CLIMATE CHANGE -- GORE SMACKS DOWN GLOBAL WARMING DENIERS AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS: Yesterday, former Vice President Al Gore testified about climate change before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. At the House hearing, Gore slammed climate change deniers<http://capweb.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=263351113&url_num=50&url=http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/21/gore-barton/>, saying, "The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, well I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem. If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame-retardant. You take action." (Watch his full introductory statement here<http://capweb.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=263351113&url_num=51&url=http://blog.algore.com/2007/03/als_testimony_before_the_house.html>, as well as other highlights from his testimony here<http://capweb.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=263351113&url_num=52&url=http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p%3D153>.) Gore's appearance before Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) committee was a lively one, with infamous climate "skeptic" Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) trying to cut off Gore's testimony. Boxer would have none of it<http://capweb.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=263351113&url_num=53&url=http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/21/gore-boxer-inhofe/>, telling Inhofe, "You're not making the rules. You used to when you did this. Elections have consequences. So I make the rules." Inhofe also tried to repeat the right-wing smear against Gore for not signing a "Personal Energy Ethics Pledge<http://capweb.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=263351113&url_num=54&url=http://climateprogress.org/2007/03/21/gop-attack-on-gore-makes-no-sense-at-all/>" to "consume no more energy than the average American household." Joe Romm of Climate Progress explained why Inhofe's attack is nonsense: "[W]hy should Gore take such a pledge? Gore is a champion of greenhouse gas reductions, not energy reductions. Gore explained he buys 100 percent renewable power and is planning to build a solar power system. Thus the electricity Gore consumes in his Tennessee home does not contribute to global warming<http://capweb.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=263351113&url_num=55&url=http://climateprogress.org/2007/03/21/gop-attack-on-gore-makes-no-sense-at-all/>." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
