Different takes on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

A Google Earth engineer's plug-in compares the size of the oil spill to any area on a map. Here's what the current oil slick would as of May 6 looks like placed on top of the Washington, D.C. area.PBS compares the estimated number of gallons of oil leaked into the Gulf after the rig explosion based on the different leak rates BP, NOAA and outside experts have released.The success or failure of the Obama administration's current response -- involving about 13,000 workers and 460 vessels, along with 1.4 million feet of boom laid against the spreading slick -- depends in large part on BP's expertise and technology.

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One of the most vital jobs of the federal courts is to check excessive claims of presidential power. The courts have stepped up to the task at important times since President George W. Bush embarked on a campaign after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to create an imperial presidency. Sadly, a recent ruling by a federal appeals court on the American military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan was not one of those times.

Our Epic Foolishness

For a nation that can’t stop bragging about how great and powerful it is, we’ve become shockingly helpless in the face of the many challenges confronting us. Our can-do spirit was put on hold many moons ago, and here we are now unable to defeat the Taliban, or rein in the likes of BP and the biggest banks, or stop the oil gushing furiously from the bowels of earth like a warning from Hades about the hubris and ignorance that is threatening to destroy us.

BP and the Obama administration have been equally clueless about halting the millions of gallons of oil that have flowed into the gulf since the Deepwater Horizon explosion more than a month ago. President Obama’s top adviser on energy policy, Carol Browner, unintentionally underscored the monumental futility of the response in a comment she made on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.