Al Gore, Tipper Gore snap up Montecito-area villa

[cali]

April 28, 2010 | 4:24 p.m.



Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have added a Montecito-area property to their real estate holdings, reports the Montecito Journal.

The couple spent $8,875,000 on an ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate source familiar with the deal confirms. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-hotprop-gore-20100428,0,4103538.story

[Ken Burch]

1. OK...so?

We knew the guy was rich. What's the big deal about him buying a house? He's not in electoral politics anymore, so why should this concern us?

[cali]

3. I think it demonstrates a certain hypocrisy

he doesn't practice what he preaches. He doesn't set a green example.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Mostly, he sets himself up as a big limo lib lampoon doll

And I'm glad the present head of the party doesn't have that problem.

[avaistheone1]

23. Just wait

until the present head of the party leaves office.

Mr Corporatist will have no problem setting himself up in something even glitzier. Mark my words.

It will be like a Tony Blair deja vu.

http://priceofoil.org/2010/03/22/tony-blairs-link-with-iraq-oil-firm-kept-secret-by-watch-dog/

[BeyondGeography]

24. More proof you don't know shit about the Obamas

Carter will be their post-presidency model, not the spoiled boomer boys from the 90s.

[Beacool]

28. So, I guess the "humble" abode they bought in Chicago is just a shack?

Didn't Rezko help him out with that deal?

:eyes:

[cali]

31. it's not a shack but it's certainly not comparable to

either Gore's Belle Meade House or this villa.

[Beacool]

33. Give them time..............

They are still in the WH. He already raked a few million from his books, he'll make a ton more once his term is up.

;)

[cali]

37. who know's? anyway it's completely immaterial to the discussion

about Gore who has set himself up as the world's leading environmental champion. Obama may do this or that- we can't really know, now can we, genius? But we do know what Al has done and is doing; living a life of over consumption while preaching to us "little people" about how we need to consume less.

He's less than a sterling example.

[Beacool]

42. Hey, I'm not defending Gore.

Just laughing at the assumption that Obama would do any different.

:D

[BeyondGeography]

32. And he won't be cutting deals with guys like this either in retirement

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080131_meet_frank_giustra_mining_magnate_and_clinton_chum

Now go away.

[Beacool]

38. You're too funny.

Obama is no different, the difference is he pretended to be so. He's a corporatist just like the rest of them. I don't particularly object to it, but it makes me laugh that two people who are quintessentially yuppies are portrayed as being part of the "little people".

:7

[avaistheone1]

50. Agreed.

I am confident our "drill baby drill" president will live like a corporate-tycoon king once he has left office.

[dionysus]

101. bluh bluh bluh *sob*

keep that hate oozing out of every pore. for 7 more years. i love it.

:rofl:

[avaistheone1]

105. Lame hater excuse is getting old.

* yawn

[laughingliberal]

133. +1000

Especially hilarious to be called a hater on a hate Gore thread.

[dionysus]

141. well, when you have to bring your obama hate into a gore hate thread, it is funny

;)

[laughingliberal]

149. When "I" have to bring my Obama hate into a thread

"I" simply commented on the complaints of Obama hate in the middle of all the Gore hate. "I" haven't said anything about either of them. I actually like them both very much and find I have had some disagreements with them both over some policies.

[dionysus]

140. and yet, sometimes it's 100% true.

:shrug:

[BeyondGeography]

54. We do know one thing

He won't be saddled with millions of dollars in legal bills when he leaves office because he is hopelessly self-destructive.

That should take some of the earnings pressure off.

[Beacool]

64. Well, at least he won't have a special prosecutor persecuting him and his wife for 5 years.

Starr was desperate to find something, ANYTHING, to justify the waste of time and taxpayers money. Clinton may have been an idiot, like plenty of other men, but he was impeached for lying about a few BJs. If that's all they could find against him, he must have been pretty clean otherwise.

As for Obama, the man and his wife like the fine things in life (nothing wrong with it). So you can be assured that he'll be interested in earning plenty of money.

[cali]

71. wait a minute, you know what he'll do absolutely after his presidency and

you also know, he won't be persecuted during his presidency. wow, you are a little crystal ball gazer, aren't you?

[Beacool]

90. I doubt that a special prosecutor will be appointed to go after him.

Like they went after the Clintons, that's what I was referring.

I have no clue what else he will do after he lives the WH, but making plenty of money is part of what most of them do when they leave office.

[BeyondGeography]

74. Obama is already rich

Made his millions selling books...a real corporatist.

In fairness, Clinton and Gore have set a standard for money-grubbing, self-contradictory behavior that will make post-White House Democrats look tasteful in comparison for years to come.

[EnlightenedOne]

70. He knows how to play the game

which, apparently, you don't get. Yea, that damn obama is so greedy, he donated his full $1 MILLION prize to charity. This thread feels like I'm reading over at FreeRepublic.

[Beacool]

87. And the Clintons have donated many millions more.

So what?

:shrug:

[EnlightenedOne]

115. I don't see Sarah Palin donating

any of her $12 Millions to charitable causes - or Dick Cheney or the Bush's - and they've got TRILLIONS. I hate when we eat our own.

[Beacool]

126. On that we can agree.

:D

[Ken Burch]

108. Good Good....you're a Democrat and you want to bring up Rezsko again?

N/t.

[Beacool]

127. Why not?

Some people here still bring up Monica and it's been already 12 years. When does the statute of limitation expire on that peccadillo?

:eyes:

[Ken Burch]

128. Fine, Monica shouldn't be brought up.

But it's hardly an attack on the SITTING Democratic president to do so.

And there's no good reason to try to refight the primaries. Nothing would be better if YOUR candidate had won. And, since Iran would've been vaporized and the entire Middle East would now be at permanent war on Israel AND The U.S., things likely would be worse.

[arcadian]

135. The house is pretty big.

I've been by there. It looks like an older mansion, brick from maybe the 1920s or so. It's in a very nice neighborhood but it certainly isn't exclusive or by any means the most exclusive area in Chicago, though it is probably very expensive. It's also a diverse neighborhood, there is a synagogue across the street and a mosque down the street. There are also apartment style buildings around.

[Beacool]

147. I've seen pics of its exterior.

It seems like a nice house.

:-)

[avaistheone1]

29. More proof

you don't know shit about shit.

BTW The Obamas have distanced themselves as far away from the Carters as possible.

Obama has channeled Reagan not Carter in his speeches. Pay attention.

[BeyondGeography]

41. Heh...like he'd be so fucking dumb as to campaign against the degradation of the environment

and buy a 1.5 acre property (doubtlessly landscaped for frequent watering) with nine bathrooms in a water-challenged area.

The Gores are epic fools.

[avaistheone1]

51. Not so fast.

Ever study Obama's clean coal policies? He is not so smart after all.

[Llewlladdwr]

62. Dream on. NT

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. So because he's an environmentalist he should live in a commune instead?

I'm sorry, but I don't see the hypocrisy. Who's to say he won't retrofit the place with all of the lastest eco-friendly innovations and turn it into a model of how going green doesn't have to mean sacrificing luxury?

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. He needed to be humiliated into doing that with his "main" house, as I recall

When it was revealed that he used enough juice to power a small town.

[cali]

12. yep. time to face what a phony he is.

[NeedleCast]

10. No one said he had to live in a commune

but Dude has a long list of villa-sized properties and no amount of "greening" will make those properties very energy efficient if they're all running various fountains, light, etc.

Gore has also been a front-running in leading anti-consumption but doesn't appear to practice what he preaches. Unfortuantly, this has the effect of giving the Freepers and other conservatives ammo when they talk about how liberals have a "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.

[cali]

11. wait, you atually didn't know that there's

something between bi-coastal mega mansions and communes.

sorry, I think it's disgustingly hypocritical.

[sufrommich]

14. "The Italian-style house has six fireplaces,

five bedrooms and nine bathrooms". There's a whole lot of houses between that and a commune.

[BeyondGeography]

36. There are so many other ways to define luxury...this is profligacy

[Taverner]

68. So all Dems have to live in mud huts or something?

[cali]

73. right, because there's just no other choice for the man who

preaches environmentalism and reducing consumption but a mud hut or bi-coastal maga mansions.

yikes.

[Ken Burch]

93. I'd be more concerned if he was still an active candidate for office.

Point taken, but there are others who deserve the outrage more.

[Ken Burch]

107. OK. I think we have more important people to go after, though.

And I say that as a person who was never a Gore supporter.

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. I'm sure his accountant has informed him of what he must do to avoid CA income tax

So he can enjoy his latest palace without having to pay 10%+ CA income tax.

[BeyondGeography]

2. At less than $1 million per bathroom, I'd say it's a steal

[n2doc]

5. Makes me green n/t

[Peregrine Took]

7. If I live to be 1,000 I'll never understand Al Gore. n/t

[catzies]

13. Read this last week in the little Montecito paper....thought at first they bought

my boyfriend's brother's house....but we would have heard about that and his Montecito house only sold for $6 million anyway. :D

[Uncle Joe]

15. What kind of energy does this home use and how old is it?

The home they bought in Nashville was a near century old energy hog which after the Gore's conversions received the second highest energy rating; they can give.

Perhaps they will do the same with this one.

[cali]

16. first of all, they had to be shamed into retro fitting their Nashville home

secondly, there is no such thing as an an energy conserving 8 bedroom home with fountains and air conditioning- not to mention the jetting back and forth.

He's a fucking hypocrite who preaches one thing for the "little people" and lives a life style wholly inconsistent with what he espouses.

I'm sick of people like that.

[wuushew]

18. You should have come clean in your first post and dropped any pretenses

This topic was designed as a Gore hate experiment from the get go.

[cali]

21. I don't hate Gore, though I certainly have come to think far less of him than I once did

but this kind of hypocrisy is repugnant to me. I'm not hiding that. I think that I posted the article made that pretty obvious.

You want to defend this hypocritical crap, have at it.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

77. He's a "fucking hypocrite" and he's "repugnant" to you....

But you don't hate him.

Gotcha.

:eyes:

[cali]

83. his hypocrisy is repugnant to me. and yes, he's a fucking hypocrite, but no I don't

hate him. I just don't like what he's doing.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

113. So he shouldn't take "fucking hypocrite" personally....(nt)

[Uncle Joe]

19. 1. They didn't have to be shamed, they were already in the process.

2. If this is an existing home, the usage of energy would be there regardless and by making it more energy efficient, the Gores are not only practicing what they preach, they're neutralizing or diminishing an existing negative.

3. Gore travels on commercial airlines, do you believe he borrow the Jiffy Pop Balloon from the balloon boy's daddy?

[cali]

22. evidence of that claim? That's not as I recall it.

There's no excuse for this kind of conspicuous out of control consumption from someone preaching how terrible such things are.

Period.

[wuushew]

What net increase in consumption has Gore created?

A rich man will become less so by purchase of this property and the resultant taxes he will pay the community.

Is your environmentalism proportionally better than Al Gore's adjusted for income?

If personal behavior was easy to shape by the good acts of others most of society's ills would have been solved millenia ago. The paradox of celebrity is well worth the needed instutional and legal instruments that Mr. Gore advocates.

[Dreamer Tatum]

25. So Gore is doing the environment a favor by buying the house?

Got it. What a load of steaming horseshit. If Gore were actually concerned about the carbon footprint of the house, he'd buy the property, destroy it, bequeath it to a nature conservancy trust, and enjoy a nice tax break for himself.

But he didn't. And fuck all that noise about making a giant house more efficient. When he's done minimizing the carbon footprint of that house, you know what he could have done differently? BOUGHT A SMALLER FUCKING HOUSE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I'm sorry, but Al Gore is full of shit. You don't circle the globe, clucking about resource usage and pollution while you snap up more properties than you can possibly ever use.

[cali]

30. it's infuriating and sickening.

and the excuses some here are making for him are embarrassing.

[Uncle Joe]

46. He just bought the existing house, so you can't determine what his plans are.

If he bought a smaller house, would someone else be living in that existing house?

[Dreamer Tatum]

52. I know exactly what his plans are

To own that house. No one spends $9MM on a house to trash it and build a smaller house.

[Uncle Joe]

75. Will he make it more energy efficient?

Will he continue to pay extra penalties or offsets for his energy usage?

[Dreamer Tatum]

78. He can make it perfectly energy efficient by razing it and donating the land

but he clearly intends to keep it.

Let's get serious here: the Gores are going to have a couple of people live there to manage the property, and hire people
to maintain the property, and they'll jet in once in a while to use it, or they'll let other people use it.

Bully for the Gores: let them have their riches and their homes and yachts. Just quit telling me the dire straits we're in
because I run my hot tub. I'm calling bullshit on the hypocrite Al Gore.

[Uncle Joe]

82. They will drive their hybrid car or fly commercial, but don't let facts get in the way.

Logic should tell you if they're rarely there and just hire people to maintain it, the energy usage should be relatively low as well, but don't let logic get in the way.

If they make it more energy efficient and Gore continues to voluntarily pay penalties for his energy usage, those people living there will be living a more carbon neutral lifestyle than they might otherwise be, but don't let a good witch hunt get in the way.

[cali]

85. He frequently flies on private jets

don't let facts get in your way. He's a terrible example. He tells us we should reduce energy consumption and hoovers it up himself like there's INFINITE resources.

But don't let your blind worship get in the way of recognizing the facts.

[Uncle Joe]

92. How frequent? Do you have a link reflecting the number of times?

Had you watched "An Inconvenient Truth," you would know he mostly if not always flies commercial.

[cali]

27. calling you on that claim.

He lived in that house for several years and did jackshit about his energy consumption until he was shamed into it. He is a hypocrite.


An inconvenient truth: eco-warrior Al Gore's bloated gas and electricity bills

· Household consumption 20 times national average
· Supporters claim smear campaign after Oscars win

* Digg it
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* Ed Pilkington in New York
* The Guardian, Wednesday 28 February 2007
* Article history

Former US vice-president Al Gore's home in Nashville's exclusive Belle Meade district, Tennessee.

Al Gore's home in Nashville's exclusive Belle Meade district, Tennessee. Photograph: Rusty Russell/Getty Images
Al Gore knows a thing or two about the vicissitudes of public life. Six years ago he was virtually written off as a has-been vice-president after he won the popular vote only to lose the 2000 race for the White House. On Sunday night his rehabilitation was completed as he was crowned the moral mouthpiece of Hollywood, receiving an Oscar for his global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

In front of the cream of the movie industry and the world's cameras, he stood alongside fellow eco-warrior Leonardo DiCaprio and proclaimed the ceremony the first in the Academy Awards' history to be run on "environmentally intelligent" lines. "And you know what?" he told the adoring crowd. "It's not as hard as you might think. We have a long way to go but all of us can do something in our own lives to make a difference."

Twenty four hours is a long time in green politics. By Monday night Mr Gore found himself back in that all-too familiar place - the eye of the storm.

A little-known group based in his home state, the Tennessee Centre for Policy Research, had the idea of looking up Mr Gore's energy bills for his large home in the Belle Meade area of Nashville to see whether he practised what he preached.

The headline figures, released to the group under federal freedom of information rules, were striking. Last year the Gore household consumed 221,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity - more than 20 times the national annual average.

His household consumption of energy rose between 2005 and 2006, the bills showed, from 16,200 kWh a month to 18,400 kWh last year. In addition, he spent on average $1,080 (£550) a month on natural gas. Combined, his electricity and gas bills reached almost $30,000.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/28/film.usa2

[Uncle Joe]

72. Using your logic FDR was a hypocrite, because he didn't give up his wealth in spite

of his efforts to change society to help the downtrodden.

Should he have donated or given everything away?

http://www.grist.org/article/peter-schweitzer-al-gore-and-hypocrisy/

About a week ago, USA Today published a piece by Peter Schweitzer, who's a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. It accused Al Gore of hypocrisy, for asking viewers of An Inconvenient Truth to scale back their lifestyles and carbon emissions while ... well, there were a number of charges. According to Schweitzer, Gore owns three homes and stock in Occidental Petroleum, still receives royalties from a zinc mine on his property, does not participate in the green-power option his utility offers in Nashville, and lets Paramount pay for his carbon offsets.

<snip>

First things first: I talked to some of Gore's people today, including Kreider, about the specific charges. Suffice to say, they're false. Gore receives no royalties from the mine, which shut down in 2003. (USA Today actually printed a correction about this, way down on page 10A.) 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.

All that picayune nonsense aside, some might consider it more relevant that Gore has devoted his life to this problem, traveling around for years giving thousands of slideshows, co-founding an investment firm devoted to supporting green companies, making his book, movie, and new TV channel carbon neutral (Current will be carbon neutral by the end of the year), donating all the profits from the movie and book to the global-warming fight, and almost single-handedly raising the profile of the issue higher than it's ever been.

Also, if we're talking about hypocrisy, perhaps we should mention that Schweitzer's Hoover Institution -- home to professional climate cranks (and former tobacco cranks) like Fred Singer and Thomas Gale Moore -- is funded by the far-right Scaife Foundation along with, you guessed it, Exxon. Schweitzer is paid to launch baseless attacks on Al Gore; Al Gore donates the profits from his advocacy work to the issue he cares about. Who's being more honest with the public?

In the end, though, none of this matters. This kind of ad hominem back and forth is exactly what Gore's well-paid conservative attackers want. They want to drag the debate down to this level. It muddies the waters and causes the public to tune out.
The fact is, Al Gore is not perfect, environmentally or any other way. He does not claim otherwise.

Nobody is perfect on climate issues. Why? Because our political and cultural system makes it extraordinarily difficult. That's the issue: changing the system to make it easier to act in environmentally benign ways, and harder not to. That means pushing our leaders -- from the neighborhood level all the way up to the federal level -- to change public policy. It means pushing them to partner with business leaders to make eco-friendly products, power, homes, and transportation options more easily and readily available. It means pushing them to take a stand, to marshal the American people behind the grand historical quest to put our society on a sustainable path. It means pushing them to lead.

As I've argued again and again and again and again and again and again, the lifestyle choices of any given individual are beside the point. Those who try and fail to be righteous are better than those who are unapologetically wicked. Those who speak the truth and fail to fully live by it are better than those who speak lies. Those who advocate societal changes and fail to make individual changes are better than those who do the reverse, and better twice over than those who seek no change at all.

We need to change our laws, regulations, tax codes, and business practices. We need to change our minds about what is and isn't acceptable in a 21st century society. If Al Gore can help that process along, that will mean a hell of a lot more than all the carbon offsets and utility bills in the world.

Try taking your eye off the knothole of an oak tree and look at the forest.

[cali]

76. not at all the same

FDR didn't preach against all wealth- he preached and worked against inequity. Grist's lame defense aside, Gore doesn't practice what he preaches.

[Uncle Joe]

79. 1. Gore lives a carbon neutral lifestyle, he willingly pays extra penalties for his usage.

2. There was nothing lame about that defense if you even read it.

3 Apparently his fellow wealthy peers thought FDR was preaching against wealth, because they called him a "Traitor to his class."

[Dreamer Tatum]

80. I thought that the Earth's reources were finite, so what good does paying money for overuse do?

Seriously...is there a big machine in the Arctic that turns dollars into ice?

Gore is overconsuming, plain and simple.

[Uncle Joe]

84. That money goes toward changing society to more energy efficient means, this is about macro

over micro.

[cali]

86. bwahahahah. the macro. yeah, right.

uncle joe's lame excuse #47.

[Uncle Joe]

89. What is so difficult to understand about macro?

:shrug:

[Dreamer Tatum]

95. Macro=what Gore tell us we should all do. Micro=what Al Gore does.

gotcha.

[Uncle Joe]

98. Macro = society aka; the forest, micro = an individual aka; tree, good luck with getting that. n/t

[cali]

81. what a frickin' scam that is.

nothing but medieval indulgences updated. Paying penalties for over consumption instead of leading by example; how inspiring! Not.

and so what if the wingnuts of the time called FDR a traitor- and all wealthy people did not do so. That's as persuasive an argument as saying that Obama is really a commie Kenyan because some nutcases screech that. In other words, not even remotely persuasive.

[Uncle Joe]

88. That's a false comparison,

medieval indulgences went to enrich the church, penalties paid to insure a carbon neutral footprint go toward changing society to more energy efficient sustainable means.

Again it's about focusing on the forest and not he tree.

FDR's policies did indeed cost the wealthy as he shifted more of the burden to them while he tried to help the poor or middle class, but the fact that FDR still retained his wealth, didn't make him a hypocrite.

[cali]

91. actually, it's quite an apt comparison

and what part of leading by example is so difficult for you to grasp? Al lectures the "little people' to make sacrifices and simply acts like a pig at the trough.

[Uncle Joe]

94. What part of paying extra penalties for energy usage to insure a carbon neutral

lifestyle and sacrifice do you not understand?

No one makes the Gores pay these penalties, that's example until society changes over to sustainable renewable energy sources.

They're not just trying to change the "little people," but nice try on your part.

They're trying to change all of society and I believe they have made major progress.

[Dreamer Tatum]

96. Where does the money go? What does the money do?

Seriously...how does Gore paying for his excesses help address the problem?

[Uncle Joe]

99. Toward subsidizing more renewable energy forms, wind, solar, replanting forests, etc.

by paying penalties more for energy usage, the market makes the development, switchover and use of sustainable, green technologies more cost effective.

[Dreamer Tatum]

112. Oh, so THAT market works just fine. nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

116. Answer the question... To what ENTITY does he pay his "penalties"? Who controls it?

You can blather all day long about how he's paying penalties for over-consuming. What you refuse to do though is answer a simple question a lot of us would like answered... What ENTITY does he pay those penalties to?

[Uncle Joe]

122. Here is one, it's called the TVA; it's a public utility.

For his home in Nashville, Gore purchases 100% of his electricity through Green Power Switch, this is more expensive than standard electricity.

http://www.tva.gov/greenpowerswitch/

Green Power Switch®

The Switch Is On

TVA and participating local public power companies, working with input from the environmental community, have created a program called Green Power Switch® to produce electricity from renewable sources and add it to the Tennessee Valley’s power mix. Read more.

http://www.tva.com/greenpowerswitch/green_mainfaq.htm

What is Green Power Switch?

Like any revolutionary idea, the idea behind Green Power Switch is simple: harness the natural power of the wind, the sun, and the earth to create an energy source that's usable in our everyday lives. TVA and local public power companies, working in cooperation with the environmental community, developed Green Power Switch as a way to bring green power — electricity that’s generated by renewable resources such as solar, wind, and methane gas — to Valley consumers.

How much does Green Power Switch cost?

Green Power Switch is sold to residential consumers in 150-kilowatt-hour blocks (about 12 percent of a typical household’s monthly energy use). Each block adds $4 to the customer’s monthly power bills. Consumers may buy as many blocks as they like. In other parts of the country, residential consumers who participate in green power programs pay an extra $2 to $10 per month for green power. Green Power Switch is also marketed to commercial and industrial consumers, who are asked to buy blocks based on the amount of energy they use.

How does green power benefit the environment?

The environmental effects of traditional energy sources like coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear power can be significant. Although no source of energy is impact-free, renewable resources create less waste and pollution. In fact, an investment of an additional $8 per month on your power bill buys enough Green Power Switch to equal the environmental benefits of planting an acre of trees in the Tennessee Valley.

[cali]

97. he's a natural resources consumption pig. it's that simple

paying extra penalties does nothing to obviate that.

[Uncle Joe]

100. I don't know why you hate Gore so much, but I don't believe this is the real reason.

[cali]

130. I don't hate him. I intensely dislike his hypocrisy. I find it sickening.

[Uncle Joe]

132. Do you live a carbon neutral lifestyle? Al Gore does, so who is the hypocrite?

[cali]

134. you be the judge.

I live in a very small house constructed largely from recycled materials that's super insulated- to the point that I have an air exchanger and makes great use of passive solar (I need no heat on sunny 0 degree days) I drive no more than 10 miles a week, if that. My water is gravity fed. I certainly don't have air conditioning. I recycle assiduously I compost all my table scraps. I grow a large veggie garden. I could go on, but you get the idea. sorry, friend, but I'm not the hypocrite. Your super consuming, indulgence buying, environment preaching hero Al is.

Oh, and I don't preach about how people should live.

[Uncle Joe]

136. Then you're having an excellent micro impact, whereas Al Gore has an outstanding macro impact.

What you're doing is great on a personal level, but Gore has championed the cause on a national public level when no one else was.

As my post 122 illustrates he is also using his personal finances to pay premiums which multiply the development and use of green sustainable energy.

I don't have time today to cite the other major positive environmental impacts, he's contributed to throughout his career both public and private, but if you like I will come back tomorrow and list them for you.

However I must take issue with your last sentence because that's precisely what this thread is about.

"Oh, and I don't preach about how people should live."

[Psephos]

148. Al Gore has made himself nearly a billion dollars by promoting an idea and image.

Unfortunately, his consumption decisions show that the money is what drives him, not the idea and image.

Cali has him nailed. He's a hypocrite. The Tennessee house that was sucking up 30 grand in electricity per year, the 100-foot houseboat, the jets and limos and motorcades, this latest house in Montecito...he's the green Leona Helmsley. Moderacy is for the little people. "Do as I say, not as I do."

[dogday]

17. They are just getting ready for the new marijuana laws that hopefully.

will be put in place in California. Al used to be a dead head. Just sayin :shrug:

[Viking12]

48. Once a Deadhead, always a Deadhead.

Just sayin'

[zorahopkins]

20. Six Fireplaces? Five Bedrooms? Nine Bathrooms?

Aren't there families of six, seven, or eight people who live in less space that this?

Something about this just strikes me as unjust.

I do NOT begrudge Al and Tipper Gore success.

What makes me very uncomfortable, though, is that they get to have several pieces of property -- including this one with its six fireplaces, five bedrooms, and nine bathrooms, while poor families in New York City, Detroit, Chicago, and LA are forced to live in absolute squalor.

It just doesn't seem right or fair to me.

[hughee99]

26. We should all work to reduce OUR carbon footprint to make more room for Al's. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. hehe

:evilgrin:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

34. Hey...it's his money...

:shrug:

[cali]

39. I think you're missing the point.

Had he not set himself up as Mr. Environment and lectured us all about the dangers of consumption, I wouldn't care.

It's the hypocrisy, Peggy.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

49. Actually, I do understand your point.

I can readily see why you say he's a hypocrite...

And maybe he is. But I still say he can spend his money the way he wants to, hypocrisy or not.

Sorry.

:shrug:

[cali]

56. I didn't say he couldn't or shouldn't spend his money as he wants. He's certainly

free to do so- and I'm free to criticize him for his breathtaking and obvious hypocrisy.

[BeyondGeography]

58. He does damage to a worthwhile cause, one that he has been central to defining

The tone deafness is mind-boggling.

[avaistheone1]

45. Yes, and it's our planet.

I am disappointed. ...I hope this story is not true.

[RayOfHope]

35. Do you like anyone? n/t

[cali]

44. As far as politicians go?

Sure, Bernie, Pat Leahy, Russ Feingold, Peter Welch, Barack Obama. Personally? There are very few people I dislike.

[xchrom]

43. 'left' leaning moralizers

Are as bad as Billy Graham.

Unrec

[cali]

47. huh?

what in the world are you trying to say?

[CreekDog]

65. How many people will be working on that property and how many guests will be staying regularly?

It's not like he and Tipper can use all 9 bathrooms simultaneously on their own.

But if they have a houseful of guests, what's the difference between being able to accomodate them at their home versus them staying at a hotel?

I don't get what the complaint is here.

There are people in my neighborhood with 4 bathrooms, but 10 people live there. Is that extravagant?

These are both public people, with high profile lives, lots of family and extended family, lots of guests from all over the world, lots of staff, etc. etc. The idea that they would be running their lives and connecting with all the people they regularly work with in a 2000 square foot SFR with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms is not realistic...besides, they'd end up renting office space with the same facilities that the house they just bought has.

Find something else to be angry at, this might look good on the surface, but you've got nothing.

Not to mention, they'll probably retrofit the place once they take possession.

[greencharlie]

53. if they flush all 9 toilets and run all 9 showers...

all at once... will it create a tsunami that swamps Hawaii?

[Dreamer Tatum]

59. No, it'll just mean that we have that pray that much harder for snowpack and rain next year

Enjoy your dinner overlooking the ocean, Mr. Gore.

[Dreamer Tatum]

55. Someone should tally up the total number of bedrooms and shitters the Gores control

Funny, every time the Duggars fart, people here squawk about how terrible they are for having 20 kids or whatever, but at least they live on one plot of land in one house.

Al Gore, by contrast, warns us every chance he gets that the fate of the world hangs in the balance whenever I buy a light bulb, yet he's buying coastal property and yachts to add to his portfolio.

What a crock. What a charlatan.

[cali]

57. yep, but he's Saint Al of the Green Globe to many here.

[CreekDog]

60. I'm glad you know everything there is to know about Gore based on one action

such an expert on the human condition you are.

[Dreamer Tatum]

61. in Gore's case, given his evangelism, it's really all you need to know. nt

[cali]

63. it's not one action.

and I certainly did not claim to know everything about Gore, or claim to be an expert on the human condition.

Have fun waltzing with your cute little straw man.

[Dappleganger]

66. He's a hypocrite because he doesn't practice what he preaches...

in a very BIG way.

It's too bad because the message of conservation is so important, Gore has the ability to reach a lot of people w/the message and his tv channel is pretty cool, too.

Honestly, I've learned more about being green by watching Ed Begley, Jr. than anyone else. He REALLY does walk the walk.

[Llewlladdwr]

67. It's all about leading by example.

I have to say that I agree with the sentiment that I'll start taking AGW seriously as soon as the people telling me I need to also do so.

[spinbaby]

69. I wonder if he'd like a houseguest

I'm available most any time.

[Cleita]

118. No, but he probably will need some maids, a cook, some gardeners

and a pool person. A job there could be fairly cool because often people like the Gores won't spend more than a few months a year there and the rest of the time it's all yours. I knew a couple who did this kind of work for the ultra wealthy in California. Most of the time they were just caretakers on the estate cause the owners were off somewhere else.

[MadHound]

102. So much for leading by example, eh Al?

Of course he stopped doing that long ago when he picked up his Nashville digs and started jetting everywhere on his own private plane.

Really now, just how large a house does one need with only two people living in it?

It's all about the footprint you leave on this earth Al, and you're leaving one that is huge.

[Uncle Joe]

106. What private plane? He doesn't own one, he flies commercial.

What only two people? They operate an office from there as well.

The house was an old existing one, built in the early 1900s and they turned that old energy hog into one with the second highest energy efficiency rating that can be given to a home.

Gore's footprint is carbon neutral, he voluntarily pays penalties to insure that, by doing that he subsidizes renewable, sustainable energy and the replanting of forests.

[MadHound]

109. Actually many times he doesn't fly commercial,

He instead charters a private jet:shrug:

And while that it is nice that he is buying carbon credits, the fact of the matter is that in many ways he is living a wasteful lifestyle. Really now, two houses, two large houses.

For a man who is supposedly so concerned about global climate change, for one who is urging the rest of us to change our lifestyle in order to prevent global climate change, the man is living way too large, and in a hypocritical manner at that.

If he is truly buying carbon offsets to sustain his lifestyle, he is going to go broke, soon, just from all the carbon he is putting out by jetting around the world. I suggest you check out the latest Mother Jones magazine, has a great discussion about just how much it costs, ecologically speaking, to fly.

[Uncle Joe]

114. Do you have a link reflecting how many times he flies private as opposed to commercial?

If you watched "An Inconvenient Truth" you would know he flies commercial the vast majority of time.

If Gore doesn't fly commercial to his duties how would you contend he should get there?

Has Gore ever told you or anyone not to fly? If the answer to that is no, then you and other posters here are being hypocritical by holding him to a false standard based on lies.

Those houses would have existed had he bought them or not and he's made the first one far more energy efficient than it ever was.

As I posted up thread, FDR urged changes to make society more equitable but he didn't give up his wealth in doing so, that didn't make him a hypocrite, likewise Gore is urging to make society more sustainable and he's paying premiums putting his money where his mouth is to make it happen.

Gore is changing the world on a macro level, try looking at the forest and not the tree.

[cali]

120. I believe it's more than 2 houses

I think he has a home in D.C. still and his place in Carthage.

[Uncle Joe]

123. Your logic is absurd, if he's not living there, his utility usage is minimal.

If his place in Carthage is leased out, I'm not certain if that's the case, the people living there would be living somewhere else burning carbon.

[CreekDog]

125. Al Gore is not telling us to change our lifestyle...sheesh!

Gore has consistently suggested that technology, efficiency and alternatative energy are the means to deal with climate change. He has not been telling us to buy smaller houses, forego air conditioning, not eat expensive meals, etc. Why on earthdo you need to attribute to him statements and positions he never took in order to prove your accusation that he's a hypocrite? That's dishonest.

[cali]

129. bullshit. he does so right in his movie.

he tells us flat out that we need to conserve energy in our homes.

YOUR claim is completely fabricated.

[CreekDog]

131. yes through efficiency, green technology and alternative energy sourcing

he also never told us to get smaller houses.

[Dreamer Tatum]

137. You're right. He specifically said to own many huge houses

that use a lot of power and water, and to travel between them frequently, and to pay money to plant banana trees on another continent to salve your conscience.

Oh wait, that's what he planned to do for himself. My bad.

[CreekDog]

139. Well you know what?

:rofl:

[cali]

119. it is not neutral. that's absurd

you don't magically wipe out your over consumption with some bucks. those resources are NOT infinite.

[Uncle Joe]

124. Sure you can, my post #122 up thread is just one example of how it can be done.

although that pertains to house electricity usage the same principle can hold true for travel carbon spent.

[BlooInBloo]

103. Breaking: Couple purchases something with their own money.

[Kadie]

117. : )

:rofl:

:hi:

[cali]

121. breaking: that has zip, zilch and nada to do with the criticism. duh.

[VOX]

144. Heh. Thanks. n/t

[Patriot 76]

104. Good for him! Anything that pisses off the Gore haters is appreciated.

I'll spend my time hating republicans.

[emilyg]

110. So he's not worried about

the rising seas?

[ShortnFiery]

111. Don't forget to TURN OUT THE LIGHTS when you leave !?!

:P

[hughee99]

138. In case anyone wonders how it is that repukes can tolerate the hypocrisy of their leaders

here's an example how some people of any political strip can do it.

[earth mom]

142. Your OP and posts on this thread REEK of trash talking Freeperville and what I'd expect from rethugs

-not a DUer. But I'm not surprised to see it coming from you.

FYI-If it wasn't for Al Gore, most of the people on this planet still wouldn't give a damn about what's happening to our precious mother earth!

People all over the globe are making changes and while I personally want to see major changes happening a helluva lot faster, at the very least Gore has made people sit up and think about what the fuck they are doing while inspiring them to make some changes in their lifestyles and there is NOTHING wrong with that!

That you ASSUME that Gore is going to move into his new house and not make the changes necessary to conserve is really ignorant of you.

How the hell do you know what Gore is going to do? Do you have a crystal ball?

And what kind of home do you think the Gores should live in given their position in this country? A 2000 square foot 1950s tract home?! Give me a fucking break!

So, do you expect the same kind of downsizing from all of the greedy & corrupt politicians in Washington DC that you are always so fast to defend?

Can you honestly say that the Obama's won't be moving to Montecito too the minute Obama's term is up so they can live near their best buddy Oprah?! That's gonna cost them some major major bucks. But who knows, maybe Oprah will buy the Obama's a house just like she did for her BFF Gail.

Yeah, it's ALL GOOD when Obama does it or any of those corporate sellouts in Washington DC do it, isn't it?


This thread is bullshit and it's obvious that you just want to rip into Gore because he's too far to the left for your tastes and because you think you are just the most perfect person in all the world. :eyes:

[cali]

145. codswallop. your

rabid hate of me aside, how can anyone condone this kind of hypocrisy?

your post is simply more of your rabid crap.

Your heroes- Johny hedgefund Edwards and Al Gore have clay feet.

[Zoeisright]

150. Exactly. Thank you!

Hatred of Al Gore is something I don't understand. Perhaps people who feel that way are a little lacking in some departments.

[VOX]

143. Jeff Bridges, John Cleese, Ellen DeGeneres, Christopher Lloyd, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Douglas...

all have houses in Montecito, or did until the recent fires there. Yes, it is some of the priciest real estate in the U.S., but for the most part, it's isn't showy and is very liberal politically.

I don't begrudge Al his millions -- he's worked long and hard, and if he wants to live in a beautiful place, more power to him. It's a certainty that he'll install various alternate and "appropriate" energy sources for the home.

Glad he'll be on the West Coast more often.

[cali]

146. you are entirely missing the point

and c'mon, he was born with a silver spoon- not saying there's anything wrong with that, but he had every advantage you could possibly have.

[JI7]

151. what if he bought a smaller home ?