Gore and some inconvenient truths...

From Peter Schweizer in USA Today:

"Maybe our very existence isn't threatened".

... Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.

Mac Johnson's latest: (click here to listen)

... The considerable supply of oil currently sitting unused in the desolate North Slope of Alaska represents a market-shifting change in the ratio of supply and demand. Although it is emotionally appealing to some, America need not “wean” itself from all foreign oil to obtain lower prices (a moot impossibility when dealing with a global market for a fungible commodity, by the way). We simply have to ensure that supply slightly exceeds demand.

For those of you that are still lost in the ether regarding energy markets, that means we need to actually drill for oil when we find it. In ANWR and the offshore areas of the United States, America has enough oil and gas to take control of her energy destiny for the near-term future. And if nuclear power is again committed to in a serious way, we will have that ability for the long-term as well.

If the amount of oil in Prudhoe Bay is significant, as it surely is, then the amount of oil in ANWR is very, very significant indeed -- but only if we choose to use it.

There aren't many things more frustrating in the world today than our governments lack of leadership and common sense when it comes to our energy crisis. The Unites States has to become more energy independent!

We cannot survive being beholden to countries - countries in which there are a significant number of people who want to kill us - for oil.

We should be drilling in ANWR, drilling off the coasts of Florida, California... wherever the oil companies need to go to get it. We should also be agressively building other sources of energy, like nuclear, wind, solar or ethanol.

Why we can't get past the so-called environmental issues boggles my mind. The caribou may end up just fine, but we'll be too busy trying to learn Sharia Law to care.