Al Gore - The Two Faced Global Warmer ( Surprise Surprise Surprise)

Dear Everyone;

The next time someone mentions Al Gore and Global Warming in the same breath - put some things out to them - like the public Gore and the private Gore - especially when it come to not only talking the talk but walking the walk - which he just plain don't do as is revealed by the article from the SF Chronicle. How far the mighty do fall.

Or as you can say to Al Gore the Environmentalist Global Warmer - Go kiss my polar icecap meltdown.

Ron Getty
SF Libertarian

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/20/INGCGKJSB61.DTL&hw=Al+Gore&sn=001&sc=1000

Gore talks the talk, but ...
Global warming guru hardly lives a carbon-neutral lifestyle
- Peter Schweizer
Sunday, August 20, 2006

Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the Web site for his film, "An Inconvenient Truth." "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."
Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed.
For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics Pictures, the film's distributor, pays this.)
Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.
Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents. But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted recently, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.
Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, "Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence." The DNC Web site applauds the fact that Gore has "tried to move people to act." Yet, astoundingly, Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green. For that matter, neither has the Republican National Committee.
Maybe our very existence isn't threatened.
Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Living carbon-free apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock-free. Nor does it necessarily mean forgoing a mining royalty, either.
Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore received $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operated a zinc concession on his property at least until late 2003. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork.
The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth, and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.
Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy." A version of this piece appeared in USA Today. Contact us at insight@....

³Kill the messenger! That will save us.²

If you want to dispute global warming, get the facts. Don¹t throw this
Swift-Boat attack piece out as an argument.
Look at Peter Schweizer¹s own credits at the bottom and you will see how he
only wants to attack liberals, not find the truth. As Libertarians we must
attack liberals and conservatives in equal measure.
Only one of the issues raised in this article has anything at all to do with
CO2 and global warming. Having two big houses may embarrass a candidate
seeking votes from the poor, but as for carbon emissions, it sure beats
commuting. In fact, bigger houses are easier to insulate to use less fuel to
heat.
³Ecological sensitivity² may be a good election ploy, but it has nothing to do
with CO2 emissions. The best thing that oil companies can do, is capture
every puff of methane, naturally found in oil wells, to use as fuel instead
venting or flaring it. Releasing unburned methane is far worse for global
warming than carbon dioxide.

Weird schemes which have consumers donating to windmill farms do little to
help either. Time of use pricing, to avoid using oil and gas generators for
peak loads, would do much more. But, in fact, the only way to add significant
electricity to replace fossil fuels, is nuclear. Environmentalists don¹t like
to hear that, but it is true.

Zink mines have nothing to do with carbon either. But a mine may really
offend the tree-huggers who support environmental politics with all their
soul.

Which brings us to the only ³carbon problem² in any of Al Gore¹s life style
choices: he flies in that plane to promote the film. If the studio thinks
that does not impact promotion, it is certainly worth the carbon. But what
does Al Gore say about that plane? He endorses a libertarian policy; renewable
energy credits can offset any use of carbon. Here Al Gore endorses and market
solution, for once, and you attack him.

³Kill that messenger. The ice won¹t melt if you just make him shut up. Trust
me.²

Harland Harrison
Libertarian Party of San Mateo County CA

The Cal students
association for all the
campuses sent me a
questioneer. The
answers will be
published and
distrubeted to over
220,000 students!
Thank you to Marci
for editing help and
thank you to Jorg
and Mike Denny for
excettional efforts to
get me on the ballot
that led to this
opportunity.
Channnel 2 CBS has
offered 5 minutes of
airtime and
production help.

Here is the
questioneer and my
responses...
For Philip Berg
California
Congressional
District 8
San Francisco

11. Currently, the
total cost of UC
attendance is over
$22,100. Do you
believe
this is affordable for
CA families? If not,
what long & short
term plans do you
have
to address this?

Inflation, taxes,
economic instability
and lack of
opportunity make
college out of reach
for most California
families.
As a Congressman, I
would do all in my
power to
slash federal taxes
and end inflation.
Inflation is the
greatest robber of the
long term
ability to save for
college or other
dreams. I will work
to end inflation
by reforming the
financial system.

2. Over the last 30
years financial aid
has
shifted from grant
aid to loans. Now the
average UC
undergraduate
graduates with
over $20,000 in
debt, works full time
every
summer, and pays
more than 40% of
the
total cost of
attendance out of
pocket
through work and
loans. Do you believe
current financial aid
awards are adequate?
If
not, what increases
in Cal Grant aid
awards
do you support?

I will work in
Congress to
drastically reduce the
war machine
and to reform the
financial system to
end inflation.
The resources that
will not be
consumed in war or
eroded by
inflation will be
available to be used
as California families
choose --
perhaps to aid their
student age members
or to leave legacy
foundation
scholarships..

3. State funding for
higher education has
eroded from 16.8%
of the General Fund
in
1975-76 to 11.3%
in 2005-06. To offset
decreases in funds,
UC undergraduate,
graduate and
professional student
fees have
skyrocketed. Do you
believe that the state
is
meeting its
obligation to fund
higher
education in CA? If
not how would you
address this?

Higher education,
like all highly
subsidized sectors of
the
economy has
suffered massive cost
inflation. This is
because
faculty,administrators
and contractors, like
all humans are
seeking maximum
returns. Since they
are largely paid by
the government, they
exert maximum
political pressure for
maximum public
funds. With little
control from
customers
(i.e. students) there
are few constraints to
hold back expenses.
Higher education
costs would plummet
if the government got
out of education. By
trying to help,
government has
made higher
education
unaffordable.

4. The Master Plan
for Higher Education
states that the
population of the
University
of California should
reflect the diversity of
the California
population. Yet,
many
California
communities are still
drastically
underrepresented at
UC. This year, the
population of
entering Black/
African
American first-years
is the lowest since
1973. What steps
will you take to
increase
diversity within UC
student enrollment
and
retention as well as
faculty recruitment
and
retention?

Government should
never discriminate on
the basis of race
religion or sexual
orientation. The
application to the
University should not
contain any reference
to race or religion. In
the general
society, all barriers
to opportunity should
be eliminated.
I will work with
every sinew of
strength in my body
to eliminate barriers
to opportunity that
have been put in
place by the
entrenched and
powerful who
control the Federal
Government..

5. Funding for
Academic Preparation
Programs has been
cut from an original
budget of $82
million in 2001-02
to being
zero funded in the
Governor's budget
proposal for the past
three years. Do you
support permanent
increased state
funding
of academic
preparation
programs? If so,
will you ensure
Academic Preparation
funding in the
January budget
proposal?

Iff the Federal
government were
greatly reduced in
size and scope, the
resources freed from
war, fraud and waste
could be available
at the State or Family
level and could be
directed towards
education.

6. Many students
work minimum wage
service jobs to
support themselves
through
college. Yet, the
minimum wage does
not
cover the cost of
living in California
nor the
cost to attend a UC.
As a result, 1 in 4
working students has
to work more than
the
maximum 20 hours
per week to make
ends
meet. What are your
plans to address the
minimum wage gap
for student workers
and
non-executive
workers at the UC?

Minimum wages are
inadequate because
prices have risen for
everything. Prices
have gone up
because the
government
sponsored but
privately owned
financial system has
continuously printed
more and more
money, financing
war, excess
speculation, booms
and busts.. I was a
student in the
stagflation of the
seventies. There was
no work available
outside of washing
eggs off the plates in
the dining hall at 0
dark thirty AM..
Minimum wages
compound the lack
of opportunity
created by the
instability of the
U.S. financial
system. Minimum
wages sadly make
everything that
requires local labor
more expensive,
further punishing
poor students,
especially disabled
students who can't
work.

7. Students
succeeded in getting
a UC
"green building"
policy in 2003. This
mandates new and
renovated buildings
meet
standards to: increase
energy/ water
efficiency and use of
renewable energy;
reduce pollution, and
conserve natural
resources in the
design and
construction;
lowering operating,
maintenance, and
healthcare costs long
term. What is your
plan to increase
sustainable
development in the
state?

The State and the
Federal Governments
have been the engine
behind building an
infrastructure in
California that is
unsustainable.
Suburban sprawl is
subsidized by both
levels of
government. I will
vote against all
Federal road money,
and any local transit
money in states that
restrict the
local public transit
market. I will seek to
end any Federal rules
that discourage the
private provision of
public transit.

8. Skyrocketing
Graduate Student
fees at
UC translate directly
into cuts to the
academic
departments, which
fully fund the
costs of education
for their graduate
students. Recent data
show that the
proportion of
graduate students
among
private institutions
has increased from
59
percent to 61
percent, while the
UC has
remained at 23
percent—negatively
impacting UC's
research and
undergraduate
teaching capacity.
Do you support
additional funding to
increase graduate
student enrollment
and research?

I hardily support
private funding of
Graduate education.
If all
levels of government
were not consuming
over fifty percent of
our resources, taxing
families and
individuals with both
outright taxes and
inflation, there
would be plenty of
private money for
higher education
through family
assistance,
savings and
scholarships. In my
field of public
health, the advent of
widespread
government grants
has worked to
diminish the quality
and
focus of public
health research rather
than improve it.

Phil,

  That's great that so many students will be receiving your comments! Given that fact, if it's not too late to alter your responses, I would strongly encourage you to work the Non-Aggression Principle in there somewhere -- remind them explicitly that the principle underlying libertarian positions is that you have the right to do as you wish so long as you do not hurt others. I trust you'll be able to get your website listed as part of the information distributed. If you can manage to get www.LP.org listed and/or the ISIL flash animation -- http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.swf -- listed also, so much the better.

  You also mention that "Channel 2 CBS has offered 5 minutes of airtime and production help." Channel 2 is Fox, Channel 5 is CBS. Did you mean that "Channel 5 CBS has offered 2 minutes of airtime?" That unfortunately sounds more likely, given how meager any time afforded by commercial TV stations usually is. But still a terrific opportunity nonetheless. Do you know whether the time must be devoted to you talking in a studio setting, or can you use it in more creative ways?

  By the way, how were your comments received at Mesha's event? I got there after you spoke. Did you get any sense of how my comments may have been received?

Love & liberty,
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