[Goose]

How Green Is He?
Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe
By PETER SCHWEIZER, USA Today


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 website 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 light bulbs, 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, the film's distributor, pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his 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 Wednesday, 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 website 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 (Oxy) 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-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up 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 receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

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 the zinc mine or 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.

[Big Ben]

Sorry to tell you this Goose, but USA Today got hoodwinked by a shill paid by the oil companies. I suppose it's too much to expect a professional newspaper to check their facts, huh?

Even USA Today has published corrections regarding some of these lies, and that's what they are: lies and smears.

Gore receives no royalties from the mine, which shut down in 2003. Gore owns no stock in Occidental, and never has (his father did; it was all sold over six years ago). Gore does in fact take advantage of the green power options his utility offers, and was in the process of adding photovoltaic solar cells to his house when the article came out. He pays for his own personal carbon offsets, in addition to the institutional offsets purchased by Paramount (movie distributor) and Rodale (book publisher), which make both the book and the movie completely carbon neutral.(link)

But even if all this character assassination were true, and Gore really wasn't being as green as humanly possible, how does that prove anything about the science he's presenting about global warming? Every reputable scientist in the field agrees that climate change is happening and that human activity as a major cause. His opponents know they can't argue with the scientific evidence, so they attack the messenger.

[GreyBear]

Ya know, everyone that is going to vote for a president should go visit that cat's home state. hit a lot f the smaller places and ask about what sort of leader the guy is. If people had talked to folks in Arkansas back when Slick Willy was running, he would have lost big time. Go to Tennessee and ask about the Gores....father and son Al.

As to the hypocrisy of politicians telling us peons how to economize while they sop up the gravy...it goes with being a politician. It crosses all ethnic, racial, religous and party lines. I am sure that some will feel I am too hard on the politicians, that they, like child molesters, have deep maladjustments that cause them to be as they are. Maybe Al wet the bed and wound up with an inferiority complex instead of just being inferior. Perhaps Slick Willy was taken off his mamas breast too soon. Maybe W, after going bankrupt and loosing so much in his Arab financed oil deals thought if he just had the US mint behind him he could learn to turn a profit instead of bankrupting the treasury. Who knows?
Main problem with the Republicans and Democrats is that they have become basically two sides of the same coin. Yeah heads is basically different from tails, but in the end no matter which side ya get it's still just a quarter and is only worth two bits. Same with the hawks and doves, conservatives and liberals. How many people have actually sat down and asked themselvs: What do I REALLY believe? Forget what Rush and Hillary say. What is MY opinion? I'll tell ya **** few. Because it is easier to be lazy and spoonfed something than it is to think. And neither conservatives or liberals have ALL the answers. Somethings from each side make sense. And I am not talking about moderates, who for the most part are just too wishy washy to make a stand. I am talking about right thinking. Take a problem and realize the objective is to solve it, not make fun of other peoples ideas of how to solve it. But each side is so afraid of losing thier rabid followers they use opinion polls instead of common sense to make decisions. And WE allow it.
Want campaign reform? Try this: when a canidate for anything from dog catcher to president files his papers, swear him in just like a witness in a trial. Make it understood that if he knowingly lies that is perjury and he will be prosecuted. If he says something that later turns out to be false he must spend as much on ads to retract it as he did to spread it. Make him accountable, personally for his entire campaign network. Simple and could be done. And Why would a person NOT wish to do that? And WHY wouldn't we want that sort of honesty in elections? For one thing it wouldn't be as entertaining. More like the old game show "Quizz them om the air" instead of E TV nightly. We put up with being lied to, hell we expect it from politicians. We put up with them saying one thing and then doing another. So ya get what ya put up with.

I often ask people the same question my uncle that raised me used to ask: Would you put this guy in charge of YOUR company? Because when you elect him guess what you just did.


Ride Free........

[Goose]

As to the hypocrisy of politicians telling us peons how to economize while they sop up the gravy...it goes with being a politician.

Absolutely, and Algore is no scientist. He's a politician. Where's all the hurricanes this year? Last year, Katrina was proof of global warming, Algore said it himself, him and Sharpton and JJ and Farakahn and all the liberal idiots. It was proof of global warming and disasters to come and it was caused by George Bush. Well, that ain't science, that's politics.

This year we've had THREE named storms so far and none of 'em have been more than a cat one hurricane before coming apart in the open sea. But, we don't see any retractions now, do we? Nope, Algore and his cronies are out trying to find a volcano or tsunami or earth quake or something they can blame on global warming and the republicans. It's all a big game and we the voters, like the dim wits we are, listen to them?

There may really be some effects from turning carbon lose in the atmosphere. Who knows whether it's enough to cause real problems, whether natural forces are masking it? Nobody really knows. For all I know, global warming has saved us from the ice age all the "scientists" said we were going to get back in the 70s. Heck, we might need a little carbon in the atmosphere if that astroid that has our name on it hits or if Jellystone blows its top. But, I ain't losin' sleep over it, though maybe I can find a way to blame it all on Algore, the Clintons, Al Sharpton, JJ, Louis F, and their cronies on the socialist left.

Now then, I need to toss this cell phone I have, might give me brain tumors. The cereal I just ate probably will kill me with preservatives, no doubt will make me fatter. Can't use that sweet and low, though, to keep from getting fatter unless I was some other cancer. All these guns I have around the house are no doubt going to jump out of their cases and shoot me cause that's what Sarah Brady says they're gonna do, proven fact, she has the data from a "scientist".

I think I'll go back to bed. I'm doomed. Might as well check out today before the asteroid Bush is diverting our way hits.....

[GreyBear]

[quote=Goose] All these guns I have around the house are no doubt going to jump out of their cases and shoot me cause that's what Sarah Brady says they're gonna do, proven fact, she has the data from a "scientist".

QUOTE]


Well to quote one of my fav lines from Larry the Cable guy: "Well if guns are responsible for killing people then, pencils are responsible for misspelled words". And Goose, don't worry about that Bush astroid. It is only programmed to hit if Hillary is elected president. And if that happens it just might be time.......

[Goose]

I just realized I probably should have put this in the "Soap Box" forum.

[FLHTbiker]

Its really interesting how Joe Lieberman (probably misspelled) is now gotten so more popular now that he is running as an independent. Hope he does well.

[SK]

I'm certainly not convinced how bad global warming is. This earth is goes back so many million years and the scientists data on how much the earth is warming can only go back a fraction of 1% for data. I've read what they have to say and I'm just not convinced. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be curbing the carbon we spew into the atmosphere, and the US is the biggest culprit on earth for that..so we should lead the planet and set an example. If people think the US is so bad, just give China another couple of decades and they'll be the leading nation spewing carbon gases into the atmosphere.

One thing's for sure, while I have my problems with Bush, I still believe in my heart that we're better off than with Gore or whatever that guy's name is that's the more liberal Senator from Mass. I think his name ryhmes with "scary".

[SK]

Marc..I certainly wouldn't mind seeing McCain and Leiberman run together for president and v-president in two years. They're not perfect, but they tell it like it is and I haven't seen anybody else out there I'd vote for. Maybe we'll have two women face-off for president..Condi vs. Hillary.

[FLHTbiker]

You know McCain and Leiberman might not be a bad choice, I might like that combo.

As for the H-bit&h and Condi, we could slip Condi a gun

[CD]

Naw, I wanna see Al The Bore Gore with John the traitor Kerry and Hillary in the speakers podium like Police Academy. I'd vote in fake election.

[Goose]

That doesn't mean we shouldn't be curbing the carbon we spew into the atmosphere, and the US is the biggest culprit on earth for that..so we should lead the planet and set an example. If people think the US is so bad, just give China another couple of decades and they'll be the leading nation spewing carbon gases into the atmosphere.

I read or heard on the radio or somewhere that China and India have passed us for carbon emmissions and lord knows their other water and air pollution "standards" are as with any third world country. They still run two strokes in India, ya know, probably China, too. Only good reason I know of to live there, and the fact that there are few stray dogs in those places.

[SK]

That wouldn't surprise me one bit if India and China out-carbon us. I kind of felt I was off base saying couple of decades, when I should've said couple of years. I don't see them regulating much either as the cost is pretty **** expensive to try and control it.

Two strokes? I sure miss that ole Suzuki TS250 I learned to ride on back in '74 on the street and the dirt..it'd go almost anywhere. I took it over mountain trails from the Big Valley in California to Lake Tahoe.

[Goose]

Originally Posted by SK

That wouldn't surprise me one bit if India and China out-carbon us. I kind of felt I was off base saying couple of decades, when I should've said couple of years. I don't see them regulating much either as the cost is pretty **** expensive to try and control it.

Two strokes? I sure miss that ole Suzuki TS250 I learned to ride on back in '74 on the street and the dirt..it'd go almost anywhere. I took it over mountain trails from the Big Valley in California to Lake Tahoe.

Yamaha sold off all their RD400 tooling to an Indian company who builds them for the home market. I have a friend from India that says they're popular there. I reckon it's more high tech than the Enfield Bullet, LOL! They still make the old Enfield there and it's quite popular. I saw a deal on TV about Indian organized crime. They showed a row of cops on police bikes, all 500cc Indian Enfield Bullets. ROFL! I guess they use 'em to run down those little two stroke 3 wheeled taxis they got over there.

[SK]

I don't think there are many fast running vehicles in India (like China), so it probably isn't a huge issue, along with the fact the Enfields probably don't cost a heck of a lot.

I've had friends with RD350's and RD400's. Scary little bastards, but fun as all get out.

[Goose]

Originally Posted by SK

I don't think there are many fast running vehicles in India (like China), so it probably isn't a huge issue, along with the fact the Enfields probably don't cost a heck of a lot.

I've had friends with RD350's and RD400's. Scary little bastards, but fun as all get out.

RD's scary? You should take a few laps on a TZ250 sometime.

Actually, Chinese bikes are modern by comparison to anything in India. The Japanese have deals with Chinese companies and they produce lots of really good small displacement OHV and OHC thumpers there. I've sold a few here and kept a 200cc DP bike to play with. Parts are cheap, the bike was cheap, yet it's quite reliable. The engine is a XR200 clone, will bolt right into a XR200 chassis, early 80s. Guy on the chinabike site did that with an old XR. The motor, with carb (Walbro carbs, believe that's an American company) and electrics are about 500 bucks.

But, no, there are few big displacement bikes in China even if HD is exporting to China now. I don't HD sales in China amounts to a whole lot. There are SOME people with money there, I guess, but not much of a middle class as we think of it. If there was, they wouldn't be able to sell stuff so cheap.

[SK]

I just remember when I was young, my neighbor had an RD350 that seemed way too fast for it's size.

Then in the Army at Ft. Hood, TX in the mid 80's, a friend had two RD400s and I'd borrow one now and then. Man..was that thing a kick. I accidentally popped a wheelie from a dead stop at a light when the light turned green. Didn't mean to, but then a cop pulled me over for exihibition of speed and an assortment of other infractions. I took it to court. When I displayed proof of insurance (which wasn't on the bike at the time I was stopped), the judge said "ok, you're outa here"..not even mentioning the wheelie and probable speed once I came down and leveled out. Man..was I lucky. Thought I'd be nailed for all kinds of stuff. Glad the cop didn't show for the hearing. I **** near ran out of that court. Good ole Killeen, TX..seems like an eternity ago.

[Goose]

I had a RD350 in college, did a little port work, Bassani expansion chambers, that's it. It'd run in the mid 12s at the strip. I took stock Z1s with that thing. It's the bike that got me into road racing. It wasn't really much of a bracket racer, though, not consistent enough. I had to ride the front wheel and modulate the clutch through three gears to keep the front down and that didn't make for real consistency. LOL It was a great hooligan bike, though. Block long wheelies were no problem. Yeah, I got a few tickets for exhibition.

My RD400 was really tame by comparison to the 350. I ran it stock in the production class in WERA club racing. I also rode it on the street once in a while. It was a fun bike and comfortable. You could actually TOUR that thing, nice seat. The engine was rubber mounted so it didn't vib like the 350. The motor was stroked to get the 400cc so it had a less radical power band transition. I mean, it was no four stroke thumper, but you could lug it down to 3K rpm no problem. That old bike really was a sweet street bike, but I bashed it into oblivion in three years of road racing. LOL!

My fastest RD had a TZ250 top end, sixth gear, lectron 38mm powerjet carbs, TZ CDI magneto ignition, Kim Tab magnesium wheels, etc, etc. I've got a description on my site at http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/G...9916/rdtz.html . That thing would run 150+ mph on the Texas World Speedway straight and handled well enough to win 250GP races at the club level. It was an awesome motorcycle. I won 250 superbike, 410 superbike, and 655 superbike sprints on that thing. Nothing at the time in WERA could run with it. It was almost too easy. I never really had to ride that thing hard to win. LOL! But, I had some good races on it and it was huge fun. The power band was all or nothing. You had to keep it on the pipes. It went from about 6 horsepower at 9K rpm to about 60 hp at 10K rpm. LOL! It'd pull 12,500 rpm or so and the scream that thing had at full tilt would put chills down your spine.

[SK]

God..I think I feel old trying to ride something like that, but it sure seems like fun. One day I'd like to take Freddie Spencer's class out at Las Vegas Speedway.