> If someone is driving under the influence of alcohol, and they get in
> an accident, they can face criminal charges. It's to bad, there's no
> law that says when a corporation is operating under the influence of
> ravenous greed with disregard for the lives or property of others,
> they are criminally liable.
>
> "Poll: Criminaly prosecution of BP for oil spill
>
> Almost two-thirds of Americans agree "strongly" or "somewhat" that the
> federal government should pursue criminal charges against BP and other
> companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, according to a
> new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
>
> The poll, conducted Thursday through Sunday, found that 73 percent of
> the country feels that the nation's greatest oil spill is a "disaster"
> with an additional 25 percent ranking it a "serious problem."
>
> "Public complaints against BP are twofold: Most give poor ratings to
> its reaction to the massive spill, and most blame the company and its
> drilling partners for taking unnecessary risks that could have caused
> the spill," the poll reported.
>
> The call for a criminal investigation did produce some partisan
> divide.
>
> Seventy-four percent of Democrats favored a criminal investigation
> along with 67 percent of independent voters surveyed. Republicans were
> divided, with 50 percent favoring pursuit of criminal charges, with 44
> percent opposed.
>
> The few dissenting voices on severity of the spill have come from the
> right side of the political spectrum.
>
> "This is not an environmental disaster: Oil has seeped into this ocean
> for centuries and will continue to do it," Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska,
> said last week.
>
> Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul, in an interview last
> month, blasted the Obama Administration for its rhetoric about putting
> a "boot heel" to the throat of BP. "Maybe sometimes accidents happen,"
> Paul added. . . ."
>
> http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/209854.asp