Sympathy for Al Gore

Yes, you heard me right.  I'm downright sorry for the man.  He buys a house for 8 million and change and can't even light a fire in his fireplaces!  What is this country coming to!  What's the use of being rich?

I don't know when the house was built but for a long time now you need a special permit for wood burning fireplaces and most of the houses built for the last 20 years are gas operated with faux wood for show.  I'm not saying that is what they have, but wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

Another commenter chimes in:

Not only the difference in fireplaces built recently, but there are also restrictions on fireplace usage in CA.

My parents have a woodburning fireplace, and due to air quality restrictions, they aren't allowed to use it whenever they want.

My Grandfather was not covered by the restrictions, but that was because his fireplace was the main heating source for his ancient house.

Now picture this:  Gore is sitting in front of his cozy fireplace, toasting his toes, perhaps contemplating a restful massage, and the Fireplace Police drop in and give him a ticket,  ruining his pleasant evening.  Maybe they even haul him off to jail, poor soul, simply for using his own property in a way that he sees fit.

Our family used to drive down to Florida, sometimes using country roads.  A common sight was a large lot with a couple of derelict cars parked in front of a house that hadn't seen a coat of paint in a good long while.  Of course this was unsightly.  But I'd prefer having the neighbors park their cars in their front yards than have someone tell me what materials I can use to build  my house and what color it must be painted--as happens in California!  Really and truly!  It happened to someone I know.

Of course, around here they have laws against parking trucks in the street, but at least they are not watching the chimney or the electric meter to see if I am improperly heating or cooling my house.

Maybe that's next?

Al Gore, meddler

wins the Nobel "peace" prize. So called because it has nothing to do with peace, but might irritate George W Bush, and that would be fun for the committee.

I don't see why we should respect the views of a bunch of lefty Norwegians, who are wrong 75 percent of the time. Yassir Arafat, anyone? Ho Chi Min? The Kellogg Briand pact? Oops, make that 90 percent of the time.

If anything, Gore's proselytizing is an excuse to be distracted from more important things threatening our civilization, like the possibility of being blown up by Muslim extremists. Granted, it serves as a substitute for religion, provides a fantastic way to seize control of governments economic and energy policies, and unites the world as only a global commitment to ideology really can, but its not as though we are dealing with Catholic theology, or some sort of belief in a world community here. We're talking about a group of people who enjoy telling others what to do while cheating at their own guidelines, and a committee that is spending the hard-earned gross domestic product of a majority of world nations discussing plans to impose environmental sanctions on First World nations who do not comply with their every whim while ignoring the majority contributors to 'Greenhouse Gas Emissions,' Third World pre-industrialized nations.

May I point out that the United States Senate, in more enlightened times, refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty, 98-0. Gore was a senator at the time. It would kill our economy and do about as much good as a blood transfusion would do a corpse.

A role model for our time

Snoop Dogg is a busy guy.

Barred from Australia, banned in England, just arrested in Sweden, persona non grata in Canada, and convicted in California on drug and weapons charges. Snoop Dogg, one of Al Gore's hand-picked crew of rappers against global warming, is sure racking up a series of criminal offenses on his way to performing a July 7th "Live Earth" concert for carbon depletion.

He's just a high-spirited youth who undoubtedly means well.