# Al Gore the Scam Artist **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 30, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879 "2010-04-30T16:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/21 "2010-04-30T17:13:10Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Doesn’t Santa Barbara get most of its power from the Diablo Canyon nuke plant? No. Diablo Canyon is a Pacific Gas & Electric Power Plan and Montecito is in Southern California service territoy. However, of course, once power is on the grid it doesn’t make much sense to try and say what plant delivered where, unless it is a direct connection. ---
**Author:** ![randy054](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@randy054](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randy054)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/22 "2010-04-30T17:17:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > That position is rather at odds with the one you staked out in the OP. > > No, but I’d want to really know that the guy was 500 lbs. You may be correct in your assessment about Gore, but you haven’t brought enough facts to the table here to prove it. Al Gore claimed that the average American’s consume more in one day than the average Indian does in a week. So I gather from that statement, he has a problem with it? So…if his carbon footprint, is identical to the average American, 2 fingers point back at him. But, his carbon foot print towers over the other 80% of Americans. Which makes him a double hypocrite. I’m not sure whats hard to understand about that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/23 "2010-04-30T17:24:11Z")
> [@randy054](#): > > Al Gore claimed that the average American’s consume more in one day than the average Indian does in a week. So I gather from that statement, he has a problem with it? So…if his carbon footprint, is identical to the average American, 2 fingers point back at him. But, his carbon foot print towers over the other 80% of Americans. Which makes him a double hypocrite. I’m not sure whats hard to understand about that. We don’t know what he plans to do with that property, or what its carbon footprint is. Bush has a huge-ass house in Middlands, but I understand it has a very low carbon footprint. Need facts, not guess-work ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/24 "2010-04-30T17:24:11Z")
> [@randy054](#): > > Al Gore claimed that the average American’s consume more in one day than the average Indian does in a week. So I gather from that statement, he has a problem with it? So…if his carbon footprint, is identical to the average American, 2 fingers point back at him. But, his carbon foot print towers over the other 80% of Americans. Which makes him a double hypocrite. I’m not sure whats hard to understand about that. Are you picturing Al simultaneously driving six cars, while chugging Bollinger and tossing the bottles out of the windows? It doesn’t quite work that way. Even the super-rich can only consume so much. So what if he owns a big house? It’s existing construction. If he was building his own palatial demesnes, that might be different. For all you know, he scrupulously turns off all the lights and unplugs all the electrical equipment when he’s not home. There _is_ a valid point to be made about Al’s hypocrisy - he flies around in his own Gulfstream, including while promoting environmental consciousness, rather than flying on commercial jets- thereby consuming a shit ton of fuel. If you want to complain about _that_, be my guest. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/25 "2010-04-30T17:27:46Z")
My Googling suggests that [this](http://www.phototourwebsites.com/websites/primaluceflash/) is his new house. It was listed originally at $19,900,900. Sounds like he got a pretty good deal. And, in one of the views from the house, the ocean is pretty far away. I don’t think a sea level rise of 20 feet will touch the property. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/26 "2010-04-30T17:39:47Z")
> [@randy054](#): > > The couple spent $8,875,000 on an ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate source familiar with the deal confirms. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Look, either he’s right about global warming or he’s not. His alleged hypocrisy has nothing to do with it. A death row inmate can devise an argument against murder but his hypocrisy won’t invalidate the argument. Gore has the facts on his side. That’s all that matters. Act responsibly because that’s what the facts say, not because of what Al Gore says. He’s just a spokesman. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/27 "2010-04-30T17:41:35Z")
In addition to his carbon credits scam, Gore also has experience in swindling investors (mostly the US taxpayers). He was involved with a firm call “Molten Metals Technologies”-it was a firm started by a guy in Boston, who claimed he had a process to destroy all toxic waste chemicals. The ide was that you pour the stuff (that you wanted to get rid of) into a furnace containing super hot molten iron. The initial reports were so promising that Gore arrange for the US DOE to front the firm money. How did it end? The process didn’t work, the firm went bust, and Al Gore sold his stake before the bad news went out. Of course, nobody lost…except the US taxpayers-“f\*\*k em!”:eek: ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/28 "2010-04-30T17:45:16Z")
I’d bet its height above sea level was one of his major considerations before buying it tho’…why take any chances with that kind of investment? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/29 "2010-04-30T17:46:22Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > In addition to his carbon credits scam, Gore also has experience in swindling investors (mostly the US taxpayers). He was involved with a firm call “Molten Metals Technologies”-it was a firm started by a guy in Boston, who claimed he had a process to destroy all toxic waste chemicals. The ide was that you pour the stuff (that you wanted to get rid of) into a furnace containing super hot molten iron. > The initial reports were so promising that Gore arrange for the US DOE to front the firm money. > How did it end? The process didn’t work, the firm went bust, and Al Gore sold his stake before the bad news went out. > Of course, nobody lost..except the US taxpayers-“f\*\*k em!”:eek: Cite, please. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/30 "2010-04-30T17:50:18Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > How did it end? The process didn’t work, the firm went bust, and Al Gore sold his stake before the bad news went out. > Of course, nobody lost..except the US taxpayers-“f\*\*k em!”:eek: Investing in technology that fails isn’t a moral failing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/31 "2010-04-30T17:50:55Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] In addition to his carbon credits scam, Gore also has experience in swindling investors (mostly the US taxpayers). He was involved with a firm call “Molten Metals Technologies”-it was a firm started by a guy in Boston, who claimed he had a process to destroy all toxic waste chemicals. The ide was that you pour the stuff (that you wanted to get rid of) into a furnace containing super hot molten iron. The initial reports were so promising that Gore arrange for the US DOE to front the firm money. How did it end? The process didn’t work, the firm went bust, and Al Gore sold his stake before the bad news went out. Of course, nobody lost..except the US taxpayers-“f\*\*k em!” [/QUOTE] Gore did not own a stake in Molten Metal Technologies, although some of his associates did. In any case, the other stockholders lost when their share prices plunged. What’s the matter with you, anyway? Run out of Kennedys to whine about? [QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] Cite, please. [/QUOTE] [The basic premise is true](http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/ajhoff/teaching_cases/MMT%20(A)%20Case.pdf). Just not the part about Gore owning stock. Or about him “arranging for the DOE to front the firm money” - DOE research grants are managed by civil servants, not by politicians (link is a .pdf, by the way). MMT’s first DOE grant came during the (first) Bush Administration. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/32 "2010-04-30T17:52:36Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > Cite, please. Dude, look who you’re asking… ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/33 "2010-04-30T17:52:39Z")
I always amused at the people who claim that Al Gore sucks because he doesn’t live in a cave eating twigs, and therefore either 1) they’re just gonna go out and rape the planet to SHOW HIM, or 2) global warming is a hoax. Obviously, the OP falls in the former category. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/34 "2010-04-30T17:55:23Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > My Googling suggests that [this](http://www.phototourwebsites.com/websites/primaluceflash/) is his new house. It was listed originally at $19,900,900. Sounds like he got a pretty good deal. > > And, in one of the views from the house, the ocean is pretty far away. I don’t think a sea level rise of 20 feet will touch the property. Yeah, it’s up on Hot Springs and not that close to the Ocean. It’s just a stone’s throw away from the hotel/restaurant that Randy Quaid and his wife were convicted of ripping off, just to bring the two things bringing my area into national news together. It’s also in the same area where Dennis Miller lives. I’d love to be there when they run into each other at Jordano’s. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/35 "2010-04-30T18:00:16Z")
> [@randy054](#): > > He claimed the ocean levels will rise but yet buys a coastal property with an astronomical footprint. Point of order - is it possible to have an “astronomical footprint”? How would that work, exactly? I can’t figure out how to get my foot way up there, let alone what surface would take a print. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/36 "2010-04-30T18:02:22Z")
> [@Cort](#): > > Dude, look who you’re asking… Very true – we know **ralph** isn’t going to give a cite, so I’ll happily step in for him. A google search of [+“Molten Metals Technologies” +Gore](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2B%22Molten+Metals+Technologies%22+%2BGore&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=) brings back a whopping three hits. The first two are identical in content (and bullshit): > [@](#): > > When you look at the national debt, the bail outs of the banks, the fake stimulus bill, the health care bill, the coming cap and trade, the loss of jobs at the same time government workers have increased wages by 100% and more, and the exposed lies about Global Warming and Obama’s birth and mother, we can only conclude it is **a master plan to destroy America**. I’d like to say the bolding was mine, but nope, that’s how they wrote it. The fun really steps up in the third link. For extra credit, go to the root site, [http://www.greatdreams.com/](http://www.greatdreams.com/) – it’s a wonderful example of wingnut batshittery. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/37 "2010-04-30T18:07:33Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’d love to be there when they run into each other at Jordano’s. If anyone else is wondering about the tale of the tape on that encounter: Gore is 6’1," Miller is about 5’9." That’s a big edge to Gore, even though he’s is 62 and Miller is 56. I think we can spot Gore a significant weight advantage, too. I mention this just in case Jordano’s is wondering whether to open a betting line or what to do with their security people if both these guys show up at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/38 "2010-04-30T18:07:38Z")
> [@randy054](#): > > From now on, I am going to do everything in my power to destroy the earth and maybe, I can reach his level. Start small. Burn some tires in whatever small room you’re sitting in. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/39 "2010-04-30T18:08:09Z")
What if Dennis Miller is Manbearpig? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879/40 "2010-04-30T18:10:15Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > In addition to his carbon credits scam, Gore also has experience in swindling investors (mostly the US taxpayers). He was involved with a firm call “Molten Metals Technologies”-it was a firm started by a guy in Boston, who claimed he had a process to destroy all toxic waste chemicals. The ide was that you pour the stuff (that you wanted to get rid of) into a furnace containing super hot molten iron. > The initial reports were so promising that Gore arrange for the US DOE to front the firm money. The company hired a former aide to Gore, one Peter Knight who was a private lobbyist, to lobby for the grants. Gore didn’t arrange for anything. > [@ralph124c](#): > > How did it end? The process didn’t work, the firm went bust, and Al Gore sold his stake before the bad news went out. Gore never had a stake in the company. Can you supply a reliable cite that he did? crap! Didn’t preview. Beaten. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-gore-the-scam-artist/537879.md?page=3)