Line o' the Day

It may not be Hillary's fault that her voice sounds like it was fashioned from metal, but it is her fault that she sounds like a car alarm when she's handed a microphone.   --Kathleen Parker

Al Gore: "Warm up the escape pod, Tipper!"

Al Gore came under fire last week from The Tennessee Center for Policy Research. The organization issued a report which said that during August 2006 Gore burned through 22,619 kilowatt-hours at his house; which is more than twice the electricity than an average American family uses in an entire year.


Eco-warrior Al Gore congratulates GIM Chairman Al Gore for his purchase of carbon offsets from GIM
Bill Hobbs linked to Nashville's daily, the Tennessean, which offered more details. Andrew Bolt, writing in the Melbourne Herald-Sun, summarized the story:

...Gore responded through a spokesperson that he's in a utility program that sells blocks of "green power" or "carbon credits" for an extra $4 a month. He purchases 108 blocks every month, which covers 16,200 kilowatt-hours and helps to "subsidize renewable energy sources," they claim... ...But according to a story published at Ecotality by former Tennessean reporter Bill Hobbs, Gore buys these credits from Generation Investment Management, a company he co-founded, and serves as chairman. That's right, Gore "buys" his "credits" [stocks in "green" companies] from himself, through a deal set up to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself. For a fee, the firm invests other people's money into these stocks as well... By promoting the purchase of these "credits" along with all of his "the end is near" talk, it would appear that Gore is actually profiting from hyping the "global warming" crisis.

A spokesperson for Gore, Kalee Krider, explained that Gore had helped found Generation Investment Management (GIM), through which he and others purchase 'carbon offsets.' The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe, she said.


One of GIM's 'green' investments
Well, as it turns out, only about 15% of GIM's investments can truly be called 'green'. Unless you count jet engines (like GIM investment General Electric builds) as 'green'.

Yesterday, Hobbs provided additional clarity into Gore's claim that he purchases 'carbon offsets' from GIM. Quoting GIM:

...we work with two offset providers (The Chicago Climate Exchange and the Carbon Neutral Company) to ensure our London and Washington D.C. offices are fully carbon neutral...

Hobbs goes on to dissect Carbon Neutral, which changed its name recently. It was once called "Future Forests" and it has a controversial past. The BBC and Indymedia UK have been after the company of late:

Climate campaigners have occupied the offices of one of Britain's leading carbon management companies to protest against carbon offsetting... London Rising Tide activists say offsetting, which sees firms pay for emissions cuts elsewhere rather than curbing their own emissions, is a scam... The group has occupied meeting space of the CarbonNeutral Company, formerly Future Forests, in central London... ...activists allege that many schemes funded by companies and government bodies do not generate emissions reductions, and do little to benefit developing countries... The government has just launched a consultation on setting a code of practice for companies and organisations running offset schemes.

Ecology site Off-Grid claims that some companies like Future Forest are "[m]arketing firms... cashing in on public concern about the environment to sell PR services rather than solutions":

Future Forests claims to be the market leader in helping companies and individuals become more environmentally friendly. The company offers extrememly expensive “consultancy” on how to reduce your emissions of carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas. It also offer to “trade” your emissions by investing in climate-friendly technology and forestry, on the principle that trees soak up CO 2 and thus offset the pollution you have caused. But the company is being accused by other green campaigners of being less eco-friendly than it claims. Trading standards officers in London are investigating a formal complaint...

Ecotopia goes further, claiming that an expert UN panel on climate change is guilty of "intellectual corruption." The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) says that many panelists were businesspeople "in a position to profit financially from the tree-planting schemes likely to follow in the report's wake." Among them:

* Richard Tipper of the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM), a consulting company which earns money from designing, assessing and monitoring forestry projects to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. ECCM works closely with Future Forests, company which contracts with Mazda, Avis, British Telecom, Access Freight, J. Walter Thompson and other firms to plant trees to "compensate" for their emissions. ECCM staff have also been involved in a forestry project financed in part by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile in Mexico. Using lands inhabited by highland Mayan Tojolobal and lowland Mayan Tzeltal communities, the project is designed to "offset" the 5,500 tons of carbon emitted annually by Formula One car racing at a price of approximately $60,000 a year. Tipper helped form ECCM some months after being appointed to the LULUCF panel. * Mark Trexler of the United States, who runs Trexler & Associates, Inc., a pioneer "carbon firm" poised to make millions of dollars by promoting and monitoring carbon sequestration and other "climate mitigation" projects. * Pedro Moura-Costa, an executive of Ecosecurities Ltd., a consulting firm specializing in the "generation of Emission Reduction Credits" from activities including tree-planting. Ecosecurities has offices in the UK, Brazil, Australia and The Netherlands as well as the United States. * Gareth Philips of SGS Forestry, a division of the Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) of Geneva, the world's largest inspection, auditing and testing company. SGS Forestry earns money from designing, monitoring and certifying carbon forestry projects. SGS certifies the certified tradeable offsets offered by Costa Rica and hopes to expand its work elsewhere in the carbon forestry field. * Sandra Brown of the United States, a senior Program Officer for Winrock International, an Arkansas-based nonprofit organization which accepts contracts from "public and private" sources. Winrock provides forest carbon monitoring technical services to U.S. government agencies and a wide range of private sector and non-governmental organizations.

In other words, some on the UN's panel on climate change are simply executives, members of an emerging sector that will profit by brokering carbon credits.

Coincidentally, Trexler was NPR's source for a story that didn't delve too deeply into Gore's relationship with GIM. And Bill Hobbs also mentioned Trexler recently in the context of the NPR interview.

Gore, Trexler, and others appear poised to profit directly from the sale of carbon offsets. It's a pity that most of the media has glossed over this essential component of the story.

And now that even eco-activists are calling carbon offsets a 'scam', the alarm claxons are probably going off in Gore's Belle Meade manse.


Artist's depiction of Al Gore's "Green Escape Pod", possibly powered by a GE jet engine
Al's 'green' escape pod is probably warming up in his estate's smokestack chimney.

Carbon credits for sale!

I noticed this exciting opportunity over at Wizbang, where commenter jhow66 offers a unique deal on carbon credits:

If anyone wants to buy "carbon credits", I sell them for $25.00 per large zip-lock bag. This way instead of farting into the open air, I will fart into the bag and close it fast. This will cut down on the amount of methane released into the air which then can be used as a "carbon credit" This way you can take the $25.00 fart bags and use them as credit to use $25.00 worth of electricity more each month. On days when I have lunch that include navy or pinto beans there will be a discount of $5.00 per bag. Order must be in by no later then the 3th of each month. Orders will be "filled" as they are dated. I am working up a deal with area farmers to use their herd animals. In this deal you will be able to purchase a cork to insert in the rectum (a** for those with limited schooling) of each animal to prevent the release of methane gas. A signed receipt will be given with cork purchased for your proof of your "carbon credit"... Yours truly, Organic Carbon Credits Inc. P O Box # OU812 Area 51, NM

Al Gore: Eco-profiteer, Savvy Investor, or ...?

A quick recap: Records show that Al and Tipper Gore paid a monthly gas-and-electric bill of $2,400 for their 20-room mansion and related outbuildings. That includes $500 a month for their poolhouse. Gore claimed that he bought "carbon offsets" to make up for his $30K annual energy tab. Where did he buy offsets? From Generation Investment Management, a firm which lists Gore as Chairman. In other words, he paid himself!

Sloan Morganstern provides valuable insight into Generation Investment Management (GIM). According to its website, GIM's investment philosophy integrates "issues such as climate change into investment analysis:"

* Sustainable development will be a primary driver of industrial and economic change over the next 50 years * The global context for business is clearly changing—"Capitalism is at a Crossroads" * Shareholders will be best served by companies who maximize their financial return by strategically managing their performance in this new economic, social, environmental and ethical context

So which companies is Gore's firm investing in?

Morganstern points to GIM's 13F Form filed with the SEC. A little work with Excel, using Sloan's categorization of companies, yields the following:

Company	Invested ($K)	Green?	Description
TECHNE CORP	22309	N	Medical research
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO	19565	N	Global diversified products and services
NORTHERN TR CORP	14333	N	Financial services
UBS AG	14079	N	Financial services
BECTON DICKINSON & CO	13785	N	Medical technology
JOHNSON CTLS INC	13711	Y	Batteries for hybrid vehicles
AFLAC INC	13315	N	Insurance
AUTODESK INC	12712	N	Engineering software
STAPLES INC	11921	N	Office supplies
SYSCO CORP	11085	N	Food services
LABORATORY CORP AMER HLDGS	9935	N	Diagnostic equipment, genomic testing
GREENHILL & CO INC	9473	N	Investments
WATERS CORP	8875	Y	Safer water, food, healthcare products
NUVEEN INVTS INC	7389	N	Investments
METABOLIX INC	5209	Y	Eco-friendly plastics and chemicals
VCA ANTECH INC	4858	N	Pet healthcare services
BLACKBAUD INC	4765	N	Fundraising software
AQUANTIVE INC	4615	N	Digital marketing
WHOLE FOODS MKT INC	4427	Y	Natural, organic food retailer
	206361
Green investments	32222
% of green investments	15.61%

In other words, for all of the talk about 'green' investments, only about 16% of its funds are in companies that Morganstern categorizes as truly 'green'. Or maybe Gore thinks the AFLAC duck is an endangered species.

I'm having a hard time determining whether Al Gore is a craven eco-profiteer, a savvy investor, a blatant hypocrite, or just some combination thereof.


Oven-baked good readin', just like Mama used to make:
Dan Riehl, Bill's Bites, GWH, Hang Right Politics, Pajamas Media, Ranting Stan, Wizbang,
Anti-Strib, David Online, Redstate, Wisdom from the Realm

The Gore-Milken Connection: Global-Warming Junk Bonds?

In April 2005, Al Gore gave an "engaging and accessible presentation" about the trends and implications of global warming to a rapt audience at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.

In addition to touting his now-infamous global warming predictions, Gore also stated, "We can’t sell our cars in China... We don’t meet their environmental standards."

In so doing, Gore ignored some inconvenient truths regarding China:


The World Bank has warned that China is home to 16 of the Earth's 20 most air-polluted cities. The World Resources Institute reports that, "air pollution in some Chinese cities is among the highest ever recorded, averaging more than ten times the standard proposed by the World Health Organization... In Beijing, 40 percent of autos surveyed and 70 percent of taxis failed to meet the most basic emission standards."


The Guardian calls Beijing, China the "air pollution capital of the world."

Gore's Company: Generation Investment Management

The question remains: whether he's simply wrong about China's emissions or global warming in general, what is Al Gore really after?

In 2004, Gore created a U.K. business called Generation Investment Management (GIM). GIM was established to take investments in technologies and processes that ostensibly combat global warming. In other words, Gore has a major interest in an organization that is poised to generate windfall profits should global-warming hysteria spread. Talk about a conflict of interest!

Writing at Newsbusters, Noel Sheppard distills Dan Riehl's brilliant work. Riehl, aided by The Tennessean, has exposed a fascinating grift at the heart of Al Gore's panic-mongering:

First, Gore sets up a company that will invest in other companies that will benefit from global warming alarmism Second, Gore gets some Hollywood types to fund and produce a movie designed to scare the c-c-carbon out of the population Third, Gore travels the world promoting this movie, while pushing the view that a cataclysm is imminent if the world doesn't immediately act Fourth, an adoring media falls for the con hook, line, and sinker. Rather than debunking the flaws in the theories, the media promote every word of it while advancing the concept that Gore's views represent those of an overwhelming majority of scientists Fifth, scared governments and citizens across the globe invest in alternative energy programs driving up the shares of companies Gore's group has already invested in Sixth, Gore and his cronies make billions as they laugh all the way to the bank at the stupidity of their fellow citizens America -- what a country!

Dan Riehl concludes his piece with a wonderful and accurate sentiment: If Al Gore is successful with this latest scheme, Gore and his cronies are going to be much more $green$ than most of the earth.

Carbon Offsets

Records show that Al and Tipper Gore paid a monthly gas-and-electric bill of $2,400 for their 20-room mansion and related outbuildings. That includes $500 a month for their poolhouse. Gore claimed that he bought "carbon offsets" to make up for his $30K annual energy tab.

So what is a "carbon offset"? Bill Hobbs explains that it's "a payment someone makes to an environmentally friendly entity to compensate for personally using non-green energy." And where exactly does Gore buy "carbon offsets"? You guessed it, from GIM, which coincidentally names Gore as its Chairman.

Even the New York Times is rightfully skeptical about carbon offsets:

...Climate Care, for example, has linked up with Land Rover, a maker of sport utility vehicles, to help the company offset its own emissions. As part of a promotional program, Climate Care also helps purchasers of new Land Rovers offset their first 45,000 miles of driving. In that way, the program may actually help sell “larger cars with higher emissions” and thus contribute more to global warming, according to Mary Taylor, a campaigner with the energy and climate team at Friends of the Earth...

Michael Milken and junk bonds come to mind.

Michael Milken, Junk-Bond King

Remember how we started? April 2005 and Al Gore speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills?

Let's recall Michael Milken for a moment. Milken was the notorious junk-bond dealer who was charged with 98 counts of racketeering and fraud in 1989. After a plea bargain, Milken pled guilty to securities and reporting violations including unlawful security transactions, tax fraud, trading crimes, income tax violations, etc.

Judge Kimba Wood recommended a 10-year prison sentence, but Milken served only about 22 months. Though he paid around $900 million in fines, Milken's current net worth is around $2 billion.

Milken's junk-bond business involved making markets and controlling trading information for a huge volume of lower-quality, high-yield debt. James Stewart's best-selling Den of Thieves described the heady world of leveraged buyouts and takeovers. The stock price of companies involved in these activities could swing wildly. And advance knowledge of this information led to a huge insider-trading operation that illegally enriched Milken and many others.

Why do junk bonds come to mind whenever "carbon offsets" are mentioned?

The Gore-Milken Connection

At a 2006 global warming summit hosted by The Milken Institute -- and chaired by Michael Milken -- economist Gary Becker stated:

...[a] potential solution [to global warming] is technological advance. Many scientists think there is a technological fix. Climate change is not irreversible if you can devise methods to draw CO2 out of the atmosphere. That is the real challenge. Profit-motivated businesses are working on that...

Perhaps Becker was thinking of GIM and its investments.


Tony Coelho and Michael Milken attend a fund-raiser at Pier Sixty (2005)
In 1999, Tony Coelho was named campaign chairman for Al Gore. The National Review put it this way:

You might think Al Gore would hold an infamous bagman at arm's length. After all, this is the vice president of Buddhist temples, dialing-for- dollars, and "no controlling legal authority." But Gore, perhaps recognizing a kindred spirit, has clasped him to his bosom.

On CNN, Chuck Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity called Coelho, "a walking ethical cloud for the last decade, ever since he resigned in disgrace from the House of Representatives."

Coelho resigned from Congress amid charges that he was involved in a sweetheart deal with Michael Milken, the notorious junk-bond dealer. In 1999, Time Magazine described Coelho's relationship with Milken this way:

...The Justice Department is reportedly in the preliminary stages of a criminal investigation of Coelho's investment in a $100,000 junk bond sold by indicted inside trader Michael Milken's firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert. Late Friday, after Common Cause asked the ethics committee to determine whether the bond deal was a favor, Coelho could see what lay ahead. He announced that he was quitting his leadership post immediately and resigning from Congress on June 15... ...In 1986 Coelho was catapulted to majority whip in gratitude for his astonishing success in extracting large sums from conservative businessmen by convincing them that Democrats could help them as much as Republicans. Tirelessly, he made new friends for the party. He turned up at a Drexel- sponsored conference in 1988, just weeks prior to Milken's taking shelter behind the Fifth Amendment before a House subcommittee. "I am here tonight to show my respect . . . for Michael Milken," he said. "He is constantly thinking about what can be done to make this a better world..."

Just like Al Gore.

Carbon Offsets: Global-Warming Junk Bonds?

Perhaps it's just me, but the Gore-to-Coelho-to-Milken connection smells of rot. When "carbon offsets" are put into the context of a Drexel Burnham Lambert operation, I get the whiff of a high-class junk bond scam, but updated for the 21st century.

Just as Milken's Drexel made the market for junk bonds, Gore's GIM presumably helps make the market for "carbon offsets". And the value of said offsets could be, like junk bonds once were, easily swayed using the standard tools of mass hysteria. These include movies like An Inconvenient Truth, books, and panic-inducing newspaper articles.

Many questions come to mind. Is this Gore's attempt at a Drexel-style operation that literally mints money? Why was GIM founded in the U.K.? Did it have to do with the scrutiny the SEC applies to U.S.-based companies? I need to rent Boiler Room to refresh my memory.

No matter what, there's little doubt that Gore stands to profit handsomely, as Milken once did, with carbon offsets. But I prefer to call them global-warming junk bonds; that sounds more accurate to me.

One can only hope that an enterprising investigative reporter picks up the gauntlet. So far, the media has been eerily silent on Al Gore's incestuous relationship with "carbon offsets" and GIM. Dare to dream, eh?


Oven-baked good readin', just like Mama used to make:
American Thinker: A flim-flam of epic proportions
Hyscience: Gore's 'Carbon Offsets' Paid To Firm He Owns
National Geographic: Solar Heat Warming both Earth and Mars?
The Onion: "Al Gore Caught Warming Globe To Increase Box Office Profits."
IowaHawk: "eco-salvation the quick and easy IowaHawk way."

Line o' the Day

Nanolube. Just Nanolube.

Hat tip: Nuke Gingrich

Print out your own Carbon Credits!

Records show that Al and Tipper Gore paid a monthly gas-and-electric bill of $2,400 for their 20-room mansion and related buildings. That includes $500 a month for their poolhouse. Gore assuaged his guilt by buying "carbon offsets" to make up for his $30K annual energy tab.

Well, I've got spectacular news! Carbon Credits aren't just for the filthy rich any longer. Even the rabble -- yes, you and me -- can have access to these incredible investment vehicles.


Instructions for use
1) Print a copy of the 20 Carbon Credit note, above
2) Find a gullible liberal someone who bought a ticket to An Inconvenient Truth
3) Sell that person the note
4) Repeat until you run out of imbeciles or printer paper, which ever comes first

Yes, it's just... that... simple!


Oven-baked good readin', just like Mama used to make:
Riehl World View, Anchoress, Bill Hobbs, Free Republic, Methodist No Spin Zone, Neocosmos, Neatorama, Hecubus, Mitt Rocks, Polimom, Rick Moran