I'm not sure what the hell is happening here, but it appears that Republicans in the Senate are hell-bent on disrupting any form of actual work. Two days in a row now, while testimony was being given that was damaging to the Bush administration, Republicans used a little-known Senate rule to shut down Judiciary committee hearings. Don't take my word for it, watch the video and see for yourself.

Ok, this is just too, too hilarious not to share...

Jennifer Moss, aka Earth Friend Jen, on her bike in her hemp thong and pasties. Click to enlarge

Let's say something about the way this world works really bothers you. Something like, oh, the way we treat our planet. You can complain about it and to be proactive you change your own habits, but that's just not enough because it's not drawing attention to the problem. But what do you do?

Well, if you're Jennifer Moss, aka Earth Friend Jen, you take off your clothes and start riding your bike around town.

Cars were whizzing past one of Ojai's busiest corners when Jennifer Moss decided to do a headstand, clad in only a G-string and flower-shaped pasties.

Why?

"Headstands are good for you!" she said, beaming, as she pulled a yellow smiley-face pillow out of her bicycle's small trailer. With athletic grace, Ojai's "Pastie Lady," a self-described social artist and environmental activist, quickly pulled her legs up to salute her adopted hometown.

There's a couple places near where I live where I can imagine somebody doing something like this, although we don't exactly have the weather for it year 'round like Southern California does. But even in Ojai, a self-professed liberal, artsy town, people can get a little uptight when it comes to anything resembling nudity.

Jen has unfortunately been arrested twice, in spite of the fact that her nipples are covered with pasties and she's wearing a thong (albeit with fake pubic hair poking through).

Here's a short video of what Jen thinks about her most recent arrest.

I've got admit, I like her spirit, and think she's found a great way to draw people's attention to a huge problem. And all those people that think she's a nutter? Perhaps if they could stop worrying about a little skin for a few minutes they might have time to think about the problems she's trying to point out.

Here's another video of Jen being arrested by L.A. police, but since it could be considered not safe for work, click here to view it.

I mostly like this ad from Friends of the Earth Action, released on Earth Day, slamming John McCain for what will certainly be a disastrous environmental policy should he be elected.

To be fair, I could support nuclear energy if we had a good way to dispose of nuclear waste. That's not a popular position to take, but I do feel that nuclear energy is a good option, but only after we figure out where to store the waste, or find a way to permanently neutralize it.

But that's not the point of the ad. The truth is, John McCain doesn't have a clue about the environment, and never will. Then again, John McCain doesn't have a clue about hardly anything, so what's new.

This is from the FoE Action press release:

“It is outrageous for Senator McCain to portray himself as tough on spending and as a friend of the environment, and then go out and push all this pork for corporate polluters. That’s not straight talk,” said Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth Action. “Instead of adding more pork for the nuclear industry, Senator McCain should be trying to cut the fat that’s already there.”

Blackwelder noted that McCain’s opponents in the presidential campaign, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have voiced support for a different approach to global warming—a cap-and-trade system that makes polluters pay for their pollution via a 100 percent auction of pollution permits. When the Lieberman-Warner bill came before the Senate’s environment and public works committee in December, Clinton offered an amendment to eliminate many of its giveaways by adding 100 percent auctions to the bill. Obama has spoken of his support for 100 percent auctions as a key difference between himself and McCain.

McCain’s attempt to add more polluter pork to the global warming bill is hardly the only recent strike against his environmental record. He also failed to show up for two votes within the last six months that would have promoted clean energy solutions such as wind and solar power; each of those measures failed by a one-vote margin, and the other presidential candidates showed up to vote.

“There is a wide gulf between McCain and the Democratic candidates on environmental issues and global warming,” Blackwelder said. “These ads are calling attention to that gulf with the hope of persuading McCain to start taking the legislative actions that are logically required to erase it. Opposing polluter giveaways in the Lieberman-Warner bill would be a good first step.”

If you're still on the fence about going green, guys, here's a little encouragement. (probably not safe for work).