It seems that the Department of Interior has been bending over backwards, possibly even forwards to ensure that oil royalty-in-kind contracts from Chevron and Shell were duly rewarded.

A Federal Investigation has been launched into the royalty-in-kind program, part of the Mineral Management Service, based in Denver, Colorado into the improper conduct of some of its employees. It has been determined that there was evidence of marijuana and cocaine abuse as well as lots of inapropriate hanky-panky:

"Our investigation revealed an organizational culture lacking acceptance of government ethical standards, inappropriate personal behaviors, and a program without the necessary internal controls in place to prevent future unethical or unlawful behavior."

Apparently a third of the department employees were receiving gifts and perks of food, booze lodging, golf and skiing from a number of energy company executives which is prohibited by law.

One supervisor on the agency received nearly $1,000 in gifts and also engaged in drug taking and acts of sex with subordinates. Employees told investigators that they regularly "partied" with oil and gas reps. Must be all the family values rubbing off.

One woman admitted to having sexual relationships with two gentlemen from the oil industry, it wasn't determined if this was a simultaneous encounter, but one can only speculate, however she did infer that there may have been other 'dates.'

So it seems that many employees at the MMS office are one step ahead of Senator McCain's request to 'drill here, drill now' motto. Maybe they misinterpreted the memo. Still it brings a whole new meaning to the slogan 'your tax dollars at work' in the 'Mile High' City.

No doubt Senators' Barack Obama and Joe Biden are going to have a field day with this one, especially with pigs wearing lipstick... and everything, this could get interesting come election day in November.

Here is an interesting little side dish to nibble on: What was the reason given for developing the Department of Energy during the current administration?

After all, as a nation we have spent multi billions of dollars in support of this agency and I'm willing to bet not one person who reads this will remember the reason given. It was actually very clear and very simple:

"THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WAS INSTITUTED TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL."

PLEASE NOTE: IN 2008 THE BUDGET FOR THIS DEPARTMENT IS NOW AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR.

THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES.

Meanwhile back in San Ramon in 2007 Chevron posted their biggest ever profit in history, a tidy sum of $18.7 billion last time I checked. No doubt with the escalation in the cost of crude this summer, I'm sure their profits for current this fiscal year will blow 2007 away. So I wonder, in this particular situation just who exactly is really getting F#*ked?

Pardon my French,