asking Al Gore to run in 2008!
Neck Deep Secret: Gore Was Right
Posted August 27th, 2007 by tea
By Robert Parry
August 27, 2007
Having written several books that span periods of years, I’m often surprised how patterns emerge that aren’t apparent to me in day-to-day news coverage. In Neck Deep, our new book about George W. Bush’s presidency, one of those surprises was how often former Vice President Al Gore turned up making tragically prescient comments.
Gore, whose admirers sometimes call him “the Goracle,” comes across more as a Cassandra, warning the nation of looming disasters and finding himself either ignored or mocked by the dominant politicians and media pundits.
Time and again – from Campaign 2000 to the post-9/11 “war on terror” to the invasion of Iraq to Bush’s expansion of presidential powers – Gore pointed to grave dangers when nearly all other national political leaders and media bigwigs were either running with the herd or keeping silent.
In our daily coverage of those political developments at Consortiumnews.com, we’d run stories citing Gore’s speeches, but it wasn’t until we pulled together the book that Gore’s extraordinary role jumped out.
continued: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/082607.html
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Katrina and Al
Posted August 31, 2007
Two years ago, the Sierra Club was preparing for its first ever annual convention, The Sierra Summit, and former Vice-President Al Gore was preparing a speech for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the topic of "hurricane risk and global warming." Gore's speech was scheduled for what seemed likea very appropriate location -- New Orleans.
Then Katrina stepped in. The Commissioners never got to New Orleans. The Vice-President ended up speaking at The Sierra Summit in San Francisco instead. And almost no one needed a lecture on the consequences of global warming-fired hurricane risks.
continued:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-pope/katrina-and-al_b_62720.html
The Bitter Cup of Consequence
Friday, September 09, 2005
San Francisco -- We had hoped that Al Gore would be able to address our Sierra Summit, but he had a previous engagement: to speak to the commissioners who regulate insurance for the 50 states on perils from global warming, particularly in making hurricanes more intense. But the commissioners were scheduled to meet today -- in New Orleans. So Katrina drove home the lesson that Gore would have delivered, and Gore was able to address 2,000 people at the opening of our convention.
What we got was the most powerful speech I've ever heard Al Gore give -- on global warming and hurricanes, yes, but also on the fact that we stand at a "moral moment."
The theme of his speech was pulled from the Bible: "When there is not vision, the people perish."
"When the corpses of American citizens are floating in toxic flood waters five days after a hurricane struck, it is time not only to respond directly to the victims of the catastrophe, but to hold ... the leaders of our nation accountable," Gore said.
He quoted Winston Churchill in the buildup to World War II extensively, and he said that the lack of preparedness for 9/11, and then for Katrina, could not be allowed to be the model for how America responds to global warming. He reminded us that the threat of climate catastrophe has been clear for a long time, to unbiased minds, and that the results of inaction would be painful.
It is, he said, the time when the world must drink "the bitter cup of consequence," as England did when appeasement failed and World War II began.
But he called upon us to take advantage of the reality that "we have everything we need -- the knowledge, the technology, the wealth, and science -- all we may lack is the will" to turn Katrina into the moment that transformed our moral stance toward global warming from one that resembles that of Neville Chamberlain to one that hearkens back to Churchill and Roosevelt.
And he fired back at President Bush's claim that the war on Iraq was modeled on World War II with this line: "When the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt did not invade Indonesia"
It was an incredible opening to our Summit -- one of our delegates, hearing the story of how Gore's schedule had been freed up, commented, "This is a God thing."
http://www.sierraclub.org/carlpope/2005/09/bitter-cup-of-consequence.asp
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0911-26.htm
Al Gore calls for civil disobedience Against climate polluters
http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/speeches/2005-09-09algore.asp
http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2007/08/16/did-al-gore-just-tell-you-off/