Al Gore: “What, me, no conflict of interest?”
Economics, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Liberals — By Harrison on November 4, 2009 at 6:00 am
Four score and millions of dollars ago...
Sometimes the ironies of following the news are just too funny. Whenever Republicans are in charge we always hear about how rich they are getting when the price of gas goes up, as if every rise in price equals an extra dollar or two in their pocket per gallon of gas sold. So it comes as no surprise that, aside from this slightly adventurous piece in the New York Times, little is discussed about Al Gore and his role in “helping” the green economy along:
The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses.
Mr. Gore and his partners decided to back the company, and in gratitude Silver Spring retained him and John Doerr, another Kleiner Perkins partner, as unpaid corporate advisers.
The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr. Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.
One has to be careful here because, if Mr. Gore truly believes that mankind is destroying the planet and he can somehow help, while making tens of millions of dollars in the process, what’s the harm? Does Al Gore truly believe the “global warming” story he tells so often? Nobody knows except Mr. Gore and maybe Tipper, his wife. But he certainly has positioned himself rather well to continue making a pile of money:
Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, asserted at a hearing this year that Mr. Gore stood to benefit personally from the energy and climate policies he was urging Congress to adopt.
Mr. Gore says that he is simply putting his money where his mouth is.
“Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?” Mr. Gore said. “I am proud of it. I am proud of it.”
In an e-mail message this week, he said his investment activities were consistent with his public advocacy over decades.
“I have advocated policies to promote renewable energy and accelerate reductions in global warming pollution for decades, including all of the time I was in public service,” Mr. Gore wrote. “As a private citizen, I have continued to advocate the same policies. Even though the vast majority of my business career has been in areas that do not involve renewable energy or global warming pollution reductions, I absolutely believe in investing in ways that are consistent with my values and beliefs. I encourage others to invest in the same way.”
John Edwards' (advocate for the poor) home.
Mr. Gore, of course, does not live the kind of lifestyle which he preaches which I find sort of like somebody who preaches vegitarianism yet has a Gold Pass to Outback Steakhouse. Mr. Gore has a few homes, travels by private jet, and just generally burns a ton of electricity at his home in Tennessee. To me, this is a major hole in his arguments that he is putting his money where his mouth is because he and his family will not be financially hurt should all this Cap and Trade nonsense actually become law. He is able to look down from his mountain top and tell everybody else how to live, all the while making a ton of money and not living by his own values.
Mr. Gore has invested a significant portion of the tens of millions of dollars he has earned since leaving government in 2001 in a broad array of environmentally friendly energy and technology business ventures, like carbon trading markets, solar cells and waterless urinals.
He has also given away millions more to finance the nonprofit he founded, the Alliance for Climate Protection, and to another group, the Climate Project, which trains people to present the slide show that was the basis of his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” Royalties from his new book on climate change, “Our Choice,” printed on 100 percent recycled paper, will go to the alliance, an aide said.
I suppose I believe someone who speaks about poverty more if they were poor. As to this example it reminds me of former Senator (and presidential candidate) John Edwards who loved to be an advocate of the poor even though he lived in a 28,200 square foot home. Somehow, it seems hypocritical. But maybe I’m just a pessimist?
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25 Comments
I want to thank him for saving me 14 cents with all the green technology that he is using, this helped my country out greatly. I was able to donate that money back into the federal government so that President Obama could then funnel it back into companies that he profits from..
I so do enjoy helping Gore put his money where his mouth is…Actually if he would like I’d love to stuff a couple hundred dollars into it right now..To show my appreciation that is..
Since the government has taken all my money..I hope he doesn’t mind if I have to pull it out of my ass..
Al Gore and his partner David Blood. Generations Investment Management, otherwise known in business circles as ‘Blood and Gore,’ are prominent in the global warming industry. Researching for an article months ago I discovered that Generations Investment Managemnent is the entity that recieves the carbon credits money collected as payment by those orgs that continue using polluting technologies in their business and distributed to those ‘green enrgy’ companies under it’s umbrella.The fact that Gore is making millions off of this scam is itself an inconvenient truth for the faithful who hang on his every word as well as those on the global warming gravy train that are making the big bucks alonside him.
Just my opinion.
I didn’t know that. I had read about his Carbon Trading. Sounds to me like a huge conflict of interest. What is it the Democrats like to say… the rich get richer?
Isn’t it funny how the left cries out that the right are profiteers? Stones and glass houses my friend.
theLibertyPen´s last blog ..Election Day Storyline: The Citizen Revolution Has Begun!
Despite what the climate change deniers might be saying, or believing, Gore was one of the strongest voices, which put the issue of global warming on the agenda. If he’s making money in the process, so what?
The long-time millionaire John Edwards is certainly not the only one from among the rich, who is an advocate for the poor. How about Bill Gates and his major contributor Warren Buffett?
Politicus´s last blog ..Lets Figure Out Afghan Mission’s Objectives First
Bill Gates left Microsoft, set up a foundation, and donates tons of money all across the world to help improve the quality of life in poorer nations. John Edwards cheated on his wife, got his mistress pregnant, lied about it, and ran for president. Not quite the same.
Great for Al Gore! I’m glad he’s a hypocrite releasing as much CO2 into the air as a small city while preaching the evils of CO2. It just makes it easier for everybody to see what a hypocrite he is. I hope he continues his behavior.
To begin, I am not opposed to making money. But when you push an agenda and your movie was cited as being factually inaccurate (British High Court for example), it makes me wonder as to the true motivation. Gore refuses to be debated upon the very issues he is trying to sell the rest of us, why is that? I am sure that you will have a comical retort. And your ability to illustrate corollaries is still rather tenuous – Gates and Buffet do not project necessary policy changes based upon science that can be refuted by other scientists.
But I suppose if roles were reversed and a person from the Right was in Gore’s position, opinions would be substantially different. Kaleidoscopic reality.
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Yeah if Al Gore was a Republican I don’t think he’s have his Nobel. Neither would Obama. Par for the course.
All right, gentlemen. Who from among the Republicans would you nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize? Personally, I cannot think of even one, but I’m confident that you will enlighten me in short order
politcus´s last blog ..Conservatives Try Last Ditch Effort
That’s kind of the point it should go to the most qualified person.
No one here has brought up the point that Al is getting fat off of tax payer money. He invests in Silver Springs Network, gets named as an unpaid corporate advisor and…. presto, Silver Springs Network gets $3.4 billion dollars from the Energy Department.
This is crony capitalism at its most basic. If you don’t think that Al Gore’s investment in and presence at SSN had anything to do with them receiving that monstrous grant, you are delusional.
This hasn’t been the first time either. He is vested in another project that has received tax payer money that will build electric cars… in Finland… which will retail for $89,000. (I apologize for not having the name of the company at my fingertips but it is a matter of public record)
The Environmental-Industrial complex has thus far proven only to be of benefit to the egos and back pockets of the poltically well-connected.
Politicus’ statement of Nobel qualification presupposes the absence of accomplished personages among the anti-liberal establishment. Is that because the left’s socio-political ideology is somehow superior to Conservatism, or even Libertarianism? Which, if such a posture is offered, therefore assumes some elevated entitlement for receivership? For that matter, why does it have to be a Republican? What can be stated with some verity is that Obama and Gore winning the Nobel dismisses the relevancy of the prize itself. Obama has yet to be weighed and measured, but so far he has done little in the way of substance. Gore won his prize through disinformation, and as Dean so aptly put, crony capitalism. Not necessarily actions committed within the spirit of the award. Funny how this is never pointed out by members of the left.
theLibertyPen´s last blog ..Election Day Storyline: The Citizen Revolution Has Begun!
LibertyPen, there is no doubt that Obama’s award was premature, Gore’s maybe a bit surprising as well, but the “disinformation” part is bollocks.
I am still waiting for a list of Republican Nobel nominees.
Also, would appreciate not being labeled as a “member of the left”.
Proper education does not necessarily a leftist make
Politicus´s last blog ..Conservatives Try Last Ditch Effort
To begin, my statement, “members of the left,” bore no reference to you specifically. Re-read my post, if anything, the second sentence could pertain to you. I choose my words carefully and care little for misinterpretation. Regarding your request, I’ll answer yours if you’ll answer mine first.
Regarding Gore, I submit this website for your perusal: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/10/09/court-identifies-eleven-inaccuracies-al-gore-s-inconvenient-truth
Now I am sure you will assign little consideration for the piece, but the inaccuracies are disinformation because his assertions are factually erroneous. I guess you and I have a different understanding of “proper education.” This is from your website;
“We will and do take the side of what we consider to be right, …or anything that we consider to be corrupt, …or even environmentally irresponsible.”
Again, if one purveys inaccurate information and passes it off as the truth, is that environmentally irresponsible?
theLibertyPen´s last blog .."Man alone is an end unto himself"
I have read the piece about a truck driver winning his assertions in a British court.
Nothing new there. Just one example might be telling:”The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government’s expert was forced to concede that this is not correct”.
I suppose that we can assume that it is the global cooling that is causing those glaciers to melt, I suppose. Was the truck driver able to prove what actually DID cause the Mount Kilimanjaro glaciers to almost disappear?
Pretty much the same could be said about the other points.
Once could not truly expect “The Inconvenient Truth” to be 100% accurate. Few things ever are. The truck driver is simply another global warming denier and used all the means at his disposal to disprove Gore’s case. And the court, along the lines of judicial process, rather than a scientific one has handed this publicized, but empty victory to the truck driver.
Therefore, the truck driver could be one of those that my statement of “or anything that we consider to be corrupt, …or even environmentally irresponsible.” could be directed against.
Politicus´s last blog ..Jobless Rate Highest Since Reagan Days
Regarding Mount Kilimanjaro:
“the reasons for the rapid decline in Kilimanjaro’s glaciers are not primarily due to increased air temperatures, but a lack of precipitation.”
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Sampling_of_Scientific_Reality_Checks_on_Mount_Kilimanjaro.pdf
In fact, if you read about the issue, the temperatures on the glacier are always below freezing.
I suppose the ice getting thicker in the South Pole is due to “global warming” as well..?
Harrison, quite possibly true, although they have been documented as actually MELTING…
Even though lack of precipitation could be a factor, the deniers like to ignore the fact that drought in many places is caused by climate change. Entire swaths of East Africa are suffering from catastrophic droughts, exposing millions to famine. Yes, there have been floods in some areas as well, but all in all the climate patterns are changing rapidly.
Politicus´s last blog ..Jobless Rate Highest Since Reagan Days
Climate is not static. Remember, the world has gone through an ice age… did all that ice melt 20,000 years ago because of Ford Expeditions?
“Once could not truly expect “The Inconvenient Truth” to be 100% accurate.”
If you plan on enacting restrictive legislation based upon scientific recommendations which Gore espouses, I think accuracy should be considered normative. Your laissez-faire approach to this is rather disconcerting, as is your irrational attempts to discredit and marginalize the truck driver. You may be willing to accept Gore’s premise without giving it its due examination, but there are those of us who choose to exercise the ability of reason and question. And with all due respect, your last statement is overly simplistic.
“The truck driver is simply another global warming denier and used all the means at his disposal to disprove Gore’s case.”
If an individual asserts a position of verity, it is incumbent upon that individual to provide the facts without the influence of conjecture or supposition. Gore did not do this, which was perceptibly illustrated by the British High Court. You incorrectly place the burden of proof upon the truck driver, and since you wish to postulate that scientific process was neglected in favor of judicial treatment, what would your responses be to Lord Monckton’s position?
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As it happens the truck driver was not acting strictly from “a position of verity” but was nitpicking.
Whether Al Gore’s assertions were 100% true, or not, he put the issue on the front burner, where it belongs.
“Your laissez-faire approach to this is rather disconcerting”. Well, I actually believe that climate change and global warming would be more disconcerting to a thinking person.
Lord Monckton’s position is of course ludicrous, since he has no scientific training whatsoever. At least Gore, who has finally majored in government at Harvard has had SOME training in the subject earlier, even thought he cannot be considered a true scientist.
But let’s get off this subject, after all, most people believe in the veracity of the global warming, others don’t. The fact is that it is happening, so what’s the point of quoting and misquoting all kinds of opinions?
Look at the Arctic Ocean, look at Greenland, look at glaciers, in places where there is no shortage of rain. These examples are rather clear and obvious.
Politicus´s last blog ..Jobless Rate Highest Since Reagan Days
Not everyone is in agreement and you mistake consensus for truth and for every “example” you may have there are 10 showing otherwise… and those actually make sense.
“Your laissez-faire approach to this is rather disconcerting”.
You, once again, are misunderstanding by isolating a specific segment and discharging the entirety of my words.
“Well, I actually believe that climate change and global warming would be more disconcerting to a thinking person.”
Perhaps you lay upon yourself too much credit.
Personal prejudices dictate intellectual pursuits, and to that, I humbly bow to your position of authority.
theLibertyPen´s last blog ..Election Results For Libertarians
LibertyPen, Harrison, I have a suggestion. Do not “humbly bow to your [my] position of authority”, but just wait a few years and see things progress.
I guess that it seems that some people require more proof than others and probably more time.
Have a great weekend!
Politicus´s last blog ..Jobless Rate Highest Since Reagan Days
If you really knew anything about the Earth’s climate you would know it takes HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of years to see a pattern. So let’s check back in on this discussion then:
http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/images/vostok.jpg
“I guess that it seems that some people require more proof than others and probably more time.”
Very, very true. You have a great weekend as well.
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