An oil rig explodes and 11 persons lose their lives in the inferno. As we watch the daily news constantly showing the oil gushing from the pipe a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the crude lapping against the marshlands of Louisiana, and now threatening Alabama and Mississippi, and maybe even both coasts of Florida, the prognostications are even worse. Of course, the political shenanigans are at play, and the politicians who are least affected by this tragedy are spouting off about how they “feel” for the folks on the Gulf Coast.

The culprits, British Petroleum and its subcontractors, are putting up a good show trying to plug the leak, but I believe they already know that nothing short of drilling the relief wells, which will not be done until August, is the only answer to this debacle. Golf balls and old tires? C’mon.

What I see in this sad scenario is pure unadulterated greed. It’s not a case of wanting to help the U.S. with its oil dependency problem; after all, all the oil retrieved from the wells in the Gulf is sold on the world market anyway. It’s not like they will save it all for us. So, what’s this about when the likes of Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, and other shallow thinkers like Michelle Bachman, chant their “Drill Baby Drill” mantra?

The politicians want us to think they are doing us a favor by drilling for oil on our own land or in our own waters. No, they are doing their friends a favor. Friends like BP, Shell, Chevron, Exxon, and Conoco-Phillips are reaping billions in profits from sweetheart deals, many consummated under Dick Cheney and his shadowy secret negotiations with the energy Czars. He got paid $30+ million from Halliburton prior to taking the job of Vice President; Chevron names an oil tanker after Condoleezza Rice; and…well, you know the rest of the story.

It is shameful and even sinful for these folks, their companies, and their political lap-dancers to participate in many of the things they do, but their dastardly deeds motivated by insatiable greed continue.

People who make a living from the waters along the Gulf Coast are now wondering if they will ever be able to return to their normal lives. Amidst the posturing, photo-ops, and speeches, people have families to feed and bills to pay. More important than the hum-drum of excuse-making and finger-pointing, is the dire and desperate need to fix this problem and to assure it never happens again.

I have to believe BP, with all of its scientists, engineers, technicians, and experts knew what risks they were taking by allowing this kind of drilling without a failsafe back-up plan just in case the pipe sprang a leak a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf. To put more money in their coffers, they were willing to risk what is now the worst environmental disaster in our history.

Yes, I understand and appreciate the profit motive, but as I wrote several years ago, “What price would you pay for a profit?” BP is said to have made $5.5 billion in profit in the first quarter of 2010. Was that at the expense of polluting the land and the ocean? Has it been to the detriment of everyday people who merely want to fish and shrimp and take care of their families? Is BP’s profit ultimately at the future expense of our grandchildren who may no longer be able to enjoy the beaches and waters along the Gulf Coast?

We saw the hazards of greed with the Iraq war – 5000 lives lost. Was it to find WMD or was it really to control that country’s oil, since Hussein had decided to defy the mighty U.S. by accepting Euros for his oil rather than the vaunted U.S. “Petrodollar”? Plain and simply put, it was in that case and it is in this latest foray into uncharted waters (pun intended) of avarice, self-centered, unregulated, and unrelenting greed. This kind of behavior, left unchecked and unpunished, may prove to be the demise of this country and maybe even the world.

What should be done besides cleaning this oil mess up as soon as possible? BP has already lost a significant share of its value on the stock market, as will the other oil companies as a result of this catastrophe. But what else can we do to speed up the process of cleaning up the mess and getting the folks who reside in the affected areas back to work?

One thing to do is refuse to buy gasoline from BP until they fix the problem and make their victims whole. If consumers, those of us who care about our brothers and sisters in Louisiana and other coastal areas, if we would simply make our gas purchases from stations other than BP, it will surely light a fire under these corporate leeches to get things done a lot faster than they would normally take. I have already begun.