The insidious thing about Al Gore is that he superficially sounds pretty good to environmentalists—so much so, that his ideas are even blasted as extremism by right-wing idiots. But if you scratch them, there is always less there than meets the eye. Let's examine. From the NY Times, July 16:

Gore Calls for Carbon-Free Electric Power
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.

It is axiomatic that the closer Obama gets to the White House, the more beholden to oil interests and imperial designs he will become—and therefore the more equivocal his opposition to the Iraq occupation. Watch this process in action. Andrew Malcolm writes for the LA Times' Top of the Ticket blog, July 16:

With all eyes on the Tribal Areas, the insurgency in Pakistan's bordering Baluchistan province continues. A roadside bomb wounded seven security personnel and two passers-by in Mastung district July 15. (AP, July 15) On July 4, an eight-year-old beggar was killed when a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded at a crowded market in Quetta, Baluchistan's capital. "The blast killed an eight-year-old girl and injured her beggar mother who were sitting near the motorcycle parked by some unknown man," a police official said. (AFP, July 4)

Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffi made a big show of boycotting the Mediterranean Union summit in Paris, bashing the new initiative as a "neo-colonial" project to weaken African and Arab unity. (RFE/RL, July 14) But days earlier, France and Libya signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, with Paris pledging to aid Tripoli in the development of "peaceful" nuclear energy and uranium exploration. Over the past year, Over the past year, France has signed similar agreements with Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. (World Nuclear News, July 11)

Barack Obama proposes the US deploy 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan to fight insurgents even as he pledges to remove troops from Iraq, plugging the proposal in a New York Times op-ed, "My Plan for Iraq." (NYT, July 14) Meanwhile, relations are fast deteriorating between Afghanistan and key US ally Pakistan. In an official statement calling Pakistan's security forces the "world's biggest producers of terrorism and extremism," Afghanistan announced it is suspending participation in three meetings with Pakistani officials scheduled for the next few weeks. Afghanistan charged Islamabad with "direct interference in its internal affairs." (Newsday, July 16)

The European Parliament approved 336-220 a resolution branding Italy's fingerprinting members of the country's Roma community a direct act of racial discrimination, and called on Rome to bring the program to an immediate halt. Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the move was "politically motivated and based on prejudices" against the country. He said the program "does not target ethnic groups and is not inspired by racism but by the elementary need to identify anyone who does not have a valid document."

An Italian court July 15 found 15 officials guilty of brutalizing protesters at the Genoa G8 summit in 2001. Sentences ranged from five months to five years. The accused include police, prison officials and two doctors. Another 30 were cleared of charges. Protesters report they were beaten after being strip-searched by police. The prosecution charged they were tortured. However, all of those convicted are expected to appeal—and the statute of limitations will have expired by the time appeals are exhausted, meaning it is unlikely any prison time will be served. The plaintiffs are likely to receive a large settlement from the Italian government.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme submitted his resignation July 14, citing the inability of his coalition government to successfully divide powers between the Flemish and French-speaking communities. Leterme had set a deadline of July 15 for the four-month-old coalition to agree on constitutional reforms to grant greater autonomy to the two regions. Belgium's King Albert II is said to be "weighing" the resignation.