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As critics continue to take aim at her parents for letting their 16-year-old daughter try to sail around the world, and as the cost of her rescue has now been estimated -- by one publication -- to total more than $1 million, Abby Sunderland has given her first in-depth interview since her dramatic rescue last week and she defended her voyage and her beleaguered parents.

"I think that a lot of people are judging me by the standards they have for their teens and other teens that they know... and thinking, 'She's exactly like them,'" Sunderland said in an Associated Press exclusive. "They don't understand that I've sailed my whole life and I do know what I'm doing out there."

Many of the Sunderlands' critics claim they should be footing the bill for the rescue, but Australia is picking up the tab.

Question: Does Abby's attempt to sail around the world resemble adventure or child abuse by a father who likes the limelight? And who do you think should foot the bill for her rescue?

BP officials have turned to a new source for help with their oil cleanup efforts: actor Kevin Costner. The oil giant announced Monday that it had ordered 32 machines from Costner's company which use a centrifuge mechanism to separate oil from water and recycle the crude at the same time. Each machine weighs about 4,000 pounds, he said, and will allow crews to collect more oil.

"This is the key, it's the linchpin to people going back to work. It's certainly a way to fight oil spills in the 21st century," he said. "It creates an efficiency where there are no efficiencies out there, and it's been a long time coming." Costner said he had been working on developing the machine since 1992 or 1993 with the help of his brother, a scientist.

"Skimmers are picking up 90 percent water, 10 percent oil, and they throw it into a barge ...What this machine simply does, in that particular case, will give a pure payload. Suddenly a barge will be coming back to shore with 99 percent oil as opposed to the other way around," he said.

Question: What do you think of Costner's foray into the massive environmental disaster? Do you think his machines will help?

In a meeting with BP, President Obama has demanded that the company set-up an escrow account that will pay damage claims to residents of the affected areas in a "fair, efficient and transparent" manner. In addition, the President is set to address the nation in primetime tomorrow night that will focus on the crisis in the Gulf.

Question: What do you want to hear from President Obama in his address about the oil spill in the Gulf?

Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas, now almost 90, has covered the White House for decades, but she announced earlier this week that she is retiring immediately. Thomas was recently caught on camera making headline-provoking comments about Israel -- that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Germany and Poland – and has come under sharp criticism by other White House reporters, and even drawing a rebuke from the President.

Subsequently, Thomas apologized for her misspeak in a statement on her website, "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."

A legendary journalist for 57 years, Ms. Thomas has all those years been celebrated for speaking courageously, for dazzling her audience with truth, but she has never been known to support anti-Semitism or to be in favor of ethnic or religious cleansing.  

Question:  Does Helen Thomas deserve every rebuke she has received, or should she be given a chance to explain her comments?