Paul Daugherty: 3-Dot Lounge welcomes Al Gore

Monday, March 19, 2007

3-Dot Lounge welcomes Al Gore

Interesting story in Time magazine this week. Former VP Al Gore, Mr. Global Warming himself, apparently spent $30,000 last year to heat and cool his Tennessee mansion. That, says Time, is 20 times what the average homeowner spends. Last August alone, Gore spent twice as much as Average Joe spends in a year, on energy at home. Gore sounds like every Hollywood poseur who ever campaigned for the environment while riding in a stretch limo. Meanwhile, fear for the ice caps. Or something...

Maybe Dustin Hermanson is the shut-down closer the Reds are looking for. Or maybe he's the latest guy to be tossed against the wall, hoping he'll stick. Bullpens are best when every pitcher knows when he's going to pitch, i.e. his "role.'' If March is supposed to be used to figure that out, the Reds are in trouble. It's like they say about QBs in the NFL... if you have 2 starters, you don't have one...

Greg Oden reminds me of Ralph Sampson, a guy I covered when he was at Virginia. Great size, great talent, heart and head not always in the game. It was amazing to me how Oden disappeared for long stretches Saturday. In a close, do or die game, your star better show up. Oden seems interested only occasionally...

Have gotten more than a few e-mails since Sunday, reacting to a "positive'' column on Justin Cage, after Cage scored 25, made all 8 of his shots and outplayed Oden when the two were matched up. The theme was, "Xavier lost. It was Cage's fault. You're a liberal wimp.'' Actually, I'm never going to rip a college kid for missing a free throw or making a physical error in any game, let alone a game in which he starred. Again: Kid played a fantastic game and I know when he looks back on it, he'll remember that as much as the miss.

25 Comments:

at 9:14 AM

Nathan said...

Here-here on the Al Gore comments. He can afford to "offset" his energy consumption through the purchase of rainforest or something but expects the rest of us working schlups to dramatically alter our lifestyles and send more money to be environmentally friendly.

On Oden, he hasn't been a dominant/consistent force all year long. There have been spurts of dominance, to be sure. As an Ohio State fan, I am not as impressed as most of the pundits are. This kid was supposed to be the #1 lottery pick, at 7'1" he is a man amongst boys-but doesn't play that way. He could use another year (yes I know that is dillusional)-the NBA doesn't allow on the job training. If he can't dominate smaller guys with less talent, how will he do against Shaq, Yao, et al.?

I think Conley has been more impressive, all things considered. What a treat it has been to watch him play the point the way it is meant to be.

at 9:36 AM

JamesMaupin said...

Oden uses OSU like Matta uses X. A stepping stone. He could care less if the Buckeyes win or lose in the tournament. He is going to leave school early and make his millions in the league.

All-in-all, OSU-X is probably one of the greatest games I've ever seen because of the hype, the outcome, and everything in between.

It still won't beat UC's upset over Duke in Alaska though!

at 10:09 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul-Gore's home is far from average-23 rooms is not typical except in Indian Hill, etc. In other articles about this subject, it was pointed out that infact Gore's house is very "green" but in fact at this point it is more expensive. Think HDTV!

at 11:55 AM

Anonymous said...

If I had aspirations to work in Hollywood to make a living, does it not allow me to have an opinion? Should I squelch my opinion just because I am rich and it will come off as being arrogant or an elitist? Is Gore's energy bill excessive? Of course. But he also probably has a more excessive house than the Average Joe. It doesn't make it right but there are two sides to every story. Why is it that the rich in Hollywood are not supposed to share there opinion but the rich in Corporate America (Who are far worst to the Middle Class/Average Joes) get off scott free when they voice their opinions.

And Come on now, Oden is a Freshman. He is actually only 18 years old. You have contradicted yourself, Daugherty, in your own blog. You will not bash Cage but you throw Oden to the wolves. Oh, the irony. If you check out recent interviews he admits that he is more defense oriented and not a scorer. He has even suggested that Durant is more equipped to step right into the NBA as a scorer than he is.

The media has donned him as the next big thing while he has countlessly said if he does not feel he is ready for the NBA he'll stay in college. The media has painted this NBA picture, while Oden, since the first time he stepped on the OSU campus, said that staying all four years at The Ohio State University is not out of the question.

And your constant barrage against college students leaving early for school is borderlining folly and envious.

Hey I'm a Theater Major in Acting at my respective University and if a production company offered me a lucrative studio contract, I would be on the first Red Eye to L.A. with no luggage, just a credit card and a dream because I want to do the profession I love at the highest level.

Say you were in college, Daugherty, and your favorite newspaper offered you, not a job but a career, while you were still a freshman, would you pass it up?

Sorry for the long post..actually I'm not sorry.

at 12:20 PM

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:09 is exactly right. Gore's energy bill might have been 20 times higher than yours or mine, but his house is probably 15 times bigger than yours or mine. Plus, he's converting to "green" energy sources, which are currently quite expensive. To suggest this makes him some kind of hypocrite defies logic.

Paul, a couple of months ago, didn't you write on this blog that you wished the Dixie Chicks would "shut up and sing," or some such argument? If you followed your own advice, you'd only write about sports. My feeling is that both you and the Dixie Chicks have as much right to comment on politics as anyone, but your position feels distinctly . . . hypocritical.

at 1:06 PM

Anonymous said...

I agree on the Gore comments. Nothing makes me more ill than a bunch of Hollywood types who use 20 times the energy and resource of an average family, but feel justified in lecturing me and my family. What makes them so superior?

To me OSU looked bored in the first half, standing in a zone and waving their arms, and only woke up once they were really in trouble.

at 1:08 PM

Greg C. said...

I can't believe people are getting on Cage so much. You can't expect him to be perfect. He hit 5/6 FT's in crunch time, I'd say that's pretty darn good.

at 1:41 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul: your comments on Justin Cage were right on. The further he gets away from Saturday, I hope he remembers the GREAT performance he had, not only that day but for the past 4 years. He has represented XU as well as anyone who has ever played there. Just the heart of a champion, and a degree in 4 years, if I am not mistaken.

at 2:00 PM

Antonio said...

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/26/gore-responds-to-drudge/

Has a pretty good breakdown.

Al Gore has a big house, so he has a large energy bill. He can afford it. The environment can not, which is why he purchases energy offsets (of which reforestation is but one) so that his overall family impact on the environment, even with a mansion, is at least nil if not positive. He's not asking us to purchase the SAME energy offests he does, after all, our bills should not be as high. He's only asking us to try and erase our carbon footprint. Recycling is one simple way to do this, there are several others.

People who live in big houses...shouldn't waste energy. Gore doesn't. Plain and simple. Not fair to call him a hypocrite unless you prefer to synopsize full stories into one or two sentences and serve an agenda (whether directly or indirectly.)

On the same token, this is Paul's blog, not Paul's sports blog, so it's not fair to tell him to "shut up and sing". He can write about whatever he wants.

He just shouldn't be so sloppy...

at 2:50 PM

Nathan said...

So Al Gore has a house 20 times the size of the average joe? So what. That isn't the point. The point is that he has made a decision to live a certain way, a house larger than required, flights on inefficient private jets, etc. This is a CHOICE-he doesn't have to consume that much energy. I don't care if some of it is from clean resources, the majority of it isn't and he is still putting more emissions out there than you or me. I don't think he needs to live in an efficiency apartment, but he could live in a smaller house, etc.

Another case of "do as I say and not as I do."

at 4:15 PM

Paul Daugherty said...

Antonio... I would direct you to Charles Krauthammer's column in this week's Time magazine...he talks about Gore's "carbon credits.'' Gore, as far as I know, lives only w/his wife. If he were truly concerned with saving energy, he wouldnt buy off his own overly large consumption of fossil fuels (and his guilt)... he'd live in a smaller place. Or, failing that, stop lecturing the rest of us. It's a good debate, though. Keep 'em coming.

at 4:31 PM

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting to find out the timing of the purchase of these polution "offsets" of Gore. I think mayhaps the purchase was in reality an "offset" from the groundswell of negative pr arising from the "outing" of his conspicuous consumption. Not the first to be caught with his sanctimonious environmental hand in the carbon cookie jar.

at 5:24 PM

Anonymous said...

no one has mentioned that Gore runs an international program on global warming from his residence. also, i believe his home is also the office for his politics. therefore, if one was to run a business/ non-profit out of their house, they might consume more energy than someone who only resides at their house.

at 5:28 PM

Antonio said...

In Krauthammer's article (available here http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1599714,00.html ), he plays a slight of hand game of criticising both Gore and "the Gores of the world". Then, he lists two specific carbon credit problems. Never is either linked to Gore, though by the end of the article he's woven both narratives together in such thaumatropic ways that he may have you believing you read that Gore's energy use kills Ugandan Farmers.

He also, in his criticism of Gore in general and Gore in specific, forgot to mention that a large part of Gore's "purchase" is of Green energy from a TVA power program. This purchase alone increases his cost significantly and reduces his carbon footprint. The way I read it, this reflects itself in his having a much higher energy bill, it's not the type of guilt purchase Krauthammer seems to be talking about. It seems to be Gore's deal directly with his power company, willing to pay more personally for cleaner energy.

The question of whether Gore should live in a large house sparks a much larger debate about personal freedoms and choices. If he'd won the election in 2000, he might still be living in one of the most opulent and well-appointed/staffed homes in America, just as President Bush does today. I will leave that to everyone to decide if that would make him more or less qualified to suggest that we cut down on waste.

And I am curious in that I don't feel Gore is lecturing in the stern parent sense of the word, but rather lecturing in the college sense of the word. Not putting us on collective timeout, but rather sharing information and encouraging us to cut down on waste in our daily lives. I don't know if I don't feel he's a stern parent lecturer because he's not hitting close to home with me, or because I don't have a negative preconception of him. It does make me wonder why one man's stern parent is another man's educator. Why? Hard to say.

Would George Bush's statements on war mean more had he actually served in one? Would John Edwards messages on the poor mean more if he weren't a millionaire trial lawyer? Would Newt Gingrich or Bill Clinton's comments about morality ring louder had they not cheated on their wives? As I said, that's another subject altogether. But I don't feel Gore's actions are nearly as transparent or hard to stomach as any of those.

I do, however, find it interesting, through the veil of partisanship and support/detraction on both sides of the Gore debate, that Gore only started purchasing Green power from the TVA program last fall/winter ( http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070227/NEWS01/702270382 )

Was the program newly available, or did he only choose to open his wallet then in preparation for being attacked as a hypocrite?

Again, hard to say.

at 8:19 PM

Anonymous said...

OK - First of all I'll get the Gore thing out of the way. He's a hypocrite, plain and simple. And that makes him equivalent to the other 99 percent of us who are also lying bastards. So I give him a break. But if he was as adamant about his positions on global warming in his personal life, as in his public "inconvenience or whatever the f**k" his movie is life, he would live with Tipper in a thatch hut. The fact that he doesn't displays why he's a scumbag. End of story.

Moving on to Oden. Paul, you aren't old enough to have covered Sampson unless you were a reporter at UVA for the school newspaper. Oden is no Sampson. Samson was a rail - probably weighed in at 220 on a day that he wore his ROTC uni to the scale (no, he probably wasn't in ROTC but you get the point). Oden is closer in comparison to Ewing, who also disappeared at key moments of games, but had a pretty good career. I think Oden's defense is far above Sampson's, equal to Ewing's, and the rest is TBD as they say. If Oden stays at OSU another year, I think that will make him a much better pro player.

at 10:00 PM

Nathan said...

Antonio,

Your argument, is right-but that isn't necessarily the point. Doc, Krauthammer, others (at least in the writings referred to here) aren't actually saying that we shouldn't make changes. Their point is that saying one thing and doing another makes the case/argument one is presenting much less palpable and in reality does the argument a disservice.

Krauthammer's comparison of carbon-offsets to the selling of indlugences is dead-on.

at 5:58 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul I agree with your Gore comments.

Gore says the planet is in grave danger. And the policies he advocates would mean thousands would lose their jobs.

However he lives in a massive house using massive amounts of energy. Does he really need this large house. Couldn't he live in a 15 room house?

This is what the elitists do. They tell us how to live, then pay cash to circumvent the system to continue their lavish lifestyle.

The average Joe can't afford carbon offsets so they will be forced to dramatically alter their lifestyle.

at 7:33 AM

Paul Daugherty said...

8:19: While I appreciate you thinking I'm a young(er) guy, I ain't. Covered Ralph for the Norfolk paper his last 2 years. And body type aside, Oden's "unselfishness'' on the offensive end is very similar to Ralph's, as is his laid-back personality. Ewing was far from laid back and, as I recall, hadnt played much if any basketball before high school.

at 10:55 AM

Anonymous said...

Of course the irony of it all is that President Bush's house is far more environmentally friendly than Gore's.

"The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude.
Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this "eco-friendly" dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

No, this is not the home of some eccentrically wealthy eco-freak trying to shame his fellow citizens into following the pristineness of his self-righteous example. And no, it is not the wilderness retreat of the Sierra Club or the Natural Resources Defense Council, a haven where tree-huggers plot political strategy.

This is President George W. Bush's "Texas White House" outside the small town of Crawford."

at 2:00 PM

Anonymous said...

To Paul

To paraphrase your blog from a few weeks ago to the Dixie Chicks.

Shut up and (sing) comment on what you know (sports) not politics.

You spout this info about Gores house like it is news. This has been in the media for weeks. Read up on the subject (see carbon credits) and get back to us. No, better off, just stick to what you know....remember your own advice.

at 3:00 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul, do you regret starting the global warming debate?

Antonio, using ten dollar words and convoluted economic theory does not change what is really a very common sense moral question. Does being able to write a check give you the moral high ground on an issue like this? I believe myself, my family, the folks down the street, or the homeless guy on fountain square are as deserving as Al and all his Hollywood pals. What makes them better? Money? I know that rich people get to make all the rules, but that doesn't make it right. It's like Jimmy Swaggart preaching virtue, and bedding all the church secretaries. Preach to me when you actually practice what you preach.

at 5:16 PM

Anonymous said...

Plain and simple, Bush is a man from the oil industry who obviously knows the ramifications of peak oil (google: peak oil). he isn't trying to help anyone besides himself. bush also bought a 30,000 acre farm in Paraguay which has a huge artesian well. is something going on??!?!!?!

one would think if this "cowboy" was personally into self-sufficiency so much, something would have to be amiss with this country's energy situation.

at 5:42 AM

Anonymous said...

Carbon credits=selling indulgences.

at 12:35 PM

Anonymous said...

I can tell the Cincy-Xavier rivalry has gone soft for me because I am starting to feel empathy for X........

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww....

Please UC, get better so I can actually hate X again. Haha

I'll admit you guys had OSU.

I posted earlier as the theater guy.

at 3:36 PM

Anonymous said...

Gore is a huge hypocrite, he is probably in the 95th percentile of all people in the world that polute. And as for these "Carbon Credits"...lol, lol, lol ... who makes this stuff up!
I think the whole 'green' campaign he went on was to help keep him in the public eye, make a little money, and look like a good guy (unlike most politicans). Gore doesn't really care about the environment that much, in fact I would say that he cares less than the average person.

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Monday, March 19, 2007

3-Dot Lounge welcomes Al Gore

25 Comments: