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     | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 06:23 pm A new book by socialist commentator Alexander Cockburn lays bare the depths of Gore's venality and his penchant for telling the biggest and dumbest lies. These is but a preview of all the horrors revealed in "Al Gore: A user's manual". The latest tall tale from Gore is that he as third grader sent a school that inspired John Kennedy to start the race to conquer space culminating with moon landing. He said it is all dowm to him. Or maybe I just made this up. See how contagious mendacity can be. Btw: Check the website out: http//www.counterpunch.org Gore reinvents himself on an almost daily basis. Nothing has been more comical than his "populist" posturings about the Republicans being the ticket of Big Oil and himself and Lieberman being the champions of the little people. This is the man whose education and Tennessee homestead came to him in part via the patronage of Armand Hammer, one of the great oil bandits of the twentieth century, in whose Occidental oil company the Gore family still has investments valued between $500,000 and $1 million. At the LA convention the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee was on the 42nd floor of the Arco building, and the symbolism was apt. In 1992 Arco (recently merged with BP Amoco) loaned the Clinton/Gore inaugural committee $100,000. In that same year it gave the DNC $268,000. In the 1993 election cycle it gave the DNC $274,000. In the 1995 cycle it ponied up $496,000 and has kept up the same tempo ever since. Was there a quid for the quo? You bet there was. Early in Clinton-time, the President overturned the longstanding ban on the export of Alaskan crude oil. Why that ban? When Congress OK'd the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the seventies, the legislation triumphed by a single vote only after solemn pledges were made that the North Slope oil would always be reserved for domestic markets, available to hold prices down. Congress had on its mind precisely such emergencies as this year's hike in prices and consequent suffering of poor people, soon to be trembling with cold for lack of cheap home-heating oil. With the help of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, Arco was also, at the start of the Clinton era, in the process of building refineries in China. Hence Clinton's overturn of the export ban was an immense boon to the company, whose CEO at the time, Lodwrick Cook, was given a White House birthday party in 1994. The birthday presents to the favorite oil company of the Clinton/Gore era have continued ever since. While the Democrats and mainstream Greens fulminate about Bush and Cheney's threat to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, nary a word has been mentioned about one of the biggest giveaways in the nation's history, the opening of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve?Alaska. Back at the start of the nineties Arco's Prudhoe Bay reserves on Alaska's North Slope were dwindling. Now Arco will be foremost among the oil companies exploiting a potential $36 billion worth of crude oil. Gore's "populism" is comical, yet one more facet of a larger mendacity. What suppressed psychic tumult drives him to those stretchers that litter his career, the lies large and small about his life and achievements? You'd think that a man exposed to as much public derision as was Gore after claiming he and Tipper were the model for the couple in Love Story, or after saying he'd invented the Internet, would by now be more prudent in his vauntings. But no. Just as a klepto's fingers inevitably stray toward the cash register, so too does Gore persist in his fabrications. Recently he's claimed to have been at the center of the action when the strategic petroleum reserve, in Texas and Louisiana, was established. In fact, the reserve's salt caverns were filling in 1977, when Gore was barely in Congress, a very junior member of the relevant energy committee. The legislation creating the reserve had been passed in 1975. At around the same time as this pretense, the VP claimed to have heard his mother crooning "Look for the union label" over his cradle. It rapidly emerged that this jingle was made up by an ad man in the seventies, when Al was in his late 20s. As a clue to why Al misremembers and exaggerates, the lullaby story has its relevance as a sad little essay in wish fulfillment. Gore's mother, Pauline, was a tough character, far more interested in advancing Albert Sr.'s career than in warbling over Gore's cot. Both parents were demanding. Gore is brittle, often the mark of the overly well-behaved, perfect child. Who can forget the panicked performance when his image of moral rectitude shattered at the impact of the fundraising scandals associated with the Buddhist temple in Los Angeles? "He was an easy child; he always wanted to please us," Pauline once said of him. The child's desire to please, to get the attention of often-absent parents, is probably what sparked Gore's penchant for tall tales about himself. Gore's official CV is sprinkled with "epiphanies" and claims to having achieved a higher level of moral awareness. In interviews, in his book Earth in the Balance and, famously, in his acceptance speech at the 1992 Democratic convention, Gore has shamelessly milked the accident in which his 6-year-old son was badly hurt after being struck by a car. Gore described how, amid his anguish beside the boy's hospital bed, he peered into his own soul and reproached himself for being an absentee dad. He narrated his entry into family therapy. But Tipper and the children didn't see more of him as a consequence. Despite that dark night of the soul beside Al III's bed, Gore plunged even deeper into Senate business and spent his hours of leisure away from the family, writing Earth in the Balance while holed up in his parents' old penthouse in the Fairfax Hotel. Soon after, he accepted Clinton's invitation to run for Vice President. Gore's a fibber through and through, just like Bill. A sad experience in the closing weeks of the campaign is to encounter liberals desperately trying delude themselves that there is some political decency or promise in the Democratic ticket. There isn't. Why talk about the lesser of two evils, when Gore is easily as bad as Bush and in many ways worse? The "lesser of two evils" is by definition a matter of restricted choice, like a man on a raft facing the decision of whether to drink seawater or his own urine. But in this election there are other choices, starting with Nader and the Greens. It isn't just a matter of facing seawater or piss.
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| | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 06:30 pm Correct website: http://www.counterpunch.org Filled with all kinds of goodies and useful info, articles and commentaries. Not the usual prattle from the mainstream, entirely clueless press. Too bad they are communists.
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| | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 06:48 pm "  dyslexia maggot!voogsade sucks
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| | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 10:29 pm a way too much spare time. gore everywhere, gore, gore. time to start spill some.
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| | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 10:39 pm Well, if you think Madeleine Albright is getting on your nerves now, wait til Mr. Bomb the World for their own Good Al Gore becomes president.
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| | Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 06:38 am Gore is the lesser of 2 eveils. Ralph Nader doesn't have a chance in hell, so be prepared for 4 possible more years of Gore! Annoymous, how come you only express " ???
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| | Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 07:10 am Xaali i feel "
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| | Wednesday, October 04, 2000 - 05:29 pm Xoogsade: Are u a closet Nazi?From what I have heard of your views (on other topics) you are disturbingly right wing for someone of your predicament.Gore is no saint but are people really expected to vote for someone who has no chance in hell of coming into power?Please be realistic.Wake up!All politicans are corrupt and selfserving, as a Somali I would expect you to know that.
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| | Wednesday, October 04, 2000 - 05:38 pm Xoogsade... this defines ur mentality.. U have surely proven urself to be politician in the West.. but affraid to face it at Home.. whats up with that? I would have liked if u posted something that had to do with Home than Al Gore.. coz.. he is not having impact on our lives. Something like... How credible is our new president? Would have been grateful.. its just my though.. u can disregard it if u please... 
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| | Wednesday, October 04, 2000 - 10:43 pm What makes me wonder is why some somali dude living in Toronto would even bother telling us all this?. He is from somalia--the world's chaos and #1 lawless country in the whole world. and This dude lives in canada--not US. and he is here posting Al's business! mmmmmmm! something must went wrong. Is it showing off ? or is the dude "high" on intellectualism?.i have no clue. but for sure, i will lay back and enjoy the show.
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 07:21 am Xoogsade no more two "faces"..n stop copy n pasting Every where ya go u ppl somalian talk about politics n ••••........first of do u know who da nigga is... * about to be ur next president * better than racist bush...who thinks he can make a difference * the nigga gore is running for his country not ur corrupted country chicken legz * so get life...n start..getting ur life straight
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 07:44 am Last anonymous, I could not agree with you more.I think Xoogsade should opinionate about The Canadian Mounties Politics rather than American Politics.Its a matter of terretorial bliss..lol .
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 02:19 pm Tut Tut: Brother/sister I am not a nazi. But my politics are closer to right wingers. Basically I don't like government. Governments are poison and politicians are the venom itself. But what you may have missed is that the article I posted is co-written by a Trostkyite communist who feels completely betrayed by Clinton/Gore who are accused of selling out the progressive traditions of the party in exchange for corporate largesse and and personal power. So the person slamming Gore so viciously is about as far away from from the right wing as possible. The things he presents are facts in the record for the most part. This man's father is the famous British communist Claude Cockburn who was active in the politics of the Spanish civil war. I don't particularly have a problem with the centre-right Clinton/Gore policies and I feel they should make government smaller still. For instance they could abolish welfare entirely and many of the busybody social service agencies. As for the religious right wingers I don't fear them at all. Anybody who is against abortion and gays can't be that bad at all. The liberal establishment throws histrionic fits because the Christian right is fighting against these immoral practices. I can understand why some depraved gay infidel would be threatened by this. But why would a moral Somali person react the same way? And indeed many of the conservative immigrant communities? They continue to vote liberal. Maybe they feel disquiet about anti-immigrant sentiment. But they are citizens and should make their stand come what may. Better to be deported to some third world country than live in luxurious moral squalor. Hibo: I love Somalia with all my heart and won't be long before I am back there. Somalia is on the right track because people have learned to fend for themselves instead of waiting for a government to do something for them. I very much doubt it that we would see a united Somalia in the next 60 years at least. And that is good. The lesser the government the more responsive to the needs of the citizenry. Anon and Hibo(again): For better or worse the US is the biggest power in the world, both economically and militarily, so the major policy decisions of the US government have worldwide impact. Here in Canada 80% of our trade is with the US. Our economic boom would go BUSSSTTT in a second if there is a downturn in the US. And the impact would be worse up here. I remember a press conference with Clinton when an indignant young female reporter asked what military action the US would take against the Afghan Taleban for their awful treatment of women. Clinton carefully chose his words trying to deflate any impression of an Imperial US. In the aftermath of Kosovo who knows how and where American power would be used. A steady hand at the controls would be good. And there you have it. Incidentally this girl should have done more research on the Afghans. Succesive invaders have left Afghanistan with their tales between their legs. They are the ones who finally stopped Alexander the Great. The Russians twice. The mighty English Raj was badly bloodied and sent fleeing.
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 03:00 pm Xoogsade that doesn't answer why you bothering all this. Please stop this gofy stuff and come out your closet and tell us why you are making our life little harder by laoding all this. However, i am still here laying back and enjoying the show 
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 03:07 pm .
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 05:45 pm I'm not reading all of that!
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| | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 11:29 pm Xoogsade Well, we could just kill all of the Afghans, standing off with long range weapons and carpet bombing them with fuel-air explosives. It might be a hell of a lot of fun, but I'm not sure this would help their women. Maybe the prudent thing to do is let them stew in their own juices for a while. At some point, most of the Afghans will look around and say "you know, this Taliban thing sucks. Maybe we should become normal people again." And the Taliban will go the way of the dinasour. I say we just let nature take its course on this one.
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| | Friday, October 06, 2000 - 04:36 pm Mad Mac there you go again with your high school bully mentality. Your burger King Morals make me sick. Typical white wash who thinks he is Gods gift to the Wolrd. If you are at all interested in uplifting human dignity and liberating people then go and liberate the Native indians who are holed up in the reserves and dying of deseases that were long eradicated even in third World countries. Go and liberate your citizens in the inner-cities, clean your own back yard.
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| | Friday, October 13, 2000 - 02:51 pm Who cares Al Gore or in that matter Bush, most of you don't even have the citizen and you will lecture us who our leader should be I Vore for ralphp nader.
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| | Saturday, October 14, 2000 - 02:49 pm PaPa I'm too busy cleaning your back yard to clean mine. When I've finished with yours then I'll turn my attention to my own. Now, I would have thought you were bright enough to notice a little humor and tongue in cheek commentary, but I guess not. BTW, what's wrong with Burger King? Their flamed broiled Whoppers beat McDonalds, that Scottish restaruant. You ought to take a minute to get off your own White Horse. Every time you log on you think you're holier than thou. Just like the morons back home, you know those 700 club types, who think God is on their side, everyone who's not an American (or in your case, who is an American) is swine and pathetic and needs their saintly help and pity (or in your case their endless hostility). Your saintly morals make me sick. You're smart, but not any smarter than a lot of other folks here on the net. And you're so prjudiced it warps your thinking.
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| | Monday, October 16, 2000 - 08:51 am WHAT THE •••• DO YOU PPL CARE!!!!!!! YOU HUNGRY SOMALIS
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