"...they were not engineering; they were imagineering..."

I'll let the links do the talking.

First, in the vein of my vent about the Fed not giving the locals their due and supplying the tools for a defense, news of what the state and parish levels of response are doing:

State taking unusual measures to keep oil at bay


From the "choose your poison" department:

Is the cure worse than the disease?


Why I can't get an fried oyster poboy from down the street:

Gulf of Mexico oil spill is affecting price and availability of local oysters


Some of the survivors are set free:

First birds rescued from oil are set free





Lastly, where I got the subject title, a truly stupefying account of the fatal genesis of this disaster:

Gas surge shut well a couple of weeks before Gulf oil spill