Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Lac Megantic Survivors Get Victimized Again By Edward Burkhardt And MM&A Railway

Well here we go again, I wrote a post called Canada`s Cold Blank Stare, it was about how Canada let, how Canada allowed the criminals at MM&A railway to carry on, no company searches, no records confiscated, no search warrants executed on company records, on banking numbers, nothing at all, MM&A Railway just bombed a Canadian city and committed mass murder and the criminals were free to ......Free to hide their money, and documents....

I was particularly upset on how Edward Burkhardt changed his and his company`s story everyday, first he blamed environmentalists for the disaster, then he blamed firefighters, then he blamed the lone employee left to operate the train..he never did blame himself or the corporate ideology and greed for the horrific criminal tragedy in Quebec..
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"The bankruptcy news came hours after the union representing 24 former MMA workers who were laid off in the weeks after the crash said MMA didn't have enough money to cover the workers' vacation pay.

The provincial police are currently investigating if MMA is criminally responsible for the train derailment and crash that devastated the small Quebec town.

Whistleblowing employees have said the railway operated on a shoestring and cut corners on safety."

 http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/business/archives/2013/08/20130807-161259.html


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I wrote early on that Ezra Levant, Greg Renouf are asshole freaks for blaming environmentalists and First Nations for this tragedy when all fingers pointed early on to corporate criminal negligence as the root cause for this holocaust, I also wrote that there would be a lawsuit filed and MM&A Railway would become, or should I say arrange a bankruptcy claim(To avoid paying for their crimes against humanity)

Today MM&A Railway has claimed bankruptcy, they have filed for creditor protection.

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The Maine-based railroad whose train caused a fire and explosion that claimed 47 lives in Lac-Megantic, Que., has filed for bankruptcy protection. Montreal, Maine and Atlantic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday

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What this means is.....All assets of MM&A railway have been hidden and shielded, those families who had everything stolen from them, their loved ones vaporized, their lives ruined by a greedy corporate beast who applied for and was granted to have trains, massive long trains manned by one lone employee, those greedy actions of MM&A led to and directly caused this horror ...Let me repeat that, the greed of the railway, in this case MM&A, the greed of cutting skeleton crews on trains even further to a crew of one led to this horror..
And the greed of MM&A Railway has again reared its ugly face, with this bankruptcy claim those affected will have no recourse but to accept monetary crumbs from the Federal and provincial Governments..
Assholes like Ezra Levant and Harvey Obeferld and their rightwing freak followers always talk about the good corporate citizen, how we need these greedy corporations, they promote pipelines and open pit mines and they blather about how the companies will clean up their mess, pay for their mistakes yet we know time and time again corporations don`t pay, people lose their lives and are compensated peanuts, or nothing at all..

MM&A Railway should not be allowed to claim bankruptcy, they should be forced to go in debt for however long it takes and pay the victims compensation, MM&A cut corners, cut staff, ran on a shoestring budget while transporting more and more dangerous cargoes, they gambled and lost and now they want to wash their hands of the whole episode, corporations who carry/transport dangerous bombs must have enough insurance and assets to pay criminal negligence and other claims, a minimum of several $billion dollars....If they can`t guarantee payment than they can`t be permitted  to operate...Even when they have assets they don`t pay..take the Exxon Valdez criminal oil spill...

The Exxon Valdez disaster is still in court, their $5 billion dollar fine from decades earlier still remains unpaid..Enbridge has separated the northern gateway pipeline from the assets of Enbridge the corporation, it has been turned into a subsidiary corporation with limited liability, a mere $300 million in assets, and they aren`t responsible for any oil tanker spills on BC`s coast....The Kalamazoo spill is near $1 billion dollars and it still isn`t cleaned, 60 miles of river still needs to be dredged, Enbridge has made sure to separate their assets with the northern gateway pipeline, they DO NOT WANT TO PAY THOSE TYPE OF COSTS AGAIN....IF ENBRIDGE WAS SO CONFIDENT IN NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINE WHY DON~T THEY PUT ALL THE COMPANY ASSETS BEHIND IT< WHY HAVE THEY SEPARATED GATEWAY AND MADE IT A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY?.....Because they know there will be many spills, they admit there will be many oil spills in British Columbia..
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"Exxon's merger in 1999 with Mobil means two of the biggest gasoline names now pump profits to one company: $74 billion since the merger. Fortune magazine just named Exxon one of the world's most admired companies.

But it's still not enough to erase the memory of the Exxon Valdez.

"No matter how successful they are financially, this is something that they're always going to wear around their neck," says Cogan. "It will be a ring around their collar if you will."

Many of the fishermen of Prince William Sound are still fighting Exxon.

Ten years ago, a jury ordered Exxon to pay what now amounts to $6.5 billion for damage to the fishing industry.

While many fishermen have been forced into bankruptcy in the years since, the world's most profitable company still hasn't paid a penny, as the case remains tied up in appeals.

Exxon disputes reports that the remaining oil is still causing harm to the environment.

"Quite frankly we're not surprised the oil is still there in many ways," says Dr. Frank Sprow, Exxon's vice president of Safety, Health and Environment. "That's a good sign - it shows the oil hasn't migrated out and had the potential to do damage."

But other studies show evidence that many species, from seabirds to herring and otters are showing lingering effects from the oil.

"The ecosystem has not recovered, no matter what Exxon says," says Steiner.

So Exxon remains the oil company environmentalists love to hate. But Exxon has another reputation to safeguard: its reputation as the most profitable company on earth.
"

 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-608520.html


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And as reported here and other places, Enbridge has gone to great lengths to separate all assets from northern gateway..Why...

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"Enbridge assured the JRP earlier this year that if insurance doesn’t cover damages in the event of a spill, the money could be raised from the company’s cash reserves, by borrowing, or even by selling assets.
“Regardless of whether or not insurance covers losses and liabilities of Northern Gateway and/or third parties, Northern Gateway would make good the damages which it has caused,” the company said.

But Ms. Allan pointed in her submission that the corporate entity that will own and operate the Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline — the Northern Gateway Pipelines Limited Partnership — will be distinct from the Calgary-based corporate giant Enbridge Inc., which had $19.4 billion in revenues and just under $1 billion in profits last year.

The purpose of the structure Enbridge has chosen — a limited partnership — is to limit the exposure investors have for liabilities of the company, not to ‘make good’ on [a] catastrophic spill event,” she told the JRP."


http://business.financialpost.com/2012/07/05/canadian-b-c-taxpayers-could-bear-brunt-of-costs-in-event-of-gateway-spill-expert/?__lsa=3028-632b

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When Enbridge destroys another watershed, when a oil filled super tanker wrecks on and ruins pristine waters it will be the people left will the mess, the bills and the pain, the Queen of the North BC Ferry is still puking oil and diesel fuel, monitoring the wreck scene has ended, no attempt to stop the leak or lift the vessel is even being considered..Too much money to worry about the shellfish and local environment.

 http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/08/canada-rainforest/barcott-text

What did Harvey Oberfeld say about oil spills and industrial accidents? hmm, I recall it was something like..

Planes crash and we don`t stop flying, cars crash and we keep driving

Here we had a corporate decision to remove safety and staff from dangerous cargo carrying trains, a decision the led to an entire town and families being vaporized, MM&A Railway rolled the dice, they risked life and limb and took a chance to fatten the corporate bottom line, they rolled snake eyes, they stalled, denied and delayed, while the families were still mourning MM&A`s corporate lawyers were busy hiding assets and today they declare bankruptcy..

In other words the victims of MM&A`s crimes get nothing, Lac Megantic will see nothing but Canada`s Cold Blank Stare..



Ezra Levant and Harvey Oberfeld can go fuck themselves..



What was that again Harvey Oberfeld,blathered.......
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"NDP MUST Find Ways to Embrace Enbridge, Kinder Morgan and Other Major Projects


July 12th, 2013 · 35 Comments

"It’s game over for NDP hopes of achieving power in BC for at least another generation ….  unless the party finds ways to support MAJOR  construction projects.
And yes, I’m talking oil pipelines, coastal ship traffic, mining, rail movement of resources, major dam construction … all those things so many extreme far-left  NDPers have found so repugnant over the past decade."


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And who can forget the below gems of wisdom from the mouth of Harvey Oberfeld, from a post where old Harvey Oberfeld treated everyone who read his words and disagreed with his musings like kindergarten children.....He laughed, his dismissed those who pointed out flaws in his arguments..


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"The critics ARE right: there WOULD be pipeline spills; there WOULD be accidents and environmental impacts. 
BUT effective systems CAN be put in place  to MINIMIZE any incidents or damage … 

and when they still happen (and they will) they can be repaired, mitigated and, where warranted,  even prosecuted. And resource companies must be required to restore lands they impact in their operations.


However, the truth is … 

like the Model T and the Wright Brothers … despite the risks and problems, the need and the overall benefits from pipelines OVERWHELMINGLY override the fears of those who oppose them.

Unless we’re all prepared to substantially reduce our use of oil.

And bring back the stagecoach."

Harv Oberfeld


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Corporations claiming bankruptcy to avoid paying victims, Enbridge and other companies separating company assets and creating limited liability companies..All to avoid paying the victims when they kill people or destroy environments..

Perhaps Harvey Oberfeld....Perhaps you can send your above words to the victims of MM&A`s crimes and to the entire town of Lac Megantic, maybe that will soothe their anger, maybe that will make them forget about MM&A Railway and Edward Burkhardt getting out of dodge and jail with their....

Get out of jail free card..

P.S....This post wasn`t written to go after Harvey Oberfeld, it so angers me when pundits say we need pipelines and big industry, and to allow them in pristine places, then these same pundits say..Just make sure regulation is in place, make sure the corporates clean their messes...but they don`t, there is a $trillion dollar clean up required in the tar sands, industry won`t pay so polluted it will stay....Bitumen tar oil can`t be cleaned up when spilled in rivers or oceans, ...Tesako mine wants to pollute the Fraser River watershed for trinkets of gold, the world`s largest open pit copper and gold mine planned right beside the Fraser river watershed, fresh water lakes to be used as massive tailing ponds, lakes that will leach toxins into the mighty Fraser river, there are other places to mine, maybe not as productive but still profitable...Enbridge wanting a pipeline through BC, crossing 800 rivers, with massive oil tankers traversing our treacherous and pristine northern coast,,,It`s the wrong place for that industry..MM&A Railway, they reduced staff to one employee, 12 hour shifts...It was corporate malfeasance....polluted areas like Vancouver harbour can become more polluted, pristine ares like our northern coast must remain pristine, and that won`t happen if pipelines and oil tankers are put there..Harvey Oberfeld and Ezra Levant are wrong, just because I drive a car or use plastic doesn`t mean what is still pristine can be spoiled...We have no right to ruin what we don`t own and what we can never replace..Harvey Oberfeld needs to grow up, as for Ezra Levant, he needs to go to hell..



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open



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Canada`s Cold Blank Stare


Canada`s Cold Blank Stare



Written by Grant G


"It looks like a war zone"...Those were Stephen Harper`s words describing the Quebec town of Lac Megantic, his description is correct, yet his actions, and Canada`s actions after this crime were no different than that of a fender bender car accident...

Quebec(The Province) sent in 200 police officers and are treating it as a crime scene, which it is, how come hundreds of armed services were not sent in to assist, how come a 1000 armed forces aren`t on the ready to rebuild every destroyed building, and at the Federal Government`s expense, the public shouldn`t be required to deal with insurance agents or await compensation offers, and to be clear, trauma, pain and suffering does not need to be proved, literally hundreds and hundreds of people deserve a minimum of $2 million dollars apiece..The Feds can chase down compensation from MM&A and Railworld

If  Ezra Levant`s and Sun News media`s earlier suggestions and soft allegations of eco-terrorism were true...If eco-terrorism had vapourized an entire Canadian town and caused 60 to 70 individuals to turn to ashes would not the army, CSIS, Federal agents have locked down the town, conducted raids into environmental cells, First Nation`s communities, rounded up all the usual suspects,... what did Joe Oliver and Stephen Harper call those opposed to Enbridge and Kinder Morgan expansion, I believe they were called environmental radicals, enemies of Canada, enemies that go by the name of GreenPeace, Forests Ethics, Tides Canada, WestCoast Law, all British Columbian First Nations societies, had this crime been a result of terrorism from members of these groups would not the army and all available forces instantly raided their head offices, rounded up the leaders of these groups for questioning?

Vivian Krauss claims American millionaires are funding environmental dissent in Canada to the tune of a few million dollars, yet Vivian ignored the fact that Enbridge spent $30 million dollars on propaganda ads pushing their pipeline agenda, running propaganda ads years before the NEB review has even rendered a decision, shouldn`t ads run after the NEB(National Energy Board) made a decision, for if the NEB says no the ads are toilet flushed money, it`s almost as if Enbridge knows the result of the NEB review..

Last year Stephen Harper gave the Canadian Revenue Agency(CRA, also known as the taxman) $millions of dollars to target these same environmental groups the Federal Conservatives labeled enemies of Canada.

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In Canada, conservative “charities” like the Fraser Institute are free to use the tax-deductable “donations” they receive to engage in political activities like attacking public healthcare, unions and environmental regulations (helping their rich “donors” get richer) while maintaining charitable status.
Conservatives groups can continue to rely on public support for their rightwing agenda without any “political” interference from the Canada Revenue Agency.
It is another matter, however, for environmental groups, or as Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver likes to call them, “radical” groups that “threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda.”

  In June 2012, the Harper government brought in Bill C-38, which injected $8 million into the CRA to investigate charities to make sure they are not spending more than 10% of their budget on political advocacy. But the “political advocacy” the government is concerned about is the “radical ideological agenda” of environmental groups.
What the Harper government thinks of as “political advocacy” might also be called “science.” Internationally renowned scientist David Suzuki resigned from the Suzuki Foundation for fear that his science-based criticism of Big Oil and the Canadian Conservative Party’s environmentally destructive tar sands project could subject the charitable organization to unwanted attention from the CRA.


 http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/blog/bernans/17665

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 And the result of that Federal Conservative witch hunt was one group in non-compliance, non-compliance by a hair, and that group was not an environmental group per say, it was a group called..: Doctors against the proliferation of nuclear arms:....

Ezra Levant and fellow hate speech freak Greg Renouf went on attack all this weak against every disgruntled group, Ezra was even more offensive than usual, ...Ezra and Greg slung mud, lumped everyone into one big radical pile...In fact Ezra Levant cited, talked about and lumped the Oka Mohawk blockade from 1990 into this Quebec tragedy..He picked a few lines and quotes from a magazine called :Redwing:...That`s a First Nations and First Nation Prisoners publication, that publication was in 2006 and is was funded by the Federal Government...7 years ago..The Mohawk First Nation Oka blockade happened in 1990...23 years ago..And that blockade was about a golf course being constructed on First Nation land, one person died in that blockade..

 Ezra Levant and Greg Renouf in talking about the Quebec crime scene dragged the :Idle No More: movement into the train tragedy, they also suggested the G20 protesters and the occupy Canada protesters are all cut from the same cloth, all linked, the same people at all these protests, all against the tar sands, against pipelines and apparently....Trains..

1990 Oka Blockade...2006 prison publication, and more ...Ezra Levant and Sun News media`s editing room was very busy this week, they cut, spliced and cherry picked 5 written lines out of that 2006 publication, they aired one line snippets from First Nation speeches, everything presented out of context and crafted to inflame...So a golf course protest, a prison publication..Idle no more..The occupy movement was about the Wall Street crimes and bailouts..G20 protests...All lumped together in one eco-terrorism pie..

Am I missing something here...I understand that the very first reports about the Lac Magantic holocaust were sketchy, a simple unfortunate derailment, then we learned the one railway employee was less than honest in his initial account of events, then the owner of the railway Edward Burkhardt told fibs about fireman causing this accident, then he fibbed about mythical vandals, fibbed about the trains braking condition...All that fibbing meanwhile a town was vapourized and 60 to 70 people are turned to dust...If this act was terrorism or even suspected terrorism wouldn`t the federal Conservative environmental targets be interrogated, under hot lights, made to sweat, made to talk, maybe even tortured and yet...And yet Edward Burkhardt is free to roam the streets, shouldn`t his railway office been searched, raided by authorities, wouldn`t American Federal authorities cooperate, shouldn`t Edward Burkhardt have been arrested and held without bail...


 "It looks like a war zone"  If someone dropped a bomb and blew up a Canadian town shouldn`t they be arrested, ...Or in this case shouldn`t employment records be searched, employee logs, executive minutes from meetings, shouldn`t authorities need to know what effect one employee trains had on personnel, how many hours the employees were forced to work each day, if this event was terrorism wouldn`t every person, every entity involved be searched, interrogated and scrutinized and if those offenders or alleged offenders were caught fibbing, changing their story everyday, altering, twisting the facts and found to be completely wrong day after day, would that or those persons still be free to walk the streets?

British Columbia`s media..Global news, CKNW, ..Even our daily papers have barely touched this story..Our (false flag) Canada Day bombing..The court appearances by the defendants, every media was there, the courtroom packed, near standing room only, and I remind you, CSIS and the RCMP controlled the bombs, they picked up and dropped off the defendants, their phones were tapped, the defendants followed and...And police agents were working directly with the defendants for months, the public was never in danger, and what I find interesting, these defendants were followed, trailed, phones tapped and had committed offenses(according to the charges) before the Boston marathon pressure cooker terrorism event even happened...I wonder what terrorism plot those two were hatching way back when..

Where was I...Yet no British Columbia media correspondents that I know of went to Quebec to cover the worst rail disaster/crime in Canadian history..It`s like this event was put on British Columbia`s media back-burner...Could it be because Kinder Morgan ads are drowning the airwaves, Enbridge ads promoting gateway and talk of many LNG plants all stacked up close together...All potentially being placed in Kitimat and Prince Rupert, and if one thinks oil goes boom and burns, the amount of energy in one LNG plant is more than a nuclear bomb...

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/06/kitimat-and-prince-rupert-in-line-of.html
"It looked like a war zone" 

And unlike the tragic landslide at Johnsons landing, that has been ruled an act of God, and since it`s an act of god the BC Government is refusing to compensate the victims, 4 people died, many homes destroyed and the area is unsafe, the people can never return to their homes and legally can`t, the area is deemed to dangerous, and they can`t sell their homes and the most delicious part of this event, these people who lost their homes, those other people who have homes there, they are barred from returning, these people can`t sell their homes and....

And they are still obligated to pay property taxes, and who can forget last year Christy Clark promised to fully compensate those affected, well, that was then and this is now..

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NELSON, B.C. – A so-called act of God is allowing the province of B.C. to cut off compensation for residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the Johnsons Landing landslide.
An avalanche of mud and debris rolled over the tiny community of about 35 residents in southeast B.C. last July, wiping out five homes and killing four people.

 http://metronews.ca/news/victoria/683807/b-c-to-cut-compensation-for-johnsons-landing-landslide-victims/


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Those Johnson Landing victims are getting nothing but a cold blank stare from the BC Government ....

Those alleged Canada Day bombers have their courtroom loaded with media, and each and every court date will receive the same generous media coverage meanwhile a Quebec town is gone, criminal negligence, that is mass murder by any other name....

And what theme is the media playing, the media that now receives their biggest portion of advertising dollars from oil companies...Well you know, how pipelines are so much safer than rail...It`s a good thing this Burnaby pipeline that spewed flammable diluted bitumen didn`t catch fire, or it too would have been a hot vapourized disaster







 Yet when Stephen Harper, Joe Oliver and Edward Burkhardt look at you with that cold blank stare, when Ezra Levant and Sun News media promote more pipelines as a way to keep the public safe from railed oil..

What these oil industry pimps aren`t telling you is....

Even if Kinder Morgan, Enbridge and pipeline line 9 is reversed, and the keystone XL pipeline are all built, all pumping oil, there will still be a doubling of oil transport by rail over the next 5 years, the railway companies have geared up for it and now depend on that revenue..

So even though..

"It looks like a war zone" 

The only thing future oil victims will get is.....

A cold blank stare.




The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

7 comments:

Danneau said...

Great piece. I wrote a bit about this, but with none of the passion and fire you have built in here. I'll update with a link here, if you have no objection. This deals with one of the most fundamental flaws in the way society conducts its business with social costs and private profits, as well as, in this case, a lot of socialized misery.

Hugh said...

Humans survived for millennia without oil.

Anonymous said...

Same thing in Texas where the fertilizer company that was illegally storing thousands of pounds more of explosive materials than legally allowed blew up the entire town of West.They carried only one million in insurance. At first FEMA was not going to get involved but have since decided to rebuild the town. So, once again this pattern of tax payers picking up the cost of criminal activity of corporations continues.Privatize the profits,socialize the loses.

kootcoot said...

"MM&A Railway should not be allowed to claim bankruptcy, they should be forced to go in debt for however long it takes"

They should actually be held Criminally responsible and go to gaol, as should the criminal fraudster banksters and Wall Street crooks.

Harv probably isn't that concerned about the almost fifty folks killed in Lac Megantic, after all, they were just fracophone Quebeckers! Perhaps Harv should offer his property as a location for a wonderful pipeline or toxin hauling railway..................

If I'm not mistaken those wonderful corporate folks who are so responsible have left Canada alone with at least a trillion dollars worth of toxic sites that will never see any mitigation unless paid for by taxpayers and Exxon's still unpaid damages in Alaska are a drop in the bucket.

Anonymous said...

The problem in Canada is Harper. Canada is a pit of putrid corruption because, Harper has made it so. What works in a democracy, does not work in a dictatorship. Harper has geared Canada to favor corrupt, greedy corporations.

Who didn't know MM&A would file for bankruptcy? That was a given. Canada used to have excellent safety standards. Whoever approved a one man crew for Rail Roads, should be thrown in the brig for life, including Harper.

As Harper permits more and more foreigners to come into Canada and take Canadian jobs? We will see many more disasters. Foreign countries don't care what they do to Canada. One just needs to look at their countries and see utter soil pollution and poisoned water.

As for Enbridge, we must fight that, right to the last ditch with the F.N. We will have to watch our backs with Christy though. She works for Harper, as Campbell did before her.

Anonymous said...

What really happened in Lac Megantic?

http://thecanadian.org/item/2238-runaway-train-fuels-runaway-narrative

e.a.f. said...

None of what happened in Quebec should be of any surprize to anyone. When stevie slime so cheerfully announced how he had cut thousands and thousands of government workers, people all cheered about how they had gotten rid of all those over paid, underworked government workers.

When you fire all those government workers, one of the things that goes also is the work they preformed. when there are no inspectors or regulations for inspectors, you get what you deserve. what happened in the town is awful, but people should remember, they voted for a Conservative M.P.

The railway company is responsible for the accident but also the conservative party which wants deregulation or industry self regulation,. We know how well that has worked in the meat industry. Now we are seeing how well it works in the railway industry. We can look forward to more of these incidents.

The only thing I am surprized about is that there haven't been more of these accidents.

p.s. making comments such as you did about Harvey O. doesn't help anyone or the situation. He has a view point which many share. Although I do not share his views on some things. Some of what we do not want to have happen, is going to happen. We just need to make sure that when the accidents happen, we are prepared. My interpretation of what he has said on some matters is, we need to look at it and look at the safety concerns and can the dangers be mitigated. I don't think he is suggesting we go ahead without safe guards.