Energy Gluts Party for Planet

Like so many attention seeking idiots these days, Al Gore starts off his international effort to stop global warming by insisting people are trying to shut him up:

"Some who don't understand what is now at stake tried to stop this event on the Mall," the former Democratic presidential candidate said in a thinly veiled hit on members of President George W. Bush's Republican party.

Yawn.

Whatever it is that is "at stake," it is far worse as a result of LiveEarth:

John Buckley of Carbon Footprint, an organization that helps companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, said Saturday that Live Earth will produce about 74,500 tons of the gas.

"We would have to plant 100,000 trees to offset the effect of Live Earth," he said, speaking by telephone. But, he added, "if you can reach 2 billion people and raise awareness, that's pretty fantastic."

Two billion? As with their issue, disciples appear willing to exaggerate just about anything:

Organizers say that in addition to the tens of thousands of fans at the gigs, the television, radio and internet audience could be as large as two billion.

Somehow, "could be" became a forgone conclusion overnight. We'll see, but the early reviews don't bode well:

As the halfway point beckoned, the event needed a serious lift.

These folks sure weren't buying it:

"I'm not even sure who Gore is," said Georgie Simpson, 35, from Ipswich, in eastern England. "I saw Gore on TV," added Sue Bourner, 38, a health service manager from Hampshire. "But frankly, I think it's cheeky of Americans to come over here and lecture us. They are the worst polluters."

Actually, it's China, but never mind. Either were these people:

Certainly, on the way into the show, some of the 65,000 people who'd spent $110 on a ticket appeared unaware of the seven-point pledge that Al Gore, the event's chief impresario, had asked all spectators to make. Asked about it, they offered blank looks and said they were there for Madonna (whose annual carbon footprint, according to Buckley, is 1,018 tons -- about 92 times the 11 tons an average person uses per year).

Luckily, they could not have helped but have their "awareness raised," which seems to have been the point of the entire exercise:

"Personally, I think it makes people more aware," said Sherry Ramsey, 44, who came to the concert with her husband by plane and train. "It was mass transit all the way here."

Now we're calling air travel "mass transit?" These people will tell themselves anything to keep up the illusion.

No word yet on how much trash was produced by LiveEarth. But there can be little doubt Gaia was weeping while the privileged partied at her expense.