Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

I think this is one of my favorite post titles from Ace of Spades: An Inconvenient Energy Bill. It made me crack up, probably too much. Oh, and the content was interesting too. Everyone’s favorite environmentalist, Al Gore, apparently uses 20 times more energy than the average American at his estate in Tennessee (oh, and his consumption increased after the movie came out).

Here is what I have boiled his message down to: “We need to stop global warming! And by ‘we’ I mean ‘you’. So get on that!”

I have also been enjoying reading about The Gore Effect (more here, and here), especially since I figured he would win for best documentary (shocking). Good times.

UPDATE I: Instapundit has more on Gore’s response. His response seems like something a magician (or politician) does: look at what is going on over here so you don’t see what is actually going on over there. Also Wizbang has an addition about Bush’s house in Texas (although the specific energy usage is not given) from this post:

The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude

Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this “eco-friendly” dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

Interesting. Of course that is never reported. Shocking.

UPDATE II: Oh this is just too classic (hat tip to protein wisdom via sal):

So, where does Gore buy his ‘carbon offsets’? According to The Tennessean newspaper’s report, Gore buys his carbon offsets through Generation Investment Management. a company he co-founded and serves as chairman:

Gore helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe…

As co-founder and chairman of the firm Gore presumably draws an income or will make money as its investments prosper. In other words, he “buys” his “carbon offsets” from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself.

Um, yeah. Read the whole thing. Of course, he presumably draws an income from the company. He may not. But regardless, that is so incredibly fishy! Gore: the eco-warrior, making profits and looking good doing it! Of course this will probably never make it to the MSM either.

UPDATE III: Scripps Howard News Service notes many of the left’s responses to The Tennessee Center for Policy Research’s report on Gore’s energy usage. Pretty standard. I liked Malkin’s comment: “Par for the course, of course.” Here is my favorite quote from the SHNS’s post:

“Some people must believe the Mason-Dixon Line runs between our office and Gore’s mansion,” Johnson says. “No one would call Gore a redneck, but when we uncovered his hypocritical energy use, it somehow made me a sister-dating hillbilly. That’s quite amusing, since Gore and I live in Nashville, less than five miles apart.”

UPDATE IV: Gee, aren’t I surprised: “Carbon Offsets” a fraud!