BP PLC Chief Executive Tony Hayward has come under mounting pressure over the spill, caused after a drilling rig BP was leasing, the Deepwater Horizon, caught fire and sank last month.
If we are all to be responsible for one another's health insurance, through socialized medicine, then we are all closely involved in one another's health, including everyone's eating and drinking.
Many Afghans find it bizarre that the West should devote so much money to Mr Karzai, yet be unable to hold him to account over something so basic as stuffing ballot boxes on an industrial scale.
The astronaut shouldering the historic task will need the help of another astronaut to put on a 120kg, non-powered spacesuit for the extra vehicular activity.
His proposal is to start by using solar systems with associated batteries to do much of the work that diesel generators do in post-calamity situations.