al gore: mega-conservationist

This is an article from the Drudge Report.



POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD; CONSUMPTION INCREASE AFTER 'TRUTH'
Mon Feb 26 2007 17:16:14 ET

Nashville Electric Service/Gore House

2006

High 22619 kWh Aug – Sept
Low 12541 kWh Jan - Feb
Average: 18,414 kWh per month

2005

High 20532 Sept - October
Low 12955 Feb - March
Average: 16,200 kWh per month

Bill amounts

2006 – $895.60 (low) $1738.52 (high) $1359 (average)
2005 – $853.91 (low) $1461 (high)

Nashville Gas Company

Main House
2006 – $990(high) $170 (low) $536 (average)
2005 – $1080 (high) $200 (low) $640 (average)

Guest House/Pool House

2006 – $820 (high) $70 (low) $544 (average)
2005 – $1025 (high) $25 (low) $525 (average)

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, issued a press release late Monday:

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

For Further Information, Contact:
Nicole Williams, (615) 383-6431
editor@tennesseepolicy.org

ticks that make me tick

In response to a recent challenge to reveal my deep, dark secrets of idiosyncratic behavior I'm laying out the list.

1. There is a compulsion deep inside of me which forces me to exhaust the usefulness of every toiletry in the house. For example, it is not enough to simply squeeze out toothpaste. There is an art to laying the tube flat on the counter and systematically pushing and rolling so as to utilize every ounce of the peppermint goodness.

2. I bite my nails. It's not pretty, and it's not easy to admit, but it's true. I stopped once in the fourth grade. I had a good month or so of freedom from my addiction, but I just couldn't keep the monkey off my back. (Frankly, who'd want to put any more distance between themselves and a monkey than they had to anyway?)

3. Arriving anywhere late makes me crazy. This is a result of being raised by a militant father who could not stand for such slackery. He would drive away while you were on the driveway, walking toward the car, if you were one minute later than the designated departure time for x. You can fill in the blank there: x=church or school or your own Eagle Court of Honor, whatever.

I'm sure I could go on and on about my OCD (an unofficial point 4, perhaps?), but I'll leave it there for now. I don't want to disillusion my readers too much by completely unveiling the man behind the curtain. We can't lose all the magic of Oz at one sitting now, can we?

my girl slash girls

tires, horses and rubber duckies

Fast and Testimony meeting is great. And it can be great for different reasons. I always enjoy hearing members of my congregation get up and bear their testimonies about principles of the gospel. It's uplifting and even necessary for me to hear others talk about their convictions.

Yesterday, church was great for an entirely different reason. I was in an admittedly bad mood upon arriving at the building. I was tired and hungry and not in the mood to be anywhere other than curled up on the couch with my wife watching a mind-numbing TBS special. Be that as it may, I did my best to be a good member of the church and went anyway, determined to have a positive experience. Little did I know that my very determination was to be my Abrahamic trial of the day.

The opening hymn was nice. The meeting opened with a sincere plea for the spirit. Two babies were blessed. Then the "fun" began. One after another, the crazies got up and "testified" of what they know is true. Apparently, one woman's testimony includes a long, drawn-out story about a trip to Utah and the phrase "air in the tires" repeated 57 times. Another person had a spiritual experience with the sale of her horse. Hmm... The self-proclaimed old woman of the ward related a story about when her grandson "pwaid (said in a self-appointed child's voice)," not prayed, he thanked God for 'wubbow duckies.' No one could have said it better, though, than the sweet sister who stood and recapped with perfect concision, "You know, we've heard many words today that testify of God's love for us. Tires, horses, rubber duckies... These are the things that let us know He loves us."

WHAT!?! "Where am I?" I think to myself. "Have I accidentally gone the the mental ward? Or am I the crazy one?"

Thankfully I was able to look over and see Kristen's confusion and surprise too. That's when the meeting really got fun for us. Yes it's true. The bishop could see the whole ugly display as we were sitting five pews from the front, red-faced with muffled laughs, but we had little choice. It came down to either leaving the church for fear of being counted one of the Castle Rock Crazies, or else remaining in the membership of the church and laughing at the insanity surrounding us.

I'm still proud to call myself a member.