A legitimate reason or pure hypocrisy?

It is interesting to note that many people follow a "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy. I am against all of them.

And I am not sure I am totally on board with the criticism of Gore's energy use. It may or may not be a legit criticism. Certainly it sounds like an extremely high level of energy use. Perhaps someone should see if he is running a growing operation on the side.*

Nevertheless, you do have an oversize domicile (itself a situation wide open to critiquing as symbolic of the (allegedly) destructive culture of consumerism. I am going to shock all my readers and actually defend the Gore-ster. Here is a man with a wife involved in an extensive business who is himself involved in numerous political and social activities that require extensive staff which requires large space and might indeed need large quantities of electricity for legitimate reasons.

By the same token, whether the energy use is legitimate or not, this is an unqualified, inexcusable demonstration of arrogance and stupidity.

Kreider said Gore purchases enough energy from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and methane gas to balance 100 percent of his electricity costs.

Gore, who also owns a home in the Washington area, has said he leads a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To balance out other carbon emissions, the Gores invest money in projects to reduce energy consumption, Kreider said.

Kreider is the official spokesman for this so Gore does NOT, in fact, get a pass on this. The whole idea that "I can use as much as I want as long as I convince other people to use less so it balances out" is flawed on so many levels I cannot even begin to express myself properly.

If you are not yourself scaling back then you have no right whatsoever to tell other people to do so. Whether your usage is justified or is just selfish overconsumerish behavior the fact remains you are using more. It is not right to tell others to use less so you can use more. No sirree bob, that sort of nonsense does not fly in these here parts.

Second, the whole idea that using all the (allegedly) "bad" energy you want but figure by purchasing MORE evergy from other sources makes it okay is again, patently ridiculous. If you used "bad" energy...you used it whether you purchase additional energy or not. The whole concept of balancing through more energy consumption or convincing others to use less is so offensive as to even further invalidate his ranting. Because, you know, I follow his teachings so closely already (even though he doesn't...ironically, I probably do follow his philosophy closer than he does. I am notorious for turning out lights almost too frequently and consistently, leaving heat off way late into the season and turning it off extremely early, etc....)



* it saddens me that many of my jokes might only make sense to me. This is one such example. One clue police often cite when making a key marijuana drug bust is the abnormally high levels of electricity use. Thus I have implied that perhaps Gore is making cash on the side. I do not, in fact think this. In fact, I find it highly unlikely and that, in turn, makes it funny to me. Of course, a joke you must explain is usually not funny.