and Republican administrations...

Dreamsglore wrote:

Nekochan wrote:Dreams, governors have no control over OSHA (a federal agency) and it is OSHA that has the most authority to inspect these plants. That is a fact. If we are going to blame regulatory agencies for the explosion, then OSHA is first on the list. And according to the article I posted, OSHA hasn't inspected the plant since 1985. But if it makes Democrats LOL, LOL, LOL to blame only the current governor for the explosion, then so be it.

Nah,nah. Perry is over the state agencies that regulate this. You can try and blame OSHA but the plant was inspected partially in 2011 and got fined. Perry is responsible for regulating his state's agencies and they failed to do that.

Actually, OSHA has more authority than the state agencies.

You ignore the fact this plant,Neko was in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There is no way this ever should have happened. Texas zoning laws suck or are not enforced.

Lurch wrote:http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/28/17956849-fugitive-owner-arrested-as-bangladesh-building-collapse-death-toll-climbs?lite=

I think the owners should be held responsible..

.......................................

Reckless endangerment could be the place to start.

Dreamsglore wrote:You ignore the fact this plant,Neko was in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There is no way this ever should have happened. Texas zoning laws suck or are not enforced.

And Perry put the plant there? Perry is responsible for local zoning laws? The plant wasn't there when Texas had Democratic governors?

Nekochan wrote:Let's just skip over the Clinton administration. Geez...
Maybe, perhaps, OSHA and the EPA as well as other federal and state agencies have sometimes or often failed under both Democratic and Republican administrations...

......................

No, let's not skip the Clinton years.

"....maybe perhaps sometimes often..."...?

The USC is a wholly owned subsidiary of our gub'mint and it's controlled by lobbyists and assholes in thousand dollar suits who suck on breath mints and scribble on legal pads.

Nekochan wrote:

Dreamsglore wrote:You ignore the fact this plant,Neko was in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There is no way this ever should have happened. Texas zoning laws suck or are not enforced.

And Perry put the plant there? Perry is responsible for local zoning laws? The plant wasn't there when Texas had Democratic governors?

........................................

No, but he IS the Governor, and if he made zoning laws an issue in the aftermath of this tragedy executed by a confederacy of dunces, his political future would die on the vine of retribution.

Nekochan wrote:

Markle wrote:

Floridatexan wrote:

ANY cartoon that ridicules the death of innocent people says a whole lot about the author of the cartoon and those who think it is "funny". Pathetic.

Firemen are killed doing their duty. People living their lives are suddenly gone and the Progressives are rolling in the aisles.

Hard to figure out how they live with themselves.

Sadly, the LOL, LOL, LOL's on this thread is all about politics and not about the real issue of inspections over the past 25+ years (and how both federal agencies AND state agencies may have dropped the ball on inspections) and it certainly isn't about the families in Texas who are suffering the loss of loved ones.

Look, dumbass, I'm from Texas. I family all over the state, including my sister, her daughter and grandson in Dallas. If you don't think I take this personally, you're not thinking...oh, there's a surprise. It's no secret what the Republicans have done to my state...and it was almost a joke when Bush was running for President that he would do to the country what he had done to Texas. Rick Perry is carrying on that "proud" tradition, trying to turn the rest of the state that's not already spoiled into an effing sewer. It makes me sick.

(See my new post on Bush's shifting chemical plant oversight from EPA to DHS...it's a real eyeopener, for those who are able to see).

Let's not skip anyone and let's not just target one governor purely for political purposes.

And I agree it's in poor taste to make jokes or cartoons about a plant explosion that kills people and/or about a terrorist attack that kills people. It's just wrong no matter who is governor or president. It's wrong to do it to Obama and it's wrong to do it to a governor. That is not to say that a governor or president cannot or should not be criticized for their policies. There is a difference between making "funnies" about a serious and deadly issue and making a serious case against the policies of an administration that someone thinks might have led to a tragedy or terrorist act. If someone wants to point the blame here only at Perry-- then that's perfectly within their right. In America, people have a right to make cartoons, comments, and accusations that are in bad taste and I would not want to live in a country where we didn't have these freedoms. But it's still in bad taste and nothing that should be laughed about.

Willie wrote:

Nekochan wrote:

Dreamsglore wrote:You ignore the fact this plant,Neko was in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There is no way this ever should have happened. Texas zoning laws suck or are not enforced.

And Perry put the plant there? Perry is responsible for local zoning laws? The plant wasn't there when Texas had Democratic governors?

........................................

No, but he IS the Governor, and if he made zoning laws an issue in the aftermath of this tragedy executed by a confederacy of dunces, his political future would die on the vine of retribution.

Zoning laws in Texas are mostly local and that plant was there long before Perry took office.