RE: Midrange Computing Closed

Chuck,

As usual, two sides to every story, depending on which set of liars 
(lawyers ?  -  nah, I think I got it right the first time) you hear.
The story you mention is definitely biased against Sara Lee in that it 
does give the impression they got off with only a $200,000 fine.
The story I saw was biased in the other direction in that it failed to 
mention the issue of the increased positive test results and the apparent 
decision to stop testing.
What have we proven ?  That the some members of the press can be as big a 
bunch of biased one-sided liars as some lawyers can.
And we still agree that for most organizations shareholders matter more 
than customers, employees or vendors - and the overall dominant force 
appears to be human greed.  Something that unfortunately those brilliant 
people at the CDC are unlikely to be able to isolate and eradicate. 
Nader's idea does appear to have some merit, so does the idea of 
prosecutions for a charge of corporate manslaughter (being considered by 
the UK government over the actions - or inactions - of a little outfit 
called Railtrack - who again are being unfairly singled out for 
persecution while the government quietly tries to hide it's own 
complicity) appear to be a good place to start.  As long as equivalent 
charges can be brought against politicians whose actions, or inactions, 
result in injury or death - and you know what the chances of politicians 
passing such a law are.

...Neil





Chuck Lundgren <lundgren@iris-software.com>
Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
2001/07/30 23:46
Please respond to MIDRANGE-L

 
        To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
        cc: 
        Subject:        RE: Midrange Computing Closed


Hi Neil - Thanks for the thoughtful response. I've got some comments 
embedded below.

At 07/30/2001 07:49 PM -0400, you wrote:
>Re your point #3
>Sara Lee didn't just get off with a $200,000 fine.
>
>They  recalled 35,000,000 pounds of meat from sale once the source of the
>outbreak was identified.
>There was no evidence found that they knowingly distributed tainted meat,
>or of any attempted coverup.
>They agreed to spend $3,000,000 on food safety and microbiology research
>at Michigan State University.
>They spent $25,000,000 upgrading the plant that was identified as the
>source of the contamination, started a new listeria testing system and
>installed prototype equipment to kill bacteria.
>They also settled 15 individual lawsuits with the seriously injured
>victims or their relatives, and settled a class action suit on behalf of
>those who fell ill (but recovered) where each person received from $250 
to
>$50,000 (plus medical expenses).

There's another take on the story at 
<http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0726-04.htm>. I'll let those who read 
this decide if Sara Lee is criminal or not.

BTW, I could have sited other examples. This was just the most recent one 
that I'd read about.

>What would you have proposed - closing down Sara Lee and putting 
thousands
>of employees out of work ?
>Who would that have benefitted ?

Here are some thoughts by Nader on revoking corporate charters: 
<http://www.sfbg.com/nader/31.html>. Also, Nader supports changing the law 
to create a national corporate charter. Here are his words:"If we had a 
national charter, we could say for example that in addition to a 
corporation going into bankruptcy for not paying its creditors, it can go 
into environmental bankruptcy for contaminating and poisoning the 
community 
in which it's in through pollution. And if it does go into bankruptcy, 
that 
doesn't mean the company closes down and unemploys the workers, it means 
that the leadership changes. It means that there's a trustee in the 
environmental bankruptcy appointed by a judge, a new board of directors, 
and a new ethic to not inflict pollution violence on thousands or millions 

of innocent people -- whether for air or water or food contamination."

Bottom line: you don't have to shut the corporation down to punish it, but 

there would be REAL punishment.

  ... Chuck





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