Al Gore's House

[Bill V]

Sounds like invention to me.

Not to me. I think the snopes story does a pretty good job at explaining my opinion on it, so I won't bother retyping much the same thing here. I'm definitely not saying that his statement wasn't overstating is involvement in early internet development, but his contributions to those early developments of the technology can't be denied.



And for the record--if the story above is true (last I checked, snopes has yet to post anything on it), I agree completely that the energy consumption is excessive and hypocritical. I don't consider myself to be a Gore fan by any means. I just think the constant derision/accusations made about him supposedly claiming to have invented the internet are unfair and unfounded.

 

[Rick Kent]

I still don't get why all the righties keep saying that Al claimed that he invented the internet. He never said any such thing.

You are arguing semantics.



He stated "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet."



His statement is clearly intended to take credit for the advent of the internet. I can understand why you don't want to defend your opinion.

 

[Bill V]

And you don't see a difference for taking credit for contributing to the advent of the internet (which he did), and taking credit for "inventing" the internet (which he didn't) ? To me, the two are worlds apart. It's like me saying that I contributed to the birth of my son, and then you saying that I claimed to have invented childbirth. They're not even close.

 

[Rick Kent]

Use all of the faulty analogies you like.



The man said he is responsible for the internet. Clear as a bell to the rest of us. Whether he sat down at a PC and wrote the code himself or not, he claims he is responsible.



And frankly, I couldn't give a flying f**k about his politics. My beef is his predisposition to exagerate.

 

[Dreman]

The root of the matter here is that he asked the US public to reduce their energy usage at their homes. If he's going to do that, then he needs to lead the way by setting an example with reduced energy usage at his own house or houses. And I mean drastically reduced, where he can show that he has walked the walk by reducing the energy consumption at his own house by 1/2 or more. It's not cheap to retrofit a house to reduce it's energy usage that much, but he needs to show that it's so important to him that he's willing to pay to back up his talk.

 

[Doug Watts]

Since when has a Democrat lead from the front? Of course, that can probably be said about the Republicans too, but that's not who we are talking about today.

 

[Donal Cahill]

I used to enjoy coming to this site to read issues Sport Trac owners were having with their vehicles. Over time the number of Sport Trac related topics have dropped and off-topic posts have increased. I wish users would keep their right wing rants to themselves, or save them for some other more suitable forum.

 

[Jeff C]

SLIGOLAD, you can turn off "Off Topic" posts.



I for one enjoy all the different viewpoints.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

The Internet existed before Al Gore ever heard of it, and it was going to become a dominant force with or without him.



His words made it sound like it wouldn't have happened without him, which is crap.



TJR

 

[TrainTrac]

No, he didn't invent the INTERNET, but he did introduce a significant piece of legislation, the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. When this bill passed into law, it became one of the most important pieces of legislation directly affecting the expansion of the internet.

The High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 (HPCA) was a bill created and introduced by then Senator Al Gore (it was thus referred to as the Gore Bill. [1]) It was passed on 09 December 1991.



This bill led to the development of the National Information Infrastructure, the National Research and Education Network, the High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative (an off-shoot of the HPCA), Mosaic (the web browser). [2], and the creation of a high-speed fiber optic network that, when utilized, would help stimulate the economy.

Generally, I think Al Gore is a loon who's trying to keep himself relevant after his political career ended. However, because he wrote this bill, he should be given at least some credit for the expansion, not the invention of the INTERNET.

 

[Josh Langel]

Al Gore is hot.

 

[Rich Stern]

Al Gore is going to be this generation's Joe McCarthy.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

BillV said (paraphrased but accurate):

And you don't see a difference for taking credit for contributing to the advent of the internet...and taking credit for "inventing" the internet?

You are SO right BillV there is a big difference between those two things.





But I ask, which of these three claims are most similar:



A. I contributed to the advent of XYZ



B. I invented XYZ.



C. I took the initiative in creating XYZ.



Answer: B and C are the most similar (surely everyone would agree).





So I agree with you that the two things you mentioned (A and B) are are not the same when it comes to Al's Internet claims. But Al never said A...., he didn't say words like "contributed to the advent"....he said, he "took the initiative in creating". That means he created it. You create things where they did not previously exist. The definition of create is "To cause to come into existence". The definition of initiative is "the power or ability to begin energetically."



When I hear someone say they are a self-starter that through their energy were the first to begin things and create things, I think "invention"... I don't think "contributed to the advent of".



TJR

 

[Bill V]

he said, he "took the initiative in creating". That means he created it.

Again, I disagree, and I'm going to return to my previous analogy. I "took the initiative in creating" my son. That doesn't mean that I created him. Through pregnancy and childbirth, my wife had a lot more to do with that than I did. It also doesn't mean I invented him--if that claim belongs to anyone, it belongs to God (or whomever your higher-power-of-choice is). But I definitely took the initiative in creating him, and I "contributed to the advent" of him. Clearly, then, in the example you give, in this application, A and C are the most similar. And I believe that in the application of Gore's contributions to internet development, A and C are most similar there as well.

 

[Mark Grumpy]

Bill, your analogy doesn't work. Your son would not exist without you, regardless how much your wife had to do with the process. So your analogy actually supports Gore's claim; the internet would not exist without him.



grump

 

[Thomas Rogers]

BillV, I am not sure why you feel the need to apologize for Al. He exaggerated and it wasn't the first time. The issue should be with the incorrect and misleading thing he said, not with the people that properly interpreted his words.



People, especially politicians, should mean what they say and say what they mean.



If he meant that he was instrumental in passing legislation that furthered the Internet as a commercial information entity, then he should have said that. That's the truth. That's what he did. But that's not what he said. He said, and I quote: "took the initiative in creating the Internet."



Words have meaning. Politicians live and die by soundbytes more than anyone else. Gore died by this one (in the eyes of many), and it wasn't a slip, IMHO, but an exaggeration.



He didn't create it. It existed long before his bill. He shouldn't have said he did.



TJR

 

[Bill V]

Al Gore is going to be this generation's Joe McCarthy.

Huh? Rich, I think you got that one backwards. If anyone, it's the Bush administration, and their wiretapping, detentions-without-trial, and race/ethnic/religion profiling by "security" personnel that are getting McCarthy-like. Bush is using the threat of terrorism the way McCarthy used the threat of communism.

 

[Rick Kent]

I used to enjoy coming to this site to read issues Sport Trac owners were having with their vehicles. Over time the number of Sport Trac related topics have dropped and off-topic posts have increased. I wish users would keep their right wing rants to themselves, or save them for some other more suitable forum.

The ST has been around since 2001. Most of the questions and concerns about it have been asked and answered hundreds of times.



If you want to test this theory, ask away. The responses will be repleat with links to other posts and the age old question "did you do a search?"



It is the off topic stuff that keeps me coming back now, the entertainment value is priceless.

 

[Johnny O]

The ST has been around since 2001. Most of the questions and concerns about it have been asked and answered hundreds of times.

Anybody know what's the biggest tires I can fit without a lift?

 

[Josh Langel]

When will the 07 ST come out? Have you seen it! OMG! I have a link to a photo!!! They're even going to have this cool Adrenalin model!!! Sweet!!!