Bill Johnson was the former assistant director and director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, a one-time candidate for governor, and was enough of a sociopath to do well in Alabama politics. He is married (for now) to a two-time Miss America finalist. And he threw it all away to move to New Zealand to spread his seed:

[His activities have] also led Mrs Johnson to campaign for a law change in the United States which would make it illegal for men in long-term relationships to donate sperm without their partner’s knowledge.

Mr Johnson returned to Alabama in the United States after news broke in December of his activities. He left Alabama just after Easter to be in Christchurch for when the babies start arriving.

A candidate for the Republican nomination to be governor of the state in 2009, Mr Johnson campaigned on a political platform opposing gay marriage. A number of the women he donated to are in committed civil unions with gay partners.

Another GOP hypocrite asshole. Who could have predicted?

Sperm Donor Left Me For Babies [nzherald.co.nz]

“Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who doubles as President Barack Obama’s point man on Gulf Coast oil spill recovery, is pressing America’s armed services to consume as much Gulf seafood as possible.” [NOLA, via Yahoo]

Above: BP engineers hard at work Friday in the Houston Command Center, gravely accepting their responsibility to monitor and control the deep-sea oil gusher.

Only the photo appears to have been taken in 2001. With new monitor images pasted in. And not very well.

BP has replaced the photo with what it says is the original. Although the photographer might want to check the settings on his Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, since the camera still records the shot being taken “3/6/2001 – 3:16 PM”.

In any event, we prefer the “original” provided to AmericaBlog by someone with better Photoshop skillz:

Read more »

“More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows. The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing.” [AP]

A BP board game from the 1970s challenged players to hoard $120 million to win:

Up to four would-be tycoons can compete at exploring for oil, building platforms and laying pipelines to their home countries.

But BP Offshore Oil Strike players must also avoid the dreaded ‘hazard cards’, which state: ‘Blow-out! Rig damaged. Oil slick clean-up costs. Pay $1million.’

Strangely enough, cleanup technology hasn’t changed since the 1970s, either.

Rare 1970s BP board game promises oil ‘thrills’ comes back to haunt them [Metro UK, via ThinkProgress]

BP Sends Local Gas Stations Signs To Post Stressing They’re ‘Part Of The Community’ [ThinkProgress]

Coincidence? Or the hand and judgment of God?

Or — we’re just spitballing here — criminal recklessness?

Nah. Couldn’t be that.

Is oil catastrophe fulfillment of Genesis prophecy? [WND. Of Course.]