The latest news about the MMS adds to my sense of outrage about the GOP Gulf Gusher. All the crimes described in this piece occurred before Obama took office.

Staff members at the US agency that regulates offshore drilling used illegal drugs, accepted gifts from oil companies and falsified inspection reports, an Interior Department probe showed Tuesday. The investigation found these violations and others at the Minerals Management Service district office in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The inspector general’s report also found staffers accepted sports events tickets paid for by an oil company and viewed pornography on government computers. One of the staff members interviewed for the report was talking with an oil company about a job with them at the same time as he was inspecting the company’s oil platforms, the report said. Some of the staffers were involved in inspections of offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The probe was completed in early April and was sent, as is routine with such reports, to MMS, which had a 90-day period to respond to the allegations in the report. A week later, an explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore platform killed 11 workers and sent the rig sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, where oil has been spewing ever since from a ruptured oil well. "Given the events of April 20 … this report has become anything but routine," inspector general Mary Kendall said in a memo to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose agency includes the MMS. Salazar called the findings of the report, which covered several years prior to his appointment in 2009, "deeply disturbing" and said they could lead to some of the MMS staff members being fired or referred to authorities for criminal prosecution… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Bay Ledger>

I would think that a lot more needed than just firing some of the MMS staff members. Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow both had excellent segments on this issue.

First Keith:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Now Rachel:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Since Salazar appointed a BP VP to head the MMS, it seems clear to me that, even though the GOP caused this despicable state of affairs, his bent is to continue the GOP culture of corruption. It’s time for him to be replaced. It is abundantly clear that the GOP is siding with big oil to pass the costs on to taxpayers. It’s time for every Republican above the rank of dog catcher to be replaced.

I’ve heard discussion that the oil companies should mobilize a fleet of tankers to skim and store the oil in the gulf. I think this is a good idea, but government does not have the capacity to order it. Why have they not volunteered? My best guess is that the oil companies are anticipating an increase in the price of oil as a result of this disaster, and that they have their tanker fleets fully loaded, waiting to sell it at a higher price.