Paying off federal oil rig inspectors in the Gulf of Mexico

There is no way BP was not involved in this.

The oil "spill" was no "accident."

This shit is nearly unbelievable, until you realize that we are greedy pieces of shit who ultimately don't care about much:

Federal inspectors overseeing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico accepted meals and tickets to sporting events from companies they monitored, the Interior Department's inspector general concluded in a report released Wednesday.

In one case, an inspector in the Minerals Management Service office in Lake Charles, Louisiana, conducted inspections of four offshore platforms while negotiating a job with the company, the report states. Others let oil and gas company workers fill out their inspection forms in pencil, with the inspectors writing over those entries in ink before turning them in.

Some in the same office accepted tickets to the 2005 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, a college football bowl game in Atlanta, Georgia. One inspector told an office clerk, "Everyone has gotten some sort of gift before at some point" from companies they regulated, according to the report.

LET OIL AND GAS COMPANY WORKERS FILL OUT THEIR INSPECTION FORMS IN PENCIL. Gee, wonder how the fucking oil rig blew up.

Some more gems:

The Lake Charles investigation was launched shortly after another scandal emerged from within the MMS. A September 2008 inspector general's report found regulators in the agency's Colorado office received improper gifts from energy industry representatives and engaged in illegal drug use and inappropriate sexual relations with them...

She pointed out that Randall Luthi, its [Mineral Management Service] previous director, left at the end of the Bush administration to become president of the National Ocean Industries Association, the trade association that represents offshore drillers.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.