Gas Guzzling Kerry Blasts Bush on Environment

NewsMax.com ^ | 4/21/04 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and his mega-rich wife Teresa Heinz own a gas guzzling private jet, an energy-eating power yacht, have five mansions that consume thousands of gallons of oil to heat and cool - and keep a fleet of SUVs running night-and-day outside their Beacon Hill mansion.

But that didn't stop Sen. Kerry from blasting President Bush's environmental record yesterday.

"Being responsible about the environment is not some goo-goo, do-gooder, silly notion that you embrace once a year on Earth Day," railed Kerry to a Florida crowd. "It's important to life itself."

Really?

It doesn't seem particularly important to the Heinz Kerrys, whose Gulfstream V private jet gobbles up thousands of gallons of jet fuel annually. Dubbed the "Flying Squirrel" by Teresa, this $35 million gas guzzler features a plasma TV, two bathrooms, fancy mahogany and burlwood paneling and gold-plated fixtures, according to Boston radio talker Howie Carr.

So far reporters have had little to say about the contrast between Sen. Kerry's staunch environmentalism, along with his wife's decision to turn the Heinz family endowment into a green crusade - and the would-be first family's energy-wasting lifestyle.

It's not a pretty picture. In fact, the Heinz Kerrys burn through so much gas, oil and electricity that their personal energy consumption would probably put a significant dent in the Alaskan oil reserve - that is, if Sen. Kerry and his environmental buddies ever dropped their opposition to drilling ANWR.

Take the top Democrat's $800,000 yacht "The Scaramouche." The Kerry campaign has yet to release figures on how much marine fuel this beaut eats up just to keep the Massachusetts Democrat sailing in style. But it must cost a bundle.

And the Heinz Kerrys don't seem to be particularly big fans of that old environmental slogan, "Think Globally, Act Locally." Their neighbors in Beacon Hill, for instance, have been grumbling lately about the fleet of Secret Service SUVs the candidate and his wife keep out in front of their palatial digs - with engines running 24-hours a day.

"One resident complained she couldn't sleep with the exhaust," reports the Boston Herald, "so the Secret Service agreed to move the vehicle away from her bedroom window from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m."

Of course, the Heinz Kerrys' Beacon Hill mansion is just one a five palatial residences the would-be first couple maintains around the country, in addition to digs in Nantucket, Georgetown, Idaho and Pittsburgh - each one churning through oodles of energy just to keep temperatures comfortable should John and Teresa decide to drop in.

Not too shabby for the ketchup heiress and her hubby - who, by the way, actually met at a 1992 Global Warming conference in Rio de Janeiro. No doubt John and Teresa nodded in agreement as the Rio conferees condemned the U.S. as an energy-hogging environmental outlaw.

[kattracks]

But the Kerry's are "special". They don't have to observe any rules that they expect we peons to live by.

Typical Liberal attitude.

[marlon]

This is a classic right out of the Barbara Streisand Do as I say, not as I do book!

[reluctantwarrior]

When is the next Global Warming Hoax event? I need a rich liberal wife that is tupid as a bag of hammers?

[paguch]

Don't be so picky. They are honest about their intentions. They are working for the masses. Even in Communist Countries the elite live a wonderful life style.
Castro has millions but look at all he does for his people.

[cricket]

"No doubt John and Teresa nodded in agreement as the Rio conferees condemned the U.S. as an energy-hogging environmental outlaw."

. . .no doubt about it.

[Phantom Lord]

that is, if Sen. Kerry and his environmental buddies ever dropped their opposition to drilling ANWR.

According to the AFL-CIO president, John Kerry has promised him in private that not only will his administration be drilling in ANWAR but also, "All over America."

I have yet to see a reporter ask Kerry about this.

[Peach]

Shockingly enough a NYT article a few days ago debunks the leftist myth that Bush's record on the environment is bad.

It's actually a good record. Use the below to debunk the leftist claims regarding the environment and President Bush.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1121196/posts

[Howlin]

This is so typical!

[Puddleglum]

And the Heinz Kerrys don't seem to be particularly big fans of that old environmental slogan, "Think Globally, Act Locally."

For Kerry the slogan is "Think Globally, Act Regally."

[mewzilla]

Typical limosine liberals :)

[cricket]

This is a classic right out of the Barbara Streisand Do as I say, not as I do book!

What a great Bush ad! Kerryspeak: "Do as I SAY. . .'think globally;act locally' etc. . .not do. . .as I do. . .and then list the above Heinz/Kerry behaviors; homes/cars/gas/fumes et al. . .

Kerry once again; would be exposed as an arrogant hypocrit; an environmental charlatan. Outed by his own words.

[Hildy]

This is just a testimony that rich liberals are liberal because of their guilt. There's nothing else to say about it.

[biblewonk]

We need more windmills, John, even in your own personal ocean.

[biblewonk]

Why would they have SUV's running 24 hrs a day?

[wjcsux]

But the Kerry's are "special". They don't have to observe any rules that they expect we peons to live by.
But look at what they do for all of the little people who aren't as worthy as they are!

[GailA]

Reminds you of Hannity's huffington interview...I chuckled then and chuckle each time he plays it. Some one should be sure he reads this. Be sure to pick it up along with this and send it to all your friends with request they too pass it on.

3 SIMPLE RULES KEEP TERESA KERRY GOING

NY POST ^ | April 16, 2004 | CINDY ADAMS

With that she kissed my dogs, grabbed a Diet Pepsi for the road and climbed into her SUV for the ride to Newsweek.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/22886.htm

Still, to understand the Kerry tax situation, you would need to study his 65-year-old wife's returns. But the widow Heinz files separately and adamantly refuses to release her tax records.

What is undisputed is that Kerry's jet-setting lifestyle is completely financed by Teresa Heinz Kerry's late first husband, a Republican senator from Pennsylvania.

His trust funds throw off millions in dividends and capital gains - what liberals often disparage as "unearned income." No such outcry has arisen in the case of Teresa. But even with her stonewalling on the release of her income tax returns, a glimpse into her financial worth is available in her tax bills that are public, for the five mansions she owns:

* On Nantucket Island, for a $9.1 million beachfront "cottage," technically owned by Windy Point Trust, she pays $23,552.09 a year in property taxes.

* In Pittsburgh, she owns a $3.1-million home on Squaw Run Road, a name that would definitely not be tolerated if a Republican lived there. The taxes are $14,632.80.

* In Georgetown, her O Street mansion is worth $4.3 million, and costs her $41,627.14 annually in D.C. property taxes.

* In Boston, she purchased a palace on Beacon Hill with an assessed value of $6.4 million, and was kind enough to put her 60-year-old husband's name on the deed. Annual property taxes: $62,794.08.

* In Idaho, she hobnobs with her fellow Beautiful People in the only county in Idaho to vote for Al Gore in 2000. Her rebuilt barn, "outsourced" from the U.K., is assessed at $2.7l6 million, and her annual real-estate taxes are $30,728.78.

That's close to $175,000 a year in property taxes alone, but Teresa has no cash-flow woes.

Much has been written of the senator's 42-foot Hinckley powerboat, which cost at least $800,000. Less noticed has been Teresa's much more expensive plaything - a Gulfstream V private jet. It's named the Flying Squirrel, not after Bulwinkle's pal Rocky, but after her favorite ski run in Sun Valley.

Aviation industry sources say the Flying Squirrel is worth about $35 million. It's the deluxe model .

"To charter a Gulfstream V costs $5,000 to $6,000 an hour," says one pilot. "Hers has everything - plasma TV, two bathrooms, fancy mahogany and burlwood paneling, gold-plated fixtures."

The only possible aviation upgrade, in other words, would be Air Force One. Which would certainly reduce the Widow Heinz's household expenses.

Maybe then her husband could afford to pay his "fair share" of state income taxes.

Howie Carr is a columnist for the Boston Herald and a nationally-syndicated radio talk-show host

[Made In The USA]

Kerry... a candidate the common man (on the Forbes 500 list) can identify with.

When is Kerry going to be asked the famous question - How much does a gallon of milk cost? A gallon of gas? How about co-payment on a dentist visit for the kids?

[jcb8199]

They just want to make the rules by which we must abide--they don't want to actually follow them!

[marsh2]

Here is more on the Kaerry's extreme environmental activism:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oreg...46254474231.xml
Sustainability group reacts with surprise to full-page ad
(excerpt)

"Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, are two of the founders of Second Nature, a Boston-based group that encourages universities to promote sustainability, both in their curriculum and in their operations. In turn, Second Nature has spawned the creation of the Portland-based Education for Sustainability Western Network, which is working with colleges throughout the West."

See Second nature site: See http://www.secondnature.org/ and
http://www.secondnature.org/efs/efs_part_one.html

Second Nature... "is dedicated to accelerating a process of transformation in higher education. We guide and nurture these institutions in their quest to make sustainability an integral part of the institution and to help expand their efforts to make human activity sustainable. In a sustainable world, we imagine society would celebrate cultural diversity and increase the biological diversity and complexity of the ecosystems on which we all depend. Simultaneously, we would have stabilized population and resource consumption at a level that is within the carrying capacity of Earth's ecosystems. To attain this, we must reinvent the world socially, economically and environmentally"

"Second Nature imagines a society in which all present and future generations of humans:

* are healthy and can meet their basic needs;
* have fair and equitable access to Earth's resources;
* have a decent quality of life;
* celebrate cultural diversity;
* are realizing their highest aspirations;
* and restore and preserve the biologically diverse ecosystems on which we all depend.

How might society achieve this vision? We provide you with the following ideas that shape Second Nature's response to that question, and suggest that you simultaneously picture a sustainable society, and elements of your own vision.

We must align social, economic and natural systems for mutual benefit and sustainability.

Imagine that all people understand their connections to the natural world and to other humans, know where products and services come from and where wastes go, and know how to measure and minimize their ecological footprint. Our ecological footprint (our impact on the Earth) is invisible to most of us. We must make the invisible visible.

Imagine that we have stabilized the population at a level that is within the carrying capacity of the Earth's ecosystems because we have increased the education, as well as the social and economic status, of women. All current and future generations are able to pursue meaningful work and have the opportunity to realize their full human potential both personally and socially. Imagine that through our "dreaming" and "doing," we have reduced resource consumption and waste in the developed world so that there is opportunity in the developing world to be healthy and have a decent quality of life. Imagine that communities are strong and vibrant because they celebrate cultural diversity, are designed to encourage collaboration and participation in governance and emphasize the quality of life over the consumption of stuff. Think what it could be like if globalization is humanized to support democracy, human rights and economic opportunity for everyone. "

[Mayflower Sister]

Sounds like a great GWB ad to me. (Kerry makes it so EASY!)