Al Gore for President
- over 600 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been published attesting to the reality of global warming and climate change; critics of global warming have published zero articles in such journals. Instead, there have been a lot of skeptical articles written in the general press, which have often, in fact, been funded by auto companies and oil lobbies.
- there are many parallels between what the tobacco lobby did over the past several decades to confuse and distort the truth behind the harmful effects of smoking and what the entrenched auto/oil interests are doing today to keep us buying huge SUVs (higher profit margin on SUVs for our lagging American car companies).
- if the polar ice caps continue to melt at the current rate, there will be significant flooding throughout the world: Manhattan will be completely submerged, as will most of the SF bay area (maybe this is why all the liberals in these areas are fired up...)
- the last decade has been the hottest on record and 2007 is predicted to be the hottest ever. (And I don't like hot weather all that much anyway).
Ivy and I discuss politics a lot and she never liked George W all that much. My strong disenchantment with Bush started around the '04 election period. However, the actual "tipping point" for being shocked and dismayed and actually wishing Gore had won and been president these past two terms, occurred at the G8 summit this past July. Bush was meeting with all the other big leaders in Russia I believe and he was caught "on mic" unknowingly with Tony Blair. He was heard saying "Yo Blair" and then soon after rudely cutting Blair off when Blair was saying something intelligent to Bush. (The British press said Blair was "disrespected" and was taking it as Bush's "poodle.") But the part that bothered me the most about this G8 summit was near the end of the second day when Bush was getting frustrated with all the meetings he was attending and all the "discussin" going on. He announced to all the prime ministers and presidents that he was "all meeting'd out" and that he'd be leaving soon on Air Force 1. This is pathetic. He apparently didn't want to put the effort into taking the time to do the hard work of diplomacy and pursue the interests of the U.S. and the globe with these other key leaders. So he just bailed and displayed serious hubris and unsophistication in the process.
I think most Americans--and nearly all of the rest of the world--are more than ready for a U.S. president who will be articulate, well-informed, diplomatic and willing to listen to others. It's very interesting what will happen in '08.