Virtually anyone who has been embroiled in a heated (no pun) discussion on global warming has seen the tried and true tactic used by true believers; Google the denier and prove that he has a vested interest in denying that global warming is a problem that man has created. Oh come on, you’ve all been there.
Find an article written by a top scientist/climatologist that states that the hysteria is unwarranted, and someone will post or cite “proof” that he is being funded by Exxon or some other evil oil company and therefore, a poor witness. It makes no difference if this expert’s research is dead-on accurate; it simply cannot be believed because he has been funded by Exxon, however indirectly.
So, what does that suggest? It would seem rather clear that if there is money to be made from the advocacy of a particular position, the position is, by default, rendered suspect and therefore worthless, easily dismissed. I wonder then if Al Gore’s supporters will be jumping ship any time soon.
The best get rich quick scheme succeeds this way: Invent a situation that will cause people consternation and once they have bought into the fear, assuage that fear with your product. Brilliant! In other words, scare the bejeebers out of people and then ride to the rescue with the thing they think they need to save them.
Al Gore has been running around championing the Planet and in effect, setting up his new business venture. According to the New York Times, it is a six trillion dollar venture. Let’s put that in numbers, just for the full effect: $6,000,000,000,000.00. Will Gore receive $6T? Obviously not, but he’ll receive a hefty salary in the form of “carried interest”, which also, notably, is taxed at a lower rate than a traditional paycheck.
“Al Gore made big news this month when he said
he would join Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner focusing on clean-technology investments. At the time, much of the attention was focused on how he would donate his salary to a nonprofit advocacy group he founded.
But a blog, Fortune’s Go West, says that one nugget of news has gone ignored. The former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate will keep his share of profits from the venture capital firm’s investments, known as carried interest.”
Ah, so he says he will donate his “salary”, but he won’t donate his “carried interest”. That way when anyone asks later, he can say that he meant what he said but that he simply wasn’t earning a tradional salary and therefore, there was nothing to donate.
His displayed hypocrisy in flying all over in a private jet was pooh-poohed by his supporters. His buying carbon offsets was defended as somehow good for the planet. Is there a valid defense the left will conjure in light of this news? Highly doubtful.
No, the only hope here is that when the climate begins to cool again and the “threat” of global warming is once again laughable, Al’s business will go belly up and he’ll be reduced to selling pencils out of a tin cup.
-Woody
