Sex, Drugs, and Rockin' Oil

 

I think we've probably all felt a little quiet and reflective today. I found myself starting to veer over into the sad lane, dwelling on the images and thoughts of 7 years ago. So I decided it was time for a little righteous indignation to get me back on track. Not about what happened that day, because that has faded into a sort of sick awe that people can perpetrate such atrocities. No, I'm righteously pissed about this:

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. government employees received improper gifts from energy industry representatives, and engaged with them in illegal drug use and inappropriate sexual relations, according to a report issued Wednesday.

A report says government officials accepted gifts from oil and gas company employees.

The report was issued by the Interior Department's inspector general after a $5.3 million investigation "uncovered recreational marijuana and cocaine use" by "a handful" of Interior Department staff, and found two federal employees "engaged in brief sexual relationships with representatives from companies doing business" with the department.

Two Interior Department employees "received combined gifts and gratuities on at least 135 occasions from four major oil and gas companies with whom they were doing business -- a textbook example of improperly receiving gifts from prohibited sources," Inspector General Earl Devaney says in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne accompanying the report.

Randall Luthi, head of the Minerals Management Service at the Interior Department, said the public had not suffered financial losses as a result of the employees' behavior.

The public hasn't "suffered financial losses"?! I wonder how many contracts were awarded unfairly because of "favors granted?" Talk about being in bed with Big Oil!

What the HELL is going on, people?

 

Are people this greedy,this sleazy, and this corrupt that they believe it is perfectly acceptable to engage in this type of behavior? Are the oil companies turning a blind eye to what is happening within their ranks because they're raking in money hand over fist? Is our government looking the other way while its employees play?

 

I wonder what that exact tipping point is when people who have been working for a living decide that since everyone else seems to be doing it, they'll do it, too. What is that switch that flips when someone who has devoted their life to public service in the government decides that they have enough power that they can do whatever they want? And why do they always seem to think that they'll never get caught?

 

Whether it's money slipped under the table; a trip to a ski resort; cheating on your wife with the new intern or your videographer; or using your clout to try and get your creepy brother-in-law fired...it all smacks to me of people thinking that they are above the rules that most of us live by. They somehow come to believe that they are better and smarter than the huddled and unwashed masses, and despite evidence to the contrary, they go on thinking that they won't get caught. In this age of technology and surveillance cameras AND The National Enquirer, let me tell you: chances are pretty good that you will eventually get caught, and it will probably be pretty embarrassing.

 

What has happened to us, to our integrity...to honesty? What has happened to what should be our common goal of making the world a better place?

 

What have we lost?

 

<deep breath> There. I feel better now.

 

 

Tags: Oil company scandal, Department of the Interior, integrity