How big is the Gulf Oil Spill *REALLY*?

This site lets you overlay the spill onto your own hometown or any address in the world. It is scary to realize just how large this thing has become.

Putting it all in Perspective

From FoxTrot.Com.

Perspective is Important

Protesters vs Police

I have been saying to friends that many post-9/11 reactions need to be rolled back, no matter who the next president is. We have gone too far in our reaction to 9/11 in many areas, and now need to regain some perspective. One of the areas must be the treatment of protesters around political conventions. In 2004, we saw huge new restrictions placed on protesters in the name of safety and protection for politicos. But now these restrictions have escalated to the point that it is impossible for person A protesting person B to get anywhere near them. And the police are encouraged to do whatever is possible to contain protesters. Consider this article and this video from Denver.

Now, Denver has the added excuse of the last Democratic Convention there having turned ugly, and threats from some demonstrators beforehand to do the same. So, I cut them a lot of slack. But the fact is that the Republican Convention will be as locked down, in Minneapolis. Protest is a fundamental thread of the American experience, and more needs to be done to allow it at these monuments of political theater. A political convention where no dissenting voice is allowed is simply a show with no heart and no point.