Good Questions

When Hanson's on, he's on:

We need an Orwell to offer some psychological explanation for why an Al Gore, who gobbles up carbon-based power in his mansion and private jet, continues to harangue the less well off about their energy profligacy and threats to the planet, or why a John Edwards, who just finished a towered 28,000 sq. foot palace, claims Jesus would find us unforgiving to the poor, and serially speaks in terms of two nations, rich and poor.

Is this disconnect explained by an easy means of alleviating guilt over their own largess through cosmic preaching about the inequality and selfishness of others?

Or is it a genuine notion that as a crusading Senator and trial-lawyer they have battled enough for the less well off to justify some small compensation for their ongoing labors?

Or is it a clinical schizophrenia in which one side of the Mother Teresa brain has no connection with the Donald Trump other?

Or do they analytically conclude that they will be more effective advocates for the human race if they purchase requisite shelter, transportation, and amenities commensurate with their worth that can refresh body and soul for their own messianic ordeals ahead?

Or are they in denial, and feel their own respective modes of living and travel are not that much different from others-the enemy being instead wasteful and "selfish" billionaires, not sober multi-millionaires like themselves?

Still, at the very least when Edwards says the following: "I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs. "I think he would be appalled, actually," he could at least offer the homeless shelter for a few cold nights in his sports and entertainment annex or a cot in something in the palatial residence apparently called "John's Lounge."

The hypocrisy is stunning. John Edwards' newly completed house is the biggest in his county, I believe. In a sense the knock against Gore for his carbon emissions is unfair. There's really no other way promote his message than to use fossil fuels; however, that doesn't excuse his apparent 50 spaceheaters per room Tennessee mansion. He consumed about 20 times the amount of energy the average family uses, I believe. And carbon offsets are no excuse. According to his own rhetoric, he's still actively destroying the earth. A true believer would cut down as much as possible and donate extra money to carbon offsets. Hanson doesn't even touch on the fact that the company Gore buys the offsets from is his own.