Talk about your inconvenient truths. 20X the energy usage of a normal home. Even I would be ashamed of that on grounds of gluttony alone.

(Hat tip Drudge: POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD; CONSUMPTION INCREASE AFTER ‘TRUTH’)

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, issued the following press release late today:

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy. Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, ccording to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006. Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year. “As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

The median household income in Tennesee in 2005 was $38,874. That means that, after taxes and deductions, Al Gore pays more for electricity and gas than most “Volunteers” take home in pay.

Have you ever wondered that? He travels the world (in a private jet) telling people how carbon emissions are causing the planet to warm. If he has the courage of his convictions, he should donate his cold weather clothes to charity. Or better yet, have a mass burning like Gloria Steinem did for feminism. Although, that may add to your emissions quota, at least it will be less than taking that jet around. Plus, it’ll have the added benefit of keeping you warm. I can see it now: “ParkaStock 2007 - Baby, It Ain’t Cold Outside!” Because otherwise, you’re just a crazy person screaming about the end of the world, but still contributing the max to your 401(k).

In other news, eggs just keep flying in the face of Democrats. First, their “100 Hours” of “hard work” was interupted by a football game. Then their populist leader demanded a private jet for her entourage, at tax payer expense. Now, their “why is the Earth warming” hearing is cancelled because of a snow storm. Not just any snow storm, but a deadly one that has already wreaked havoc through the Midwest (note the record snowfall yesterday in Chicago).

Reprinted from Drudge:

HOUSE HEARING ON ‘WARMING OF THE PLANET’ CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM

HEARING NOTICE Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ET

The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?” The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.

DC WEATHER REPORT:Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning. Total ice accumulation between one half to three quarters of an inch. Brisk with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph…increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.

Drudge is also reporting that Maryville University in St. Louis area cancelling a screening of Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ because of the snowstorm.

Belated kudos to the President of the Czech Republic. Nothing like a biased interviewer getting his head handed to him. Can’t wait for the book. May I humbly suggest a title: “Czechs and Balances”

I sent the letter below to Ellen Goodman at the Boston Globe, in response to her horrible editorial.

———————————

I read your editorial on the recent UN report on global warming. I have to admit, I am very surprised and disappointed. Most people tend to reserve a special place in hell for Holocaust deniers. These are people who would deny the millions that died at the hands of Hitler their rightful place in history: a warning against fascism and anti-Semitism. You, on the other hand, choose to off-handedly refer to the Holocaust in order to make some trivial point about something you know nothing about.

Tell me, other than what Al Gore and the United Nations tell you about global climate change, do you know anything else? Have you ever taken a course in thermodynamics, meteorology or advanced computational methods? Have you read any legitimate texts on fluid dynamics, differential equations and complex models? You see, these are the topics you would have to know in order to understand the physics of climate change. Fortunately (for me), I have taken these courses and received a graduate degree in Atmospheric Physics, so I know what the variables are, what the assumptions are and what the weaknesses are. You clearly do not.

You point to the United Nations and claim that “scientists” are 90% certain that global warming is due to mankind. Did they poll every scientist? What type of scientists were asked? Just climatologists, or did they asks biologists and phlebotomists as well? What question did they ask? The truth is, the “scientists” to which you refer are government employees whose mandate is to prove that global warming exists. I can tell you that when you have a funded mandate to prove something, you rarely disprove it. Can you imagine a UN scientist expressing doubt that the large, wealthy, income (sorry, I meant carbon) producing countries are not at fault for anything that can be fixed by increasing the UN’s budget? This is why science is meant to be conducted outside the public view, without interference from a group of people who can’t even agree that what is happening in Darfur is genocide. If you want to find the new Holocaust deniers, your first stop should be UN Plaza.

You attack the American Enterprise Institute for offering money to scientists willing to refute the UN report. You imply that there is something wrong with paying a scientist for his or her time and opinion. Does Al Gore stump for free? Do UN scientists collect unemployment? I guarantee you that, if these global warming alarmists suddenly found themselves to be global warming skeptics, they would quickly find themselves to also be unemployed. If you don’t believe me, ask George Taylor in Oregon, David Legates in Delaware or Patrick Michaels in Virginia. Each of those men have been threatened by the government for their opinions. Don’t expect the media to come to their rescue though, censorship isn’t as easy to vilify when you agree with the censor.

Nonetheless, there is a large and increasingly vocal group of people that are questioning the dire predictions of these politically motivated “reports.” These people have two things in common, (i) they are well-trained climatologists, not politicians and (ii) they are constantly smeared by the likes of you. I will admit, bringing up the specter of the Holocaust puts you in a special place as a particularly libelous wretch.

Because I realize you may be having difficulty understanding where I’m coming from, I will use your tactic to explain. “Let’s just say that global warming [alarmists] are now on a par with [Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Castro and all of their socialist heroes that quash dissent in the name of their misguided ideologies].” You know nothing about the science involved or the legitimate questions raised. Have you heard of bovine methane? Probably not. Do you know how much CO2 is produced by the world’s population of termites or rice patties? I didn’t think so. Do you know that just 30 years ago, “scientists” had agreed we were headed for an ice age and raised the same alarm bells you are raising now? Do you know that the ice shelves have been melting for 10,000 years–as they have following every ice age? These are all inconvenient truths for alarmists like you.

As for your new light bulb and your Prius, congratulations, you’ve been duped. Your liberal guilt has leveraged itself into uninformed consumerism, an irony, I’m sure, that passes by you unnoticed. If you have the courage of your convictions, I suggest you take all of your parkas, gloves, scarves and hats and give them to charity. If you’re right, you won’t need them out there. Of course, you’ll have to pretend that the entire East Coast is not in the middle of the coldest February in 30 years.

Addressing a conference on global warming in Madrid (currently a balmy 48F, 4 degrees off the mean of 52F), Al Gore noted that “Never before has all of civilization been threatened.”

The former Vice President lead the audience through a slide show of the horrors that await mankind if you don’t buy a Prius: “Antarctic ice shelves cracking and collapsing into the sea, before-and-after shots of glaciers reduced to lakes and small patches of ice, and forecasts of heavily populated land masses such as Florida shrinking drastically if glacial meltdown reaches a worst-case scenario and floods the seas.”

We had a chance to sit down with the Vice President to discuss his assertion:

Daily Danet: “Mr. Former Vice President, you noted that ‘Never before has all of civilization been threatened.’ Is that accurate?”

Mr. Former Vice President Al Gore: “Yes. Never in the history of mankind…”

DD: “What about the Cold War? Over 10,000 nuclear weapons in 5 countries all pointed at one another. The direct damage, fallout and the ensuing nuclear winter that would result from a nuclear exchange would surely have constituted a threat to all of civilization, wouldn’t it?”

MFVPAG: “Well, as you know, those weapons were never actually pointed at us. Prezdent Clinton and I made sure that Russia pointed them out to sea.”

DD:”Okay, putting aside your ridiculous argument, what about immediately before Clinton took office, surely Presidents Reagan and Bush the first were not so clever as you and Clinton. Was civilization not threatened then? What about Islamofascists who expressly want to destroy our civilization? What about the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich?”

MFVPAG: “I think if you look at the data [emphasis his], you will find that the polar bears are drowning in the Antarctic…”

DD: “Arctic, and fair enough. If you assume everything you say is true, then certainly polar bear civilization is threatened. Is that your concern?”

MFVPAG: “Well, if polar bears lose their civilization, they might swim to Florida and start eating tourists. No one wants that. I have a graphic here that shows Mickey Mouse and Pluto fighting off a ravenous polar bear. As you can see, Minnie is already lost.”

DD: “Yes, sir. It’s a very nice drawing. I see you stayed inside the lines.”

MFVPAG: “I’m so very proud of my art department.”

DD: “Yes, the crayons are beautiful. But back to your assertion that global warming is (i) a threat to mankind and (ii) the first ever threat to mankind. Isn’t that over selling it a bit?”

MFVPAG: “Imagine the entire world flooded. Isn’t that a greater risk than anything known to man?”

DD: “Sure, if it were a real risk. But even your most dire predictions only show a small portion of Florida and other coastal regions under water. Surely civilization could survive a little flooding.”

MFVPAG: “Did civilization survive Katrina? Did mankind survive Atlantis? Did civilization survive the flood of Noah?”

DD: “Yes. All three. That’s why we’re still here. Getting back to Florida…”

MFVPAG: “Wonderful state, except Broward county. You see, if those wonderful people had not been lied to by evil Prezdent Bush, I would be King now and global warming would have been stopped. I would have passed legislation prohibiting the Earth from getting warmer. I would have told the Weather Channel to only record low temperatures, and I would have funded a program to provide air conditioners for every home in the world.”

DD: “Wow, that’s some plan. Did you say King?”

MFVPAG: “You’re clearly a stooge for the oil companies. Good day sir. [Storms out]”

DD: [shouting] “What about the plague, wasn’t that a threat? Asteroids? Professional basketball? Sir?”

Salem, 1697.

The esteemed Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Lord Theodore Kulongoski has declared his intention to dismiss the Commonwealth’s Chief Alchemist.

In the face of evidence agreed upon by hundreds of witchcraft experts, Dr. George Taylor holds firm. He does not believe witches exist. Taylor also holds a unique title: Commonwealth’s Chief Alchemist.

Hundreds of witchcraft experts last Friday issued the strongest warning yet on global witchery, saying witches are “very likely” the cause of all wickedness. It is an incontrovertible Truth that wickedness has been on the rise since 1690.

“Most of the ungodliness we have seen up until now has been a result of natural variations in human nature,” Taylor wrongfully asserts.

His opinions conflict not only with many other experts, but with the Commonwealth’s anti-witch policies. So the Governor wants to take that title from Taylor and make it a position that he would appoint.

In an exclusive interview with MSM, Governor Theodore Kulongoski confirmed he wants to take that title from Taylor. The governor said Taylor’s contradictions interfere with the state’s stated goals of hanging, burning, impaling and otherwise killing witches–the accepted remedy of global wickedness proliferation in the eyes of a vast majority of witchcraft experts.

“He is in the way of our sated goals, so damn his integrity and let him burn in Hades,” noted the Governor. The Governor is also considering burning Dr. Taylor at the stake for his crime of independent thought. “Science is what the majority of scientists say it is, not this search for universal truth Dr. Taylor claims it to be.”

There is a great column by Canadian climotologist Timothy Ball in yesterday’s Canadian Free Press. On a day when record lows are being set across the globe and polar bears could find comfort in Hawaii, this is certainly a timely piece.

I feel for Dr. Ball, I really do. Scientific research, when done right, is a thankless, tedious job. As the price of his hubris, Sisyphus was made to push a rock up a hill for an eternity. At least he didn’t have Al Gore and every other do-gooder idiot pushing it down the hill, screaming “gravity is man made!”

Two very interesting articles today about global warming. There are about 1500 uninteresting articles about the UN’s “decision” that global warming (i) is happening and (ii) is caused by man. Suffice it to say they have also implicitly resolved that the people dying in Darfur are dying of natural causes. It’s much easier to throw money at problems that predict global change in 100 years than millions of deaths in several months.

Anyway, the first article is about a Penn State Professor calling out Al Gore as the incompetent idiot he is. Bravo!

The second, even more interesting piece, is about Delaware’s State Climatologist (I know, just what every state needs), who has signed an amicus brief challenging the “science” of global warming. Kudos, Dr. Legates. Note the following in this piece:

Of those who dispute Dr. Legate’s opinion, I count 3 people: Ali Mirzakhalili a bureaucrat whose job depends on there being a public risk; Philip Cherry, another state administrator with skin in the game; and Chad Tolman, a former DuPont research scientist whose sole accreditation is that he worked for the National Academy of Sciences. According to the only bio I could find, Dr. Tolman’s work at NAS involved environmental (not climatological) and toxicology studies. So essentially, we’re expected to believe that two bureaucrats and an environmentalist know more about climate than the smartest professional climatologist in the entire state, who, incidentally gets paid nothing by the state, whether global warming is true or not.

Philip Cherry, apparently condescendingly, notes that Dr. Legates “doesn’t speak for the state’s position,” but that the governor does. Of course! Legally that’s correct, Dr. Legates has no official role, his title is apparently an honorary one. But notice the slight of hand here. What you’re saying Mr. Cherry, is that a politician knows more than a professional scientist. Maybe we should start killing all the intellectuals, would that make your job easier?