Why didn't the Gulf oil rig have a remote-controlled shut-off switch? Because Dick Cheney wanted his oil company pals to keep the $500,000

Now we have a clearer idea of how the oil companies came up with such hugely obscene profits during the past decade.

Contempt for the environment seems to be based on the belief that if we don't have proof that something bad will happen, then we shouldn't worry about it. I believe the correct term for this kind of thinking is "short-sighted." Or perhaps it should be called magical thinking?

May 3, 2010
Who's to blame for the oil spill? Dick Cheney
By Alex Pareene

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill could end up being the worst American man-made environmental catastrophe of this generation. With the oil still spilling and investigations into the causes yet to come, it's too early to neatly assign blame to any one person. But for now, let's hold Dick Cheney personally responsible for the whole thing.

Here's the evidence: The Wall Street Journal reports that the oil well didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch. The reason it didn't have a thing that it seems every single offshore drilling rig should have? According to environmental lawyer Mike Papantonio, it's because Dick Cheney's energy task force decided that the $500,000 switches were too expensive, and they didn't want to make BP buy any...