In the News - Feb 2007

1. Gore wins an Oscar for his documentary warning against global warming. The next day it comes out that he pays $30K a year for utilities in his 20-room mansion and pool house. But it is okay and not hypocritical, says a Gore spokesperson, because "every family has a different carbon footprint. And what Vice President Gore has asked is for families to calculate that footprint and take steps to reduce and offset it." http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/GlobalWarming/story?id=2906888&page=1

So it is okay to consume 20 times more carbon than the average family, if you have reduced it from 21 times more the year before? Click here to calculate your carbon footprint. Note that a major part of the formula is air travel, which Gore does frequently with a private plane. Oops!

One of the reasons given for the huge energy bill is both Al and his wife work from home. Yeah, that might make sense, if no one stopped to think. I work from home frequently, and my wife stayed at home for a year with our son (meaning the heat and the lights and the TV and computer was on all day), yet we still never came close to a monthly utility bill of $2500. I don't know what is worse- the excuse or the fact that they thought that it was valid enough to give as an excuse.

2. Hollywood raves over Gore and his green ways, driving to the Oscar ceremony in hybrid cars... then they go home to their 40,000 sq foot mansions and pools and hot tubs and private planes and consume more energy in one year than most of us do in ten years. It all makes perfect sense.

3. Girls are kicked out of a sorority because they are fat. Shocking. Things have changed so much from when I was in college, when all of the sorority girls were obese and the frat guys weren't interested in things like appearance and sexual attraction. Another example of America becoming too concerned about being thin. I am tired of seeing healthy people everywhere I look. I am tired of my health insurance going down because people are eating healthy and exercising. When will this all stop?

4. Stock market crashed 400 points to its biggest point drop since 9-11. However, this is immediately following eight straight months of gains and the largest peak ever a few weeks earlier. Analysts say the drop is expected and have been calling for a fallback. You have to love these guys justify their existence in a system that is completely arbitrary. Don't get me wrong: I own stock, most of my retirement funds are in stock, and I've made a lot of money off it, but admit it: There is little rhyme or reason to it anymore, especially now that anyone can get involved and it is as dominated by the huge mutual fund owners. It is a bit scary, if you think about it.

Why would the stock market be a great investment on one day (buy buy buy!) and then a horrible idea a week later (sell sell sell!), when everyone knows it is going back up past that sell-off point to record highs at some point anyway. All of the reasons given for the stock market to fall were valid a month earlier, yet then it didn't matter? It feels all very rigged to me.

5. Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears... why does this interest people? At least Spears has some talent and did something productive in her life... since when did Smith become a superstar at the level of Madonna or Princess Di? Shame on the media for talking about it, and shame on you for giving them the ratings to justify it.