• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

He really is that stupid.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I really should read my own blog.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Infrastructure week. at last.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / That Will Teach Them

That Will Teach Them

by John Cole|  June 7, 201011:48 am| 39 Comments

This post is in: WTF?

FacebookTweetEmail

What the hell:

More than 25 years after a plume of toxic gas from an American-owned chemical plant wafted over the slumbering city of Bhopal, killing thousands, eight former executives of the company’s Indian subsidiary were convicted of negligence on Monday. The men were sentenced two years in prison and fined 100,000 rupees, or $2,100.

They were the first criminal convictions stemming from the leak at the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, a central Indian city. The leak killed 3,000 people almost instantly, and thousands more died later from the aftereffects of the toxic gas, an ingredient in pesticides the plant produced.

Two thousand dollars.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Why Is This Not Obvious?
Next Post: I’d Rather be Waterboarded »

Reader Interactions

39Comments

  1. 1.

    Maude

    June 7, 2010 at 11:49 am

    Jeebus

  2. 2.

    ruemara

    June 7, 2010 at 11:53 am

    People aren’t worth much, are they?

  3. 3.

    Cacti

    June 7, 2010 at 11:53 am

    2 years in prison for 3,000 deaths.

    That’s a sentence of almost 6 hours in prison per death.

  4. 4.

    scav

    June 7, 2010 at 11:57 am

    so, did shares in BP stock immediately rise? Good News for Tony the Twit!

  5. 5.

    Poopyman

    June 7, 2010 at 11:58 am

    @ruemara:
    Brown people. We already know the answer to that question, right?

    ETA: That’s two thousand AND ONE HUNDRED dollars, Cole. Don’t minimize the suffering these poor felons (they are felons, aren’t they?) will have to undergo.

  6. 6.

    scav

    June 7, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    @Poopyman: Must be brown pelicans then. ‘scuse me while I go practice my acid weeping, which is kinda like the dry heaves.

  7. 7.

    wmsheppa

    June 7, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    Shockingly, that’s more than they were expected to get. You forgot to include the bit where the former CEO of Union Carbide is an international fugitive wanted by India. Odds on us extraditing him?

  8. 8.

    El Cid

    June 7, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    Via the Times of India.

    Reacting to the development, representatives of the tragedy’s victims and their families who have been protesting outside the court, said they would approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court to allow the slapping of more stringent charges against all those accused in the case.
    __
    The Magistrate court in Bhopal on Monday convicted all eight Indians accused in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy case. A Rs 500,000 fine has been imposed on UCIL.
    __
    Toxic gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide factory in 1984 killed thousands and left an unspecified number battered with diseases and deformity – the toll of victims is still rising.
    __
    Despite Monday’s conviction, there is little closure for victims. Legal experts have alleged that there was an attempt to cover up the case. It took the CBI three long years to file a chargesheet that many belived was weak. Then in 1996 the charges were watered down making all sections carry the maximum punishment of 2 years.
    __
    The charges were also all bailable and with the prime accused in the case – former Union Carbide (USA) chairman Warren Anderson still on the run and unlikely to present himself in Indian court, there is little hope that justice will be served.

  9. 9.

    ErinSiobhan

    June 7, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    It would be a beautiful thing to see the USA extradite Anderson to India. Not holding my breath in anticipation of this happening.

  10. 10.

    Martin

    June 7, 2010 at 12:18 pm

    Wait until Tony Hayward has to host a bunch of PSAs reminding people that they need to properly dispose of their used motor oil and BP is required to fund the new (extinct) pelican exhibit at the Museum of Natural History.

    I don’t doubt that Obama/Holder will get tougher sentences, but that’s what the Supreme Court will reduce it to. Scalia has always liked his seafood a bit oily, so he doesn’t see the problem here.

  11. 11.

    Joshua

    June 7, 2010 at 12:18 pm

    The sad part is, that’s way more punishment than anybody would get for the same disaster in the US. BP may have utterly destroyed the principal livelihood of the entire Gulf region for (at least) a generation, but not one of those fuckers responsible for running without safeties will see even a day of jail time, and they probably won’t even be expected to pay a dime out of their own pockets for this, either.

  12. 12.

    Splitting Image

    June 7, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    Well, at least it provides a benchmark for the Al-Qaeda honchos, if they ever do get caught. After all, the Trade Center bombing killed about the same number of people.

    I’m curious to see how much time they actually serve. A $2,000 fine for a company executive would seem to be more in line with a couple of weekends in a halfway house than a minimum two year sentence in a real jail.

  13. 13.

    Comrade Dread

    June 7, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    I think we could all take a lesson from the Chinese regarding how to treat corporate executives whose irresponsibility or corruption leads to multiple deaths.

  14. 14.

    El Cid

    June 7, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    @Splitting Image: Good point. Al Qa’ida would have been better off just establishing a bunch of industrial plants processing flammable or explosive or toxic or radioactive chemicals and ignored regulations and avoided penalties until they exploded, leaked, or whatever, contribute to a few key Congressmen and party funds, and there likely would have been some Congressional hearings (unsworn, of course, such things are rude for the powerful), and the Al Qa’ida leaders — maybe one of the infinite Al Qa’ida #3 roster — could have ‘accepted full responsibility’ and said they had no idea but would work as hard as possible to assist with aid efforts for the dozens of areas devastated.

  15. 15.

    Lolis

    June 7, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    @ruemara:

    Brown people don’t seem to be.

  16. 16.

    Lolis

    June 7, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    The Yes Men documentary deals with the Bhopal disaster. It is a must see since they punk the people responsible for this.

  17. 17.

    Bill Section 147

    June 7, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    @El Cid: Careful with that talk. The US is looking for yet another #3 guy from Al Qa’ida and you are showing a particular genius with this comment.

    Poor folks in the gulf region. If only tony Tony had been an Arab instead of a Brit. Then we would be in a froth over the jihad unleashed instead of simply being annoyed that the head of BP is a pompous ass.

  18. 18.

    celticdragonchick

    June 7, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Free markets solve everything! Huzzah for Union Carbide showing those dead, non Galt Indian moochers who the real winners are!

    In other news…

    In the catagory for obscene court delays, legal claims against the Japanese government concerning literally thousands of Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Phillipina, Dutch and Australian women held as sex slaves in WW II are still pending in Japanese courts and have been for decades.

    It is entirely possible that most if not all the claimants will die before their cases are adjuticated.

  19. 19.

    Citizen Alan

    June 7, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Well, I’m sure we’ll probably by more successful in trying to hold BP accountable. I’m also pretty sure there’s still a rainbow and a few unicorns floating in my toilet left over from the crap I took last night.

  20. 20.

    LGRooney

    June 7, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    So, that’s $2,100 in 2010 which means about $1,030 in 1985 dollars. If we’re generous to Union Carbide and say that 8,000 people died in total, let’s see… the value of a life in Bhopal in 1985 is a touch more than $1.

  21. 21.

    El Cid

    June 7, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    @Bill Section 147: I gotta give Al Qa’ida credit for having a helluva bench. It would seem to be pretty tough to keep finding qualified candidates to be Al Qa’ida #3, as I guess it would be to find MC’s for Afghan wedding parties.

  22. 22.

    brendancalling

    June 7, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    I will say it again: when ordinary people begin to realize that no one is standing up for them, they begin to lash out.

    people like Hayward and Anderson should get the China treatment: POP POP POP to the dome on TV. Does that sound harsh, in a country that executes retarded people for less? Not to me it doesn’t.

    I remain utterly perplexed that some angry-and-armed Louisiana fishermen haven’t taken up sniper posts in the areas where BP executives make frequent appearances. It is baffling. maybe we should tell the teabaggers that BP is owned by illegal immigrants. That gets their dander up.

  23. 23.

    Gene108

    June 7, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    100,000 rupees isn’t chump change for the average Indian, just like $2,200 will put a serious dent in most American’s pocketbooks, but I’m guessing the guys convicted have the means to make the payments.

    What the Indian press has written.

    Link

    Link

  24. 24.

    Lisa K.

    June 7, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    That’s more than anyone in the lawless Bush administration will ever get.

  25. 25.

    brantl

    June 7, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    @Martin: Oh, sure, this is Obama’s fault. You douchebag.

  26. 26.

    El Cid

    June 7, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    @Gene108: One of those is already quoted above.

  27. 27.

    Tim

    June 7, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    Sad to say that this is it he best we can expect to see out of the BP shitstorm.

    In 2035, Tony Hayward will be fined about $1000 (current money – it’ll be more like 6666 Ameros in 2035) for his negligence.

    And the John Cole-Tunch hybrid will be blogging about it sarcastically after posting recipes for tuna in a motor oil-balsamic glaze.

  28. 28.

    Pangloss

    June 7, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    $2000 bucks is about what you’d pay for one 1/4 page ad in a major newspaper.

  29. 29.

    horatius

    June 7, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    There was this one police constable who shepherded a lot of people out of harm’s way during the disaster, and possibly saved a few hundred lives. He recently died ( I believe sometime last year) of complications from exposure. The government gave him an award for bravery and a check for about 5000 rupees. That’s about 100$. He’s survived by his wife and two children I believe. I am trying to find that article, haven’t had any luck so far.

    Here are some links with pics. Don’t see them if you have had a baby recently.

    http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2009/12/horrors-of-bhopal-gas-tragedy-1984.html

    http://35mmhighlightreel.blogspot.com/2009/12/bhopal-gas-tragedy-or-shame.html

  30. 30.

    joe from Lowell

    June 7, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    Two grand is a lot of money in India.

  31. 31.

    Tim

    June 7, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    @joe from Lowell: For an ordinary person, yes. Not for a Union Carbide executive.

  32. 32.

    Fern

    June 7, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    The penalty does seem to be on the low side, but even so I’m thinking that two years in an Indian jail in not an insignificant penalty.

  33. 33.

    Tim

    June 7, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    @Fern: I have no idea about the condition of Indian jails. Being a part of the death of thousands, though, has to rate more than 2 years.

  34. 34.

    Delia

    June 7, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    I remember the cover of Newsweek back then. They had a photo of the tragedy and the headline CAN IT HAPPEN HERE?

    Shows where things matter and where they don’t. Of course things have changed. Now the blessings of the free market are allowing more insane catastrophes right here in the home of the brave.

  35. 35.

    Sgt. Jrod and his Howling Commandos

    June 7, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    @Tim: If Indian prisons are anything like American prisons, that 2 year sentence might well turn out to be a sentence to be tortured to death by the other prisoners. This, of course, assumes that they’ll be sent to a real prison that might be housing people who suffered as a result of the disaster, and not a special “medium security” prison for those who are too good for the real thing.

  36. 36.

    mclaren

    June 7, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    Two thousand dollars paid entirely in 20% off coupons or Union Carbide products.

    Justice!

    Stay upwind of it if you don’t want to vomit.

  37. 37.

    kuvasz

    June 7, 2010 at 7:28 pm

    An investigation conducted by the engineering consulting firm Arthur D. Little, which concluded that a single employee secretly and deliberately introduced a large amount of water into the MIC tank by removing a meter and connecting a water hose directly to the tank through the metering port. Carbide claims such a large amount of water could not have found its way into the tank by accident, and safety systems were not designed to deal with intentional sabotage. Documents cited in the Arthur D. Little Report as well as in the recent book The Black Box of Bhopal state that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with UCIL engineers tried to simulate the water-washing hypothesis as a route of the entry of water into the tank. This all-important test failed to support this as a route of water entry. UCC claims the plant staff falsified numerous records to distance themselves from the incident, and that the Indian Government impeded its investigation and declined to prosecute the employee responsible, presumably because that would weaken its allegations of negligence by Union Carbide.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster#Investigation_into_possible_sabotage

    My PhD advisor, an ex-employee of Arthur D. Little worked on the Bhopal Report. He believed only sabotage could have caused the disaster.

  38. 38.

    Zach

    June 7, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    It must be interesting to set criminal fines in a country like India with such disparate levels of personal wealth. I suspect that the state of the law in the India of 1985 was a little different than it is today, and that these guys had to be prosecuted under those standards. Union Carbide did pay out $500 million 1985 dollars, or a billion 2010 dollars in civil damages. Pretty much equivalent to damages paid out to 9/11 victims and scheduled to be paid out to workers suffering injuries related to the clean up.

  39. 39.

    mnpundit

    June 8, 2010 at 2:22 am

    Life is abundant in India and so is cheap.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • mrmoshpotato on The Funniest Thing About All of This (Mar 30, 2023 @ 11:28pm)
  • Geminid on War for Ukraine Day 400: Russia Takes a Hostage (Mar 30, 2023 @ 11:26pm)
  • Jim, Foolish Literalist on The Funniest Thing About All of This (Mar 30, 2023 @ 11:20pm)
  • Kayla Rudbek on Open Thread: Red Staters for Moloch (Mar 30, 2023 @ 11:19pm)
  • Andrya on War for Ukraine Day 400: Russia Takes a Hostage (Mar 30, 2023 @ 11:18pm)

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Seattle Meetup coming up on April 4!

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!