From a University of Tennessee press release: Former VP Gore to Receive Honorary Doctorate from UT Knoxville
KNOXVILLE — Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore will be honored by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with only the third honorary degree granted by the campus. The degree was approved by the UT Board of Trustees at their meeting Feb 26th.
Gore will receive the degree — an Honorary Doctor of Laws and Humane Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology — at the spring commencement exercises of the College of Arts and Sciences on May 14. He will be the featured speaker at the ceremony, addressing graduates and their families along with the gathered faculty.
“Vice President Gore’s career has been marked by visionary leadership, and his work has quite literally changed our planet for the better,” said UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. “He is among the most accomplished and respected Tennesseans in history, and it is fitting that he should be honored by the flagship education institution of his home state.”
Gore, whose career in public service and business has spanned four decades, is currently chairman of Current TV, an Emmy-award-winning, independently owned cable and satellite television nonfiction network for young people based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. He also serves as chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm that is focused on a new approach to sustainable investing.
Gore’s appreciation and personal interest in the institution of higher education is apparent as he serves as faculty member/visiting professor at various institutions across the country. A UT Knoxville faculty member holds the Nancy Gore Hunger Chair for Excellence in Environmental Studies, endowed by Gore to honor his late sister. Gore also is a distinguished member of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy’s board of directors and honorary co-chair of the Tennessee 4-H Club Foundation Inc. with UT Extension.
Gore, a native of Carthage, Tenn., was inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 1993, and served eight years in that office. During that time, Gore was a central member of President Clinton’s economic team. He served as president of the Senate, a Cabinet member, a member of the National Security Council, and as the leader of a wide range of administration initiatives. Prior to his service as vice president, Gore was twice elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, in 1984 and 1990, and represented Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District — the seat held by his father, Al Gore Sr., before his own service in the Senate — in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1976 to 1982.
He received a degree in government with honors from Harvard University in 1969. After graduation, he volunteered for enlistment in the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War. Upon returning from Vietnam, Gore became an investigative reporter with the Tennessean in Nashville, where he also attended Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School and then Law School.
Gore was the co-winner, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change. He is the author of the best-selling books “Earth in the Balance” and “An Inconvenient Truth” and also is the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary.
In addition to his roles with Current TV and Generation Investment Management, Gore is a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc., a senior adviser to Google Inc., and a partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He is a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and chairs the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit organization designed to help solve the climate crisis.
He and his wife, Tipper, live in Nashville. They have four children and three grandchildren.
Gore will join entertainer and philanthropist Dolly Parton and former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. as the only recipients of honorary degrees from UT Knoxville.
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Now here’s the interesting thing. The Knoxville News Sentinel ran an op ed saying “Al Gore a fine choice for honorary degree” and at the same time ran a reader poll on their website.
Here’s the results as of 10:30PM PST 3/3/10
As far as I know, there’s been no effort by anyone to flood the poll, I learned about it only as I’m writing this entry. Maybe too many people saw him interview with Conan O’Brien a few weeks back. You can vote if you wish here.
h/t to Leif Svalgaard
To MJC
They want some of his money.
Nail… meet hammer. Of course this is all about money. The chancellor and the rest of his board of trustee cronies might have heard a few ‘negative things’ about the Goracle but in the end, they have made what can only be called a ‘strategic decision’. Where the money exactly comes from and how it flows may not yet be known but the decision was made to hitch their wagon to Gore because it looked like it had the potential to rake in the shekels. As Rush Limbaugh has said repeatedly, the four pillars of our society that should have irreproachable integrity have been breached and sold for money and influence…. academia is one of those four pillars and science is another. Both are involved in this decision at the University of Tennessee.
On this same topic, it is a must that we all seriously consider where and how our money flows with respect to the so-called institutes of higher learning. I personally get several calls a year from the university I graduated from requesting donations and after these calls, I follow the up the discussion with email to the dean of engineering. The discussion and information simply goes like this…. “Are Professors ___ and ___ still working there? Are they still doing their glowbull warmist promotion thing? And are the students there still being asked to purchase the following text books that promote glowbull warmist propaganda?” Armed with these basic facts, I inform the callers looking for donations (with a follow up confirming email to the dean) that on no uncertain terms will I ever financially support the university until it cleans up its act in these specific areas.
Will it make a difference? Well, maybe yes and maybe no. I can tell you one thing… if EVERYONE took the approach I suggested above, you wouldn’t have nonsense like this Goracle honourary degree business happening. And for those of us ‘deniers’, we can at least feel some comfort knowing that our money is not going to a cause we don’t believe or support.
It is a fact…. money talks.
If Ward Churchill can be awarded an honorary doctorate, I don’t feel too bad about Al Gore receiving one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Churchill#Career
At least Ward hasn’t also helped taint the Nobel Laureates.
Elvis was not only an entertainer, but he was also a sixth degree black belt in Kenpo Karate. He had some real accomplishments. I vote for him.
ManBearPig
BarryW (05:17:31) :
Dr. Parton should be outraged.
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ROFL!!
Thanks for the good laugh before I have to go in to work.
Poor Al Carbone
AS soon as he gets a Regestered dietician Certificate from McDonalds University, he will be a complete dude.
Tennessee is off the mark. Look at the embarrassment in Missouri when one of they largest new buildings was named after a slug from Enron that went to jail.
Fred G. (05:15:31) :
If Gore had taken Tennessee in the election, there would not have been the voting fiasco in Florida
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This is what we should have heard about in 2000, Gore losing his home State to Bush. The news didn’t stress this enough back then! It would have calmed a lot of arguments, IMO.
Perhaps if they honored him with a doctorate of proctology, the poll would be more favorable?
Peter Hearnden (05:55:46) :
I’ve not checked every comment but I’m betting I’m the first to mention the former Vice president of the USA Al Gore without adding a insult….
If this blog is going to be taken seriously as a place of thoughtful, considered scientific enquiry it seems to me it needs to drop posts tagged (insultingly) ‘Al Gore is an idiot’ and the mass of fulminating right wing political claptrap comments they provoke.
You still labor under the misapprehension that those opposed to CAGW dogma, and particularly those who spread its lies to the detriment of the world and for lining their own pockets must be motivated by right wing politics.
Not to shock you or anything, but many of us climate realists come from the more liberal side of politics. I voted for the man in 2000, and was outraged with the way he lost. Now, I wouldn’t vote for him for dog catcher, though he may indeed be qualified for that. Why? Basically, because he’s been peddling a huge, extremely costly lie, and benefiting handsomely from it. His slide show has been used in schools to frighten and brainwash countless children. I believe he is guilty of crimes against humanity, and should be punished.
They’re just hoping that he’ll respond to the alumni fundraising requests.
Mark Bowlin (07:00:27)
” I suspect most people would choose Jed Clampett (he was from Tennessee wasn’t he?) over Gore today.”
Jed Clampett worked for Big Oil!
Another example of the inbred, heavily politically and corporately influenced Big Academia kissing the collective ***** of its close cousins, Big Government, Big Politico-Bureaucrats, Big Environment (and yes, some strains of Big Oil and Big Business) (and other inbred groups).
The Baby Boomer ethos of “me me me.” They all just love to pat themselves on the back.
Think of the past recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, including Gore himself.
This is a great video. By watching “him” in action….you really begin to learn that the “enemy” is within, not in some foreign country.
Watch his eyes. The eyes have it.
I wouldn’t trust this slimeball with anything, anywhere, anyhow. It is truly hard to believe that he was a vice president.
Come to think of it, we have had some scary vice president’s recently, no?
No wonder the world is in such trouble. The citizens are getting restless, and by polls such as this one, shows just HOW OUT OF TOUCH all the inbred “BIGS” are…with the real world.
That WILL change in the coming years. Grrrrrrrr!
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
Peter Hearnden (05:55:46) :
I’ve not checked every comment but I’m betting I’m the first to mention the former Vice president of the USA Al Gore without adding a insult….
Check before you bet.
Kate (05:21:41) beat you by a good half-hour.
And my comment at (04:39:18) may have been disparaging of the former Veep’s over-dramatization of his RVN mini-tour, but it wasn’t insulting — and I can *do* insulting…
Monckton tired of Gore too.
“Al Baby……I’m not going to let you get away with these continuous moaning noises…..”
1 minute video from 3/3/10
http://www.pjtv.com/v/3185
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full 26 minute video interview
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Specials/_COMPLETE_PJTV_INTERVIEW_Climategate%3A_Al_Gore_Doubles_Down_%26_Lord_Monckton_Ups_The_Ante_Against_Him/3174/
Please note that the “scientists” at UEA’s CRU are now using their “trick”
to add Al Gores “degree” to the AGW dataset [pun fully intended].
As we can all agree that Orson Wells deserved major kudos for the “War of the Worlds” broadcast, Jabba the Gore’s version deserves at the very least a bull crap doctorate from a university looking to offset sagging enrollment. Wells was able to scare people out of their wits for days but Jabba the Gore’s masterpiece still has many hiding their common sense in that same root cellar years later. If you can’t however manage to praise the fiction itself without tasting bile maybe you can manage a nod to his having so completely surpassed L. Ron Hubbard?
Tennessee representatives used to have integrity: click
I think it’s a good idea.
Gore is, by a wide margin, the largest and most successful RENT SEEKER in history. He should get an honorary doctorate in political and economic parasitism. His expertise in that domain is unquestionable.
Yeah, I voted agin it. Told all my kin to too.
R Gates, how long is that tropospheric heat data record and how do I compare it to the historic record and proxy data for the MWP and LIA?
Evan GA…. Well done regarding your letter to UofT. That is what it’s going to take to bring down this. Action.
Vigilantfish: I floated the notion for discussion of second hand smoke ban to AGW. I am satisfied by your response.
@ur momisugly Paul Clements (23:43:46) :
You missed the boat by about a day and a half. The court of appeals rejected this case. Katrina victims will not be able to sue energy companies because of Katrina. Thank god!
I am amazed with Al Gore’s self delusion. He has an unbelievable ability to project the image of a man in a completely disconnected state from reality. Who on earth believes a single word this guy utters? There has to be some kind of mass psychosis going on here. Look at this clip complements of Erik (23:52:17) :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8340238.stm
The global warming scam is almost less interesting to me than the large number of people who hold Al in high esteem. Completely unbelievable.
Is he wearing lipstick?
Guys don’t wear lipstick!
GUYS DON’T WEAR LIPSTICK!!
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The Actual Vote at UT-K’s Board of Gov’ners Follows –
Dr. Mickey Mouse PhD, Dr. Mouse, Micky voted NO
Dr. Donald Duck, PhD, Dr. Duck voted NO
Dr. Minnie Mouse PhD, Dr. Mouse, Minnie voted NO
Dr. ‘Bo Diddly’ Dogg PhD, Dr. Dogg voted NO
Dr. Cantwaitta See’ya PhD, Dr. See’ya voted NO
Dr. Mighty Mouse PhD, Dr. Mouse, Mighty voted NO
Dr. Geronimo Banzi PhD, Dr. Banzi voted NO
Dr. Wylee Coyote PhD, Dr. Coyote voted NO
Dr. Popeye D’Sailor PhD, Dr. D’Sailor voted NO
Dr. Noguts Fudd PhD, Dr. Fudd voted NO
Dr. Clara Bell Clown PhD, Dr. Clown voted NO
Dr Fed Endowments PhD, Dr Endowments voted YES 6 times
Dr. C.O.B. Disney PhD, Dr Disney voted YES 3 times
Dr. G. ‘General’ Electric PhD, Dr. Electric voted YES 2 times
Dr. Dow Chemi PhD, Dr. Chem voted YES 2 times
Dr. M.S. Media PhD, Dr Media voted YES 7 times
Dr. D.O. Energy, Dr. Energy voted YES 4 times
“Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?”
An Honorary degree? Clearly the man has earned a legit PhD. He’s got the Nobel bling-bling to prove it.
-Dave