The oil lobby's shared profession
Three out of four lobbyists who represent oil and gas companies previously worked for the federal government, more than twice the usual “revolving door” rate. The industry’s lobbying roster includes 18 former members of Congress and dozens of their former aides.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
90 percent of Florida’s beaches are free of oil
Even though 90 percent of Florida’s beaches remain untouched by the BP oil spill, tourism throughout the state is down 25 percent or more. “When national media lumps together all four of the Gulf states,” said tourism official Kathy Torian, “that makes it look to the rest of the country as though Florida might be covered in oil.”
Los Angeles Times
Sen. Ensign's impoverished defense fund
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who is under a legal and ethics cloud as a result of an affair he had with an aide’s wife, started a legal defense fund in May to cover hundreds of thousands in legal expenses. So far, the fund has received only $10, and that contribution came from Ensign himself.
Politico.com
A crowd of inflatable dolls
Movie studios have started using inflatable dolls instead of paid extras for crowd scenes. Five-hundred dolls were used to simulate a crowd in a scene in Salt, Angelina Jolie’s new action movie.
The New Yorker
The U.S. at war
The U.S. has been at war for 47 of the 230 years it has existed, or 20 percent of its history.
The New York Times
-
How China is battling the chikungunya virusUnder The Radar Thousands of cases of the debilitating disease have been found in the country
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
Book reviews: 'Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji' and 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story'Feature The surprising history of emojis and the brother duo who changed pop music
-
Will insurance cover damage in Boston?, and morefeature Companies that suffered property damage or lost income due to the Boston bombings may not get insurance payouts.
-
A meagre session for Congress, and more
feature Congress has sent only 54 bills to President Obama so far this year, including 14 to rename post offices.
-
The cost of Occupy Wall Street, and more
feature The movement has cost municipalities at least $13 million in police overtime and other services.
-
A linguistic success for Occupy Wall Street, and more
feature
-
Big Oil's big subsidies, and more
feature Oil production is among the most heavily subsidized businesses. BP, for example, was getting a tax deduction of $225,000 a day for renting the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
-
Landfills receive 30% less trash, and more
feature Due to the sputtering economy, landfills are getting up to 30 percent less trash.
-
A “pole tax” for the adult-entertainment business?, and more
feature With the adult-entertainment business one of the few bright spots in the economy, states and municipalities are thinking of raising taxes on dirty magazines, sex toys, and strip clubs.