Kabuki

It is amusing to watch Republican senators trapped between their two main constituencies: the oil industry and, uh, their constituents. Voters are pissed about high gas prices and home-heating costs, and they can't help but notice that oil companies are swimming in huge piles of cash. Of course Republicans aren't going to do anything that might offend the oil industry, but they need to look like they're doing something.

What's the answer? A hearing!

So they drag five oil executives to Congress. The results defy parody. Virtually every paragraph of this Reuters story is a masterpiece of black humor. It begins:

Under fire for high fuel prices, five major oil companies on Wednesday warned the U.S. Senate against levying a windfall profits tax and showed little interest in donating money to help poor Americans pay winter heating bills.

Well, that should set voters' minds at ease! But it immediately gets even better:

Is the world ready to waltz with nuclear again?

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When It Rainforests, It Pours

Amazon logging damage: now with twice the depressingness You know all that damage logging has done to the Amazon rainforest?...

Oprah, light bulbs, and global warming

Well, I still haven't managed to find a copy of the whole show (where's the bit torrent community when I need it?), but I went and flipped through Oprah's "Global Warming 101" website and watched the video of Leo DiCaprio leading a tour of a green home. It's all quite good. I'll say, echoing Chris, that Oprah deserves enormous credit for bringing this issue to her huge audience in a way they can grasp. The combination of solid (if simplified) science and sexy celebrity is just the ticket. So kudos, Oprah.

That said, what really struck me is the jarring disjoint between the problem described -- a decades-long warming of the entire planet's atmosphere -- and the chipper suggestions of What You Can Do -- namely, switch out your light bulbs.

Terry Kellogg, director of 1% for the Planet, answers questions

Terry Kellogg. What work do you do? I’m the executive director of 1% for the Planet. What does your organization...

Eilon Schwartz, founder of The Heschel Center, answers questions

Eilon Schwartz. What work do you do? I’m the founder and executive director of The Heschel Center, an environmental NGO...

Abramoff, Federici, and Republican environmentalism

I mentioned a few days ago that the scandals surrounding uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff were reaching deep into the Interior Department. Those scandals are complex and varied, and I know most people are tuning out. But a great (and darkly amusing) story in Salon today breaks it down for you.

In 2000, Interior Secretary Gale Norton established a group called the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA) to advance the Bush administration's (anti-)environmental agenda. It was headed by Italia Federici, a minor Republican functionary.

In private, Federici established a close relationship with Abramoff. He funneled her large contributions, in effect stolen from the Native American tribes he represented. In return, she ... well, she did all sorts of things for him:

Brian Hayes’ Infrastructure offers a tour of the “unnatural” side of America

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NYC cops crack down on bike event; media misunderstands it

Critical Mass, the monthly parade/protest/ride/celebration/cycling phenomenon has for years been billed as "bicycling's defiant celebration," but recently in NYC, it's been getting more defiant and less celebratory.

Ever since last year's truly huge Critical Mass ride during the Republican National Convention -- which attracted thousands and thousands of cyclists and worldwide media attention -- snarled traffic and resulted in 250 arrests and scores of bicycle seizures, NYC cops have been increasingly arrest-happy at NYC Critical Mass events, throwing over 500 cyclists in the slammer in just one year.

At issue (aside from the flaws of the whole government apparatus and its endemic biases, of course) are permits. Critical Mass, being essentially a spontaneous (though roughly scheduled) event, is also simply a bunch of people on bikes riding around at the same time. The cops still insist it requires a permit. No permit results in arrests and scads of no-fun bike seizures.

As the Village Voice recently reported:

Assistant Chief Bruce H. Smolka, head of NYPD's South Manhattan Borough Command, has declared in court that he regards seven cyclists or more as a 'procession,' requiring a special permit.

So watch out, road racers: you and six friends make a ride; you and seven friends are going to need a permit.