Al Gore Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Rock on. Al Gore just won the Nobel peace prize, for his work on the environment. I have been following that work closely for nearly 7 years now. I am friends with his campaign finance manager from 2000. The inside story there was that in 2000, he could have been described (I am trying to choose words carefully) as indecisive. Ok. Hell. He was standing there going "Ah, Tipper. What should I do?". I heard he turned the corner in like, 2002 and became extremely decisive. I have seen that type of thing with his work in Moveon (I am a founding member of Moveon.org and damned proud of it - I used to live a block from Eli Pariser. ).

I think this was clinched during his beijing talks and progress with china. China is literally +belching+ pollution into the world right now. Unprecedented levels.

Everyone seems to be talking about a presidential bid. Hey. It was the year 2000. Get over it. I think what would be great would to discuss zoning (forced commute equals forced pollution), greenspace and political will to continue the work started. Awareness of a problem, is only a first step. My wish list for talking points:

1. Federal highway funding tied to urban and suburban zoning plans (more greenspace, stores allowed in suburbs, etc. etc.
2. Coverage of the Cities essential over-ride of the current administrations federal policy on Kyoto protocol - ex., City of Atlanta implemented the Kyoto protocols (but still has dirty air!) even though the fed refused to acknowledge the problem
3. The effect of anonymous riders on environmental legislation - case in point, the Hurricane Katrina relief act had a rider , written by Jon Cornyn (R, Texas) to allow and promote increased levels of mercury to be pumped into the atmosphere by coal fired power plants in Pennsylvania. A shining example of how anonymous riders just dont make sense and how they can destroy all legislation... (also support the replacement of the voice of the constituency with the voice of the lobby)

When I mil blogged for a half season or so, there was a guy who was constantly making fun of Al Gore because he was a democrat. Hey I can understand that. I'm an independent. I get it from both sides of the fence. What I can't understand is distortion of scientific fact for making political hay out of lobbyist payments into your swiss bank account from some Texas oil company. So I remember when they laughed at me. Guess what, Ace?

He who laughs last, laughs loudest.