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what is rodeo sex
Q.What is a Rodeo Sex? A.Enter in ur Girlfriend from Back, Hold her Hair, give a Good Thrust and Whisper in her ear "Ur Sister is Better than U in Bed." Now try 2 hold for 8 Seconds

From the county where drunk driving is considered a sport, comes this true story. Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a bar in Reno, Nevada. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so apparently intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off--it was a fine, dry summer night--,flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left. At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road. The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all! Dumbfounded, the officer said, I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the sherriffs office. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken." "I doubt it," said the truly proud non-drinker. "Tonight I'm the designated decoy. Everyone who was drunk already left while you were waiting for me to pull out of the parking lot."

doing alright, buried alive. doing better now that i've heard from u, as it's always a pleasure to hear from a critical thinker. the sheep will always be ready to tell u about god and how awful the homeless are, especially those loving christians. LMAO going to a SAG meeting at noon and then to Alvera St for the "Day of the Dead" (halloween mexican style/i'm 1/2 mexican) just another religion that has been saved from the mix of Druids and aztec. most are atheist when it comes to all other religions, but then they go one religion further. lol

if there actually was a jc he wasn't thinking of anyone; he was thinking of how much the crucifixion hurt and how much it was going to hurt when they broke his legs, if he were still alive. the legs were always broken. there is no devine being, just ur fears. check my profile and view george carlin's video and "GOD," the view his "who controls america, ie the NAZI right wing religious fanatics. actually the ones how use this none thinkers for their greedy controlling purposes. they are really as religious as i am, but they are smart enough to use it to control americans with all their fear and hate mongering. and we've went for it all these years, and it's peeking with bushy. read up on how the NASIS started and it is a text book case of the reagan/bush eras. use ur critical thinking and not the propagada u were raised with as were the muslims and jews and hindus, etc. the reagan mindless and bushys have made america look like fools. remember father bushy said the atheist and muslims should not be aloud to vote, and was probably thinking the same about jews.

contrasts/everyone thinks up their own demons Darkness, darkness Be my pillow Take my head And let me sleep In the coolness of your shadow In the silence of your deep Darkness, Darkness Hide my yearning For the things I cannot be Keep my mind from constant turning Toward the things I cannot see now Things I cannot see now Things I cannot see Darkness, darkness, Long and lonesome, Ease the day that brings me pain. I have felt the edge of sadness, I have known the depth of fear. Darkness, darkness, be my blanket, Cover me with the endless night, Take away, take away the pain of knowing, Fill the emptiness of right now, Emptiness of right now, now, now Emptiness of ri-ight now. Darkness, darkness, be my pillow, Take my hand, and let me sleep. In the coolness of your shadow, In the silence, the silence of your deep. Darkness, darkness, be my blanket, Cover me with the endless night, Take away, take away the pain of knowing Fill the emptiness of right now, Emptiness of right now now now Emptiness of right.... Oh yeah Oh yeah Emptiness, emptiness Oh yeah or "There's a nail in the door And there's glass on the lawn Tacks on the floor And the TV is on And I always sleep with my guns when you're gone There's a blade by the bed And a phone in my hand A dog on the floor And some cash on the nightstand When I'm all alone the dreaming stops And I just can't stand What should I do I'm just a little baby What if the lights go out And maybe and then the wind just starts to moan Outside the door he followed me home So goodnight moon I want the sun If it's not here soon I might be done No it wonèt be too soon 'til I say goodnight moon There's a shark in the pool And a witch in the tree A crazy old neighbor and he's been watching me And there's footsteps loud and strong coming down the hall Something's under the bed Now it's out in the hedge There's a big black crow sitting on my window ledge And I hear something scratching through the wall What should I do I'm just a little baby What if the lights go out And maybe and then the wind just starts to moan Outside the door he followed me home So goodnight moon I want the sun If it's not here soon I might be done No it won't be too soon 'til I say goodnight moon" everyone thinks up their own demons, thanks to religions

Hat tip: Discovering Orthodoxy Over at Discovering Orthodoxy, Robert has posted about the “Crystal Clear Atheism” Convention and has a link to this article: Religion Must Be Destroyed… at the bottom of the page. This article is quite interesting because it juxtaposes the battle that is going on in many factions of America, not just the Atheist one. Round about the middle-top of the article, thereabouts, the reporter contrasts the speeches given by Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, and author Sam Harris: In his speech, Dawkins portrayed a black-and-white intellectual battle between atheism and religion. He denounced the “preposterous nonsense of religious customs” and compared religion to racism. He also gave no quarter to moderate or liberal believers, asserting that “so-called moderate Christianity is simply an evasion.” “If you’ve been taught to believe it by moderates, what’s to stop you from taking the next step and blowing yourself up?” he said. By contrast, Harris’s speech was a more tempered critique of the atheist movement itself. While Harris said he believed science must ultimately destroy religion, he also discussed spirituality and mysticism and called for a greater understanding of allegedly spiritual phenomena. He also cautioned the audience against lumping all religions together. “The refrain that all religions have their extremists is bull-t,” Harris said. “All religions do not have their extremists. Some religions have never had their extremists.” Specifically, he noted that radical Islam was far more threatening than any radical Christian sect, adding that Christians had a right to be outraged when the media treated the two religions similarly. Harris also criticized movement atheism and questioned the use of the word “atheist.” “Atheism is not a philosophy, just as non-racism is not,” he said. “It is not a worldview, though it is frequently portrayed as one. “Rather than declare ourselves atheists, I think we should emphasize reason,” Harris added. While the audience gave Dawkins a standing ovation, Harris received only polite applause. One questioner later declared herself “very disappointed” in Harris’s talk. This need for the extreme end of the spectrum, fascinates me. I perceive that Harris is attempting to find the middle and define the movement away from “militant atheism”, yet they were having none of it. Perhaps this is what one would find in any group that would gather itself because the people who are taking the time to get together are the ones who are more energized and possess more zeal for their cause. They are on fire wanting to share their partisan devotion and revolutionary ideals, in the U.S., they are a minority and want to soak in the fraternal love of their brothers and sisters, so perhaps it is not surprising that they didn’t clap for the more moderate tone of Sam Harris. Not that, “science must ultimately destroy religion” is in anyway a moderate idea. To be clear, here is a gem from Richard Dawkins for your consideration. Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds by Richard Dawkins Reposted from: Washingtonpost/Newsweek On Faith Nobody is suggesting that all religious people are violent, intolerant, racist, bigoted, contemptuous of women and so on. It would be absurd to suggest such a thing: just as absurd as to generalize about all atheists. I am not even concerned with statistical generalizations about the majority of religious people (or atheists). My concern here is over whether there is any general reason why religion might be more or less likely to bias individuals towards all those unpleasant things in Christopher Hitchens’s list: to make them more likely to exhibit them than they would have been without religion. I think the answer is yes.Religion changes, for people, the definition of good. Atheists and humanists tend to define good and bad deeds in terms of the welfare and suffering of others. Murder, torture, and cruelty are bad because they cause people to suffer. Most religious people think them bad, too, but some religions (for example the religion of the Taliban) sanction all of them under some circumstances. For non-religious people, the behavior of consenting adults in a private bedroom is the business of nobody else, and is not bad unless it causes suffering – for example by breaking up a happy family. But many religions arrogate to themselves the right to decide that certain kinds of sexual behavior, even if they do no harm to anyone, are wrong.The actions of the Taliban, their vile bullying of women, their sanctimonious hatred of all that might lead to enjoyment, their violence, their ignorant bigotry, their hatred of education, their cruelty, seem to me to be as close to pure evil as anything I can imagine. Yet, by the lights of their own religion they are supremely righteous – really good people.The nineteen men of 9/11, having washed, perfumed themselves and shaved their whole bodies in preparation for the martyr’s paradise, believed they were performing the highest religious duty. By the lights of their religion they were as good as it is possible to be. They were not poor, downtrodden, oppressed or psychotic; they were well educated, sane and well balanced, and, as they thought, supremely good. But they were religious, and that provided all the justification they needed to murder and destroy. Their madrassas and their mullahs had given them good reason to think they were on a fast track to paradise.Polls suggest that 13% of British Muslims regard the 7/7 London bombers as blessed martyrs. Neighbors and friends expressed bewilderment that such nice, gentle, kind, youth-clubbing, cricket-loving young men could do such terrible things. But once you understand what they truly and sincerely believed – that it was Allah’s will that they blow up buses and subways – it becomes all too easy to understand.It is easy for religious faith, even if it is irrational in itself, to lead a sane and decent person, by rational, logical steps, to do terrible things. There is a logical path from religious faith to evil deeds. There is no logical path from atheism to evil deeds. Of course, many evil deeds are done by individuals who happen to be atheists. But it can never be rational to say that, because of my nonbelief in religion, it would be good to be cruel, to murder, to oppress women, or to perpetrate any of the evils on the Hitchens list.The following quotation from the Nobel prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg has become well known, but it is so devastatingly true that it is worth quoting again and again: “With or without [religion] you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.” Ahh, the catchy little quote. People who are good can be lead astray by any ideology, as evidenced by the death and destruction perpetrated by the true believers among the Nazis, the Soviets and among those living in North Korea and China, who will imprison and torture and kill for their states. State ideology is just as powerful. Whenever one group of people looks at another group of people and labels them, for whatever reason, they have objectified that group and have made it easier to justify their aims. Something to “free” think about…

don't continue being sheep; Americans aren't stupid or lazy, they are human (read sheep) educated in american schools to not think critically but just know enough to do the work required of them by the people who actually own America, ie. bushy and friends, the arms and big industry. See my profile and george carlin's video, "Who controls america" then go to my group, "4thestate, to understand why u don't get info u need to be a critical thinking votor. all u get are lies that have been out there so long the pass as known true. but they are lies, period. bushy ias been the biggest since his father. only Reagan compare because he taught Republicans how to get away with such stupid lies. Nixon would turn green with envy if he could see what the Republicans were getting away with, while the Dems are too afraid of there money backers to call them on it. Dems let Thomas in the Supreme Court! weak kneed pussies/know offense ladies. Got to put this on all my blogs. lol

(compilation of my favorite blogs/the way i wish to be) SLOW ME DOWN EASE THE POUNDING OF MY HEART BY THE QUITING OF MY MIND. STEADY MY HURRIED PACE WITH A VISION OF THE ETERNAL REACH OF TIME. GIVE ME, AMID THE CONFUSION OF THE DAY, THE CALMNESS OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS. BREAK THE TENSIONS OF MY NERVES AND MUSCLES WITH THE SOOTHING MUSIC OF THE SINGING STREAMS THAT LIVE IN MY MEMERY. HELP ME TO KNOW THE MAGICAL, RESTORING POWER OF SLEEP. TEACH ME THE ART OF TAKING MINUTE VACATIONS--OF SLOWING DOWN TO LOOK AT A FLOWER, TO CHAT WITH A FRIEND, TO PAT AN ANIMAL, TO READ A FEW LINES FROM A GOOD BOOK. SLOW ME DOWN, LORD, AND INSPIRE ME TO SEND MY ROOTS DEEP INTO THE SOIL OF LIFE'S ENDURING VALUES THAT I MAY GROW TOWARD THE STARS OF MY GREATER DESTINY. FROM THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE and I remember a few of my favorite things; Maalox and nose drops and her knittin' my mittens Walkers and handrails and new dental fittin's, Bundles of magazines tied up with string. These are a few of my favorite things Cadillacs, contacts, hearing aids, glasses Polident, Fixodent, false teeth in glasses. Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings. These are a few of my favorite things. When the pipes leak, when the bones creek, When the knees go bad, Then I remember my favorite things, And then I don't feel so bad. Hot tea and crumpets, corn pads for bunions, No spicy food and food with onions. Bathrobes and heat pads and hot meals they bring, These are a few of my favorite things. Back pains, confused brains and no fear of sinnin', Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin', And we won't mention our short shrunken frame, When we remember our favorite things. When me joints ache, when the hips break, When the eyes grow dim, Then I remember the great life i've had. And then I don't feel so bad. THEN I REMEMBER THE GREAT LIFE I'VE HAD. AND THEN I DON"T FEEL SOO BAAAD! YEA "Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body; but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting; Hot Damn! What a Ride and [don't fret some day these days will be like tears in the rain, it's just that with bushy it now seems like a long drought!!] U think i'm crazy, baby. you know you Might be right! "Poor George. He cant help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth," the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards AND On The Lite Side; WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road. BUDDHA: Asking this question denies your own chicken nature. THE BIBLE: And God came down from the heavens and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road and there was much rejoicing. PAT BUCHANAN: To steal a job from a decent, hardworking American. GEORGE W. BUSH I don't think I should have to answer that question. BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define "chicken" please? DARWIN: Chickens, over great periods of time, have been naturally selected in such a way that they are now genetically dispositioned to cross roads. EINSTEIN: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road moved beneath the chicken is a matter of relativity. RALPH WALDO EMERSON: The chicken did not cross the road. It transcended it. JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what "they" call it: the "other side." Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple as that. LOUIS FARRAKHAN: The road, you will see, represents the black man. The chicken 'crossed' the black man in order to trample him and keep him down. FREUD: The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity. BILL GATES: I have just released the new eChicken 2000, which will not only cross roads, but will also lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook; and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken 2000. GRANDPA: In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us. ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die. In the rain. Alone. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question. CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before. MACHIAVELLI: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The end of crossing the road justifies whatever motive there was. KARL MARX: It was a historical inevitability. FOX MULDER You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it? RICHARD M. NIXON: The chicken did not cross the road. I repeat, the chicken did NOT cross the road. RONALD REAGAN: What chicken? JERRY SEINFELD: Why does anyone cross a road? I mean, why doesn't anyone ever think to ask, "What the heck was this chicken doing walking around all over the place, anyway?" DR. SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes! The chicken crossed the road but why it crossed, I've not been told. KEN STARR: I intend to prove that the chicken crossed the road at the bequest of the President of the United States in an effort to distract law enforcement officials and the American public from the criminal wrongdoing our highest elected official has been trying to cover up. As a result, the chicken is just another pawn in the President's ongoing and elaborate scheme to obstruct justice and undermine the rule of law. For that reason, my staff intends to offer the chicken unconditional immunity provided he cooperates fully with our investigation. OLIVER STONE: The question is not, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Rather, it is, "Who was crossing the road at the same time, whom we overlooked in our haste to observe the chicken crossing?" COLONEL SANDERS: I missed one??? and try to remember for the sake of peace; Remember that the jerk who cut u off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children. Remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young person who can't make change correctly is a worried 19- year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester. And, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who you said really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares. Remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking ur shopping progress are savoring this! moment , knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together. Remind yourself each day that, of all the gifts you give others, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love. Remember that you remembered to do this without the help of some god someone else thought up for you to follow-- you did it on your own, but, to each his own, or, c'iet la vie. We are never happy with objects or accomplishments. We only think so. This is why the wealthy are always wanting more and we feel we must brag about "things." But, in fact happiness is always in front of us- it isn't the end but the means that satisfied us. As soon as the accomplishing is over there is always an empty sensation few recognize and try to overcome by the brag, which makes it all the worse. It's the doing, not the done that fulfills us. Forget about everything accept the "DO." What do you think of all that bullshit? We only gain wisdom when we stop listening to "me, me, me." I'm not so nieve as to think that that is easy after all we assimulate on the way to developing the personality. And if u insist on being the boss-that things go ur way, remember; When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be Boss. The brain said, "I should be boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions." The feet said, "We should be Boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go." The hands said, "We should be the boss because we do all the work and earn all the money." And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs, and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the Boss. So the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work. Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered. Eventually they all decided that the asshole should be the boss, so the motion was passed. All the other parts did all the work while the boss just sat and passed out the shit! Moral of the story: You don't need brains to be a boss - any asshole will do. From the holographic universe, Hologram

the laws covering th e# of TV, radio, newspapers, etc. were changed by Pres. Reagan and Bush so that there wealthy friends could buy them all up and controll the information u get. That is way Murdock loved Reagan and now Bush. He and 2 others control ur info. And the wealthy republican televangelist religious fanatics anre buying TV and radio to spreed there money making capacity. It's not Murdocks and companys fault, they just are greedy as most business men are. It was Reagan and the Bush family that sold out our nations freedom of the press and in that way sold out our democracy to the ones who would put them in office. One of the biggest crimes against American democracy. ever. Now all the old journalist are crying as they are let go for not doing what Murdock and friends tells them to, but where were they when the public needed to be informed of the changes so they could raise a fuss? You were sold out Americans for flashy, no help, stupid news. But u can still do something. Don't believe the right wing Republican lies. Vote them out, along with their spying "Homeland Security," scare tactics. This country use to be free of that NAZI propoganda, make it that way again.

Come on AL GORE, don't allow these Democrats to let the right wing Republicans keep the government! Obama can't win as our country is too racist now, and Hillary Clinton can't as she can't get the conservative vote, even though she would sell out to get it. Obama is too vain to concede, but knows his run will end in right wing victory but No thought of how his run may keep right wing in, The only thing of importance to him is that HE is in the race. Vanity strikes again.
 For those who are not familiar with Al Gore; (there are a few) Al Gore's Nobel Prize has somewhat boosted the American public's perception of him -- with the public holding a more favorable view of Gore than at any time since the fall of 2000. 40% percent of Americans surveyed say they'd like to see him run for president again, and that's is without campaining! Most Americans say Gore deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize by a large margin.Gallup reports: "The most visible effect of Gore's win is in the public's overall opinions of him. The Oct. 12-14 poll finds 58 percent of Americans saying they have a favorable view of Gore, up from 50 percent in the prior reading taken in August. That is Gore's high favorable rating for the year, and his best in any Gallup Poll since September 2000. Gore's favorable rating had been around 50 percent most of the year, aside from a brief period in the mid-50 percent range following his Academy Award victory. "Gallup has tracked opinions of Gore since 1992, and his favorable rating peaked at 64 percent on two occasions -- immediately following the Democratic National Conventions in 2000 (at which he was nominated for president) and 1992 (at which he was nominated for vice president)"Democrats have very positive views of Gore, and these views are improved following his Nobel Peace Prize award. Seventy-nine percent of Democrats now have a positive opinion of Gore, compared with 73 percent in the August survey. Gore's favorable rating among Democrats is even with that of Sen. Hillary Clinton, for whom 84 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion, again, even without campaining. But Gore now has a better favorable rating than Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, who were viewed similarly to Gore by Democrats prior to last week. OCTOBER 12, 2007 Al Gore wins the Nobel, campaign draft calling by William Neikirk
Video by Sabrina Fang Al Gore is now a Nobel laureate. But will he be a presidential candidate, too? Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize today for his efforts in highlighting the global warming issue and put himself back into the presidential picture if he is so inclined. The announcement was made in Oslo. He shared the award with the International Panel on Climate Change. They were cited for their efforts in warning the world of the dangers of climate change. The former vice president has dedicated much of his time since his narrow 2000 loss to President Bush to warn the nation—indeed the world—that the planet is headed toward a potentially catastrophic warming. 
Nobel Peace Prize Committee Chair Ole Danbolt Mjoes on announcement that former Vice President Al Gore is co-winner of the prestigious award. Photo by Daniel Annum Lauten-AFP/Getty Images. Continue reading "Al Gore wins the Nobel, campaign draft calling" » GORE!, if republicans stay in, this keeps happening, and they are just bears, think of our people.. Study: Two-thirds of polar bears threatened by William Neikirk Two-thirds of the world's polar bear population could be wiped out by the mid-21st century because of changes of sea-ice conditions, the U.S. Geological Survey projects in a new study. As a result of the federal agency's study, the polar bear could soon be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. A final decision on that designation is due in January. A scientific team investigating the future of polar bears and their habits took six months to analyze the direct relationship between the presence of Arctic sea ice and the health of polar bears, according to the USGS. The bears "depend on sea ice as a platform to hunt for seals, their primary food," according to the agency. Continue reading "Study: Two-thirds of polar bears threatened" » Posted by Bill Neikirk at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (30) AUGUST 20, 2007 Bush's new hunting order conjures up Cheney 
Vice President Cheney quail hunting in 2002. AP Photo/David Bohrer, White House by Frank James I'm not among those who see the invisible hand of Vice President Cheney behind everything that happens at the White House. But I have to admit, as soon as I learned about this executive order President Bush recently signed, ordering federal agencies to enhance hunting opportunities on federally managed lands, my suspicions did run in the direction of one of our nation's most famous hunters. Here part of the executive order: Section 1. Purpose. The purpose of this order is to direct Federal agencies that have programs and activities that have a measurable effect on public land management, outdoor recreation, and wildlife management, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat. Sec. 2. Federal Activities. Federal agencies shall, consistent with agency missions: (a) Evaluate the effect of agency actions on trends in hunting participation and, where appropriate to address declining trends, implement actions that expand and enhance hunting opportunities for the public; (b) Consider the economic and recreational values of hunting in agency actions, as appropriate; Continue reading "Bush's new hunting order conjures up Cheney" » Posted by Frank James at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (28) AUGUST 8, 2007 AND THEN THERE ARE DEMOCRATIC IDIOTS LLIKE DINGELL OF MICH. who would make it harder on the not so wealthy as he, with higher gas prices! (an he calls himself an environmentalist, RIGHT) Dingell's energy plan would hike gas taxes by William Neikirk Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) has a plan for combating global warming. He would slap a 50-cent per gallon tax on gasoline, end the mortgage tax deduction for so-called "McMansions," and tax and put a cap on carbon dioxide emissions. Proposals by a single congressman are usually not so noteworthy, but Dingell happens to be the powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and accustomed to getting his way in Congress. But the question is whether the House Democratic Leadership will go this far. He and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are often at odds on energy policy. But when Congress comes back this fall, legislation to combat climate change will be considered by the House. He outlined his ideas in a town hall meeting in Ann Arbor Tuesday, according to a story in today's Detroit Free Press. 45th Vice President of the United States In office January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 United States Senator from Tennessee In office January 3, 1985 – January 2, 1993 Preceded by Howard Baker Succeeded by Harlan Mathews Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 6th district In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 4th district Website algore.com Nobel Prize in Peace (2007) Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth vice president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He is also a prominent environmental activist and shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Prior to the vice presidency, Gore served in the U. S. House of Representatives (1977–85) and the U. S. Senate (1985–93), representing Tennessee. Gore was the Democratic nominee for president in the 2000 election in which he won the popular vote by a small majority. A legal controversy over the Florida election recount, ultimately settled in favor of George W. Bush by the Supreme Court, made the election one of the most controversial in American history.[1] [2] Today, Gore is president of the American television channel Current TV (which won the award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television at the 2007 Primetime Emmys[3]), chairman of Generation Investment Management, a director on the board of Apple Inc., an unofficial advisor to Google's senior management, and chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection. As an environmental activist, Gore lectures widely on the topic of global warming, which he calls "the climate crisis."[4] In 2006, he starred in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, discussing global warming and the environment. Under his leadership, one of Gore's organizations, Save Our Selves, organized the July 7, 2007 benefit concert Live Earth in an effort to raise awareness about climate change. While Gore has frequently stated that "I'm not planning to be a candidate again,"[5] there are continuing efforts[6] to convince him to run for the 2008 Democratic presidential Albert A. Gore, Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., to Albert Arnold Gore, Sr., a U.S. Representative (1939–1944, 1945–1953) and Senator (1953–1971) from Tennessee and Pauline LaFon Gore, one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School. He divided his childhood between Washington, and Carthage, Tennessee:[7] as a boy, during the school year, the family lived in a hotel in Washington and during summer vacations, Gore worked on the family farm in Carthage, where hay and tobacco were grown and cattle raised.[8] Gore attended St. Albans School where he ranked 25th (of 51) in his senior class.[9] In preparation for his college applications, Gore scored a 1355 on his SAT (625 in verbal and 730 in math). [9] Al Gore's IQ scores, from tests administered at St. Alban's School in 1961 and 1964 (his freshman and senior years) respectively, have been recorded as 133 and 134. [9] In 1965, Gore enrolled at Harvard College, the only university to which he applied. He scored in the lower fifth of the class for two years in a row[10] and, after finding himself bored with his classes in his declared English major, Gore switched majors and found a passion for government and graduated with honors from Harvard in June 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government. [9] After returning from the military he took religious studies courses at Vanderbilt and then entered the university's law school. He left Vanderbilt without a degree to run for an open seat in Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District in 1976. Gore served as a field reporter in Vietnam for five months. Gore opposed the Vietnam War and could have avoided serving overseas by accepting a spot in the National Guard that a friend of his family had reserved for him, or by other means of avoiding the draft. Gore has stated that his sense of civic duty compelled him to serve in some capacity.[11] He enlisted in the United States Army on August 7, 1969. After basic training at Fort Dix, Gore was assigned as a military journalist writing for The Army Flier, the base newspaper at Fort Rucker. With seven months remaining in his enlistment, Gore was shipped to Vietnam, arriving on January 2, 1971. He served for four months with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa and for another month at the Army Engineer Command in Long Binh. Gore said in 1988 that his experience in Vietnam: "didn't change my conclusions about the war being a terrible mistake, but it struck me that opponents to the war, including myself, really did not take into account the fact that there were an awful lot of South Vietnamese who desperately wanted to hang on to what they called freedom. Coming face to face with those sentiments expressed by people who did the laundry and ran the restaurants and worked in the fields was something I was naively unprepared for."[12] As his unit was standing down, he applied for and received a non-essential personnel honorable discharge two months early in order to attend divinity school at Vanderbilt University.[13] Gore left Vanderbilt after completing the required one-year Rockefeller Foundation scholarship for students returning to secular work.[14] In 1970, Gore married Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson (known as Tipper), whom he had first met at his high school senior prom in Washington, D.C. Gore then spent five years as a reporter for The Tennessean, a newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. His investigations of possible corruption among members of Nashville's Metro Council resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two councilmen for separate offenses.[15] Gore then took a leave of absence from the paper to try law school. Before he could finish, he learned that his local congressman planned to retire in 1976.[citation needed] Political career (1976–2000) Congressional service When Congressman Joe L. Evins announced his retirement after 30 years, Gore quit law school in March 1976 to run for the United States House of Representatives, in Tennessee's fourth district. Gore defeated Stanley Rogers in the Democratic primary, then ran unopposed in the general election and was elected to his first Congressional post. He was re-elected three times, in 1978, 1980, and 1982. In 1984, Gore successfully ran for a seat in the United States Senate, which had been vacated by Republican Majority Leader Howard Baker. Gore served as a Senator from Tennessee until 1993, when he became Vice President. While in Congress, Gore was a member of the following committees: Armed Services (Defense Industry and Technology Projection Forces and Regional Defense; Strategic Forces and Nuclear Deterrence); Commerce, Science and Transportation (Communications; Consumer; Science, Technology and Space — chairman 1992; Surface Transportation; National Ocean Policy Study); Joint Committee on Printing; Joint Economic Committee; and Rules and Administration. On March 19, 1979, Gore became the first person to appear on C-SPAN, making a speech in the House chambers.[16] In the late 1980s, Gore introduced the Gore Bill, which was later passed as the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. The bill was one of the most important pieces of legislation directly affecting the expansion of the Internet. Opposition to U.S. government support of Saddam Hussein While Senator, Gore twice attempted to get the U.S. government to pull the plug on support to Saddam Hussein, citing Hussein's use of poison gas, support of terrorism, and his burgeoning nuclear program, but was opposed both times by the Reagan and Bush administrations. In the wake of the Al-Anfal Campaign, during which Hussein staged deadly mustard and nerve gas attacks on Kurdish Iraqis, Gore cosponsored the Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988, which would have cut all assistance to Iraq. The bill was defeated in part due to intense lobbying of Congress by the Reagan-Bush White House and a veto threat from President Reagan.[17] Gore's positions as a Senator with regard to Iraq would later become an issue in his 1992 campaign for Vice President.[18] 1988 Presidential election Main article: Al Gore presidential campaign, 1988 Gore ran for President in the 1988 United States presidential election, but failed to obtain the Democratic nomination, which went to Michael Dukakis. During the campaign, Gore's strategy involved skipping the Iowa caucus and putting little emphasis on the New Hampshire Primary in order to concentrate his efforts on the South. He won Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee in the Super Tuesday primaries but dropped out of the presidential race in April after a poor showing in the New York primary.[16] On April 3, 1989, Gore's six-year-old son Albert was nearly killed in an automobile accident while leaving the Baltimore Orioles' opening day game. Because of the resulting lengthy healing process, his father chose to stay near him during the recovery instead of laying the foundation for a 1992 presidential primary campaign. Gore started writing Earth in the Balance, his book on environmental conservation, during his son's recovery. It became the first book written by a sitting Senator to make The New York Times bestseller list since John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. Vice Presidency Vice President Gore talking with President Clinton as the two pass through the Colonnade at the White House. Bill Clinton chose Gore to be his running mate for the 1992 United States presidential election on July 9, 1992. Gore was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993. Clinton and Gore were re-elected to a second term in the 1996 election. According to the U.S. government, the U.S. economy expanded for all eight years of the Clinton/Gore administration.[19] One factor was the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, for which Gore cast the tie-breaking vote. The Administration worked closely with the Republican-led House to slow federal spending and eventually balance the federal budget. One of Gore's major works as Vice President was the National Performance Review,[20] which pointed out waste, fraud, and other abuse in the federal government and stressed the need for cutting the size of the bureaucracy and the number of regulations. Gore stated that the National Performance Review later helped guide President Clinton when he down-sized the federal government.[21] In 1993, Gore debated Ross Perot on CNN's Larry King Live on the issue of free trade, with Gore arguing for free trade and the passage of NAFTA, and Perot arguing against it. Public opinion polls taken after the debate showed that a majority of Americans thought Gore won the debate and now supported NAFTA[22]. The bill subsequently passed 234–200 in the House of Representatives.[23] Gore while Vice President In 1997, Gore became the highest elected official to have run a marathon while in office. He ran the 1997 Marine Corps Marathon in 4:54:25 (an 11:14 mile pace).[24] In 1998, Gore began promoting a NASA satellite that would provide a constant view of Earth, marking the first time such an image would have been made since The Blue Marble photo from the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. The "Triana" satellite would have been permanently mounted in the L1 Lagrangian Point, 1.5 million km away.[25] Also in 1998, Gore became associated with Digital Earth.[26] In 1999, Gore became the subject of criticism by AIDS activists. According to a June 18, 1999 article in the Washington Post the activists said that "Gore, in talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki, has threatened trade sanctions if South Africa permits the widespread sale of cheaper, generic drugs that would cut into U.S. companies' sales." Gore responded by stating, "I love this country. I love the First Amendment [...] Let me say in response to those who may have chosen an inappropriate way to make their point, that actually the crisis of AIDS in Africa is one that should command the attention of people in the United States and around the world." [27] 2000 Presidential election Main article: Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000 Gore/Lieberman 2000 campaign logo After two terms as Vice President, Gore ran for President again in the 2000 United States Presidential election, selecting Senator Joe Lieberman to be his vice-presidential running mate. The election was one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in the history of the United States. Gore's daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, worked on her father's campaign during the election as Youth Outreach Chair.[28] Together with her father's former Harvard roommate Tommy Lee Jones, [29] Schiff officially nominated Gore as the presidential candidate during the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. [30] She also introduced her father during the launching of his campaign.[31] During the entire campaign, Gore was neck-and-neck in the polls with Republican Governor of Texas George W. Bush. On Election Day, the results were so close that the outcome of the race took over a month to resolve, highlighted by the premature declaration of a winner on election night, and an extremely close result in the state of Florida. On election night, news networks first called Florida for Gore, later retracted the projection, and then called Florida for Bush, before finally retracting that projection as well. The race was ultimately decided by a margin of only 537 votes in Florida. Florida's 25 electoral votes were awarded to Bush only after numerous court challenges. Gore publicly conceded the election after the Supreme Court of the United States in Bush v. Gore ruled that the Florida recount was unconstitutional and that no constitutionally valid recount could be completed by the December 12 deadline, effectively ending the recounts.[32] Gore strongly disagreed with the Court's decision, but decided "for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession."[33] Gore became the fourth candidate in American history to win the popular vote (by half a million more votes than his opponent) but lose the electoral vote.[34] Gore ultimately received 267 electoral votes to Bush's 271.[35] Gore himself attributed positive economic results to his and Clinton's policies[37] — more than 22 million new jobs, the highest homeownership in American history (up to that time), the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the paying off of $360 billion of the national debt, the lowest poverty rate in 20 years, higher incomes at all levels, the conversion of the hitherto largest budget deficit in American history into the largest surplus, the lowest government spending in three decades, the lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years, and more families owning stocks than had up to that point. Post Vice-presidency 2004 election activities As the first major speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Gore presented himself as a living reminder that every vote counts. "Let's make sure not only that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president, but also that this president is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court," said Gore. Gore directed remarks to those who had abandoned the Democratic Party four years ago to support third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, asking them, "Do you still believe that there was no difference between the candidates?"[39] Initially, Al Gore was touted as a logical opponent of George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential Election. "Re-elect Gore!" was a common slogan among many Democrats who felt he had been cheated out of the presidency, on the grounds of his winning the popular vote and the Florida voting controversies. On December 16, 2002, however, Gore announced that he would not run in 2004, saying that it was time for "fresh faces" and "new ideas" to emerge from the Democrats. When he appeared on a 60 Minutes interview, Gore said that he felt if he had run, the focus of the election would be the rematch rather than the issues. Gore's former running mate, Joe Lieberman quickly announced his own candidacy for the presidency, which he had vowed he would not do if Gore ran. Despite Gore taking himself out of the race, a handful of his supporters formed a national campaign to "draft" him into running. However, that effort largely came to an end when Gore publicly endorsed Governor of Vermont Howard Dean (over his former running mate Lieberman) weeks before the first primary of the election cycle. There was still some effort to encourage write-in votes for Gore in the primaries by Patriots for Al Gore who were separate from the draft movement. Although Gore did receive a small number of votes in New Hampshire and New Mexico, that effort was halted when John Kerry pulled into the lead for the nomination. On February 9, 2004, on the eve of the Tennessee primary, Gore gave what some consider his harshest criticism of the president yet when he accused George W. Bush of betraying the country by using the 9/11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq. Gore also urged all Democrats to unite behind their eventual nominee proclaiming, "Any one of these candidates is far better than George W. Bush." In March 2004 Gore, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, united behind Kerry as the presumptive Democratic nominee. On April 28, 2004, Gore announced that he would be donating $6 million to various Democratic Party groups. Drawing from his funds left over from his 2000 campaign, Gore pledged to donate $4 million to the Democratic National Committee. The party's Senate and House committees would each get $1 million, and the party from Gore's home state of Tennessee would receive $250,000. In addition, Gore announced that all of the surplus funds in his "Recount Fund" from the 2000 election controversy that resulted in the Supreme Court halting the counting of the ballots, a total of $240,000, will be donated to the Florida Democratic Party. Gore stressed the importance of voting and having every vote counted, foreshadowing the 2004 United States election voting controversies. In the late 1990s, Gore strongly pushed for the passage of the Kyoto Treaty, which called for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.[68][69] He was opposed by the Senate, which passed unanimously (95-0) the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98),[70] which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States".[71] On November 12, 1998, Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by the developing nations.[72] The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification. In recent years, Gore has remained busy traveling the world speaking and participating in events mainly aimed towards global warming awareness and prevention. His keynote presentation on global warming has received standing ovations, and he has presented it at least 1,000 times according to his monologue in An Inconvenient Truth. His speaking fee is $100,000.[73] In 2004, he launched Generation Investment Management. This firm, which he chairs, seeks out companies which take a responsible view on global issues such as climate change. It was created to assist the growing demand for an investment style that can bring returns by blending traditional equity research with a focus on more intangible non-financial factors such as social and environmental responsibility and corporate governance. Gore is a vocal proponent of carbon neutrality, buying a carbon offset each time he travels by aircraft.[74] Gore and his family drive hybrid vehicles.[75] In "An Inconvenient Truth" Gore calls for people to conserve energy, but the Gore family mansion in Nashville consumes 12 to 20 times more energy than the average family home, and its consumption has risen since the film was produced in 2005. [76] Gore's supporters, however, counter that the Gore Family has done much to offset their carbon footprint and electrical usage, such as through the installation of solar panels. Interest in Al Gore's speeches reached such a point that a public lecture at University of Toronto on February 21, 2007, on the topic of global warming, led to a crash of the ticket sales website within minutes of opening.[77] A few weeks later, he spoke at another event in the same city and, for the first time, made the argument that employers have a significant role to play in mobilizing their employees to take action on climate change.[78] During Global Warming Awareness Month, on February 9, 2007, Al Gore and Richard Branson announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a competition offering a $25 million prize for the first person or organization to produce a viable design that results in the removal of atmospheric greenhouse gases.[79] On July 7, 2007, Live Earth benefit concerts were held around the world in an effort to raise awareness about climate change. The event was the brainchild of both Gore and Kevin Wall of Save Our Selves. On July 21, 2007, he announced teaming with actress Cameron Diaz for a TV climate contest 60 Seconds to Save the Earth to gain people's support in solving the climate crisis.[80] Gore starred in the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth, which won the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.[81] The Oscar was awarded to director Davis Guggenheim, who asked Gore to join him and other members of the crew on stage. During this time, Gore gave a brief speech: "My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue; it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."[82] The film, released on May 24, 2006, documents the evidence for anthropogenic global warming and warns of the consequences of people not making immediate changes to their behavior. In late July, it surpassed Bowling for Columbine as the third-highest-grossing documentary in U.S. history.[83] Gore also published a book of the same title, which became a bestseller. In reference to the use of nuclear power to mitigate global warming, Gore has stated, "Nuclear energy is not the panacea for tackling global warming." [84] 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Gore was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which was shared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, headed by Rajendra K. Pachauri (Delhi, India).[85] The award was given "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change" on October 12, 2007.[86] Response to the award was largely positive. Some praised the decision, such as founder of the Green Belt Movement, Professor Wangari Maathai, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. Inuit Activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier stated, "The Planet Earth is a winner today and that is what counts for me."[87][88] Some, such as Czech President Vaclav Klaus and meteorologist William M. Gray, criticized awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Gore. Claude Allègre, French geochemist and climate skeptic, dubbed the award "a political gimmick".[89][90] Gore made the following statement after receiving the prize: I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis—a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. 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 also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level. My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.[91] Internet and technology Main article: Al Gore's contributions to the Internet and technology Gore at the Ansari X Prize Executive Summit, October 19, 2006 Al Gore was involved in the development and mainstreaming of the Internet as both Senator and Vice-President. Campbell-Kelly and Aspray note in Chapter 12 of their 1996 text, Computer: A History of the Information Machine, that up until the early 1990s, public usage of the Internet was limited. They continue to state that the "problem of giving ordinary Americans network access had exercised Senator Al Gore since the late 1970s" leading him to develop legislation that would alleviate this problem.[92] Gore thus began to craft the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 which was passed on Dec. 9, 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII)[93] which Gore referred to as the "information superhighway". In 1999, various media outlets suggested that Gore claimed that he "invented the Internet"[94][95] in reference to a CNN interview in which he said, "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."[96] In response to this controversy, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn wrote a 2000-09-29 article (originally sent via email) that described Gore's contributions to the Internet since the 1970s, including his work on the Gore Bill:[97] [A]s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective. As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept. Gore has been a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc. since 2003 and serves as a Senior Advisor to Google Inc.[98] On 06 June 2005, Gore was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award "for three decades of contributions to the Internet" at The Webby Awards. In giving him the award, Tiffany Shlain (the awards' founder and chairwoman) stated that she "wanted to set the record straight [...] it's just one of those instances someone did amazing work for three decades as Congressman, Senator and Vice President and it got spun around into this political mess."[99] Gore, during his acceptance speech (limited to five words according to Webby Awards rules), joked: "Please don't recount this vote".[100] On May 4, 2004, INdTV Holdings, a company co-founded by Gore and Joel Hyatt, purchased cable news channel NewsWorld International from Vivendi Universal. The network was relaunched under the name Current TV on August 1, 2005. On September 16, 2007, Current TV won the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television award at the 2007 Primetime Emmys[101] for its use of online technologies with television. In his acceptance speech, Gore stated, "we are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make. More to come. Current.com. Next month."[102] Family Gore had an elder sister, Nancy Gore Hunger. She died of lung cancer in 1984.[113] Gore is married to Tipper Gore. They have four children: Karenna (born August 6, 1973), married to Andrew "Drew" Schiff[114]; Kristin Cusack (born June 5, 1977), married to Paul Cusack; Sarah Lee (born January 7, 1979), married to Taiwanese-American businessman Bill Lee[115] (李君偉)[116]; and Albert III (born October 19, 1982). The Gores also have two grandchildren: Wyatt Gore Schiff (born July 4, 1999) and Anna Hunger Schiff (born August 23, 2001).[117] Sarah is currently a medical student at University of California, San Francisco.[118] Albert works as associate publisher of the philanthropic Good magazine. The Gores reside in Nashville, Tennessee, and own a small farm near Carthage; they attend New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Carthage. In late 2005 the Gores bought a condominium at San Francisco's St. Regis. WRITE TO AL GORE AND DEMAND THAT HE SAVE OUR GOVERNMENT FROM THE RIGHT WIN REPUBLICANS algore.com

Belief in a God and religion, qualifies as a delusion,; a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. Religion subverts science, fosters fanaticism, encourages bigotry against homosexuals, and influences society in other negative ways. Examples are cases where blasphemy laws have been used to sentence people to death, and when funerals of gays or gay sympathisers have been picketed. Preachers in the southern portions of the United States used the Bible to justify slavery by claiming Africans were descendants of Noah's sinful son Ham. During the Crusades, "pagans" and "heretics" who would not convert to Christianity were murdered. The religious indoctrination of children by parents and teachers in faith schools amount to a form of mental abuse. People should cringe every time somebody speaks of a “Muslim child” or a “Catholic child”, wondering how a young child can be considered developed enough to have such independent views on the cosmos and humanity’s place within it. By contrast, Dawkins observes that no reasonable person would speak of a "Marxist child" or a "Republican child". Skeptic Michael Shermer, writing in Science, stresses the consciousness raising messages of the book, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, in particular, he cites Dawkins's message that atheism can be healthy and intellectually fulfilling. He briefly outlines the book and praises the latter part, saying the closing chapter is a tribute to the power and beauty of science, which no living writer does better. He concludes that "Dawkins's latest book deserves multiple readings, not just as an important work of science, but as a great work of literature."[46] Joan Bakewell reviewed the book for The Guardian, stating "Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments, laying into fallacies and false doctrines", and suggesting that it is a timely book: "These are now political matters. Around the world communities are increasingly defined as Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and living peaceably together is ever harder to sustain....Dawkins is right to be not only angry but alarmed. Religions have the secular world running scared. This book is a clarion call to cower no longer."[47] The Economist praised the book: "Everyone should read it. Atheists will love Mr Dawkins's incisive logic and rapier wit and theists will find few better tests of the robustness of their faith. Even agnostics, who claim to have no opinion on God, may be persuaded that their position is an untenable waffle." The rest of the review essentially outlines Dawkins's arguments without much commentary of its own, focusing on Dawkins's critiques of the influence of religion upon politics and the use of religion to insulate political positions from criticism. "The problem, as Mr. Dawkins sees it, is that religious moderates make the world safe for fundamentalists, by promoting faith as a virtue and by enforcing an overly pious respect for religion."[57] To those who claim that Dawkins misrepresents religious people and argue that fanatics are a small minority, Dawkins replies that this is not true, and that intolerant fanatics have huge influence in the world.[19] Dawkins has been described as an "atheist fundamentalist". He says that fundamentalism is defined by a refusal to acknowledge facts whilst his atheism is entirely based on the facts. He says that, if all of the facts pointed to creationism, then he would believe in creationism.[19]