There's a new sheriff in town,

said Interior Sec Ken Salazar, as he shut down the scandal-plagued Minerals Management Service, an agency that was in charge of collecting revenue from the oil and gas industry. Since the Bush admin took over, and slashed the number of auditors, the agency has been embroiled in sex and drug charges, as well as over 40 external audits after the foxes were put in charge of the henhouse. It was the perfect office for the Bushies, whose entire existence was to enrich the oil companies, to manipulate the amount of royalties paid by them and their buddies as they pushed the price of oil from under $17 to over $147/bbl. However, most of the guilty parties were allowed to retire, with huge pensions, and escape criminal charges as they were allowed to plea bargain with the Bush/Cheney crowd. The office that takes in revenue, 2nd only to the IRS, has been totally revamped and actually has watchdogs keeping track of the big oil companies. What a concept!