Why I love John Edwards

Watch the webcast he recorded (and broadcast live) after the debate last night. He's real, he's honest and he stands for things that will make the country better, IMHO.

Gore on Today Show

Here's the writeup. He dealt with the Al III thing very nicely -- saying it's a private matter and that he's glad his son is safe.

I can't really blame him for his distaste for politics these days. If what happened to him in 2000 wasn't enough, now he looks at the current political climate in the U.S. and, frankly, it all looks sour. He's not ready to get into the race yet, if he ever is; it's just not time. He'd be wasting his time and energy and money starting this far out. He's got plenty of time to be drafted...

He is doing a lot of great press for Live Earth this week. The NYT article, the Today Show. Much has been made (because people see signs where they look for them) about his alleged calendar clearing for the next 6 months. If I was running from both ends like Al has been, I'd take a vacation, too. He's been everywhere, done a book tour while promoting and organizing Live Earth. The man must be exhausted. Take a rest, Al! After Saturday, go to Cabo or something! I, for one, don't think it means anything at all about him running or planning to run or taking those 6 months to plan out a presidential bid strategy. I think he hasn't seen a lot of Tipper or the walls of his house lately and wants a bit of time to relax.

But that's my own personal opinion.

Hard to ignore

Okay, so let's talk about it. Gore's son, Al the Third, got pulled over doing 100 mph in his Prius Wednesday morning. My stepmom told me the story last night on the phone (I took yesterday off from the Internet and news) and she said she wanted to post on some blog somewhere, "Yeah, but what was he getting for gas mileage at the time?" ;-)

He was apparently in possession (had in the car with him) a few prescription drugs and less than a substantial amount of marijuana. He was being held on $20K bail. I can't help but think he should have gotten a speeding ticket and been done with it. Is marijuana even illegal in California? I'm kidding, of course, but still. Less than an ounce.

In case you thought I was full of hot air

I'm not. Live Earth party this Saturday. (If that link doesn't work, go to joinliveearth.org and look for the parties near Framingham, MA.)

It's not like I have a wedding in 2 months to plan or anything... ;-) Why not chuck a righteous treehugging party in the meantime?!

Eventful's Al Gore page

I hadn't heard about this group before yesterday, but I signed up right away to (politely) "demand" that Gore visit Boston in the near future. Join the bandwagon for Boston:


Or add your own town and show what widespread support he has.

MSNBC's citizenship quiz

Sadly, I believe the majority of Americans wouldn't pass this quiz. I'm proud to say I got a pretty decent score -- 19 out of 20. I guessed on the "Give me liberty or give me death one," though. Well, it was more of an educated guess, but still. Take the test and report your score by commenting!

Gore Google Group

10 times fast, anyone? GoreHub.com springs from Bloggers-For-Gore.com, which has created a Google Group for Gore. It proves to be an exciting ride, so if you're interested, join up!

Common missions

I was looking just now at my referring pages and saw a click from GoreHub.com, which seems to be a very good aggregator of all things Al Gore. They have a great, easily navigable home page. And they have the same mission as I do -- inform the people about Al Gore and his policies and what's going on in the 'sphere about him and hopefully, eventually, get him to feel like he needs to be our next president. I applaud GoreHub.

Plus I just love their "100% certified Goreganic" logo. :-)

He's been having 'fun'

A great article on Gore, the businessman, care of FastCompany.com. The bit in the beginning about Shoney's is priceless. Again -- why did people think he was stiff?! Deadpan is different from stiff...

It's easy to see why Al's had such a difficult time deciding on whether to toss his hat in the ring. I think he's decided by now, but it couldn't have been easy.

Keane defends Live Earth

I'm not sure about, or frankly all that interested in, the specifics of the critiques against Live Earth, but the artists themselves seem to believe in it.

Good quote by Keane drummer Richard Hughes: "Live Earth is getting a bit of flak like all good events like this tend to."

NH hearts Gore

It's not surprising, really. New Hampshire is known, here in New England, for being, well, nice and green. They want Gore above Clinton.

When the right starts pushing back

...we know we have a good candidate. The ultra-conservatives are whining and criticizing and taking Al's arguments apart. Here are a few examples:

• INSIGHT on Freedom -- why do all the ultra right-wing sites have flags all over them? Do they need to be reminded they're Americans?
  
• War and Reason: Why we fight in Iraq -- No, Donald, just because Gore attacks the reasons we went to Iraq and Bush for making them does not mean he's rallying Americans to hate the troops. The troops are doing what they're told. They won't be shunned when they return by all of us Dems who feel that the war shouldn't have been fought or dragged on so long.
  
• Flopping Aces -- The comments are actually more interesting than the blog post. And why is it that the left, in this issue of climate crisis, doesn't call too many people names, but the right resorts to kindergartener behavior and throws insults at people (namely, Gore)?
  
• ScienceBlogs -- "Fuddy duddy"? That's the best these people can come up with? Puh-lease.

There are more, but they're just more of the same -- name-calling and people who don't understand how air moves, not to mention, holds gases and particles of junk.

It's sad, but when I read some of the posts on the Internet, I realize that a lot of people in America -- all of whom have their right to speak their minds, of course -- just don't understand the need for wise usage of power and resources. "Don't waste water." "Turn off the lights when you leave a room." Our parents have been telling us these things our whole lives. Whether it's for cost or because you shouldn't waste limited resources, it's just common sense. Are the people who throw names not blessed with common sense? I have to believe most of America has a thinking head on their shoulders. I have to believe that Al thinks that, too. Else why would he want to lead these people?!

Brit blogger gets it

If this is any indication of what Brits think of Gore, he's a step ahead of any of the other candidates already. Read the post on the Falling on a Bruise blog.

Moving Beyond Kyoto

Al Gore wrote a piece for the New York Times that was published in yesterday's paper. Take a read.

Most interesting pullquote:

Therefore, just as President Reagan renamed and modified the SALT agreement (calling it Start), after belatedly recognizing the need for it, our next president must immediately focus on quickly concluding a new and even tougher climate change pact. We should aim to complete this global treaty by the end of 2009 — and not wait until 2012 as currently planned.

The next president, wink, wink, nudge, nudge? I'm reading into this, I know. But I really see this as Gore's first "what I'll do as president" piece. He's not going to enter the race until he's pulled in by his ears. He's not going to enter while there's still a chance he could lose the nom to another Dem. He's 3rd in most polls. Maybe he'd jump to 1st if he declared, maybe the list is still too long. There's no reason for him to chuck his hat in now. He just needs to stay in the public discourse and he's doing a GREAT job of that.

Another interesting line from his OpEd piece: "Are we so scared of this challenge that we cannot lead?" Touche, Al. I have a feeling you're not so scared that you can't lead your country, as well.

His last graph bodes well for his future presidential speeches:

But there’s something even more precious to be gained if we do the right thing. The climate crisis offers us the chance to experience what few generations in history have had the privilege of experiencing: a generational mission; a compelling moral purpose; a shared cause; and the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict of politics and to embrace a genuine moral and spiritual challenge.

This guy doesn't even NEED a speech-writing team. He will when he's president, but he clearly has the inspirational grasp of our language (how many best-sellers has he written over the years? 3?).

Toronto stages 'An Inconvenient Musical'

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Toronto loves An Inconvenient Truth. They apparently poke fun at the seriousness of the global warming issue, but are giving a dollar per ticket sold to WWF's Climate Change Fund.

Another OpEd piece about America's belief in Gore

This one actually goes into specifics and pits Gore against the other candidates. It's a must read.