Drill, baby, drill: Oil execs sexed regulators

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"Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said…." More here about the bonking scandal two years ago involving the Mineral Management Service, the US government agency tasked with overseeing stuff like, ohhh, the oil rig that BP allowed to blow in the Gulf of Mexico—now the worst oil disaster in American history. As the oil continues to spew today, this most extreme evidence of inappropriate coziness is worth revisiting.

Yesterday, the MMS offshore drilling chief resigned. Today MMS head Liz Birnbaum, quit. Here's the Mineral Management Service website, which at the time of this blog post still displays a funny photo of Birnbaum that's begging for an alternate caption. Don't miss the "ethics" section. Hubba hubba.