It's Never Going to Stop, Man...Now Hop Quick, Like a Bunny!

That line is from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Benicio del Toro/what was his character's name again? is clinging to a merry-go-round in Circus Circus, and Johnny Depp/Hunter S. is trying to get him off it. When Benicio says, "Make it stop," Johnny Depp points out that the merry-go-round never stops--much like life itself, the wheel of samsara, or myriad events that confirm my total cynicism.** It's deep, see?

So, quick, like a bunny, onto the report that found that the regulators from the MMS--who were supposed to be overseeing tiny little details like oil rig shut-off valves, but who ever needs to use those, right?--would let industry officials fill out the forms in pencil, and then the "regulators" would go over them again in pen and turn them in. I vaguely remember mocking the MMS back in the day, when a bunch of these guys got caught doing cocaine and sharing hookers with lobbyists from the various industries they were supposedly overseeing. I figured that they had just signed away all national parks to Halliburton, as this was standard Bush Administration policy, whether high or no. Then I tried not to think about this anymore--which was apparently the course of action taken by lots of people, until some 200 million gallons of oil poured into the Gulf. And while the Obama administration is clearly going to emphasize that this report covers 2005-2007, when, you know, THOSE GUYS were in power, it turns out that the current Administration selected a BP executive as deputy administrator for land and minerals management. How about that, surprise, surprise, surprise, &c. Also, seems like both BP and the Obama Administration significantly under-reported the amount of oil pouring out of the well.

Suggestion: there are currently many people unemployed in Gulf Coast states, no? Perhaps they could be hired to wash some pelicans and save some wildlife? And perhaps BP could just go ahead and pay all of them a nice wage, just out of the goodness of its shrunken, withered corporate heart?

**The Theme of the Month is "defending my cynicism," apparently; I just noticed that 3 of the last 4 posts are about being cynical. I suppose that, as a graduate of a notably lefty-hippie-idealist university, I have some lingering need to defend my misanthropic views, which were generally at odds with the general tenor of debate in my undergrad discussion sections. What Blogs Are For: Finally Saying What I Wanted To Say to That Hippie That One Time in 1997.