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Hypocrisy Update: Al Gore’s Home Uses 20 Times the Energy of Average American’s

In another classic example of liberals telling Americans to “Do As I Say, Not As I Do,” Dr. Global Warming Himself, aka Al Gore, has been identified by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research as talking a good game about energy conservation while not walking the walk.

In a press release published Monday just hours after the conclusion of the Academy Awards, the “independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization” reported (emphasis mine throughout, h/t Drudge): “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.”

The release marvelously continued:

Nets Champion Gore as 'Oscar-Winning Environmental Evangelist,' Tout Presidential Bid

CBS and ABC on Monday night celebrated the Academy Award for the documentary narrated by Al Gore and promoted the cause of those who hope he uses it as a “springboard” for a presidential run. For her lead, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric paired how the “Oscar win puts Al Gore's global warming message on center stage" with how “environmentalism may be reaching critical mass” as evidenced by how “the largest private equity buyout in corporate history” -- of the TXU utility -- shows that the “Wall Street mantra of 'greed is good' has been replaced by 'green is good.'” Gloria Borger Borger soon trumpeted how Gore is playing his Oscar “for all it's worth because now he's not just another defeated presidential candidate. He's an Oscar-winning environmental evangelist” and, she oozed, “on stage last night...Gore was on top of the world. Not only has he spread the word about global warming, he's helped change the political climate, too.”

ABC put “Gore's Moment” up on the screen graphic before reporter Bill Weir touted how “a bigger, looser Al Gore now roams red carpets in Ralph Lauren, gives Grammys to Red Hot Chili Peppers and has Oscar credibility" -- as if a bunch of Hollywood liberals awarding a liberal movie starring a liberal politician somehow gives that politician any more credibility.
Weir also championed how Gore's “global warming slide show has made $45 million and counting at the box office. Live versions sell out red state arenas faster than rock stars. And he's up for the Nobel Peace Prize. Which leads to the question, will he run again?"

CNN Encourages Republicans to Mimic Liberal Schwarzenegger

For the third time since the 2006 midterm elections, CNN’s "Situation Room" has highlighted liberal Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a role model for the national GOP. On the Monday edition of the cable program, reporter Jeff Greenfield discussed the California leader’s visit to Washington to give a speech and he also described Schwarzenegger’s "centrism." Additionally, Greenfield highlighted the former movie star's liberal initiatives:

Jeff Greenfield: " In 2005, frustrated by a Democratic legislature, Schwarzenegger went to war, promoting ballot measures to curb the power of unions, to cap the budget, to change redistricting. All of those measures went down to defeat."

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I just made terrible mistakes."

Greenfield: "So, in a remarkable 180 degree turn, Schwarzenegger began cutting deals with the legislature on education spending, on expanding health care to all children, on dealing with the budget deficit and roads through bond measures, that’s borrowing. He’s joined Senator John McCain, embracing a massive effort to cut greenhouse gasses, something the conservative GOP base is not exactly crazy about. And he’s even defended the Republicans’ public enemy number one, Hillary Clinton, over her Iraq War vote."

The NY Times Preens About Its 'Skepticism' of Govt. Claims of Iran Meddling in Iraq

After no huge caches of weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, the New York Times felt burnt by liberal accusations of being water-carriers for Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war -- an accusation based almost entirely on a handful of overly credulous pieces filed by former reporter Judith Miller.

These days, the Times is leaning heavily in the opposite direction, preening about how skeptical it has been about U.S. government evidence demonstrating Iran's role in providing bombs to Shiite militias in Iraq. Monday's headline makes that clear and the front-page story itself by James Glanz and Richard Oppel Jr. is hedged to the hilt: "U.S. Says Raid in Iraq Supports Claim on Iran, but Doubts Persist."

Law Prof/Cable Legal Pundit Turley Writes, Chats Online About Liberal Angst Over Toy Guns

Even in an age when eight-year-olds are expert video gamers, if you're a kid (or a 28-year-old blogger playing with your nephews) nothing beats an old-fashioned game of Cops and Robbers (or Jack Bauer vs. shady terrorist masterminds). But that doesn't sit well with liberal parents who abhor "gun violence." So what do you do if you're a liberal TV pundit like George Washington University's Jonathan Turley and your kids won't take the hint when you take away their toy guns and swords and other toy "weapons"?

Well, the law professor wrote yesterday about how he stopped worrying and learned to accept that little boys like to play with toy guns (in his kids' case more often with toy swords/lightsabers). He found that, surprise, surprise, little boys often act out good vs. evil dramas with their toy gun or sword play, and for some darn reason, it seems natural for them to do so:

Wall Street Turns Bearish on Global Warming Stocks as Hysterical Bubble Peaks

Despite Hollywood and the media’s love affair with Al Gore, it seems that the smart money on Wall Street has turned cold to the concept of global warming.

As has been noted by many skeptical scientists, this current period of temperature rise that began in the ’70s may actually have peaked in 1998. Yet, the real hysteria surrounding this issue reached a zenith with the cataclysm of Hurricane Katrina, and the arrival of the equally disturbing schlockumentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

As the world became more and more focused on climate change issues, shares of alternative energy companies skyrocketed like tech stocks in the late ’90s. Unfortunately, according to a Bloomberg article published Monday, the party might be coming to an end right around the time interest in this subject is skyrocketing (emphasis mine throughout):

Obama assauges Democrats' guilt

As more than a century of persecution and oppression of blacks at the hands of Democrats comes to light, we’re witnessing an interesting phenomenon: the nation’s Democratic-controlled media conferring near-president-elect status on Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. But Obama-mania hints more of assuaging white Democratic guilt than of serving the party’s African American constituency.

Truth be known, the recently seated Obama is the FIRST black man Democrats have ever elected to the U.S. Senate, and shame on Democrats, the country's oldest political party. Obama was raised by his white mother; so one might argue -- in the race-conscious way liberals do -- that his heritage is more white than black and Democrats, therefore, have yet elect a bona fide black male to the U.S. Senate.

One might assume that the first black Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate was a milestone achieved decades ago; after all, the party is the nation’s oldest. But it wasn’t until 1993 -- when Illinois elected Carol Moseley Braun -- that a black Democrat first served in the country’s most august legislative body. Unfortunately, Braun’s politics were often marked by socialist restrictions to American freedom.

More Gore Fawning Over 'Eye-Opening' Doc

On this morning's Today show, NBC correspondent Jill Rappaport filed a post-Oscars report that included still more fawning over Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Rappaport cornered the former Vice President after the ceremony to ask him about his "eye-opening" documentary. The following encounter was aired on the February 26th Today show.

Jill Rappaport to Gore: "And as expected Best Documentary honors went to An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's eye-opening campaign to warn the world about global warming. The fact that for over three decades you have been trying to get the message out there and now the world is listening."

Josey Wales, Seagal and Bond vs. Academy Awards

The working-class rejection of Hollywood's bourgeois values ... with movies featuring Eastwood, Seagal and 007 opposite the Academy Awards?

Regulation is a dish best served during 'American Morning'

Promoting a recent study by the food police group Center for Science in the Public Interest, a report during CNN's "American Morning" today favored further regulation of restaurants, targeting UNO Chicago Grill and Ruby Tuesday in particular.

"When you go to a restaurant you better be watching what you're eating, because some of the calories you get can be extreme," said reporter Greg Hunter before introducing CSPI nutritionist Jayne Hurley.

In total, Hurley's view was represented with a full minute and 46 seconds, compared to Ruby Tuesday's senior vice president who was given 10 seconds. Read the full Business & Media Institute story here.

Schieffer The Latest To Ignore Edwards' Blogger Scandal

Democratic Presidential candidate and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards appeared Sunday on CBS’s "Face the Nation." While Mr. Edwards was on the program for more than nine minutes, host Bob Schieffer followed NBC’s lead and neglected to ask the former Senator about his anti-Christian bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan. Both have since left the Edwards campaign, but it is unknown whether they left voluntarily or were pushed out because the networks have avoided covering this story.

While Schieffer failed to inquire about these two bloggers, he did ask the former Vice Presidential candidate some tough questions on Iraq. Particularly, Mr. Schieffer pressed Edwards about the President’s stance:

Matt Lauer Boasts Today Exclusive 'That Could Rock Christianity to its Core'

Brought to you by the same people who couldn't get enough of Ron Howard's Christian-bashing The Da Vinci Code, comes another promotional effort of yet another Hollywood director's take on Jesus Christ conspiracy theories. At the top of the show NBC Today host Matt Lauer greeted viewers with the following tease about James Cameron's new documentary: "A shocking new claim that an ancient burial place may have housed the bones of Christ and a son. This morning a Today exclusive that could rock Christianity to its core."

Today co-host Meredith Vieira conducted the interview and promoted the discovery this way: "There are so few 'wow' stories out there, this is one of them." While Today did air some contradictory statements for the most part the entire segment ran as a full blown infomercial for Cameron's documentary. The following are all the teases and then the full segment as it aired on the 7:30am half-hour of the February 26th Today show:

Liberal Anger as Nevada Dems Team with FNC for Debate Broadcast

As I type this, there's a minor skirmish being fought within the Democratic Party over the plan of Nevada Democrats' plan to give Fox News Channel the rights to broadcast a presidential campaign debate scheduled for next August in Reno.

Predictably, the moonbats at Moveon.org are outraged and up to their usual online petitioning:

The battle between the Nevada Democratic Party and online liberal activists continues to rage, with MoveOn.org saying Friday it had collected 135,000 signatures on a petition asking the party to dissociate itself from the Fox News cable channel.

"Hopefully, they're getting the hint," MoveOn.org Civic Action spokesman Adam Green said.

But the party, which is partnering with Fox News to broadcast a Democratic presidential debate Aug. 14 in Reno, wasn't backing down.

Open Thread

Discuss, debate, pontificate...

Krugman Rib-Tickler: Positive MSM Coverage To Blame for W's Election in 2000

If, as I am, you're stuck in a seemingly endless winter, here's something to bring a sunny smile to your lips, courtesy of that one-man cavalcade of mirth, Paul Krugman. The New York Times columnist this morning blames the election of George Bush in 2000 on -- ready? -- the MSM! Yes, according to Krugman, Bush

"got within chad-and-butterfly range of the White House because the public, enthusiastically encouraged by many in the news media, treated the presidential election like a high school popularity contest. The successful candidate received kid-gloves treatment — and a free pass on the fuzzy math of his policy proposals — because he seemed like a fun guy to hang out with, while the unsuccessful candidate was subjected to sniggering mockery over his clothing and his mannerisms."

BBC Contends That Islamic Rule Was Stabilizing Force in Somalia

Violence and chaos are terms that are pretty well defined in society. A person tends to conceptualize events tied to such words by visualizing bombs exploding, bullets flying and all commonly associated images from the ravages of war and crime.

But violence is not limited to the media driven coverage that most often captures the readily available public examples of violence. There are plenty of examples of violence that occurs relatively unnoticed to the public eye. Violence such as the quietly executed political and religious persecution that happens in the middle of the night and well away from western cameras. Violence such as the forced recognition of Islamic law by dhimmi slaves and non-religious infidels. These examples, which have plenty of evidence to back them up, are sadly considered non-chaotic because they happen either quietly or with the acceptance of many.

Boston Globe: GOP all Weak Candidates, Dems 'strongest in decades' (more Obama gushing)

Without a hint of balance, Robert Kuttner of the Boston Globe thinks he has it all figured out -- 20 months before the election -- that the GOP candidates cannot win, while the Dems are the right ticket as he tries Taking stock of the 2008 field.

Naturally, his is another gusher for Barack Obama. But, he starts his piece in one way or another ripping each and every one of the GOP candidates, or those who would vote for them, before saying how "strong" the Dems field of candidates is.

Here are the results of his analyzing of the GOP field:

Is Daily News Story on Slave Roots Sharpton's Presidential Campaign Kick Off?

Is it just coincidence that a story has appeared touting the fact that Al Sharpton is the descendant of slaves, ones owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond to boot? Or could this be the unofficial kick-off of the Sharpton presidential campaign, with a major boost from the reverend's hometown newspaper?

Let's put these three stories together:

On January 17, a story appears reporting: "civil rights activist Al Sharpton said Monday he is seriously considering a run for president. " And why is Sharpton running? "If we're talking about the urban agenda, can you tell me anybody else in the field who's representing that right now?" Translation: Obama might be preparing to announce, but he's not addressing African-American issues.

Three weeks later, on the day Barack Obama announces his candidacy, a story appears in which Al Sharpton declares “just because you’re our color doesn’t make you our kind.” Translation: Barack Obama is not an authentic African-American.

And now, just two weeks after Obama's announcement, a story bursts out of the Daily News declaring that Sharpton's ancestors were slaves owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond.

Today's Gaggle: February 26, 2007

Click here for instructions on running Gaggle daily on your own site. There's also an archive of previous toons available here.

AP Excludes Kidnapping Suspect's Illegal Status And Past

 h/t Jules for this:

The man suspected of kidnapping a 13-year-old boy and leaving him tied to a tree in the woods in a ransom scheme reportedly is an illegal alien who had already been deported once.

Police are searching for Vincente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, 22, an illegal alien who has already been deported once, for the kidnapping of 13 year old Clay Moore at gun point. It's believed to be a ransom attempt but Moore escaped on his own.

Here is the AP's sanitized version of the suspect's background. picture here.

Double Standards In An AP Article About The Polygamous History Of Mitt Romney's Family

What’s next, knitting? The AP has taken up genealogy and investigated the family tree of Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. On Saturday, February 24th, Yahoo published an AP article detailing the polygamy in his family's past. The AP includes the obligatory phrase noting that Romney condemns the practice but for the rest of the article, goes into explicit detail about the Romneys' devotion to polygamy, even after the Mormon church and federal law banned it. The AP rattles off the family’s polygamists and gets into “how important polygamy was to them” (emphasis mine throughout):

Al Gore and ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ Win Oscar For Best Documentary

Well, it’s final: Al Gore’s schlockumentary won an Oscar Sunday evening. And, despite Bill McCuddy’s prediction Saturday, the former Vice President and soon-to-be-doctor did indeed get a chance to give an acceptance speech.

I'm sure you're all thrilled.

(Update: Drudge is reporting that Sunday's Oscar broadcast might be the third lowest rated in history.)

After producer Davis Guggenheim just gushed over Tipper’s husband, Gore spoke his piece (Hot Air has video available here):