A quick review of this past week's happenings in the blog world

As is the case with these things, it was the pictures of the oily birds -- the one that looked like some gurgling monster; the one that lay on its back like a human, dying -- that yielded the most authentic reactions to the oil spill I've yet seen. Showing the photos to three friends, I watched the anger over the oil spill subside in their faces, the frustration drift from their voices as they scrolled down the page, lingering on each new frame. Unprompted, all three eventually said the same thing: "It makes me feel helpless."

What needs to be happening in the Gulf is a large-scale exposure assessment of the individuals involved in the hazardous material clean-up efforts. Exposure assessments identify the chemical, biological, and physical agents present in a work environment and evaluate the extent to which workers in that environment are exposed to those agents.

-- ProPublica's blog has been an excellent source of muckraking. Read about the non-response from government officials and BP related to data on sick clean-up workers.

-- For all you food connoisseurs out there, BP's spill has shut down the country's oldest oyster-shucking company.

-- And last but not least, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) has abandoned his own climate bill for good. But this might say more about Democrats' strategy to pass legislation than Sen. Graham's wavering commitment to climate change.

It's further evidence that the "lone Republican" strategy doesn't work. Time and again, Democrats have ended up in a room with a single Republican who seemed willing to cut a deal. It was Olympia Snowe on health care, Bob Corker on financial regulation and Lindsey Graham on climate change. In every case, the final bill looked a lot like what that Republican helped negotiate. And in every single case, the Republican realized that he or she couldn't get more support from their party and so they eventually bolted the effort.