The Blue State

Renovations to the Gores home

After listening to Sean Hannity's (among other's) constantattempts at smearing Al Gore and trying to get everyone in the phone bookto say he is a hypocrite, I can't express how pleased I was when AssociatedPress Writer Erik Schelzig interviewedAl Gore about his 'green' lifestyle and his TN home's "green-ness".This information has been out for a couple of week, but is a great"at-a-glance" reference and worthy of having on hand.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Al Gore, the environmental activist stung by criticismover his house's energy efficiency, said Friday that renovations are nearlycomplete to make it a model "green" home

"This plan has been in the works for a long time," the former vicepresident said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The only thingthat has changed is that we're more public about it because of the misleadingattack by a global-warming denier group."

Earlier this year, a conservative group criticized Gore, citing electricbills that were far more than the typical Nashville home. Utility records
showed the Gore family paid an average monthly electric bill of about $1,200last year for its 10,000-square-foot home.

Gore's renovation project, which he said has been in the works for months,seeks to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED,standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Once his upscale neighborhood changed zoning laws earlier this year, Gore wasable to place solar panels on his roof, and he's now preparing to
install a geothermal system that will, among other things, drastically reducethe cost of heating his pool.

Gore is also upgrading windows and ductwork, installing more energy-efficientlight bulbs and creating a rainwater collection system for
irrigation and water management

The home houses offices for Gore and his wife, Tipper, as well as acommercial kitchen for formal events.

Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, thegroup that initially criticized Gore, said the "renovations areobviously in direct response to our finding that he's a hypocrite on the issueof global warming." Read on...

WhenHannity tried to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to buy into his "Gore's a hypocrite"theory-smear on 'Hannity's America', the governor responded to Hannity's long winded sales pitch:

Thegovernor diplomatically brought it up himself. Schwarzenegger said focusing onhow much a public figure contributes to global warming is fair game. "But Idon't think you should crucify someone like that, because if he does so muchgood and inspiring people and changes millions and millions of people to drivewith clean cars and inspires millions of people to use less energy, less waterand all of those things but in the meantime maybe he drives the bigger car, Ithink it is some what of an unfair thing to go and attack him. Yes there is ahypocrisy, absolutely."

On a global warming note: In lastnight's 'BlueNightowl Clips' post, we featured a video titled 'TheMost Terrifying Video You'll Ever See', where a rather knowledgeable H.S.science teacher  simplifies the global warming issue using common sense,and in a very humble way. His 3 follow-up videos titled 'PatchingHoles' (1,2 & 3) are more than worthy of viewing.

Gore's global warming presentation goes grassroots

After you read stories like this, it is much more reasonable to believe that Al Gore is anything but a publicity whore.  He genuinely cares about this global warming issue, and is going to great lengths to help science prevail over the rich oil lobby.  Completely under the radar, last year Al Gore began teaching people to give the same kind of power point presentation he gave in the movie, An Inconvenient Truth.  Take Jamie Harkins, for example::

The whole process began last summer, when Harkins, who graduated fromParkland High school, participated in a nationwide conference call withGore, who alluded to the project.

''All he said was 'I'm training a thousand people to give thisglobal warming presentation,''' she said. Harkins began sending lettersto Gore's office, and eventually was chosen — along with othersnationwide — to come to Tennessee. At that point, she hadn't even seenthe documentary yet. She's seen it since then, given copies of the DVDas Christmas gifts, and taken other people to see it, converting someglobal warming skeptics along the way.

In the last two years, there has been an eleven percent jump among the number of Americans that consider global warming a serious issue, as a CNN poll shows.  Although, the climate itself is likely most of the reason why more people are worried, not just because of Gore's movie.

I wonder if An Inconvenient Truth had an impact on the motivations of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), who enacted green legislation that helped shore up the support of many Democrats, eventually leading to his reelection two months ago.  Had it not been for Gore's movie, maybe the actor-turned-governor would be out of a job now.  Less Californians would have recognized the significance of the legislation that Schwarzenegger helped pass.

Schwarzenegger loves road trips

When Arnold Schwarzenegger took office, he said over and over how excited he was to connect with the people of California.  But today we now know that this kind of interaction on a grassroots level was not physically possible, since one out of every five days since 2003 he was out of state:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been out of state all or part of 163days since his inauguration in November 2003 -- nearly one of every fivedays he's been in office.

The celebrity governor always promisedto promote California, and he's traveled as far as China to pitcheverything from avocados to zinfandel.

While many of Schwarzenegger's trips on official business areextensively publicized, he also can slip away on a private jet with ane-mail from his office: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has left the state."

Schwarzenegger'sregular and sometimes unexplained jaunts expose him to criticism thathe's shirking responsibility at home, which his office stronglydisputes.

As of last month, according to Survey USA, Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval rating stood at 35%.  Meanwhile, the California Governor criticized the President's Monday night speech on immigration, calling it a "Band-Aid solution."

GOP beginning to understand political implications of immigration debate

Don't think for one second that the battle over immigration will be over until next year.  According to the Monday morning edition of the New York Times, speechwriters have inserted a pitch for immigration reform into an address Bush will give today:

Two weeks after the Senate walked away from its immigration debate,leaders of both parties are expressing a new sense of urgency to actbefore the November midterm elections. Mr. Bush, who has made animmigration bill a centerpiece of his legislative agenda and who coulduse a victory on Capitol Hill to revive his flagging second term, isexpected to address the issue again on Monday in an appearance inIrvine, Calif.

On the NBC Sunday show "Meet the Press", Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy, who just released his book titled America Back on Track, encouraged the President to push the issue:

"There's strong support for it," Sen. Edward Kennedy, a MassachusettsDemocrat, said of the bipartisan measure that he crafted largely withRepublican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"If the president were take on the right wing of his own politicalparty, we could get this legislation and pass it very, very quickly,"Kennedy told NBC's "Meet the Press."

This comes as others across the country pump up the volume on the debate.  Over in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted the idea of the United States paying billions of dollars for a fence that illegal immigrants can just dig under.

This issue will not go away.  Last month, Republican Congressman George Sensenbrenner ignited a flame that will not go out anytime soon, and years from now might be looked back at by historians as an ill-advised strategic mistake that burned the trust that a majority of Hispanics had towards the GOP when it came to moral issues after 9/11.  What the GOP fails to realize is that while they consider immigration a security issue, Hispanics consider it a moral issue.  Karl Rove seems to understand it, as does John McCain, while a clear majority of the GOP don't.  Until all of the GOP can grapple with this reality, it will cost them politically.

Bloomberg tries to save Arnold

It dawned on me last November that if I lived in New York City, I might have voted for Republican mayoral incumbent Michael Bloomberg.  Overall, the guy seems like a decent man: honest, pragmatic and extremely knowledgeable about how to manage city government.  Most importantly, he on occasion reminds people that he is a different Republican -- not an ideologue of the far right, but more of a centrist both socially and economically.  He earned the votes of many Democratic voters in that city because of those ideals.

So what shocked many today was Bloomberg's whopping $44,600 donation to the Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign in California.  He has spoke at Schwarzenegger rallies before, just as he has at Bush rallies.  But $44,600?  That is the maximum donation allowed in the state of California.  More than anything though, it shows just how desperate the actor-turned-politician really is.  Unable to get support from his own state, he has to turn to an individual all the way across the country for support.  With his approval rating at 36%, Arnold Schwarzenegger needs all the help he can get.