Thanks a Lot, Barney!

Lay off the broccoli, your purple weirdo!

And hey, that's some solid science there, Ralphy!

I've mentioned here that I'm a Green Party member. I enjoy making my way through their various message boards and press releases to learn the processes involved in running a political party, albeit a small one on the grow.

I occasionally toy with the possibility of getting more involved in the future, starting very small in order to learn the ropes first-hand. Some aspects are very unclear to me though and I sometimes wonder if I would have what it takes in terms of knowledge and personality traits.

Then I read nonsense like this and I tell myself "If this guy can do it..."

EDMONTON (CP) - Premier Ralph Klein has criticized former U.S. presidential candidate Al Gore for comments he made in a magazine interview in which he attacked the massive oilsands industry in northern Alberta.

Gore told an interviewer in the latest issue of Rolling Stone that oilsands processing is a huge waste of energy and creates an eyesore on the landscape of Western Canada. "For every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days," Gore told the magazine.

"And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape, all for one barrel of oil. It is truly nuts. But you know, junkies find veins in their toes. It seems reasonable, to them, because they've lost sight of the rest of their lives."

Gore concluded the United States must reduce its dependence on oil as the primary source of energy to save the planet from the devastating impact of global warming.

Klein, who was recently in Washington to promote the oilsands as a reliable source of energy for the U.S., said Gore's views are simply not realistic.

"I don't know what he proposes the world run on, maybe hot air," Klein told reporters Tuesday. "I don't listen to Al Gore in particular because he's a Democrat. And not only that, he's about as far left as you can go.

"The simple fact is America needs oil. They need gas. And unless he can find some other source, fine."

Klein has stirred controversy in the past by rejecting scientific data suggesting industrial pollution is one of the leading causes of global warming. He has even said global warming trends that occurred millions of years ago may have been caused by "dinosaur farts."

But the premier conceded for the first time Tuesday that the current causes of global warming are "man-made."

"I don't argue with the science that all of us - as we exhale, as the population grows, as there are more vehicles on the streets and more carbons produced - that we contribute to global warming."

Klein said although Alberta strongly rejected measures in the Kyoto accord to reduce global warming, he believes the province is taking a prudent approach in reducing emissions.

"We take the matter of global warming very seriously. We just don't think that the Kyoto Protocol is the way to go," he said. "As far as I know, we're the only jurisdiction in Canada to put in legislation to reduce greenhouse gases."

Full article.