Posted on 03/02/2007 5:15:42 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Hey Liberals! Do you have a guilty conscience over blabbering about conservation but your home leaves 20 times the carbon footprint of the average home? No problem. Just by Carbon Credit Indulgences to assuage your eco guilt as Al Gore has done. And who can you buy those Carbon Credit Indulgences from? You can make your payments to Generation Investment Management which, by the strangest of coincidences, is the same company founded by Al Gore who also places his enormous carbon footprint there as Chairman. Therefore Al Gore is buying indulgences from himself and he urges all of you to also buy those Carbon Credit Indulgences from him as well. His hypocrisy in this whole carbon footprint shtick is so glaring that even many Leftwingers are disturbed by it as you can see by the title of this Daily Kos KOmmie THREAD, "Gore Critics Are Right." So let us now watch the KOmmies both attack and support Gore's eco-hypocrisy in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, wondering if anyone will tack 95 theses in protest of carbon credit indulgences on the door of Al Gore's energy wasting mansion, is in the [brackets]:
Gore Critics Are Right
[It's An Inconvenient Truth.]
No, this is not a troll diary bashing Gore. Bear with me. I love Gore. But if the man is serious about his mission (and I don't doubt that he is), the best thing he can do is lead by example. I know he buys carbon credits to offset his footprint, but does he really want to send the message that you don't have to conserve if you can afford offsets?
[Let's use the proper terminology here. Not "offsets." He wants you to buy "indulgences" from...Al Gore.]
Now, one thing some of you may be thinking is, "No way, Gore can't fold in the face of the Right Wing Noise Machine, he can't show weakness." One thing to remember, though, is that while many of us may want him to run, he seems sincere in his lack of desire to do so. What I am getting at is that he certainly did not get to become the Al Gore we all now love by being a cautious politician, and he's not running for president at the moment, so why does he need to act like a politician? A politician goes into damage control at this point. A true believer does the right thing.
[He only "seems" sincere in his lack of desire to run for President. Al Gore's carbon footprint damage control over his mansion's wasteful energy use is being conducted precisely because he intends to run for President.]
In the face of all the criticism on the power bills, all Gore can muster is that he uses compact flourescent bulbs and that he buys offsets. Well, the bulbs don't appear to be helping much. As for the offsets, it seems to me that Gore does not want to send the message that one can reduce one's carbon footprint through: 1) conservation (if a regular person); or 2) offsets (if rich and important like Al).
[I never figured out all this concern with energy saving lightbulbs. The amount of energy used by regular lightbulbs is miniscule compared to the carbon footprints left by running the AC. Planting a bunch of trees next to your home for cool shade as Bush has done at his Crawford home, is a much better way of saving energy than replacing your lightbulbs.]
What Gore could do is say, "Critics, you have something. Maybe I am a bit like the plumber with the leaky faucet. I have been busy doing my slideshow and promoting my movie, and maybe I have neglected to do as much as I can to lead the fight against global warming not only through teaching, but by example."
[And by quit flying in private jets to Global Warming conferences.]
Imagine Gore then promptly sells his house, and builds an energy efficient eco-friendly home. He uses some building techniques any regular joe can use if building a home (thicker insulation, better windows, cistern, etc.). He does some cool stuff that most of us can't do (solar, geothermal, grass roof, whatever). He brings in Better Homes and Gardens, HGTV, and shows everyone ways to build an earth-friendly home. He hooks up to the grid and puts power back on the system.
[Maybe Gore could get the floor plan for his new home from W whose Crawford home is rated as very eco-friendly.]
If Gore means what he says, and if Gore is truly reinvented and unfettered from cautious advisors and triangulating and damage control, he will rise to the challenge his critics have laid down, and he will shut them all up.
[Or maybe he will just double the Carbon Credit Indulgences that he buys from himself. And now on to the other KOmmie reactions to Gore's "ecopocrisy."]
I'm as big on Gore as it gets but what you know is what you do. Gores house should be an example of how the rest of us can conserve energy. Passive solar, proper insulation, recycled energy from heating, cooling, lighting, backed up by photovoltaics, wind, solar hot water and a much smaller space. A bicycle to get around with would possibly help him get back in shape.
[And destroying the phone number for the local pizza delivery would also help.]
I guess offsets are like 'get out of jail free' cards. I agree that just because Al Gore can afford to pay more for his comfy lifestyle it doesn't wash.
[For Al Gore it is like a "get into the White House free" card.]
Thinking back to my physics class,it would seem that offsets cannot reduce, they can only displace. Only by using less energy are we really conserving. Paying somebody else to use less, or plant a tree in my name is a joke.
[Hmmm... I wonder if Al Gore's Carbon Credit Indulgences he paid to himself also paid for the energy saving shade trees planted next to W's Crawford home.]
I will admit there is probably more Gore could do to reduce his footprint, but he also has to fly to present the show and spread the word. This education also has the effect of getting many others to reduce their footprint which also reduces the overall production of greenhouse gases--to a level much less than if Gore did NOT do exactly what he is doing.
[A not quite convincing explanation to justify Al Gore flying around in an energy wasting private jet.]
Another way to say it is that offsets are self-imposed taxes on your own production of carbon. On average, people respond to such taxes by changing their behavior, which is what Al Gore has done in his personal life, too.
[How? By buying Carbon Credit Indulgences from himself?]
What's next? Discussing Al's weight. Oh, that's right, F*cker Carlson already covered that last night. On his GOProgram Mike Allen of Politico.com said Gore is "packing his freshman fifteen" and Jake Westberg of Slate said Gore had "extra weight on him"...they all chuckled and had a grand time while I went ballistic. And those were the "nice" things they had to say. Karen Hanretty, GOP Strategist/bitch from hell was even worse. F*ck, this shit isn't good for my blood pressure.
[Al Gore always deposits enormous carbon footprints whenever he visits the bathroom.]
The issue is carbon footprint. Gore's is zero. That's all an individual can do now.
[Gore's mansion uses 20 times the carbon footprint of an average home so according to KOmmie math it equals zero.]
These bastards are not innocent. They are using Al's strengths as a weapon against him. Pure Karl Rove.
[Karl Rove's carbon footprints are EVERYWHERE!!!]
Paying for Carbon offsets is roughly equivalent to hiring someone else to go to war for you.
[So rich people in the North hired carbon credit soldiers to serve in their place during the Civil War?]
Wealthy people should buy offsets so that more money could go to change the US energy portfolio. As we know government will not pay for it so who will? Rich guys. Let Gore pay.
[Let Gore pay himself.]
There is such an astounding amount of energy free floating in the form of sunlight, temperature differences, tidal, and geothermic energy that can be tapped if we develop the technology to do so.
[There is also an astounding amount of free energy floating around beneath the Gulf of Mexico in the form of petroleum but somehow I don't think you want to tap that.]
Somebody with the money Gore has could afford the equipment neccessary to make his meter go backwards. That would be a real, personal, individual contribution.
[Gore could buy a powerful magnet to make his electric meter go backwards.]
On the other hand, one thing that drives me nuts is all those articles telling people to turn off a light when they leave a room or to combine two errands together so they drive a few miles less. All while politicians and movie stars and whoever else can afford it are flying a couple of people to entire plane that uses a zillion gallons. It would take 10,000 ordinary folk combining errands for ten years to make up for one trip. But you NEVER hear a suggestion that these people use commercial flights or reduce the number of their trips in order to conserve. The haves get more haver. And the truth is, Gore is a have, and he lives like a have and will continue to live like a have, regardless of the effect on the environment. That doesn't mean I can't applaud him for all the work he's doing in other ways, though.
[And the truth is, Gore is a hypocrite, and he lives like a hypocrite and will continue to live like a hypocrite, regardless of the effect on the environment.]
That they had no legal right to even see his utility bills, and he has done far more (paying extra to buy green, buying offsets) than most people.
[Better consult your law books because they DID have the legal right to see Al Gore's utility bills.]
the guy who stole gore's bills is a veteran of the american enterprise institute and the competitive enterprise institute, two anti-global warming groups.
[How do you steal something that is available to the public, namely Al Gore's utility bills?]
I see Gore's people did say something about adding solar panels and better windows.
[Only AFTER Gore got caught being an energy hog.]
He needs the house. He's an elected leader on the world stage. He entertains millionaires and world leaders. He has $3,000 a plate fundraisers in his home. He's still active in the party. People around here think he still intends to run for president. Get real and grow up. Politics is all about pageantry and posturing. He's got to hold court somewhere. What do you want him to do? Rent an event room at the Holiday Inn?
[Holiday Inn is only for the rest of us Plebes.]
It's a right wing smear because it originated from the right wing, and it's entirely baseless. Show me some waste. Show me any evidence you have that the Gore family wastes energy. You don't have any.
[Try starting with his enormous utility bill.]
If any big-name Republican politician attacks Gore on this issue, we better be seeing a WHOLE LOTTA Republican utility bills. Just sayin'
[You want to see W's Crawford home utility bill and compare it to Al Gore's? Be my guest.]
Let me know if you want on the DUmmie FUnnies PING List.
IBFTP
PING!
Top 5.
Did this KOmmie just describe W or what? Down to the bike. LOL.
Six?
So someone else can waste the energy? Sorry-- I insist that Gore bulldoze his home to get that house equivalent of an SUV off this endangered planet, then replace it with a mudhut with a hole-in-the-ground toilet.
How about a "Zinc Footprint"? Al has a big one of those, too.
10
In the top ten, like a turtle on crack!
Isn't that just the ULTIMATE defense that the Soviet leadership would use?
The leaders HAD to live like that. They HAD to have the symbols of power. They HAD to be on par with the leaders/movers/shakers of other nations to show that they should be taken seriously and equally.
Hell Animal Farm was all about this. In the end the pigs ended up walking on two feet and sleeping in beds.
I'm waiting to see who becomes Trotsky/Snowball in this saga.
Wonder if those Carbon Credits in the Oscar goodybags came from Gore?? Get the first year free...
Pray for W and Our Troops
"He's an elected leader on the world stage."
What office does Gore hold?
Isn't this "geothermal"? Or am I behind the times?
Just trying to sort all this out. I no longer fly, it has just become too stressful, so can I sell my carbon flying footprints to someone who flies a lot? Also we sold our weekend house so I should get something for that but then there is my troubling SUV. I think I just don't get it. Maybe algore can explain it all to me.
I'm struggling to understand this bit about buying green energy. Unless there's a separate power grid with separate green power plants it sounds like one more scam.
Interesting point. The real question is if they will stop dissent quicker this time.
This sounds like Al Gore's version of Ablaze!
ROTFLMAO!!!! "Carbon offsets" just may be the dumbest thing I've ever heard of!! And the sad and pathetic part is theat there are people out there who will and are buying into this nonsense! What a bunch of DUmmies!!
The Republicans aren't going around like chicken little telling everyone how to live their lives.
Yeah, what you said
That's funny! I didn't know Algore's role in Generation Investment Management!
There's a reason they only want "big name republicans". Asking average conservative joe to show his carbon footprint will make them look pretty foolish.
My entire utility bill during the worst part of winter cost less than it costs for big Al to heat his swimming pool.
Check it out HERE.
Al is buying his carbon credits from his own company that is set up to buy other companies. So, he's essentially investing in his own business. The article also goes into the green energy that he claims to be using. It's very enlightening.
I get offers all the time to change over to green energy and I don't understand it either.
I am wondering if it is like the way you only wear that really expensive perfume on special occasions, you ration it because you know it cost so much. Also the way you don't wear your expensive suede shoes on rainy days so you won't ruin them and be forced to buy another pair.
Green energy is more expensive so you will limit your use of it, is all I can figure out. I want to be on the selling end of of that scam, not the buying end.
mnehrling wrote:
My question is, how could these DUmbasses living on the government or their comic book story salary pay this?
By not tipping the pizza delivery guy?
"If any big-name Republican politician attacks Gore on this issue, we better be seeing a WHOLE LOTTA Republican utility bills. Just sayin' "
The Republicans aren't portraying themselves as an enviro-wacko guru so what does it matter what their bills are.
Has anybody noticed how silent Hillary has been on Al Gore's carbon footprints scheme? I bet she is holding back to use it against Algore when he decides to run against her later this year.
That may be one way of looking at it.
Another is that Hillary! is just sitting back and laughing her cankles off as the threat from ManBearPig slowly fades away.
LOL, Gore should be buying Sulfur offsets.
"Maybe Gore could get the floor plan for his new home from W whose Crawford home is rated as very eco-friendly" TEE HEE!!!!!!
You are 2 days late.
On another thread I encouraged everyone to flood eBay with Offsets to prove how ridiculous the concept was. The one auction i liked was the guy who promised to not drive his pickup for a day in exchange for the purchase of an offset. The offset was only $0.99!
For him to print the certificate and mail it out cost $4.00!
I'm betting the seller is a FReeper; he definitely IS a capitalist.
Except the auction I linked to was dead serious. A lot of folks want in on the Algore scam.
Who is "The Right Wing"? Is he a new Congressman from Utah?
Yep - that was my complete thought when I read that. Yes, the Repubs CAN snark at the Goracle -- they aren't the ones preaching conservation - if anything, BUSH has been leading by example - not the jackass from Tennessee. Like BStriesand telling Californians to hang their laundry on the clothesline while she ran her Maytag and AC at her 20,000 sq.ft. home.
Do as I say....not as I do.
From http://www.generationim.com/media/pdf-generation-bios.pdf
The Hon. Al Gore
Partner, Chairman
Former Vice President Al Gore is cofounder and Chairman of Generation Investment Management and also a cofounder and Chairman of Current TV. A member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Google, Inc. Gore is also Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Mr. Gore is the author of An Inconvenient Truth, currently a best-selling book on the threat of and solutions to global warming, and the subject of the movie of the same title.
Since his earliest days in the U. S. Congress 30 years ago, Al Gore has been the leading advocate for confronting the threat of global warming. His pioneering efforts were outlined in his best-selling book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (1992). He led the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to protect the environment in a way that also strengthens the economy.
Gore was born on March 31, 1948, the son of former U.S. Senator Albert Gore, Sr. and Pauline Gore. Raised in Carthage, TN, and Washington, D.C., he received a degree in government with honors from Harvard University in 1969. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War. Upon returning, Gore became an investigative reporter with the Tennessean in Nashville, where he also attended Vanderbilt University's Divinity School and then Law School.
Here's another link to some Generation Investment Management info: http://www.generationim.com/media/pdf-ft-13-09-06.pdf
Swing and miss. As evil conservatives, we don't care how much energy Algore is using. It's the hypocrisy stupid.
I'll send them mine if I get to see his mom's utility bills!
Them grow lights in the unused shower in the basement suck a lot of energy!
Each Carbon Offset Credit pays for the planting and long term care of one tree (trees planted will be oak, walnut, or maple) which, over the life of the tree, will remove over 3000 lbs of carbon dioxide from the environment. These trees will be planted on a 700 acre parcel of land in NW Indiana and will be properly cared for and protected from premature harvest.
As a thank you gift, you will recieve a certificate with your tree number and a photo of the tree.
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