The Pledge

that Al Gore refused to sign.

"As a believer:

• that human-caused global warming is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue affecting our survival;
• that home energy use is a key component of overall energy use;
• that reducing my fossil fuel-based home energy usage will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions; and
• that leaders on moral issues should lead by example;

I pledge to consume no more energy for use in my residence than the average American household by March 21, 2008."

Be sure to follow the link above and read the full article. There's more info on insider trading at Molten Metal Technology, Inc. (MMTI) back in 1996 when the Goracle was merely Vice President involving another well known "environmentalist", Canadian Maurice Strong.

Yet MMTI's stock soared to $35 a share mainly on the basis of Gore's glowing support. But by March 1996, DoE officials decided to end the subsidies. Between March and October that year, Strong and eight other officers of MMTI dumped over $15 million in personal shares at $31 per, knowing full well that the government handouts were to end. As soon as Wall Street also figured that out, after MMTI issued an October 20th Sunday press release revealing for the first time the loss of DoE funding, MMTI's stock crashed the next day, eventually plummeting to 13 cents a share, prompting investor lawsuits.

(see my earlier post Blood and Gore). There's more...

This was not a first for Strong. In 1981 Strong headed Denver oil promoter AZL Resources. AZL paid $5 million to settle a lawsuit that he had falsely inflated the price of AZL stock, again cashing in. However, in the end, Strong made out like a bandit. AZL also owned a number of western ranches and when AZL merged with the Tosco oil refining company in 1983, Tosco sold Strong the 160,000-acre Baca Ranch in southern Colorado for a pittance.

There's lots more on how Gore and Strong are still associated as big players in the carbon offsets shell game. Read all of Another Oscar Performance from Al Gore by Michael Donnelly.

Update: here's the video of Gore refusing to make the Pledge. h/t: SDA.

Update 2: It's not easy being green