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Prince was named "world's sexiest vegetarian" by PETA voters.

I have mixed thoughts about PETA, but not about Prince. Pass me another Purple Rain.

Mallaby on Gore

The Washington Post's Sebastian Mallaby -- a member in good standing of the more-centrist-than-thou Beltway club -- thinks the Bush administration is making Al Gore look good:

Six years ago, Bush narrowly defeated Gore, apparently because voters thought he'd be a nicer guy to have a beer with. But after years of governmental bungling, of willful indifference to truth, the national mood seems to be changing. Voters have seen that nice guys can screw up. And technocrats with diagrams and charts have never seemed so interesting.

Elite opinion, which was so devastating to Gore's 2000 campaign, seems squarely behind him this time around.

Update [2006-5-22 15:28:21 by David Roberts]: Via Kevin Drum, Margaret Carlson makes a similar point.

Move Thyself: Deer avoids car, hits man on bicycle

D'oh, a deer ...

In other bicycle news, it seems the Chinese masses are increasingly trading in their classic cruiser-style Flying Pigeon bikes for cushy mountain bikes and higher tech road bikes (oh, and cars).

Not a huge surprise, as an increase in affluence often leads to a transportation upgrade. But nonetheless, the state-owned bike company has noted the changing demographics of its riders as well as a dip in sales.

Big greenish taxi

As gas prices have risen, hybrids have become a substantially better buy than they once were. Still, it depends on how much you drive: the more miles you log, the more money a hybrid can save you.

So I'm heartened (though far from shocked) to see that cab companies are starting to realize this. Cabbies drive a lot. That's their job, after all. And higher gas prices mean that they're starting to run up enormous fuel bills, which means that switching to hybrids offers an immediate benefit to a cabbie's bottom line.

Orwell would be proud

Rep. Richard Pombo today introduced his latest bill to open ANWR to energy exploration called ... wait for it ... the "American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act."

Unbelievable

From Congressional Quarterly (subscription):

House Republican leaders this week plan to push at least one energy policy hot button during floor action before departing for a week-long Memorial Day recess: authorization to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

What's it going to take? A stake through the heart? A silver bullet? Perhaps environmentalists should consult this guide.

No.

Today, when asked whether he would see Gore's new movie, Bush said, "doubt it." I doubt it too. Who needs truth when you've got truthiness?

But Bush also said something more insidious:

... in my judgment, we need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects, and focus on the technologies that will enable us to live better lives and, at the same time, protect the environment.

Should we "set aside" the question of whether human activity is driving climate change? I think not.

A while back, I wrote a post on this subject. I never put it up -- I was thinking of making it into an op-ed or something, but I never got around to it. Anyway, it's relevant to this question. So I've put it below the fold.

CEI and the bounds of the socially acceptable

Speaking of the CEI ads, I've been giving them some thought.

I worry that they will be a flash in the media pan, and quickly fade from memory. That would be a lost opportunity.

Here's a suggestion for a group that has the money and will to organize (maybe MoveOn): Don't let this drop. Find out every single corporate sponsor of CEI, contact them, and ask them if they agree with the content of the ads. If they agree, publicize the hell out of it. If they don't agree -- as Ford claims not to -- ask them why they're supporting an organization that's muddying the waters on this vital issue. If they refuse to respond, publicize the hell out of that.

Our development director questioned me about the Ford post. He said (paraphrasing), surely Ford shouldn't be held accountable for everything CEI does. After all, organizations that fund Grist don't necessarily agree with everything in our pages.

On most issues, I would agree. If Ford had disagreements with CEI over, say, accounting regulations, but supported their other work, fine. Reasonable people differ about accounting regulations.

Scientist cited in CEI ad repudiates misuse of his work

ThinkProgress brings news that the scientist who authored one of the studies shown briefly in the second CEI ad has issued a statement blasting CEI for using his work to "confuse and mislead the public." Good for him.

The recipe for twins (sorry, vegans)

Attention female vegans (and no, I'm not soliciting romance, thanks): If you're dreaming of birthing twins, you may want to read this.

Women who eat a vegan diet -- a strict vegetarian diet that excludes all animal products including milk -- are one-fifth as likely as other women to have twins, a U.S. researcher reported on Saturday.

But despite what some headline-writers suggest ("Vegan diet lowers odds of having twins" and "Meat-Eaters More Likely to Have Twins?"), neither meat-eating nor even necessarily veganness seem to be the key.

The reason [for the vegan twin-birth difference] may be hormones given to cattle to boost their milk and meat production, said Dr. Gary Steinman, an obstetrician specializing in multiple-birth pregnancies at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

So if you vegans want to increase the likelihood of twins without disrupting your diet, seems you could maybe skip the dairy and just go right for the growth hormones. Yum.