AMAZON.COM'S
"APPROPRIATE"
GORE REVIEWS
By Gina and 'Al Gore Supporters'
March 23, 2001
MORE RESEARCH FROM
GINA
Dear Diva:
You probably
already thought about checking Al Gore's Earth in the Balance. There are 67 customer reviews. Here are just a fraction of the ones which
insult Gore's character. Comparing the
vice president to Tim McVey in any way whatsoever is awful!!???
Truth in the Balance : Ecology
as a Platform to Fascism, December 21, 2000
Reviewer: Jason Gonella (see
more about me) from Lancaster, CA USA
While it is true that our
actions can effect the environment, it is not true that the solution to the
possible problems is to become a Socialist Luddite. Those who believe that
handing over control of all properties will make them cleaner should look at
the mess in Eastern Europe. Those who believe that banning technologye will
make the earth cleaner should look at the poorer countries around the world. I
have just refuted every single point me makes in two sentences. As for his writing
style, it is strangely reminiscent of Timothy McVey.
Al Gore is Lying Through His
Teeth, December 17, 2000
Reviewer: tezcatlipoca22 (see
more about me) from Chicago
First of all let me start out by
saying that if I could give this book less than one star I would. Al Gore the
environmentalist? Hah! This book is kind of frightening since the only science
he seems to use in it is BS, but whats more insulting is his claim to be an
environmentlist. Frankly I think this book was written soley so that he could
get votes. For those of you who think he is an envirnomentalists I suggest you
research his connections with Oxy (the Rainforest Action Network... is a good
starting place) or his support of several other companies over the earth. Or
perhaps you should ask the U'wa nation of Columbia, who's land is stolen by Oxy
while Gore smiles and nods approvingly. To Gore, the oil is money and helps him
get the votes along the East coast so he doesn't mind practicing a litte modern
Manifest Destiny. In response to the one reviewer who called Bush an "oil
president", what does that make Gore? And besides, Bush's policies with
oil are less damaging to the environment in the long term. But then again, Gore
wants to get rid of the amazon and harm Native Americans. I guess this books
okay if you don't understand science or if you like the modern day Andrew
Jackson, but for everyone else this book's only redeeming qaulity is that it
could be used as toilet paper in a pinch.
It would be funny if it weren¿t
so sad., October 16, 2000
Reviewer: Michael Spencer from
Green Bay, WI United States
What a crock. First I should
explain that I am a degreed chemical engineer working in the pulp and paper
industry for the last 11 years. Before that I worked at several nuclear
facilities in Tennessee and Ohio. I also spent some time working for General
Motors, in Ohio.
Earth in the Balance is broken
into three sections: Balance at Risk, The Search for Balance, and Striking the
Balance. The first section is a 160-page diatribe on the evils of the modern
industrial society. Mr. Gore briefly mentions the bitter disagreement among
scientists on the causes and effects of the continued rise in CO2 and other
greenhouse gases on our environment. He ignores any possible benefits from
these changes such as higher crop yields and longer growing seasons.
Alternative viewpoints are passed off as junk science and Mr. Gore fully
embraces the doomsayer view that the earth's temperature will rise and we will
all either drown or die of skin cancer. Other than a few charts showing the
rise in measured CO2 and other gases in the earth's lower atmosphere since the
last ice age and the change in the ozone hole since the 1960's little effort is
devoted to a quantitative analysis of this book's main premise, CO2 bad. Mixed
in with the data that is presented, is a collection of horror stories that
describing man's role in the creation of several wastelands around the planet.
Mr. Gore states that these wastelands are the model for the future world, and
if we don't drastically change our behavior with respect to the planet and
fellow humans, our inevitable fate.
Section 2 is 100 pages of random
thoughts woven together and offered as a history of society from the beginning
of time to the present day. Sort of the "World According to Al".
Scattered throughout this section is a healthy dose of religion and politics.
The only purpose for this section that I could see was to try and paint Mr.
Gore as an understanding leader concerned with mans place in the world. He wants
to let us all know that he is one of us, and he feels our pain. While in
reality, he just a liberally educated product of an Ivy League School who was
groomed for public service and has spent his entire life as a politician.
The final section, Striking the
Balance is 100 pages of Mr. Gore's plan to save us all, his so called Global
Marshall Plan. In short, stop population growth, tax the rich industrial
nations, pay-off the poor nations so they won't advance and become rich
industrial nations, live happily ever after, or until Mr. Gore can find another
cause to champion so he can save us all over again.
So what did I get from this
book, an understanding of the cause and effects of global warming? No, just a
reinforcement of my opinion on Al Gore, that he is an egotistical, know-it-all,
windbag, who can look out his office window in Washington, D.C. and write a 360
page essay on why there is haze over the city on a summer day. The sad truth
about this book is that for all its promise, it states the obvious,
unquestioningly embraces the doomsday viewpoint, blames the industrialized
nations of the world for our so called predicament, and offers up only
superficial remedies for this supposed problem. This book was not written by a
great champion of the environment. It was written by a politician, for a
politician. Let's all go out and vote for Al Gore; thank god he is going to
save us all. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Boring, inaccurate, October 10,
2000
Reviewer: A reader from
Midwestern USA
This book was boring when it was
first published and it's still boring. It's filled with scientific distortions,
junk science and psychobabble. But, what can you expect from someone who claims
to have invented the Internet?
AL GORE SUPPORTERS'
AMAZON RESEARCH
Dear Diva:
As an addition to
your excellent article Bill's review of "A Charge To Keep" being
scrubbed by Amazon.com for being "inappropriate" and more about the
author's character than the book, I offer these "reviews" of "Earth
In the Balance" by Real President Al Gore, which are still up at
Amazon.com as of 3/23/01.
It's interesting
to note that the reviews during the election -- when amazon.com should have
been even more sensitive to this issue -- are much "worse" than Bill's
review. I personally found it
interesting that the Greens and the Reds were using the same lies about Gore's
mythical Oxydental stock, etc.
Zieg heil, y'all!
Truth in the Balance : Ecology
as a Platform to Fascism, December 21, 2000
Reviewer: Jason Gonella (see
more about me) from Lancaster, CA USA
While it is true that our
actions can effect the environment, it is not true that the solution to the possible
problems is to become a Socialist Luddite. Those who believe that handing over
control of all properties will make them cleaner should look at the mess in
Eastern Europe. Those who believe that banning technologye will make the earth
cleaner should look at the poorer countries around the world. I have just refuted
every single point me makes in two sentences.
As for his writing style, it is strangely reminiscent of Timothy McVey.
Al Gore is Lying Through His
Teeth, December 17, 2000
Reviewer: tezcatlipoca22 (see
more about me) from Chicago
First of all let me start out by
saying that if I could give this book less than one star I would. Al Gore the
environmentalist? Hah! This book is kind of frightening since the only science
he seems to use in it is BS, but whats more insulting is his claim to be an
environmentlist. Frankly I think this book was written soley so that he could
get votes. For those of you who think he is an envirnomentalists I suggest you research
his connections with Oxy (the Rainforest Action Network... is a good starting
place) or his support of several other companies over the earth. Or perhaps you
should ask the U'wa nation of Columbia, who's land is stolen by Oxy while Gore
smiles and nods approvingly. To Gore, the oil is money and helps him get the
votes along the East coast so he doesn't mind practicing a litte modern Manifest
Destiny. In response to the one reviewer who called Bush an "oil president",
what does that make Gore? And besides, Bush's policies with oil are less
damaging to the environment in the long term. But then again, Gore wants to get
rid of the amazon and harm Native Americans. I guess this books okay if you
don't understand science or if you like the modern day Andrew Jackson, but for
everyone else this book's only redeeming qaulity is that it could be used as
toilet paper in a pinch.
Boring, inaccurate, October 10,
2000
Reviewer: A reader from
Midwestern USA
This book was boring when it was
first published and it's still boring. It's filled with scientific distortions,
junk science and psychobabble. But, what can you expect from someone who claims
to have invented the Internet?
Poorly Written, Poorly Thought
Out, October 9, 2000
Reviewer: Sarah from New York,
NY
In this book, Gore impersonates
a scientist. Awful impersonation. He clearly possesses only a naive, superficial
understanding of science, a fact to which this poorly-written book attests.
Gore clearly intends this book for gullible readers; he comes across as a
condescending, pedantic, and arrogant egomaniac.
The author has loaded this book
with unsubstantiated claims of no scientific merit. Most Americans care about
the environment but in this book, Gore implies that he is the only
"caring" American. The nerve! He thinks he is better than the reader.
Gore also distorts the facts about the environment and litters this book with
what he must know are falsehoods. In a few sections of this book, it is not
clear whether Gore is out of touch with reality or flat-out lying.
Gore claims there is a
"scientific concensus" that we are in a "crisis" situation.
Nonsense -- the scientific debate continues to this day. Gore's twisting of the
truth does not help the scientific debate one iota -- it only polarizes people.
A very poor effort -- an editor
would have been beneficial.
Junk science mixed with leftist
politics, October 7,2000
Reviewer: Matt Maggio (see more
about me) from Burlington, NC USA
Having majored in both chemistry
and math as an undergrad, some of Gore's wild statements in this book jumped
off the page at me - and made me wonder if Gore ever took a course in either
chemistry or physics long before the Washington Post printed just how low his
college grades in science were
at a time when professors rampantly inflated grades to keep kids out of the
Vietnam draft.
Running the AL GORE IN HIS OWN
WORDS resource library in Alamance Independent ..., it's obvious to me that Gore's
current "embellishment" (lying) problem long predates his current
campaign - like at least to when this book was written in 1992.
But if you are a conservative,
definitely buy this book - and heat up your local talk shows daily until Election
Day with not only its outright junk-science lies, but also with its scary
implications for middle-class jobs and lifestyles.
Boring, but a must read for any
concerned voter, July 29, 2000
Reviewer: T Fell
Anyone, Republican, Democrat, or
otherwise, must read this book to learn how Al Gore really thinks and what might
be in store if he is elected President.
His Global Marshall Plan
includes bureaucratic nightmares like a "virgin materials fee"
imposed on products at the point of manufacture or imporation (prepare for a
lot of bribery and corruption over what the definition of "virgin"
is). He also proposes "an Environmental Security Trust" where petroleum
based energy producers must pay "incremental payments of the CO2 tax
according to the carbon content of the fuels produced" (Watch out soccer
moms! If you thought the gas bills for your SUV's and minivans are high now.....).
(By the way, Mr. Gore's aversion to petroleum based energy is odd, given his
long relationship with Occidental Petroleum.) Many of his other proposals are
similarly intrusive and would require a larger federal or even world government
to implement.
Mr. Gore's book is rife with
tiring prose, question begging, non-sequitirs, and wildly unsubstantiated statements
of "fact". There are very few places in the text where he backs up a
claim with a citation. While he does list other sources in the "Notes"
section, I did not find a single footnote anywhere in the text, leaving the
reader go guess which claims Mr. Gore culled from his sources and which ones he
drew from his "spiritual gyroscope that spins in its own circumference in
a stabilizing harmony with what is inside and what is out".
Overall, I found his arguments
uncompelling and his proposals disturbing.
This book is missing 3 important
things., July 14, 2000
Reviewer: James Duckworth IV
(see more about me) from North Carolina
This book skipped over 3 very
big topics about Al Gore's invovlement in the environmental movement. Because
of these omissions, I am only giving the book 1 star. Hopefully, a future
edition of the book will include these 3 topcis. They are:
#1 Al Gore manages his father's
estate, which includes a large amount of stock in Occidental Pretroleum. While
in the U.S. Senate, Al Gore set up the single biggest privatization ever of
federal land. The land was sold to Occidental Petroleum, who then proceeded to
extract massive quantities of oil from the land. This caused the company's
stock value to shoot up. In the spring of 2000, Al Gore criticized Occidental
for "price gouging" its customers, and for making "excessive
profits."
#2 Al Gore owns a zinc mine, and
the runoff from this mine has caused very serious environmental damage.
#3 Al Gore recently accepted a
large campaign contribution from a developer. This developer was recently given
permission by the federal government to build a shopping mall on wetlands.
These wetlands had previously been declared by the federal government to be off
hands to development.
So if Al Gore would like to
address these 3 issues in a future volume, I would very much like to read it.
The ideas that Gore does talk
about in his book are all based on panic and hysteria, and not rational science
and logic. But there are good books available on the environment. I would
recommend "The Ultimate Resource 2" by Julian Simon, and "Earth
Report 2000" by Ronald Bailey. You can order both of those books right
here at amazon.com
"In The Balance" Out
of balnce, May 15, 2000
Reviewer: Jose Migualez (see
more about me) from Bakersfield California
Interesting book from someone
who owns large amounts of stock in oil companies. Also the actual book's quality
is extremely poor. He appears to have an identity crisis one minute world
renouned author the next inventor of the internet.
What Can I say?, April 21, 2000
Reviewer: Tom Camp (see more
about me) from Hopewell, NJ
The best thing that I can say
about this book is that if you want to learn at lot about Al Gore, it is a great
place to start.
Unfortunately for Al, what I
learned about him isn't good. What I learned is this:
Al and those who agree with him
are clearly so much smarter than everyone else that there is no need for them
to even consider that the facts may not be on their side. Logical
inconsistencies plague this book. There is a total failure to give any
consideration to unintended consequences. I suppose that if you are as smart as
Al, not intending them is good enough. But, not being so smart, I found myself
asking over and over 'doesn't he have a clue what will happen if we try to do
that?'. I can only conclude, 'apparently not'.
Those that disagree are not only
(apparently) stupid, but selfish, greedy and mean-spirited as well. It is not
necessary to actually debate the issues because Al's side is 'good' and those
who disagree are 'bad'.
The only solution to these
problems is to turn them over to Al and his experts (the ones who agree with him).
Fear not, in spite of it's track record, the government can determine what
needs to be done, and force us all to do it. Oh, and by the way. If we don't follow
this approach, we are doomed. Got that? Doomed.
If you like that approach, you
will like this book. If you agree with Al Gore on these issues, and you feel that
the only way anyone can disagree is because they are stupid and evil, then by
all means get this book and give it to your friends. However, you should place it
squarely in the 'feel good about yourself' section of your library, not in the
'issues' section. Earth may be in the balance, but this book is in no way balanced.
It's all about Government Power,
September 28, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from Denver,
CO, USA
This book brings to mind these
famous words:
"The whole aim of practical
politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence clamorous to be led to safety
- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them
imaginary."
-- H.L. Mencken
Dippy, wispy, ethereal, stoopit,
I can't decide which, July 1, 1997
Reviewer: A reader
Anybody with a good ole
Tennessee hankerin' for scientific sophism, half-truth, begged questions, bad reasoning,
and hysterical panic should love this book. Final proof, if any was needed,
that a representative democracy is a crappy way to run a country. It was apparently
by pure dumb luck that nobody as fully moronic as Al Gore has completely
wrecked the modern global economy yet.
Give him a chance, though. As soon as he takes a break from shaking
Tibetan Monks down for cash, he's going to giddily sacrifice economic growth for
years to come. Run! Run for the hills!! The end is nigh!! The end is nigh!
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.A
Photo of a Typical Breezy Point Walk