By Philip Sherwell

09/09/2007

 

He may be the hero of the environmental movement for his crusade against global warming but Al Gore is about to be targeted by animal rights activists over his carnivorous contribution to greenhouse gases.

	Al Gore has come under fire for failing to highlight the impact of animal agriculture

Citing United Nations research that the meat industry is worse for the environment than driving and flying, animal rights groups are directing a campaign at the former American vice-president’s diet.

When he delivers a lecture on global warming in Denver next month, protesters will display billboards bearing a cartoon image of Mr Gore eating a drumstick and the message: “Too chicken to go vegetarian? Meat is the No 1 cause of global warming”.

The campaign is being organised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and is backed by other animal rights groups.

“For Al Gore, the fact that his diet is a leading contributor to global warming is a highly inconvenient truth – pun intended,” said Matt Prescott, a spokesman for Peta.

Mr Gore won an Oscar this year for An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary based on his lecture-circuit presentation detailing how man is allegedly destroying the environment.

But he is now under fire for failing to highlight the impact of meat-eating.

According to recent UN Food and Agriculture Organisation research, animal agriculture generates 18 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – more than the 13.5 per cent produced by all forms of transport combined.

Mr Gore’s eating habits have previously drawn attention only because of his dramatic weight fluctuations.

He cut a far slimmer figure in the run-up to the 2000 election than since – and observers would regard a reduction in his waistline as a likely sign that he intends join the Democrats’ race for the White House next year.

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TELEGRAPH LONDON

MEDIA MATTERS 

Tucker Carlson quoted Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), from a recent interview with Glamour, saying of her husband and children: “We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him.” But Glamour left out a key word from Michelle Obama’s quote; she had said, “They come in my bed, and if Dad isn’t there …” — the addition of “if” turning her remark into a conditional statement that her children come into bed “if Dad isn’t there.” But Carlson went beyond Glamour‘s original error, asserting, based solely on the inaccurate quote, that “the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed, Mrs. Obama is saying.”

On the September 6 edition of MSNBC’s Tucker, host Tucker Carlson quoted Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), from a recent interview with Glamour as saying of her husband and children: “We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him.” Glamour left out a key word from Michelle Obama’s quote; she had said, “They come in my bed, and if Dad isn’t there …” — the addition of “if” turning her remark into a conditional statement that her children come into bed “if Dad isn’t there.” But Carlson went beyond Glamour‘s original error, asserting, based solely on the inaccurate quote, that “the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed, Mrs. Obama is saying.” Later in the program, Carlson reported that he “just received a call from the Obama campaign taking issue” with his claim that Michelle Obama said “the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed.” Carlson claimed to “know nothing about the Obama’s bedroom habits beyond what Michelle Obama has told the rest of us,” and reread the excerpt from the interview adding: “I don’t know anything she hasn’t told me. So if there’s more they want to tell us about their bedroom habits, this is the show to tell us on.”

Even after Glamour edited the posted transcript, CNN’s Political Ticker blog posted the inaccurate version of Michelle Obama’s quote in a September 7 entry, despite linking to the updated Glamour transcript:

In an interview with Glamour Magazine, Ms. Obama details her two girls’ morning ritual, a time, she says, when her husband Barack is often “snore-y and stinky.”

“We have this ritual in the morning,” Michelle Obama told Glamour. “They come in my bed, and Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him.”

Michelle Obama’s statement, as it originally appeared, was cited by several blogs, including a September 6 entry to The New York Times‘ The Caucus by reporter Katharine Q. Seelye. Seelye’s post was updated on September 7 to note Glamour‘s update to the interview transcript:

Update: Glamour has updated its Web site now with a fuller quote from Mrs. Obama, and here’s a complete transcript of the passage:

Q: Speaking of your girls, what do you think they think of Mommy? How do they think of you?

Mrs. Obama: You know my hope in my gut is that I am just Mommy. I don’t think this part registers to them. I mean so much of our relationship is based on our world at home. It’s getting up _ you know we have this ritual in the morning. We get up and they want ten more minutes so they can come in my bed and if Dad isn’t there _ because he is too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want ever to get in the bed with him _ but we cuddle up and we talk. We’ve talked about everything from the boy that one daughter doesn’t particularly like in school to what is a period to _

Q: And they are five and eight?

Mrs. Obama: They are six and nine. To the big topic in the morning is, when we get a dog, what kind of dog?

From Michelle Obama’s interview with Glamour, as it currently appears on the magazine’s website:

LEE: What do your girls think of you?

OBAMA: My hope and my gut is that I am just Mommy. We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and if Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him. But we cuddle up and we talk about everything from what is a period to the big topic of when we get a dog: what kind?

From the September 6 edition of MSNBC’s Tucker:

CARLSON: Time for a check of the Obameter, and there is fresh activity. First, an aide close to Obama says that Oprah Winfrey may take a visible role in that campaign, possibly as a surrogate of sorts. Winfrey hosts her fundraiser for the campaign Saturday night in California. The other development comes from Michelle Obama, who again spoke plainly about her husband to Glamour magazine. Referring to their daughters she said this, quote: “We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him. But we cuddle up and we talk about everything from what is a period to the big topic of when we get a dog: what kind?”

That’s what she said. Did you want to know that? Well, you do now, and so does everyone else. Joining us again, former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan and senior editor of Newsweek Jonathan Alter. Jonathan Alter — the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed, Mrs. Obama is saying. Why is that my business? Why is she talking about this?

[…]

CARLSON: Welcome back. We just received a call from the Obama campaign during the course of our show taking issue with something I said a minute ago. It appeared to me, I said, that Michelle Obama was saying she and her husband don’t share the same bed. Just to be clear, I know nothing about the Obamas bedroom habits beyond what Michelle Obama has told the rest of us. So, to be clear, let’s reread what Michelle Obama said about the subject. Quote, “We have this ritual in the morning. They come into my bed” — the children — “and Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him.” Etcetera, etcetera. I don’t know anything she hasn’t told me. So if there’s more they want to tell us about their bedroom habits, this is the show to tell us on.

INSIDE BAY AREA

WILCO SINGER Jeff Tweedy took a sold-out Greek Theatre on a wild ride, from gentle country to screaming rock, on the old stalwart “Misunderstood.” He ended by repeatedly screaming the staccato, broken-down and desperate line “Nothin’,”while the band pounded the two-syllables along with him for what seemed like forever.

Or, maybe somewhere between three and four dozen times. Even Tweedy wasn’t sure.

“How many nothin’s was that?” he asked someone in the crowd, back from shrieking hell-raiser to normal, deadpan, Midwestern everyman. He seemed genuinely interested.

“42? Noooo.”

Though surrounded by virtuoso talent, and capable of building songs that are emotional, intellectual, whimsical and intricate (sometimes all at once), Tweedy hasn’t lost the humor and stage drive that makes Wilco one of the greatest live acts in the country.

Friday night was a 21/2-hour ride — lapsing into sleepiness a few times early on because of mismatched songs on the set list. But these were brief speed bumps, and the band finished with an eight-song double encore, sealing the performance as one of best Wilco shows the Bay Area has seen in a long time.

That was no small feat, considering that guitarist Nels Cline had already caused the band to cancel two shows this week with a nasty case of chicken pox. Other than sitting to play lap steel guitar, Cline was a trouper, up and about, stomping his feet and spasmodically jerking around during the shredding solos that brought an entirely new dimension to the band two records ago.

Opening slow — as they typically do — Wilco gave far too many newbies in the crowd space to talk while building through solid versions of “Sunken Treasure” and “You Are My Face.” The good thing is that, especially on the new record “Sky Blue Sky,” (which is far more Beatles than Eagles, I don’t care what thousands other rock critics say), Wilco has an amazing ability to sneak up on people.

They can kill the random conversations from impatient fans by suddenly turning a sleepy country vibe into a sharpened, multi-faceted rocker.Much of that has to do with not only the way Tweedy writes songs — and let’s face it, it all starts and ends with Tweedy — but also with secret weapon drummer Glenn Kotche, who can take a simple, dusty acoustic riff in more directions than perhaps any rock drummer in existence (which may be why he’ll be performing with Kronos Quartet in October at the San Francisco Jazz Festival).

Tweedy’s the brains, Cline and guitarist/keyboardist Pat Sansone are the electricity and bassist John Stirratt is the rock. Keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen is the musical icing. But Kotche is what makes this band go, and he’s wonderful to watch.

Actually, one could watch anyone in Wilco and be suitably impressed without considering how they all fit together like a masterful puzzle.

The engaging “Either Way” finally got the crowd going (and let’s pray it wasn’t because the song isbeing used in a car commercial). Despite lots of material from the new record, songs such as “Handshake Drugs,” “Pot Kettle Black” and “War on War” (with a new bigger build at the end) came off like old friends.

After controlling the guitar leads on the past couple records, Tweedy is finally secure enough to turn most of that role over to the incredible talents of Cline, who poured effort all over the stage despite being ill. Those times that Tweedy climbed into the fray with his lead guitarist, the pair showed a noisy bond, playing with and off each other — something Tweedy couldn’t do with former partner Jay Bennett, who was clearly the best musician in the band before leaving during “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel.”

Watching Cline and Tweedy in “Handshake Drugs,” and later in “Impossible Germany” and “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” was like watching Stephen Stills and Neil Young go at it face-to-face and neck-to-neck.

“Sky Blue Sky” brought the band back to its alt-country roots — all it needed was a Western sunset backdrop. But there were still a few lulls. “Via Chicago” stalled until Kotche suddenly brought an insane storm of noise that felt like it was descending from the rafters (it was almost hilarious to watch Tweedy gently strum, seemingly oblivious to his bandmates going nuts around him). He talked with the crowd all night, blankly telling a fan at one point, “I saw you smoking pot, sir. You’re too high to be talking to me about anything.”

They rolled at the end of the show, with the brilliantly whimsical “Hummingbird” featuring Tweedy running in place, before the gorgeously quiet “On and On and On” from the new record. But the absolute best song of the night was where it should’ve been — at the end, with a big version of “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” which, in its up-and-down, dynamic glory, has become to Wilco what “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was to the Who.

Tweedy’s long feedback-packed lead was insane, especially when Cline joined the second time around. At the end, Tweedy challenged the crowd to clap while the band wound down and left the stage. “What’s the matter?” he slowly drawled. “Can’t you clap?” They faded, almost left the stage and, after a minute, crashed back into the pounding, loud part. As usual, Wilco couldn’t help but end big.