Will anyone from BP be indicted?

Yes, The Wall Street Journal has deteriorated since Murdoch took over, but they have really been on the ball with regards to the BP oil spill. They have been careful in their wording - e.g., Thursday's headline: Unusual Decisions Set Stage for BP Disaster. You or I might have described the decisions as being based on greed, but The Journal does not want to be sued for libel.

At its core, the problem seems to be the result of BP's efforts to overcome the situation whereby they were over budget and behind schedule on the project. Thus, they took a number of shortcuts to get back on track. Many of these shortcuts involved procedures for making sure that gas is not leaking into the well. For example, they spent 30 minutes on a procedure that normally takes 6 - 12 hours; they did not test the cement. And, BP did not listen to representatives of Transocean relative to removing the fluid that was expected to keep gas out.

The problems continued after the explosion. But now they are becoming only questions of ethics. Ed Markey, of the House Natural Resource Committee, said that BP knew that the well was releasing 14,000 gallons a day but they were telling us it was only 1,000 gallons. And we're all well aware of the blame shifting that is taking place.

You wonder if this well was cursed from the start. It was called Macondo, after the cursed town in Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude".