Self-Violating

The response of the Obama Administration to BP's attempt to turn oil into oilade has been, to say the least, underwhelming (is it too much too ask to be "whelmed" occasionally?).

But one thing is pretty clear about where this all starts, a lot of Republicans hate governing as much as they love loving themselves. In a report that covers the period 2000 to 2008 (who was President most of that time? Oh yeah, Dick Cheney) a pattern develops.

Staff members at an agency that oversees offshore drilling accepted tickets to sports events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to an Interior Department report alleging a culture of cronyism between regulators and the industry.

Rubbing one out, instead of regulating, was not unknown of course.

...a new government report reveals that some high-level regulators have spent more time looking at porn than policing Wall Street...the report says most of these cases began in 2008, just as the financial system began to collapse.

I now shudder more to think what is actually in the minutes of Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force, in addition to what I have been shuddering over.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]