How to Stop Spill? Lawmakers Try Prayer

The efforts by mere mortals to stop the crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the disabled Deepwater Horizon have been a series of failures, followed by partial, and precarious at that, successes at diverting the flow. So Louisiana state legislators decided it was necessary to appeal to a higher power, calling for a day of prayer today. "It is clearly time for a miracle for us," state Sen. Robert Adley said in a statement released after last week's unanimous vote for the day of prayer, CNN reports.

The resolution appeals to Gulf Coast residents of all religions "to pray for an end to this environmental emergency, sparing us all from the destruction of both culture and livelihood." Meanwhile, oil recovery efforts resumed yesterday morning after 10 hours lost to a mechanical problem on the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise. (More Gulf oil spill stories.)