Al Gore is “Romney rich” with a cool $200 million in net worth, according to a new report in Bloomberg. Well, that’s not too amazing to anybody who ever spent any time in Tennessee, where I guess we all thought the Gores were always rich.

Reporters Ken Wells and Ari Levy had a great opening line for the report — a claim that then US vice president and presidential frontrunner Gore sold some cows for $6,000 in 1999.

Honestly, the most surprising thing to me was the statement that he had a net worth of only around $1.7 million that year. Wells and Levy put most of Gore’s “Romney rich” fortune down to the January 2013 sale of his Current TV network that nobody watched but that Al Jazeera Satellite Network was persuaded to buy for $500 million.

Gore’s cut? $70 million. A pretty nice pay day.

So now Al Gore is finally as well-to-do as some of us always thought he was. But is he Romney rich?

Celebrity Net Worth says Mitt Romney is worth about $250 million, which makes him one of the richest politicians in the United States. So far, so good.

However, they estimate Gore’s wealth at around $300 million, which makes him substantially richer than the 2012 presidential challenger.

Maybe we should start saying that Mitt Romney is “Gore rich.”

As a leading environmental activist and one of the faces of fight against global climate change, Al Gore has plenty of fans and also plenty of haters. What do people on the street think about his wealth?

On Democratic Underground, a discussion forum for Democrats and progressives only, you’ll find plenty of people who take a point of view summed up by a poster called “alcibiades mystery”: “He’s even better than Bush as a businessman…that must sting like the Dickens for GOPers.”

Maybe, but a lot of people on the other side of the aisle had a different view of the sale to Al Jazeera.

A Classic Leftist, get rich by influence peddling~>Gore Is Romney-Rich With $200 Millionbloom.bg/12HWJDN via @bloombergnews #tcot

— Srirama Tanniru (@SriramaTanniru) May 7, 2013

Gets Paid Over $1 Million a Day to Sit on APPLE’s Board, $125,000 per hour… drudge.tw/12MkjPL

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) May 6, 2013

However, at the end of the day, while you or I might feel like Al Gore overcharged a tad for Current TV, he did spend a long time building the network, and he apparently knows how to market.

Hmmm… Was there some rule that Al Gore wasn’t allowed to participate in capitalism? or is that just for Republicans?

— @ceut (@ceut) May 7, 2013

Did you know that Al Gore was once down to his last $1.7 million? Or, like me, did you always kinda, sorta think Gore was “Romney rich?”

[Al Gore photo by spirit of america / Shutterstock.com]

Gore ‘Romney Rich,’ Heck, Maybe He’s Richer Than That is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sorry, Al Gore.

When You See It, Presidential Edition is a post from: The Inquisitr

Liberal pundit Keith Olbermann and Current TV settled a $50 million lawsuit out of court on Tuesday, according to multiple news reports.

Olbermann sued Current TV for $50 million after the liberal network fired him a year ago. Current TV counter-sued, alleging that Olbermann’s suit was “riddled with falsehoods.”

Olbermann announced his intention to sue over Twitter, and told David Letterman on his late night talk show that choosing to work with Current TV was a huge mistake. He was terminated one year into his five-year $50 million contract, and cited a list of complaints in his lawsuit, including the network broadcasting ads containing his image without permission, refusing to invest in his show, using his name in third-party endorsements, and disclosing terms of his contract to the press.

It also said that “Olbermann was disheartened to discover Al Gore, Joel Hyatt, and the management of Current are no more than dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives.”

The counter-suit claimed that Olbermann violated his contract by sabotaging the network and attacking it publicly. “He has waged a campaign to breach, undermine, frustrate, and ultimately strip Current completely of the benefit of its bargain,” the counter-suit read.

The tide turned seemingly in Olbermann’s favor this week, with his lawsuit settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Olbermann is reportedly set to receive “a significant payout from Current.”

Current TV’s founder AL Gore recently sold his network to Al Jazeera for a reported $500 million. They plan to use the networks to launch Al Jazeera America, and has been looking for office space in New York, where the channel will be based.

After being dismissed from MSNBC and Current TV, Olbermann is considering a return to anchoring on ESPN, the network on which he became a famous commentator. Olbermann and ESPN president John Skipper reportedly had dinner recently, though Skipper said that there wasn’t an opening for Olbermann at the time. “When somebody leaves, somebody else fills their place,” he said.

Are you a fan of Keith Olbermann? Here’s a video of him explaining his dismissal from Current TV on Letterman:

Keith Olbermann Settlement: Former Host Wins Current TV Lawsuit is a post from: The Inquisitr

Austin, TX – Al Gore made what looked like a hero’s return to SXSW Interactive (he was even introduced as the “former president”) in the former vice president’s second annual appearance at the massive tech event.

This year, Gore promoted his new book The Futurebut spent a majority of his speech addressing the problems of our present. “Our country is in very serious trouble” according to Gore, who went on to detail a series of perceived problems.

“The NRA is a complete fraud because it is financed by the gun manufacturers,” he claimed. “They pull the puppet strings.”

Gore also pushed back against critics over the sale of Current TV to Al-Jazeera. Just in case you’re late to the table, Al-Jazeera is funded by oil, which brought out environmentally-sensitive Gore’s critics out in force.

“I knew it would be criticized, I decided to do it anyway,” Gore said, framing the sale his way. “I did extensive diligence and found some pretty remarkable things, it has won major awards around the world for integrity in journalism I felt it was the most interest and disruptive move on the chessboard.”

AllThingsD editor Walt Mossberg pushed back at Gore on the subject, with the latter moving to personal attack. “I don’t ask you why you continue working for Rupert Murdoch,” (Mossberg is a News Corp employee). “Last I checked, he’s not in the oil business,” snarked Mossberg, to which Gore responded, “he’s also not strictly in the news business either.”

Gore also took aim at Rand Paul’s Wednesday filibuster on the subject of potential drone strikes on American soil. He said that it was evidence of “how the left and the right have sort of scrambled up when it comes to drone technology, and not just the surveillance technology,” making reference to a “stalker economy” that tracks our web activity and monitors texts and emails.

“I hope its causing people to reach the gag point,” he said, arguing that “knowledge is power and too much power in the hands of small group is dangerous.”

Gore touched on the Internet, calling its freedom the future of democracy, and threw out more factoids about the environment. But the strangest part of his speech, noted by The Huffington Post, concerned the subject of “spider goats.” One festival attendee called it the “most Internet moment,” and you’ll see why:

“You can’t farm spiders for a number of reasons, so people are talking the genes from spiders and splicing them into goats,” Gore explained. “They look like goats, then these spider goats secret silk through their udders. Everyone okay with that?”

ManBearPig anyone?

Are you a fan of Al Gore?

Al Gore Warns Of ‘Spider Goats’ At SXSW: ManBearPig Anyone? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Al Gore has been sued for selling Current to Al-Jazeera, as a Los Angeles media consultant contends in court papers that the sale idea was stolen from him by the former Vice President.

The media consultant sued Al Gore in a lawsuit filed at San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday, and, for those outside the realm of news and media, it’s a bit tricky to parse. News Al Gore is being sued comes two months after Al-Jazeera confirmed it would pay $500 million for the former veep’s Current TV, which is based in San Francisco where the suit was filed.

The news Al Gore is being sued over Current’s sale was broken on The Hollywood Reporter, and the trade mag explains at length the claims of plaintiff John Terenzio. Terenzio says he first floated the idea of an Al-Jazeera purchase for Current back in July in a detailed PowerPoint presentation made to Current TV board member Richard Blum.

THR explains from the papers in which Al Gore was sued that Terenzio says he met Blum in July and presented “a step-by-step approach for making the sale of the liberal media outlet to Al Jazeera palatable to U.S. lawmakers, pro-Israel factions, cable operators and, most importantly, the American public.”

Further, THR says, the suit against Gore alleges that “the structure proposed and the strategies developed were the same ones developed by Terenzio for CCTV and that there was a ‘mutual understanding that Terenzio would be compensated if Current TV utilized his idea to consummate a sale to Al Jazeera.’ ”

Terenzio left his presentation with Blum, and the papers in which Gore is being sued state that it was believed at the time “Gore was adamant in his rejection of the proposal to sell his liberal, environmentally friendly network to the oil-rich Quataris who owned Al-Jazeera, but that “apparently, Gore had a change of heart.”

Terenzio has sued Al Gore and Current for breach of implied agreement, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit, seeking $5 million per count alleged.

Al Gore Sued By Media Consultant Over Current’s Sale To Al-Jazeera is a post from: The Inquisitr

Al Gore believes the internet has hacked Democracy, and now he wants to use online technology to fight back.

In a recent speech about his new book, The Future, Al Gore says we need to leverage the internet to fight back against politicians and big business.

Speaking to the BBC, Al Gore explains that global electronic communications is one of the six drivers of change and the best way to fight against big money.

As Al Gore explains it:

“Our democracy has been hacked. The operating system has been taken over and turned to uses that are somewhat different than the ones our founders intended to emerge.”

In explaining his ideas, Gore says the internet should be used as a way to fact-check political statements. Gore suggests that citizen journalists will become ever more important in the fight for clearer politics.

Gore also suggests that the internet needs to be used more to empower younger generations through new forms of communication that they understand.

In his new book, Al Gore focuses much of the discussion on the internet and its role in developing countries. Gore notes that the internet provides the means for “robust democratic discourse” although such growth means further issues with cybersecurity and privacy.

Whether or not the internet can actually become the great equalizer of change for Democracy is yet to be seen. What is certain is that the landscape we live in is now predominantly digital, and that digital voice continues to add new views to the discussion of politics and big business.

[Image via stocklight / Shutterstock.com]

Al Gore: ‘Our Democracy Has Been Hacked’ By The Internet is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Al Gore talked about going green on Current TV, was he really referring to the “currency” in his wallet after selling out to Big Oil?

Current TV employees reportedly participated in a conference call on Monday with two executives from Al Jazeera, who bought the low-rated network from Al Gore and his partners.

Al Gore himself wasn’t on the call. This didn’t sit well with one or more soon-to-be-unemployed Current TV workers, according to the New York Post:

” ‘Of course Al didn’t show up,’ said one high placed Current staffer. ‘He has no credibility.’

” ‘He’s supposed to be the face of clean energy and just sold [the channel] to very big oil, the emir of Qatar! Current never even took big oil advertising — and Al Gore, that bulls***ter sells to the emir?’ ”

” … ‘ We all know now that Al Gore is nothing but a bulls***ter,” said the staffer bluntly …

” ‘ Al was always lecturing us about green. He kept his word about green all right — as in cold, hard cash!’ “

Like many liberal Democrats, Gore is on record as favoring the default position of higher taxes, although there is speculation that he rushed the sale through to avoid higher 2013 federal tax rates that would directly affect his own tax bill.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Al Gore could walk away with as much as $100 million from the sale of  Current TV, a politically liberal network that virtually nobody watched, to Al Jazeera. And he apparently owes it all to good-old influence peddling:

“What Current had going for it was Mr. Gore, who would drop in on media moguls and explain why it was in their political interest to put Current on their networks and dun subscribers five or 10 cents a month for a channel they never watch. Saying no just wasn’t worth it to companies that must run a daily gauntlet of Democratic regulators in Washington. Not to oblige Mr. Gore would be to face, at every congressional hearing, the likelihood of some legislator lambasting them for ‘censoring’ a progressive voice.

” … Don’t look for us, however, to milk the irony of Mr. Gore, warrior against climate change, pocketing a fortune from Mideast petrocrats. Mr. Gore has been in cash-in mode for a while.”

Another odd thing about the conference call according to the Post: Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (of all people), who hosted a Current TV show, reportedly asked about severance packages for those being let go but was shouted down by Joel Hyatt, a Current executive.

Do you think that Al Gore actually practices what he preaches?

Current TV Staffer: ‘Environmentalist’ Al Gore Is Full Of It is a post from: The Inquisitr

Al Gore’s sale of liberal network Current TV to Al Jazeera has been one of this week’s more puzzling stories. Why did Gore sell? Did he rush the deal? Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly thinks so. He opined that Gore rushed the sale of Current TV in order to avoid the onset of higher taxes which would go into effect after the fiscal cliff deadline this past Monday.

On his program, The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly shamed Al Gore for the Current TV deal, opining that the former VP “shamed himself” with the deal. He surmised that Gore pushed the deal to avoid the high taxes from Congress’s inability to solve the problem of the fiscal cliff early this week and shamed him for selling to the “anti-Americans” at Al Jazeera.

To drive the point home, O’Reilly rolled a clip of Al Gore saying two months ago that he believes rich Americans like himself should “do our fair share” by paying higher taxes.

O’Reilly turned his attention back to Al Jazeera, a network that is seen by some as very anti-American and even sympathetic to Osama bin Laden in the past. Though O’Reilly didn’t call for any kind of censor to be placed on Al Jazeera, he said that the whole deal was “sleazy” and “disgraceful.”

O’Reilly admitted that his theory, based on several reports, could be inaccurate. He invited Al Gore to come on The Factor to explain the deal more fully and stand up for himself. He added that he doubts Gore would RSVP that invitation.

Here’s video, via Mediaite. What do you think? Is the Current TV/Al Jazeera deal fishy, or is Bill O’Reilly overreacting? As Fox would say, “we report, you decide.”

Did Al Gore Sell Current TV To Avoid Fiscal Cliff Taxes? [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

On December 13, 2000, after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of George W. Bush,  Al Gore finally gave up his dream of becoming the 43rd President of the United States and conceded the election to the Governor of Texas. Gore’s concession speech ended weeks of confusion, during which the identity of the next President was kept in limbo awaiting the court’s decision on who would prevail in Florida.

Vice President Gore made his announcement from his ceremonial office next to the White House. He was joined by his wife, Tipper, and his running mate, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.

Gore told the American people  ”partisan rancor must now be put aside.”

“I accept the finality of the outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.”

Prior to making his concession speech the Vice President called President Elect Bush to offer him his heartfelt congratulations. Mr. Gore reflected on the last phone call he made to Governor Bush:

‘I promised that I wouldn’t call him back this time”

He was referring, of course, to election eve, when Gore called Bush to advise him about his upcoming concession speech, only to call back 30 minutes later and tell Mr. Bush he was going to wait for the Florida totals.

Just four days earlier, on December 9th, 2000, the learned Justices of the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 to stay the recount, thus ending Gore’s hopes of winning the election. Gore won the national popular vote by 543, 895 votes, but he lost in the Electoral College with 271 votes for Bush and 266 for Gore.

Justice Scalia wrote the decision for the majority who ruled in favor of Bush:

“One of the principal issues in the appeal we have accepted is precisely whether the votes that have been ordered to be counted are, under a reasonable interpretation of Florida law, “legally cast vote[s]. The counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner Bush, and to the country, by casting a cloud upon what he claims to be the legitimacy of his election. Count first, and rule upon legality afterwards, is not a recipe for producing election results that have the public acceptance democratic stability requires.”

Although he lost his chance to become President, Gore still had ambitions for the future:

”I’ve seen America in this campaign and I like what I see. It’s worth fighting for—and that’s a fight I’ll never stop.”

While we will never know if Al Gore would have made a good President, he has become a leader for one of the most controversial movements of the 21st century.  Gore is now a climate change guru, determined to prove that human beings are responsible for altering the climate of the earth and advocating radical policies that would impose massive taxes on every American’s energy use.

Mr. Gore has many supporters for his Green Energy programs, Cap and Trade legislation and environmental causes. He even won an Academy Award and a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Accepting the Peace Prize, Gore spoke about the danger he believes we all face from future disasters created by man’s abuse of the environment:

We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is the most dangerous challenge we’ve ever faced, but it is also the greatest opportunity we have had to make changes.”

At the same time a great many people do not agree with Mr. Gore, accusing him  junk science and scare tactics. Some have even alleged Gore is guilty of deliberate fraud for the purpose of self enrichment.

Leading the criticism of Gore on climate change is British Lord, Viscount Monckton. In his exclusive interview with The Inquisitr, he stated “Al Gore has made well north of $100 million” from his climate change activities.

Addressing the truth of Mr. Gore’s gloom and doom warnings about global warming, Viscount Monckton considers Gore to be living in a fantasy world:

“His (Gore’s) Climate Fantasy project, a failed scheme which is about to go through its third tired re-launch, tries to suggest that any and all extreme-weather events around the world are caused by man made global warming. The science is in, the truth is out, the models are off, green investments are down, Al Gore is through, the game is up and the scare is over.”

Al Gore almost became President and he almost convinced the world that man made devastating climate change from CO2 emissions will wipe out the human race. But as the saying goes, almost only counts in horseshoes.

Al Gore Conceded To George Bush 12 Years Ago Today: Elects Himself Global Warming Guru is a post from: The Inquisitr

Al Gore has always been one of the most outspoken supporters of the theory that human beings are causing dangerous changes to the earth’s climate. Even fellow Democrats are not exempt from criticism when it comes to his efforts to save the planet. Earlier today, Mr. Gore lashed out at President Obama for failing to make climate change the top priority of his administration.

The former Vice President was an unexpected guest at a speech that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was making to the New York League of Conservation Voters. The hosts thought it would be a nice touch to surprise the Mayor and have Al Gore make the introduction before the Mayor delivered his remarks on Hurricane Sandy. Bloomberg planned to discuss the city’s response to the massive storm that killed 131 people and the League believed Mr. Gore was the perfect person to get the afternoon off to a great start.

Little did they know what Mr. Gore had up his sleeve. The outspoken climate change evangelist ripped into President Obama and his administration.

“I deeply respect our president and I am grateful for the steps that he has taken, but we cannot have four more years of mentioning this occasionally and saying it’s too bad that the Congress can’t act.”

“Our democracy has been hacked. And when the large part of polluters and their ideological allies tell the members of Congress to jump, they do say, ‘how high’ And we need leadership in the executive branch as well.”

Mayor Bloomberg was a bit more tactful as he focused on the efforts of his administration and the city’s emergency services to deal with the damage and the toll of human suffering caused by Sandy. He spoke about the need to rebuild the city and the effort to save the waterfront area.

“Let me be clear: We are not going to abandon the waterfront … But we can’t just rebuild what was there and hope for the best. We have to build smarter and stronger and more sustainably.”

It will be interesting to hear who gets the last word in this argument; Al Gore or the President. Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg will probably want to keep his chin up and duck when the words start to fly like missiles.

Al Gore Lashes Out At Obama For Climate Change Failures is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ratings-challenged Current TV, the cable channel co-founded by Al Gore, may be going on the auction block.

According to the New York Post and other news organizations, Current TV CEO Joel Hyatt said that many acquisition-minded media companies have approached the cable channel and “as a consequence, we thought it might be useful to engage expertise to help us evaluate our strategic options.”

Reuters subsequently reported that Current TV hired JP Morgan and The Raine Group to test the waters for a sale of the liberal network. A strategic partnership with another media company may also be a possibility instead of an outright sale.

The Post observes that “the service, launched in August 2005 after Gore had begun his crusade against global warming, has churned through programming and personnel as it tried to find its voice.”

Current TV tried to be the poor-man’s MSNBC and even hired high-strung former “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann to anchor a prime time show. But Olbermann was let go in March 2012 after feuding with management and now is going after the network in court.

According to CainTV, “predictably, its early crusade against global warming failed to attract eyeballs, so it began to reinvent itself as a standard, left-wing, talking head channel — packed with a host of zany pundits that even MSNBC had rejected.”

Current is said to reach 60 million homes, but it’s actual viewership is very low. Current TV seems to find itself in the same position as liberal talk radio which also failed for lack of listenership.

Have you ever watched Current TV? Do you have any idea if it’s even on your cable system?

Al Gore’s Current TV May Be Up For Sale is a post from: The Inquisitr

Renewable energy has become a political football, especially as it is found that Obama’s $90 Billion alternative energy projects are failing. Both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan brought up the failing renewable energy projects during the recent presidential debates.

“You don’t pick winners and losers, you just pick losers,” Romney told Obama during the October 3rd Presidential debate, citing how Obama has not let the renewable energy industry thrive on its own. The renewable energy industry has been receiving tax subsidies since the early 90′s and has never been in danger of not being renewed until now.

Known as “green pork” humanevents.com says these renewable energy subsidies include “government investments” and tax incentives to put “Americans back to work making our homes and businesses more energy efficient, increasing the use of clean and renewable electricity, cutting our dependence on oil, and modernizing the electric grid.”

“The past four years of this president’s administration have been defined by bailouts, handouts and copouts,” said Republican representative Cory Gardner of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “The green initiative of the president is certainly the epitome of handouts.”

Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman investigations “has led to eight criminal prosecutions and he has recovered $2.3 million in misspent funding.”

In addition, $5 billion of work in the weatherization program “was often of poor quality” and that Energy Department officials could not defend the loans to other failed renewable energy projects.

Many companies participating in the renewable energy Obama stimulus package have filed for bankruptcy, wasting the money given to them.

• Battery maker Ener1 lost $100 million
• Solar panel manufacturer Solyndra blew away $535 million, making headlines along the way
• Abound Solar wasted $70 million, creating a solar panel that burst into flame when put in sunlight
• Energy storage company Beacon Power burned up $43 million.
• Worst of the worst, Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s company VantagePoint Partners, was bailed out by Obama with $1.4 billion for its huge debt in BrightSource

Just this past week, lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy, despite a $249 million investment from our government. Electric sports car manufacturer Fisker automotive, maker of the Karma, received $529 million in loans and is likely to be hurt by A123 System’s troubles.

The Obama administration has been accused of cronyism, which led to Vice President Joe Biden to fight back. “All this talk about cronyism, they investigated and investigated, did not find one single piece of evidence,” Biden said. “In fact, four percent of those green jobs didn’t go under. It’s a better batting average than investment bankers have.” Does that mean 96 percent failed? Such “green jobs” include welders, college professors, lobbyists and school bus drivers.

“What we’ve learned is that green jobs cost millions of dollars each. It is the height of hypocrisy to see a president campaign against venture capitol and then run a program that is truly a venture capital program except it’s paid for by the taxpayers,” Gardner said.

• Former Vice President Al Gore, an investor in 14 green technology companies, benefited from $2.5 billion government money
• Steve Westly, who raised $437,000 for Obama’s first presidential campaign and created electric carmaker Tesla Motors, received $465,000
• George Kaiser, who raised $100,000 for Obama’s first campaign, is a Solyndra investor

In order to be fair it’s not just the renewable energy industry that has benefited from government handouts. While the wind tax credit costs about $1 billion a year, continuing government subsidies have greatly benefited the oil and gas industry. The latimes.com provides a breakdown of the various tax breaks:

• Fossil-fuel producers get tax breaks such as the depletion allowance, which is worth an estimated $1 billion a year

• Tax-expensing options for drillers cost $1.9 billion a year

• Relief on royalty payments due to drillers on government property costs $53 billion over the lifetime of the land leases, which are among the lowest in the world

• The coal industry gets a preferential tax rate from the Koren War which costs $170 million a year

• The nuclear power industry receives subsidies worth as much as 11.4 cents per generated kilowatt, or five times as much as the 2.2-cent wind tax credit.

If what Romney says is true, that the government should not “pick winners and losers”,then that philosophy should apply to both the renewable energy and oil/gas/coal/nuclear industries. Unfortunately, while Obama’s renewable energy projects may be failing Romney is failing to support taking away these energy subsidies and let the markets truly decide who are the winners.

Renewable Energy: Obama $90 Billion Alternative Energy Projects Are Failing is a post from: The Inquisitr

Worst. Spin. Ever. As advocates on the left do damage control this morning regarding President Obama’s poor debate performance last night, Al Gore has found fault not in the incumbent candidate, but in the thinner air of Denver’s climate.

Gore, former Vice President to Bill Clinton and 2000 presidential hopeful, known for his controversial views on climate change and global warming, shared a rather curious theory regarding the debate last night. In short, Gore believes that Denver’s high altitude is to blame for President Obama’s poor showing. He shared his thoughts on his Current TV during the post-debate analysis:

“I’m going to say something controversial here. Obama arrived in Denver at 2:00 p.m. today, just a few hours before the debate started,” Gore said. “Romney did his debate prep in Denver. When you go to 5,000 feet and you only have a few hours to adjust — I don’t know, maybe … [inaudible].”

Since Gore is co-founder and chairman of the board at Current TV, he can pretty much say whatever he feels like saying and get away with it. Those are the perks of starting your own news network. But Erik Wemple of the Washington Post has a theory regarding Gore’s credibility if he were just a simple news pundit:

“If he were just some regular old pundit-commentator-analyst-contributor-strategist, his comment attributing President Obama’s poor debate performance to Denver’s altitude could well serve as a firing offense.”

“Denver’s altitude did it” is indeed the most peculiar defense for President Obama’s debate missteps last night we’ve heard thus far, but at least Gore avoided a climate change plug.

Honestly, he should have just blamed ManBearPig.

Watch the video here:

Al Gore Blames Denver’s Altitude For President Obama’s Poor Debate Performance [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

“2016: Obama’s America” the anti-Obama independent film created by director Dinesh D’Souza had a very strong showing during the documentary’s opening weekend. The film opened at a single theater in Texas over the weekend amid a “low key” protest by President Barack Obama supporters, The Blaze reports. “2016: Obama’s America” grossing more than $31,750 from the two-day showing in Texas, a solid showing for an independent releases, notes the Hollywood Reporter.

“2016: Obama’s America” bested the global warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore, which garnered a $30,887 per theater average during the film’s opening weekend. The current box office record for “politically-charged” documentaries is held by “Fahreneheit 9/22” by Michael Moore. The film hit a $41,961 per theater average during its opening weekend. The only movies which “out-grossed” the anti-Obama documentary this weekend were “Ice Age: Continental Drift” and “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

Edwards Houston Marq’E Stadium 23 & IMAX hosted a free promotional screening of the anti-Obama documentary on Thursday to a standing room only crowd. More than 200 people eager to watch “2016: Obama’s America” were turned away, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Moviegoers sat in the aisles after all the seats were taken for the Obama film – many arriving at lest 90 minutes before showtime. The movie was shown in multiple theaters and three auditoriums – all sold out viewings.

Dinesh D’Souza’s film comes by the way of Gerald Molen producer of the blockbuster hits “Jurassic Park,” “Rain Man” and “Schindler’s List.” The Obama documentary is based on D’Souza’s book, “The Roots of Obama’s Rage” and features an interview with Obama’s half-brother George. D’Souza’s “2016: Obama’s America” also delves into Barack Obama’s history with his mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a self-avowed Communist.

’2016: Obama’s America’ Was Third Highest Grossing Film At The Box Office This Weekend [video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Joy Behar: I Want To See Mitt Romney’s House Burn is a post from: The Inquisitr

Joy Behar has been chosen as the newest addition to Current TV’s roster and is set to begin hosting her new show beginning this September.

Behar- who is best known for her Daytime Emmy Award winning work on “The View”- will hope to prove her former network wrong after they canceled her show just last year. HLN cited low ratings as the reason for letting the show go.

Currently titled “The Joy Behar Show”, this new Current TV program will air Monday through Thursdays starting at 6 pm, and then once more later in the evening. The new addition will feature a rotating group of journalists and political analysts and will focus mainly on current events, political issues, and relevant topics to America as a whole.

Behar won’t have to wait long to get in the swing of things as she is set to fill in for vacationing Current TV host Eliot Spitzer who hosts his own show, “Viewpoint.”  The network title for her fill in work will be “Joy Behar: One Week Only* Until Fall” and will air next Monday through Friday.

Current TV chairman and Former Vice President Al Gore has nothing but compliments and admiration to offer “The View” talk show host as he believes that Joy Behar will be a great addition to the team.

“Joy Behar is a beloved veteran television personality with her finger on the pulse of what viewers care about,” says Gore.

“Millions of Americans tune in daily to hear her take on the issues along with her inimitable style. We are honored that Current TV will be Joy’s new primetime home.”

What do you think about Joy Behar’s addition to the Current TV roster?

Joy Behar To Host Show On Al Gore’s Current TV is a post from: The Inquisitr

An interesting topic was being discussed at the World Science Festival in New York City.  The topic was The History of the Internet and Its Future and it was brought up that contrary to the claims of Al Gore or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).  The concept of the Internet was invented by a Belgian Information Expert named Paul Otlet, as reported in Fox News.

Otlet came up with the concept while imagining where telephones and television might someday go and be capable of.

The guest of honor at the discussion was Vinton Cerf, who is widely credited with inventing the internet while working on a United states military project called ARPAnet. He had put together a system for routing data in packet s around the globe called TCP/IP.  Cerf is almost always referred to as the “Father of the Internet”.  It was during this panel discussion that panelist Alex Wright of the New York Times reminded everyone in attendance that the concept of the Internet had been around since the 30′s.

In 1934, Paul Otlet proposed that television and radio could do more than transmit voice and video but interconnect data lines also.  His idea was creating an information library and being able to call into it and access any bit of data you were looking for.

A person could call into the library and using a television signal a librarian could display all the books a person needed.  He also suggested that a system could be established where multiple books could be sent to one screen (multiple tabs).

His theories have been put into play with modern technology but it seems as if the credit should be further spread around than it has been.

Watch a video of Paul Otlet‘s theories.

The Internet Was Actually Invented in 1934 [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Influential scientist James Lovelock admits that he’s been a bit of an alarmist (read: fear-monger) when it comes to matters of global warming and climate change. Though he wouldn’t call himself a “denier” by any stretch of the imagination, he concedes that the earth really hasn’t changed as much as he apocalyptically predicted it would, and throws other environmental activists under the bus as well, including Al Gore.

“Before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable,” he said back in 2006. Now, 6 years later, he told MSNBC that he had been “extrapolating too far,” in recent years.

A favorite of the environmental movement, Lovelock is probably best-known for his “Gaia” model of the earth as a single organism. The 92-year-old scientist is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still a very real issue, but that it’s just not happening as fast as he once thought.

Even though the world isn’t much warmer that it was 12 years ago, according to Lovelock’s old theories, “we were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now,” which seems hardly the world we live in. He admitted, “The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.

“The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that,” he added. Though he has not changed his mind about climate change, he has changed his extremist doomsday-laden positions, and calls Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and Tim Flannery’s “The Weather Makers” as other examples of “alarmist” forecasts of the future.

Though readily admitting his mistake, Lovelock still keeps the faith. Asked whether or not he was a global warming skeptic, he replied:  “It depends what you mean by a skeptic. I’m not a denier,” specifying, “We will have global warming, but it’s been deferred a bit.”

What do you think of global warming? Real? Imagined? Exaggerated?

Global Warming Scientist James Lovelock Admits To Being An Alarmist is a post from: The Inquisitr

Keith Olbermann has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against his former employer Current TV in the amount of $50 million. He has alleged that his ex-bosses at the television network, who fired him on March 30 and replaced him with new programming hosted by former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer, disclosed the amount of his salary which violated his agreement.

Olbermann is also seeking a judge’s ruling that he did not disparage Current TV prior to be fired.

Joel Hyatt, Current co-founder (along with Vice President Al Gore), and network President David Borman were attacked repeatedly throughout the lawsuit as Keith claimed that the two were responsible for the majority of the problems on his show.

A network spokeswoman clearly conveyed the fact that they had no comment regarding Mr. Olbermann’s lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles.

Olbermann, who recently attacked his former employers on the airwaves while a guest on David Letterman’s late-night talk show, claims in the lawsuit he filed a mere two days after appearing on Letterman’s show that:

“Current’s dysfunction permeated all levels of the organization. After being on the air for nearly eight months – long after all ‘growing pains’ should have ceased – Current still couldn’t manage to, literally, keep the lights on.”

His complaints continued throughout the suit as he conveyed an array of technical issues which included equipment which would malfunction and cease to operate when it rained outside, guest calls which were dropped while on air without warning, teleprompters that failed to function properly, and a malfunctioning earpiece. All of which he believes amounts to his being owed by the network a hefty $70+ million.

While Olbermann “deeply regrets his decision to put his trust in Hyatt and Gore,” he also has ownership stake in the network, a network which he claims has lost value from mismanagement.

What do you think about Current TV’s decision to fire Keith Olbermann?

Keith Olbermann Sues Current TV For $50 Million is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple has posted a link on its website to a video of the company’s memorial services for its employees to celebrate the life of its founder Steve Jobs.

The event, held last Wednesday in an outdoor amphitheater at Apple campus, was closed to the public. Reporters were even asked to stay away from the Apple premises during that time. The company also closed all its retail stores so that employees could view the memorial service via webcast.

The video which runs 81 minutes is Apple’s way of sharing to the public the company as they mourn the death of Jobs at the age of 56 on October 5 due to a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the past two weeks had been the saddest of his life:

“But I know Steve. Steve would have wanted this cloud to lift for Apple and our focus to return to the work that he loved so much.”

Cook also revealed that the last piece of advice that Jobs gave him was “to never ask what he would do, just do what’s right.”

Jobs’ wife Laurene Powell and former Vice President and Apple board member Al Gore were also present during the event.

Despite not being involved with Apple, how do you celebrate Steve’s life? Or is this just another passing of a great mind?

Apple Posts A Celebration of Steve’s Life Online is a post from: The Inquisitr

Oh, Al Gore.

The previously relatively quiet second in command to Former Pimp Daddy Commander in Chief Bill Clinton has gone a bit wild since he left office and experienced his own unsuccessful bid for the White House more than ten years ago. He has since split with Tipper, and now spends the majority of his time in the public eye making increasingly dire predictions about the fate of Earth’s residents if we don’t get super-cereal about Climate Change.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, scientific consensus indicates that climate change over the past half a century is likely due to human activities. Folks with a specific financial interest in maintaining the environmental protection status quo have done everything in their power to get you to believe otherwise, often appealing to a dislike or distaste of what they portray as snooty “intellectualism” or elitism among environmentalists- Gore being a prominent target thanks to his propensity for speaking out on the issue.

The former Veep is probably not going to win over many in the uncertain-about-climate-change camp by comparing deniers- who prefer the term “global warming”- to pre-civil rights era racists. During a recent Ustream interview with Alex Bogusky, Gore sniffed:

“I remember, again going back to my early years in the South, when the Civil Rights revolution was unfolding, there were two things that really made an impression on me… My generation watched Bull Connor turning the hose on civil rights demonstrators and we went, ‘Whoa! How gross and evil is that?’ My generation asked old people, ‘Explain to me again why it is okay to discriminate against people because their skin color is different?’ And when they couldn’t really answer that question with integrity, the change really started.”

Gore recalled the tipping points in the South when racism shifted from socially acceptable to awkward and unwelcome. He explained:

“There came a time when friends or people you work with or people you were in clubs with — you’re much younger than me so you didn’t have to go through this personally — but there came a time when racist comments would come up in the course of the conversation and in years past they were just natural. Then there came a time when people would say, ‘Hey, man why do you talk that way, I mean that is wrong. I don’t go for that so don’t talk that way around me. I just don’t believe that.’ That happened in millions of conversations and slowly the conversation was won.”

He added:

“This is an organized effort to attack the reputation of the scientific community as a whole, to attack their integrity, and to slander them with the lie that they are making up the science in order to make money.”

Watch a clip of Gore’s commentary below- do you agree that the arguments against the existence of climate change are indefensible?

Al Gore Compares Climate Change Deniers to Racists is a post from: The Inquisitr

Environmental rights crusader and former Vice President Al Gore got on the defensive at a recent talk, decrying astroturfing measures and pseudoscience aimed at preventing the spread of information about climate change.

At the Aspen Institute’s “Networks and Citizenship” media panel last week, Gore angrily struck out at climate change deniers in a profanity-laden rant against a small group of people he says are “washing back at you the same crap over and over and over again” and who have made it unacceptable “to use the goddamn word ‘climate.’”

Drawing comparisons between climate change deniers and tobacco lobbyists decades ago who claimed smoking was not as harmful as we know it to be today, Gore fumed:

And some of the exact same people — I can go down a list of their names — are involved in this. And so what do they do? They pay pseudo scientists to pretend to be scientists to put out the message: ‘This climate thing, it’s nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn’t trap heat. It may be volcanoes.’ Bullshit! ‘It may be sun spots.’ Bullshit! ‘It’s not getting warmer.’ Bullshit!

Gore also got hella pissed about what he perceives as a need to act as if the science on climate change is still being settled- saying there is no longer a “shared reality” of accepted facts from which to draw. In addition to his frustration at the situation surrounding politics and the environent, Gore weighed in on partisan wrangling over the budget- calling the idea that the issue of the budget was related to spending and not revenue (meaning repealing Bush tax cuts on the uber-wealthy) is totally “insane.”

Watch the clip below:

[Video] Al Gore Rant: Ex-VP Gets Sweary About Climate Change is a post from: The Inquisitr

And he’s super cereal.

[via]

An inconvenient truth… is a post from: The Inquisitr

Star Magazine published a story claiming that the allegedly amicable breakup of Al and Tipper Gore’s 40 year marriage actually came due to a lengthy affair between Al Gore and Larry David’s wife, Laurie David.

Laurie David co-produced Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and the magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying the supposed long-term affair was “inevitable”:

“Al and Laurie went from friends to lovers,” an insider tells Star. “It couldn’t be avoided.”

Friends of the Gores said the report was laughable and David released a statement denying claims that she’d ever been involved with the former Vice President:

“The story is completely untrue,” Laurie David said in a statement.

“It’s a total fabrication. I adore both Al and Tipper. I look at them both as family. And I have happily been in a serious relationship since my divorce.”

Reps for the Gores have declined comment on any possible causes for the split. The report isn’t the only one floating around about the surprising break up- Globe said the Gores separated because Al was “gay.”

[Image]

Report: Al & Tipper broke up over Larry David’s wife is a post from: The Inquisitr

The news last week that longtime Washington power couple Al and Tipper Gore have separated after just passing their 40th anniversary came as a surprise to many, as the couple always projected the image of a happy marriage and loving relationship.

It appears the elder Gores aren’t alone in their marital woes. It came to light today that Karenna, the 36-year-old daughter of the Gores, is also involved in a marital separation. Friends of the Gore family report that Karenna and husband Andrew Schiff, who have three small children, have been separated for a “couple of months.” Gore and Schiff have been married for 13 years, and the couple are reportedly in counseling.

A friend of the family who declined to be identified spoke to press about the nature of the split, saying:

“It’s amicable and they are in counseling. They are not divorced.”

Karenna Gore is a lawyer, and is currently working on a documentary about “inspirational women.” Reps for the Gores declined to comment on the separation.

[USA Today, MSNBC]

Gore daughter Karenna announces separation one week after Tipper and Al is a post from: The Inquisitr

Former Vice President Al Gore and wife of 40 years Tipper have decided to separate, the couple announced in an e-mail.

Politico obtained the email and posted a portion of it. Titled “Email from Al and Tipper Gore,” the announcement said:

“We are announcing today that after a great deal of thought and discussion, we have decided to separate.

“This is very much a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration. We ask for respect for our privacy and that of our family, and we do not intend to comment further.”

The couple, who live in Tennessee and have four children together, marked their 40th anniversary on May 19th of this year.

Al and Tipper Gore to separate after 40 years of marriage is a post from: The Inquisitr

As much as I hate to start a post quoting Ashton Kutcher, his sentiment sums up the outrage in the United States over the jail sentence handed down to two American journalists:

“This should be a national crisis… We have to demand that something be done. This is our country, it’s our military,” Ashton Tweeted on Monday. “I say it’s special ops time… If we can save that Captain from pirates we can save these journalists.”

I am sympathetic to the plight of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and that it is fair to argue that by western standards, the 12 year sentences doesn’t nearly fit the crime, but lets take a closer look.

Reports are saying that Ling and Lee were taken on the China/ North Korean border where they were “reporting about the trafficking of North Korean women.” But there’s a flaw in that statement: the proximity to the border is irrelevant, because they were arrested inside North Korea. If they had been taken inside China, the “international incident” wouldn’t just involve North Korea and the United States, it would most definitely involve China, who would be outraged about an incursion into its territory by North Korean troops.

So these two “journalists” were arrested inside North Korea, having crossed the border without permission or appropriate paperwork. What if the incident were the other way around: two North Korean “journalists” crossed into the United States, cameras at hand, without paperwork. Better still, substitute North Korean journalist for a muslim journalist.

We already know the answer, and despite the occasional travel brochure suggesting otherwise, Gitmo isn’t overly pleasant for those detained there.

It’s terribly rich for America to complain about two entirely stupid journalists who purposely put themselves in harms way, knowing to well what the consequences might be, while America routinely detains anyone remotely suspected of being a threat, and holds them without trial nor natural justice.

To hold others to such high standards, you yourself practice those standards; when you do not, it can only be considered hypocrisy.

I do hope that Ling and Lee are released, and the issue is resolved. But the incident should be cause to reflect that America is long since dropped the flame when it comes to justice. President Obama promises hope, but every day prisoners at Gitmo do not face trial, nothing really changes.

North Korea journalist case highlights American hypocrisy is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Central Court of North Korea have found two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, guilty of illegal border crossing and have sentenced them both to 12 years in North Korean labor camp. The only statement out of the U.S. State Department is that they have seen reports of the convictions and are trying to confirm them with the North Koreans.

"We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release," said spokesman Ian Kelley in a statement. "We once again urge North Korea to grant the immediate release of the two American citizen journalists on humanitarian grounds."

Source: CNN

Ling and Lee, reporters for Al Gore’s media venture CurrentTV, were taken into custody back on March 17th who has been advised apparently by his lawyers not to say anything in public about the matter. To this point only a Swedish ambassador has been allowed to see them , other than that any contact has been severely limited.

[picture via CNN]

Euna Lee and Laura Ling convicted and sentenced to North Korean labor camp is a post from: The Inquisitr