West fertilizer plant explosion: setting up a patsy?

[Ilsa]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Electric Larry (a host of the General Discussion forum).

This is a news story thread by Bolo Boffin in the Texas group:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1078&pid=8667

Do you think it's too wacky of a conspiracy theory that this EMT guy could be a patsy in the West fertilizer plant explosion? I can't bring myself to trust the authorities on this.

Even if this man is proven not to be a perpetrator in the explosion, could the possibility of it prevent successful civil suits against the plant owner and anyone else who was negligent in regulating the plant or disclosing its potentially lethal contents?

I'd like to hear some feedback. Maybe I've just lost faith in government to do the right thing.

[LisaL]

1. Oh for crying out loud.

There is not enough tin foil to go around for all of the conspiracy theories about every case.

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. I think your reply to the OP is a conspiracy...

I know people like you. You troll the intertubes looking for people who're waking up to reality, and you do your best to put them back to sleep. I have a distant Uncle who was once part of The PTB Club and he told me people like you are paid quite well.

You're not fooling me. My distant Uncle also told me the movie "They Live" was actually a training tape that was leaked in an unauthorized way. I told him I knew it the first time I saw it.

You can make all the comments about tin foil you want. I don't need tin foil; I have sunglasses that tell me the truth.

[freshwest]

14. Hey, whatever makes sense of the world. And we all know that it's always the evil government.

The John Birch Society said it first. Reagan said it next. Then came the Dittoheads, Paulbots, Infowars, World Nut Daily and residents of Glennbeckistan. It must be true!!!

Else, you're a sheeple:

From the Left:



Or the Right:



Surrender your skepticism to the skeptics! You must believe!

[dballance]

2. Oh My. He wasn't honest in his LinkedIn Profile. That truly makes him criminal

Did The Dallas Morning News just really have nothing else to print that day?

[Ilsa]

23. LOL. Ad as long as he didn't seek

employment as an RN, which he is not, then he hasn't broken a law there, either.

Imagine! People stretching the truth about themselves on social media!

[Junkdrawer]

3. Pilot Error vs Unsafe Aircraft....

Imagine if airlines investigated all their own crashes.

I think it's that kind of thing.

[dmr]

4. idk, but the thought crossed my mind.

The company, and the state have a lot to lose.

Deregulation/lower taxes to lure businesses to the state; and the promise of self-regulation as well as the promise the company was safe.

I don't take anything at face value when the stakes are as high as this.

[Buzz Clik]

7. Regulations/deregulation had nothing at all to do with this tragedy.

It's on ongoing myth, but a myth nonetheless.

[pnwmom]

8. I suppose you mean because he failed to report correctly to Homeland Security.

But I still think this chemical and similar chemicals should be regulated by the EPA and OSHA, and if they had, their questions might have elicited information about the dangerous chemicals onsite. It would have given multiple opportunities for West to report the chemical, in case not reporting it was simply an oversight. And then there should have been more supervision as to safety measures.

[Buzz Clik]

5. It's not either/or.

If the investigation has determined that arson or criminal activity started the fire or set off the explosion, that's one thing.

The owner/operator's lack of honesty about housing huge quantities of ammonium nitrate led to the deaths of 14 people. That's a different crime entirely.

[jberryhill]

12. Or...

Even if there were willful criminal activity, the owner can still be on the hook for failing to take proper security measures.

I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but it is disappointing when they are legally ignorant to boot.

[Tom Ripley]

6. I have to admit that was my first thought when I heard about the paramedic...

and I honestly don't engage in much conspiracy theorizing (most egregious cooperation is done rather openly)

[cali]

9. sigh.

there is little stupider than speculation with not a scintilla of evidence to support a theory. Nothing.

[mc51tc]

10. I have to give credit to WFAA T.V. in Dallas for investigating other lax regulations in Texas.

This station and many other media outlets in Texas are not in the pockets of Rick Perry it appears. They seem to be very concerned after the tragedy in West. Watch this investigative report which aired on Thursday in the D/FW area concerning a similar incident that occurred in 2011.
It should be an eye opener for anyone living in Texas or other areas of the country. People need to wake up and demand change before the next major incident occurs again.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/News-8-Investigates-Ellis-County-emergency-readiness-206853711.html

[freshwest]

15. Thanks for that. Pretty hard to stand up to the reichwing.

[byeya]

11. The various agencies are under a lot of pressure to produce a perpetrator and agencies

have been known to construct a case against an innocent party whom they know to be innocent. The disgraced governor of IL - the Republican before the current disgraced Democrat - commuted all the death sentences because of so many innocent people on death row in the recent past.
It's not CT to bring up this possibility because it's been reality many times in the past.

[Ilsa]

16. Yeah. "Richard Jewel" was the 1st name

they made certain got out after the 1996 domestic terrorism attack in Atlanta.

My thought is that by producing possible perps, the pro-business members of law enforcement screw up civil suits against the owners, etc.

[byeya]

19. Richard Jewel is an excellent example,poor guy, and after the agency homes in on one

particular person, the tendency is to ignore evidence against others and interpret as much evidence as they are able against the one arrested for the crime.

[GeorgeGist]

17. Isn't the State of Texas ...

a haven for patsies?

[sigmasix]

18. useful dissonance?

Is it possible that this stuff is going to be used as an excuse for Republicans in Texas to introduce legilslation that will cap damage judgements or reduce the owner's fiscal liabilities.
Perhaps the owners are going to be respresented as victims by Perry and other big de-regulation interests- victims that need protection from ordinary people that have the nerve to say they don't want to have thier communities destroyed by the greed and destruction of the criminally wealthy.
Perry and the rest of the extreme de-regulation right wingers have a large share of responsibility for the deaths and destruction caused by the explosion.

Teabaggers are morally incapable of accepting responsibility for thier actions. Why do they hate Americans so much?

[Ilsa]

21. Texas loves capping awards.

Our old history was that Texans awarded victims of neglect, etc very generously. (I believe the exploding gas tank of the Ford Pinto case was awarded out of Houston. A huge payout was awarded to a doctor for faulty medical device implants.) Not any more. Medical malpractice caps were supposed to help attract more doctors to Texas and ease the cost of their insurance. I dont know what other caps the Lege has imposed.

[mc51tc]

20. Bryce Reed denies involvement in West explosion

A lawyer for the West EMS officer arrested on a federal charge of possession of a destructive device said Saturday that his client had nothing to do with the explosion that decimated the small town last month.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130511-ems-officer-denies-involvement-in-west-explosion.ece

Lee Harvey Oswald screamed on live T.V. in 1963 that he was a "patsy" which many people still believe today.

[moondust]

22. Another concern

is the *possibility* of the West Fertilizer Co. being run by radical Texas Teabagger types caught up in the whole RW antigubmint/guns/militia/insurrection/secession culture and stockpiling ammonium nitrate in case they should need it for some future "explosive confrontation."

[Stinky The Clown]

24. This thread might be happier in the Creative Speculation forum.

There is a unanimous host consensus to lock this.