[Lore]

Glenn Beck is really getting whacked out. Not only is he foisting a false analogy but fails to get the reported science straight.$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')n the April 30 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Beck likened former Vice President Al Gore's fight against global warming to Adolf Hitler's use of eugenics as justification for exterminating 6 million European Jews. Beck stated: "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however.

[billg]

Beck was correct in pointing out Gore's own profligate energy use and therefore hypocrisy in being the global spokesman for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Beck was correct in pointing out the inappropriateness of the hate mail that Gore fans sent to the organization that did an energy audit on his house (if the accounts are true).

Unfortunately, Gore has made himself a very easy target for propagandists like Beck who clearly side with Corporate America.

The tragedy is that Gore and many of his well-to-do followers really do not represent all the conscientious citizens who are doing what they can do reduce their carbon footprint through measures like eating a veggie diet, reducing consumption, making less babies, using public transportation, traveling less, starting gardens etc..etc.. It is true, changing out a few light bulbs for flourescents, buying more efficient appliances, and changing your windows is not going make much of a difference in the long term climate picture. It's going to take a lot more than that.

Beck is a very confused man right now because he's confronting his worst nightmare: the global rejection of the capitalistic free market dogma he has built his career on.

[NEOPO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'B')eck was correct in pointing out Gore's own profligate energy use and therefore hypocrisy in being the global spokesman for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Beck was correct in pointing out the inappropriateness of the hate mail that Gore fans sent to the organization that did an energy audit on his house (if the accounts are true).

Unfortunately, Gore has made himself a very easy target for propagandists like Beck who clearly side with Corporate America.

The tragedy is that Gore and many of his well-to-do followers really do not represent all the conscientious citizens who are doing what they can do reduce their carbon footprint through measures like eating a veggie diet, reducing consumption, making less babies, using public transportation, traveling less, starting gardens etc..etc.. It is true, changing out a few light bulbs for flourescents, buying more efficient appliances, and changing your windows is not going make much of a difference in the long term climate picture. It's going to take a lot more than that.

Beck is a very confused man right now because he's confronting his worst nightmare: the global rejection of the capitalistic free market dogma he has built his career on.

[thuja]

Man- I thought you meant Beck of "Odelay" and "Sea Change" fame- I was worried that he sold out and turned neo-con on us...phew!

Yeah Glen Beck is selling the "AGW is bogus" shtick that is falling flat most everywhere these days. I'd say only 20 % of America is on board with that line anymore. Even corporate America is turning "green", even if that is nothing more than a slick marketing ploy- they at least pay lip service to the environmentalist ethos.

Beck, Rush and Hannity can all jack each other off in their Ford Anwars or Chevy Apocolypses. God bless their small pea brained minds...

[NEOPO]

I wonder if it is the same 20% who have chosen to blindly believe the official version of what happened on 911?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')n Wednesday, the special that could end all specials -- the global warming special. There is no balance to the special. I want you to know right up front. I am not saying that this is the end-all truth. I am saying this is the credible other side. This is the other side of the argument. You want to hear about global warming -- great. Go watch the Al Gore special. It's the one your kids are being forced to watch. On Wednesday, force your kids to watch the other side of the debate

[SILENTTODD]

Who the heck is Glenn Beck?

Oh! I don't have cable of even a TV to listen to crazy people.

[Newsseeker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SILENTTODD', 'W')ho the heck is Glenn Beck?

Oh! I don't have cable of even a TV to listen to crazy people.

[manu]

I think he is Jeff Beck the British rocker who played with the Yardbirds and then formed his own band. After he got burned out on drugs he changed his name to "Glen" and started his own govt propaganda radio station.

[billg]

While Gore has probably done more than anyone to raise consciousness about global warming, his actual record while in office is not that hot.

I'm not quite sure why Beck is so intimidated...it's not like Gore would radically change anything if he was president. He's a politician and he carries out the will of the people and the people don't won't radical changes like bans on air travel, etc...

The following is an excerpt from George Monbiot's Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning (South End Press, 2007)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')eorge Bush's government has sought to sabotage every effective international effort to prevent global warming. It recruited China and India to an "alternative Kyoto" (the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development), without targets or sanctions, in order to prevent them from signing a binding treaty.

Then it has announced that as India and China haven't signed a binding treaty, neither can the United States. It has all but wrecked the talks attempting to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. But the inconvenient truth we seek to forget is that the Clinton-Gore administration did even greater damage.

Bush might have pulled the US out of the Kyoto Protocol, but the Clinton administration destroyed the Protocol as an effective instrument-for everyone. It insisted on measures which allow countries to trade hot air and launder fake cuts. It encouraged other countries to reduce their targets (and thereby allow a higher level of emissions).

In his speech to the Kyoto conference in December 1997, Al Gore used the same mendacious formula George Bush now employs, claiming that limiting carbon emissions the US might otherwise have produced in a hypothetical future equates to real cuts in actual emissions. It was one of the most disgraceful moments in the Clinton presidency, and is impossible to reconcile with the subsequent career of the former next president of the United States.

Clinton failed to submit the protocol to the Senate, Bush refused to do so. There is little practical difference. Beyond avoiding responsibility, both the Clinton and Bush administrations have argued that the US is actually saving the world by investing billions in developing new, low carbon technologies. It is true that many of the most exciting developments have come from the United States.

But tackling climate change, like dieting, is as much about what you don't do as what you do. Developing low carbon technologies without cutting your emissions is like eating two Big Macs, four donuts and an ice cream sundae and then, to be healthy, also eating a salad. Unless the new technologies replace fossil fuel burning-rather than simply supplementing it-they cannot reduce a nation's emissions.

[manu]

Maybe All Gore should run with Jesse Jackson so that they could create jobs within the oil industry while they are cutting emisions.
It proves how wacko Glen Beck is if he is worried about A.Gore.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'W')hile Gore has probably done more than anyone to raise consciousness about global warming, his actual record while in office is not that hot.

[billg]

Do you have any details of the environmental initiatives Gore put forth during the first couple years of the Clinton Administration?

I doubt Gore would propose anything that would require any kind of serious sacrifice on behalf of the consumer.

He's part of the establishment. Much of the establishment is smart enough to realize the threat of global warming, but it's not like they would do anything to threaten their own existance like decentralizing economies and power. The establishment derives their power from the masses, so of course they are going to keep the masses placated as much as possible.

It's a good political issue for Gore, but it's really the masses that will decide what's going to be done about it.

The reason Bush and Cheney are so unpopular right now is not because they lied their way into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is because they LOST the wars and now the American people can see no benefit to the wars. If they had managed to placate the Iraqi people, install an effective puppet government, and get the oil flowing back to the homeland, I guarantee you Americans would be as happy as clams.

There is nothing ethical about the masses.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'D')o you have any details of the environmental initiatives Gore put forth during the first couple years of the Clinton Administration?

[billg]

Can you list all the sacrifices Al Gore has made in his personal life?

Bottom line: The public isn't going to take Al seriously unless he can demonstrate right livelihood in his own life.

If and when Al Gore did make serious sacrifices like giving up air travel (instead using telecommuting and videoconferencing), living in a smaller home, and donating his money to planting the seeds of permaculture, the establishment wouldn't take him seriously anymore and he would be dumped like yesterday's news.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'C')an you list all the sacrifices Al Gore has made in his personal life?

Bottom line: The public isn't going to take Al seriously unless he can demonstrate right livelihood in his own life.

If and when Al Gore did make serious sacrifices like giving up air travel (instead using telecommuting and videoconferencing), living in a smaller home, and donating his money to planting the seeds of permaculture, the establishment wouldn't take him seriously anymore and he would be dumped like yesterday's news.

[thuja]

Actually Gore has a significant effect on the public discourse, turning many people from completely ignorant to mildly informed on AGW. His campaign has also helped turned the tide in getting much of the corporate world to turn "Green" (Watered down crappy lip service Green- but hey...what did you expect?)

An Inconvenient Truth, along with the IPCC report and the Polar Bear on ice picture in Newsweek have changed the overall mindset of the American public that "something must be done". People in this country are now very ready for better CAFE standards, Cap and Trade, tax breaks for efficiencies and making personal decisions such as switching to flourescents, buying a higher mpg car and buying high efficiency "Energy Star" appliances.

Thats about it right now for how far the populace will go in terms of sacrifice. My guess is that price mechanisms will be the only way to truly make changes in people- and that means 5$ gas, 4 $ for a pack of tortillas, 300$ natural gas heating bills per month, etc...

People will change then...because they have to.

[billg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'C')an you list all the sacrifices Al Gore has made in his personal life?

Bottom line: The public isn't going to take Al seriously unless he can demonstrate right livelihood in his own life.

If and when Al Gore did make serious sacrifices like giving up air travel (instead using telecommuting and videoconferencing), living in a smaller home, and donating his money to planting the seeds of permaculture, the establishment wouldn't take him seriously anymore and he would be dumped like yesterday's news.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'W')hat truth? The messanger and message are one. As I interprest the message... it is: global warming is very bad but we can possibly solve it without making any substantial personal sacrifices. We can use the free-market economy to solve the crisis. Th rich can stay rich and poor can stay poor and don't ever bring up the subject of diet or reproduction.

Al Gore is a liability to the environmental movement.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Glenn Beck', '
')Don't Miss It On TV Tonight -
Exposed: The Climate of Fear

In case some of you haven’t heard or seen me gently mentioning my global warming TV special—“Exposed: The Climate of Fear”—it’s on tonight! Okay, so maybe I wasn’t so gentle and I’ve mentioned it over and over and over again like I’m doing one of those never-ending PBS pledge drives. Whatever—I’ve been so persistent in promoting this special because I believe in the message so intensely.

The truth is, I’m really not a science guy. I mean, I’m interested in it but I’m not some “climate change” groupie who watches the Weather Channel for fun—it’s not my pet project and I don’t talk about it over dinner with friends. But here’s what I am passionate about—getting at the truth…peeling away the layers of hypocrisy and letting the best information available inform, educate and enlighten me. And on the issue of global warming, that hasn’t been happening.

On my TV show, I’ve been telling people to watch this special because “there are two sides to every debate.” Now that I think about it, that’s a lie. The truth is, there are at least two sides to every debate—probably as many sides and points of view as there are informed, articulate people engaged in the debate. It’s a big world out there and even the simple, everyday things are complicated, let alone incredibly complex, nuanced areas of science and climatology that lie at the heart of the global warming issue.

For too long, Al Gore and his film have been preaching one way of thinking about this issue and if you don’t agree, you’re classified as someone who can’t face up to the “truth”… cast aside as an evil enemy of the Earth…no better than a Holocaust denier. That’s exactly what inspired me to get involved in this issue—when science and those who study it refuse to face a challenge to their findings, they abandon rational thought and wrap themselves in tunnel-visioned dogma. Not only is that intellectually dishonest, but it’s anti-science and anti-American. An acceptance and encouragement of diversity of thought is at the very foundation of the way we live. I would have hoped that a guy like Al, you know, who used to want to be president (and probably will want to again) would know that.

So I hope you watch the show and make up your own mind—I don’t want you to blindly agree with me any more than Al Gore or anybody else. Issues affecting our planet are a big deal. But thinking for yourself and not letting anyone—no matter how white their lab coat—scare you into believing them is just as big.

-glenn

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Glenn Beck', '
')Don't Miss It On TV Tonight -
Exposed: The Climate of Fear

In case some of you haven’t heard or seen me gently mentioning my global warming TV special—“Exposed: The Climate of Fear”—it’s on tonight! Okay, so maybe I wasn’t so gentle and I’ve mentioned it over and over and over again like I’m doing one of those never-ending PBS pledge drives. Whatever—I’ve been so persistent in promoting this special because I believe in the message so intensely.

The truth is, I’m really not a science guy. I mean, I’m interested in it but I’m not some “climate change” groupie who watches the Weather Channel for fun—it’s not my pet project and I don’t talk about it over dinner with friends. But here’s what I am passionate about—getting at the truth…peeling away the layers of hypocrisy and letting the best information available inform, educate and enlighten me. And on the issue of global warming, that hasn’t been happening.

On my TV show, I’ve been telling people to watch this special because “there are two sides to every debate.” Now that I think about it, that’s a lie. The truth is, there are at least two sides to every debate—probably as many sides and points of view as there are informed, articulate people engaged in the debate. It’s a big world out there and even the simple, everyday things are complicated, let alone incredibly complex, nuanced areas of science and climatology that lie at the heart of the global warming issue.

For too long, Al Gore and his film have been preaching one way of thinking about this issue and if you don’t agree, you’re classified as someone who can’t face up to the “truth”… cast aside as an evil enemy of the Earth…no better than a Holocaust denier. That’s exactly what inspired me to get involved in this issue—when science and those who study it refuse to face a challenge to their findings, they abandon rational thought and wrap themselves in tunnel-visioned dogma. Not only is that intellectually dishonest, but it’s anti-science and anti-American. An acceptance and encouragement of diversity of thought is at the very foundation of the way we live. I would have hoped that a guy like Al, you know, who used to want to be president (and probably will want to again) would know that.

So I hope you watch the show and make up your own mind—I don’t want you to blindly agree with me any more than Al Gore or anybody else. Issues affecting our planet are a big deal. But thinking for yourself and not letting anyone—no matter how white their lab coat—scare you into believing them is just as big.

-glenn