8 p.m.

• God I love Drudge. Where else can you find hard-hitting journalism like this?

POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD; CONSUMPTION INCREASE AFTER 'TRUTH'

 

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through free market policy solutions, issued a press release late Monday:

 

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

 

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

 

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

 

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

 

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

 

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

 

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

 

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

 

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

• So I heard a little while ago that some hippie zookeeper in Denver got killed by a jag -- the animal, not the car. OMG a WILD ANIMAL would KILL a HUMAN? Shocking. But wait, it gets DEEPER!

A Bolivian-born jaguar named Jorge that killed a Denver zookeeper was well-behaved as a young cat but his twin was so mean that his handlers named him Osama, a Bolivian zoo official said Monday.

 

Ashlee Pfaff, 27, died from a broken neck and other injuries after Jorge attacked her when she opened a door to his enclosure on Saturday, the coroner said. A zoo employee shot and killed Jorge when he approached emergency workers trying to save Pfaff.

 

Jorge -- Spanish for George -- had been named after President Bush, said Dr. Margot Ugarteche, a veterinarian at the Santa Cruz Municipal Zoo of South American Fauna in Bolivia, which sent Jorge to the Denver Zoo.

 

"Osama was always the more dominant of the two," Ugarteche said. "He was always rough with George. That was the relationship we saw between them.

 

"Jorge wasn't bad, really," she said. "I don't know what could have happened. Perhaps because he was so well-behaved, the trainer (in Denver) thought she could trust him. But you never know with wild animals."

There are so many jokes in the five paragraphs above that I don't know where to begin. My favorite, though, is the headline to this story: Killer Jaguar Had Mean Twin Named Osama

"Killer" Jaguar. What do you think a Jaguar is -- a pacifist?

2:30 p.m.

• The Oscars were last night? No shit. Martin Scorsese finally won. Uh, yay, and stuff. Al Gore won for his Global Warming shit-fest? Wow, I'm surprised. With him and the Dixie Terrorists both winners in '06 I'm stunned, simply stunned. Good thing Al did air his documentary 30 years ago, or the intellectual elites hell-bent on ridding the world of global cooling would have laughed at him.

• LOL -- forever stamps? Too bad enough smart people will buy these things in bulk and wait until the price of postage really spikes.

Say goodbye to those pesky 1- and 2-cent stamps that used to clutter up desks and purses every time the price of mailing a letter went up. A new "forever" stamp _ good for mailing a letter no matter how much rates go up _ was recommended Monday by the independent Postal Regulatory Commission. The panel also called for a 2-cent increase in first-class rates to 41 cents, a penny less than the post office had sought.

 

In addition, the changes would sharply scale back the price of heavier letters.

 

"Adoption of this proposal is good for the Postal Service, postal customers and our postal system," commission chairman Dan G. Blair said at a briefing.

 

A forever stamp would not carry a denomination, but would sell for whatever the first-class rate was at the time.

 

For example, if the 41-cent rate takes effect, forever stamps would sell for 41 cents. If rates later climbed to 45 cents or more, the price of the forever stamp would also go up at the counter or machine, but those purchased before the change would still be valid to mail a letter.

 

So there would be no need to buy small-denomination stamps to add to envelopes.

This got a laugh out of me.

Postmaster General John E. Potter has pointed out that "the Postal Service is not immune to the cost pressures affecting every household and business in America."

 

For example, each penny increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline costs the post office $8 million, and the post office cannot simply add a fuel surcharge to its rates.

Yeah, and your union costs have nothing to do with your bloated expense reports. I used to defend the post office a number of times, but ever since I had to start dealing with them more often my tolerance has grown less and less. My highlight came when I got a piece of postage returned because they couldn't determine whether an address number was a "5" or "6." OK, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt: you couldn't tell the difference (even though you can). However, there was also another 5 and 6 on this package, and just by taking five seconds out of your busy schedule, you could have found out. Also, you could always have checked to see the residence of each address and find out which name went with each address.