Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth

Following the award of an Oscar for "Best Documentary" to Davis Guggenheim's documentary biopic "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore is drawing fire from right-wing bloggers and political action committees. Some have even followed him back home to Tennessee, tracking down his electric bills with the Nashville Electric Service for his Nashville "mansion" in Belle Meade.

According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR), Gore was billed for nearly 221,000 kilowatt hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average. The story has become a favorite of right-wing bloggers like Matt Drudge and Michelle Malkin, as well as television and radio pundits like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Gore has admitted the large electric bill, explaining that he has been trying to reduce the carbon footprint of his house in Belle Meade by signing up for TVA's Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology. It also turns out that TCPR, the "think tank" which dug up his electric bills, is basically another front outfit for the petroleum industry.

Like many other Nashvillians, the Gores probably do consume far more kilowatt hours of electricity than the national average. Tennessee ran on cheap TVA power for decades, and houses built between 1950 and 1970 almost always use electricity for heating and air-conditioning as well as lighting. Because of its hot, humid summers and cold winters, the average number of kilowatt hours consumed in the "East South Central" district of the United States is considerably higher than the national average used in the TCPR study. The Gores' consumption is only three times higher than the regional average. I suspect that their consumption is about average for Belle Meade,

an upper class bedroom community west of Nashville. I do not believe that the Gores built their house. I think that they moved there when he opened the headquarters for his 2000 presidential campaign.

"You would basically be in the shower and then I would come in and I'd join you and you would have your back to me and I would take the little loofa thing and...."

Wingnuts to the rescue!

Coverage of the war in Iraq by the U.S. media has been criticized by many of us on the left, particularly in light of the Lancet study estimate that at least 550,000 Iraqi deaths have been "overlooked" in casualty reports. In the past week or so, however, there has come a new barrage from the right regarding the reports of atrocities committed against Sunni civilians by militias and death squads closely allied with the current government led by Shia politicians. Leading the charge has been a frequent commentator on Fox television, Michelle Malkin. Following the lead of "Curt" of the blog Flopping Aces, Michelle has been questioning the veracity and even the very existence of an Iraqi source for AP news reports named Jamil Hussein. Now both Michelle and Curt are actually going to Baghdad in search of Jamil, sponsored by the veteran television journalist and creater of the Iraqslogger blog, Eason Jordan.

As copper Curt himself admits, "this is one big media stunt." Greg Sargent recalls that Michelle and Curt have not always been friendly or respectful toward Eason, and their objectives may deviate from what Jordan has in mind. Markos wishes them a safe trip, particularly encouraging Michelle and Curt to venture outside the Green Zone and refuse any offers from U.S. soldiers to provide security. As we have been hearing from Laura Bush, things are truly splendid over there what with all those great new schools!

Meanwhile, Fox's Christmas crusader Bill O'Reilly appears to have scooped the Hussein hit team by showing up at the Camp Striker mess hall in Baghdad for chow. His dinner companion, SFC Vivienne Pacquette of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands seemed to be unaware of O'Reilly's long-standing interest in the West Indies as expressed so graphically in his taped remarks to his former assistant, Andrea Macklis. According to Vivienne, Bill "was very down-to-earth and easy to talk to."