The Towleroad / NewNowNext Video News Moment Award

As I mentioned briefly last week, Towleroad has partnered with LOGO's NewNowNext awards to present a prize for the most impactful video news moment of the year. We went through all the clips we've posted in the last year and chose the five that we felt were most hard hitting as gay video news moments.

Our category does tend toward the serious. While Chris Crocker's "Leave Britney Alone" moment certainly inspired plenty of disgust and cultural fodder, we decided moments like those didn't fall into the news category - as much as CNN may want them to.

So here are the five clips we chose as finalists — video moments which had an impact on gay lives. While one of our choices (Sally Kern's rant) is purely audio, there's no doubt that the medium by which its message was spread was YouTube. So, here they are. You can use the following widget to cast your vote, and links to the clips are provided below, for your review.

FOR YOUR REVIEW:

Al Gore voices his support for marriage equality. WATCH.

Ellen Degeneres speaks out about Lawrence King. WATCH.

GOP San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders reverses opinion on same-sex marriage. WATCH.

Larry Craig declares he is not gay and has never been gay. WATCH.

Sally Kern compares says gays worse than terrorists. WATCH.

For more information and to vote for the rest of the NewNowNext Awards, click here.

Sphere: Related Content

Al Gore's New Climate Crisis Slideshow

Al Gore premiered a new slideshow on the climate crisis at a TED talk last month in which he talks about the need to solve the democracy crisis so we can solve the environmental one, and says we must create a sense of generational mission to get this done. He also answers some questions at the end about how he feels the current presidential candidates will respond to global warming issues.

The slideshow was posted online today, and you can watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

In the lecture, Gore reference's Jill Taylor, whose TED Talk was the last we featured, and if you haven't seen it, it's fantastic. Check it out here.

Sphere: Related Content

News: Water, Gay Porn Twins, Coffee, New Kids on the Block

Is China cracking down on gay establishments as the Olympics approach?

Mother of twin gay porn bandits arrested for serving as their getaway driver: "Towana Goffney, the mother of 25-year-old twins Taleon and Keyontyli Goffney, was arrested late Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Her sons, Taleon and Keyontyli were linked to nearly 40 break-ins. Cameras were rolling as the men were led away in handcuffs and it turned out, this was not the first time the pair was in the spotlight. According to internet gossip sites, the brothers are gay porn stars. Now the family has the arrest of the matriarch to add to their rap sheet and online profiles."

Kylie Minogue hits up the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

McCain won't be fighting party platform on gays: "McCain associates told The Washington Times that his operatives are not going to work behind the scenes to eliminate the party's calls for constitutional bans on abortion and homosexual marriage before the GOP convention in September."

Search for most eligible gay bachelor begins in San Francisco.

The premiere international prize in electronic media: A list of the 2007 Peabody Award winners.

Woof: Madison, Wisconsin gets new gay sports bar.

Northern Ireland town of Strabane prepares for opening of first gay bar. Proprietor: "All the feedback I've had about the bar has been positive, I was so surprised by everyone's reaction, I've received no negativity whatsoever. Even elderly residents of the town have voiced their support and have been wishing me all the best."

Famous tranny Dana International prevents Wentworth Miller from escaping!

Obama says he would hire Al Gore: "Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I'm already consulting with him in terms of these issues, but climate change is real. It is something we have to deal with now, not 10 years from now, not 20 years from now."

The New Kids on the Block are back together. Here's their first photo together in more than 15 years.

An update on gay Iranian teen Mehdi Kazemi: "Mehdi Kazemi is still in Rotterdam, awaiting deportation back to the UK under the Dublin Treaty, where Home Secretary Jacqui Smith still hasn’t granted him asylum. It appears that a Dutch MP has secured a parliamentary debate in the Netherlands to take place tomorrow, because he doesn’t believe Jacqui Smith can be trusted with his safety."

Iranian gays left out of Human Rights Watch annual reports.

Scientists: There is no benefit in drinking 8 glasses of water a day. And drinking coffee may protect you from dementia and other debilitating brain diseases.

British activist Tatchell to European Feminist Summit: "By challenging the cult of heterosexual masculinity, queer liberation is about much more than the limited agenda of equal rights. It offers a unique, revolutionary contribution to the emancipation of the whole of humanity from all forms of subjugation."

In case you were wondering, Chace Crawford is doing 'okay' after his break-up with Carrie Underwood.

Sphere: Related Content

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #268

CHELSEA CLINTON: Chelsea gets asked about Monica Lewinsky again and the pundits argue about whether or not it's a question she needs to answer.

THE WE CAMPAIGN: New ad from the Alliance for Climate Protection that is part of a $300 million campaign being promoted by Al Gore.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD!: Russian tennis player Mikhail Youzhny was so angry that he dropped a serve in the second set of his match yesterday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami that he beat himself in the head with his racquet, drawing blood.

IDOL CONTESTANT DANNY NORIEGA: He's back. Was he gone?

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

Sphere: Related Content

News: Johnny Depp, Eureka Springs, Clark Gable, Bounty Killer

BOOK: Clark Gable was gay for pay. "David Bret’s angle on Clark Gable is this: Gable was 'gay for pay' and 'rough trade,' and he enjoyed having sex 'for bucks.' In addition, he 'would sometimes scrub his penis until it bled' and used a device to prolong erections. If these tidbits from the book’s first few pages aren’t too much information for you, you’re in luck. This breathtakingly trashy biography does not skimp on sordid anecdotes."

Johnny Depp the new, uh, face of Trojan condoms?

Gawker goes to the NYC Black Party.

T.R. Knight steps out with boyfriend Mark Cornelsen: We all have AIDS.

Survey shows increased support for gay marriage in Ireland: "Eighty-four per cent of respondents to an opinion poll conducted this month by Lansdowne Market Research said they supported civil marriage or civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. This is the same figure as a similar survey carried out in November 2006. However, 58% said gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry in registry offices, compared to 51% in the previous survey."

Did Heath Ledger father a love child?

Could Al Gore be brought in for clean-up duty at the convention? "Let’s say the elders of the Democratic Party decide, when the primaries end, that neither Obama nor Clinton is viable. Let’s also assume — and this may be a real stretch — that such elders are strong and smart enough to act. All they’d have to do would be to convince a significant fraction of their superdelegate friends, maybe fewer than 100, to announce that they were taking a pass on the first ballot at the Denver convention, which would deny the 2,025 votes necessary to Obama or Clinton. What if they then approached Gore and asked him to be the nominee, for the good of the party — and suggested that he take Obama as his running mate? Of course, Obama would have to be a party to the deal and bring his 1,900 or so delegates along."

Madonna on the paparazzi: "The paparazzi are out of control. I haven't been to Los Angeles in quite a while, and I don’t watch television here or in England, and I was told there's now a television show where the paparazzi are the stars of the show—is that true? That they film each other doing paparazzi jobs? Which gives them more fuel. I usually found that type kept their distance—they definitely do in England, because it's illegal to photograph children. But that's not how it is here. They get this close, and don't care how much they scare your children. Being famous has changed a lot, because now there's so many outlets, between magazines, TV shows, and the Internet, for people to stalk and follow you. We created the monster."

Gay couple faces harsh realities in move from New Jersey to Idaho.

Is Regent Entertainment circling gay publications Out and The Advocate?

HIV-positive Canadian Martin Rooney takes on U.S. travel ban: "I said I was on disability. He said what's my disability. I said I have HIV. He hauled me into a backroom. ... He put on a set of rubber gloves to hold each of my fingers. Nobody else wore rubber gloves. Then he fingerprinted me, photographed me, ran me through the FBI's most-wanted list and told me to go back to Canada and not return until I came back with a waiver. I felt like I was being treated like a terrorist."

Arkansas gays converge on Eureka Springs for 'Diversity Weekend': "Homosexual and transsexual residents say that living in Northwest Arkansas has its benefits, such as the small-town atmosphere, natural beauty, and amenities such as shopping and restaurants. But many lament the limited social venues and a lack of connectivity within their own community. 'There is a fairly large population of people that are gay, lesbian or bisexual, but there is no community,' said Fayetteville resident J. Judd Harbin."

Ricky Martin battles human trafficking in Cambodia

Human rights groups halt concerts by 'murder music' singer Bounty Killer: "In Germany, Bounty Killer's performance in Essen was cancelled and other German concert dates are now in doubt as gay human rights groups are coordinating a Europe-wide campaign to halt his 'Deadly Alliance' tour of the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland."

Sphere: Related Content

News: Al Gore, Wii Tennis, Tom Cruise, Lost, Chris Dodd

Lambda Legal to file suit in Iowa today on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses.

Tom Cruise appearance sparks rumors of cameo on JJ Abrams' Star Trek set, but he was really there to meet someone special.

Al Gore on global warming skeptics: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat. ... That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off."

The American Family Association gave up their boycott of Ford Motors, but it looks as though they're trying again with another automaker, GM. Good As You: "What the hell gives these folks the right to go apeshit simply because a company dares to advertise to the LGBT community?! Good God of fringe extremism, why cannot they not at least accept that we are 'sinners' with a degree of disposable income, some of which we like to put towards cars?! We know they think we're barreling down the Highway to Hell. Fine. Let them think that. But can't they at least respect the right of an automaker to try and sell us a car whose climate control features will help us brave the unbearably hot Lake of Fire?"

Saulo Melo: Your hot Brazilian for Friday.

Dennis Miller does not share Bill O'Reilly's rage over San Francisco's Hunky Jesus pageant.

Hate crimes inspiring call to action in South Florida.

Senator Chris Dodd says we must end the Democratic primary: "Look, we've got five more months to go before the Democratic convention at the end of August and, candidly, we cannot go five more months with the kind of daily sniping that's going on and have a candidate emerge in that convention....We have two very strong candidates. So I'm worried about this going on endlessly and to a large extent...the media, a lot of these cable networks, are enjoying this. It's what is keeping them alive financially. The fact that this thing is going on forever, back and forth every day, all night -- I don't think it's really helping the candidates or the political institutions."

The folks who market Basil Hayden's whiskey think we're all a bunch of prancing fashionistas.

The Hills may be turned into a feature film: “I think if they were going to do a film of the hills they would basically film it like we do the show and they would just edit it into a movie. It would be like a really long episode.”

Wii Tennis about to get lifelike versions of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Tommy Haas.

Prison Break brings a major character back from the dead.

Exploring the time travel theory on Lost.

UK urges gay men to get tested for HIV: "The Health Protection Agency made the warning after new diagnoses among gay men topped 2,600 for the third year. But the figures do seem to have begun to plateau after a surge at the turn of the century. Overall, the number of new cases hit an estimated 6,840 in 2007 - a fall of 1,400 from the previous year."

An update on that school expulsion case in Kansas I posted about yesterday: "A lawyer representing a gay student charged with harassment said he was 'hopeful that things will work out' for the student after an expulsion hearing Thursday. 'We're all wanting him to get back into school. That's the main thing,' said attorney John McKean. 'We're encouraged and hopeful that it will happen rather quickly.' Jimmy Iniguez, 17, a junior at Metro-Midtown Alternative High School, faces expulsion for allegedly harassing a fellow student in a school bathroom Feb. 28. Iniguez, who has been suspended since the incident, says he is innocent and is being unfairly accused because he is openly gay. No decision was made Thursday. District policy dictates that the decision be sent to the student's family by certified mail."

Sphere: Related Content

Al Gore Speaks Out on Gay Rights

I'm not sure what prompted this, but late last week Al Gore posted a video to his own Current TV on gay rights.

Sphere: Related Content

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #212

PANDERFEST 07: Veracifier features highlights from yesterday's debate in Des Moines.

HUCKABEE'S PARDONS: Brutal web video slams Mike Huckabee for the pardon of serial rapist Wayne Dumond. It was created by Arkansas Republican Keith Emis.

AL GORE: His recent speech to the UN Conference on climate change in Bali.

I MADE THE SWITCH: Obama campaign runs video of Clinton precinct captain who is now caucusing for them.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here

Sphere: Related Content

Al Gore Accepts Nobel Prize, Issues Challenge to U.S. and China

Al Gore officially accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today and issued a challenge to our normally-reactionary world and its two largest emitters of greenhouse gases:

"The world needs an alliance – especially of those nations that weigh heaviest in the scales where earth is in the balance. I salute Europe and Japan for the steps they’ve taken in recent years to meet the challenge, and the new government in Australia, which has made solving the climate crisis its first priority. But the outcome will be decisively influenced by two nations that are now failing to do enough: the United States and China. While India is also growing fast in importance, it should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters — most of all, my own country –– that will need to make the boldest moves, or stand accountable before history for their failure to act. Both countries should stop using the other’s behavior as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment. These are the last few years of decision, but they can be the first years of a bright and hopeful future if we do what we must."

Read the entire speech AFTER THE JUMP.

Recently
Al Gore Faces George W. Bush in Oval Office Meeting [tr]
Al Gore Tired of Opposing Discredited Climate Skeptics [tr]

SPEECH BY AL GORE ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

December 10, 2007

Oslo, Norway

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.

I have a purpose here today. It is a purpose I have tried to serve for many years. I have prayed that God would show me a way to accomplish it.

Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our door with a precious and painful vision of what might be. One hundred and nineteen years ago, a wealthy inventor read his own obituary, mistakenly published years before his death. Wrongly believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh judgment of his life's work, unfairly labeling him "The Merchant of Death" because of his invention - dynamite. Shaken by this condemnation, the inventor made a fateful choice to serve the cause of peace.

Seven years later, Alfred Nobel created this prize and the others that bear his name.

Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken - if not premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose.

Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, "We must act."

The distinguished scientists with whom it is the greatest honor of my life to share this award have laid before us a choice between two different futures - a choice that to my ears echoes the words of an ancient prophet: "Life or death, blessings or curses. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency - a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst - though not all - of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.

However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world's leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat: "They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent."

So today, we dumped another 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And tomorrow, we will dump a slightly larger amount, with the cumulative concentrations now trapping more and more heat from the sun.

As a result, the earth has a fever. And the fever is rising. The experts have told us it is not a passing affliction that will heal by itself. We asked for a second opinion. And a third. And a fourth. And the consistent conclusion, restated with increasing alarm, is that something basic is wrong.

We are what is wrong, and we must make it right.

Last September 21, as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress that the North Polar ice cap is "falling off a cliff." One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as 7 years.

Seven years from now.

In the last few months, it has been harder and harder to misinterpret the signs that our world is spinning out of kilter. Major cities in North and South America, Asia and Australia are nearly out of water due to massive droughts and melting glaciers. Desperate farmers are losing their livelihoods. Peoples in the frozen Arctic and on low-lying Pacific islands are planning evacuations of places they have long called home. Unprecedented wildfires have forced a half million people from their homes in one country and caused a national emergency that almost brought down the government in another. Climate refugees have migrated into areas already inhabited by people with different cultures, religions, and traditions, increasing the potential for conflict. Stronger storms in the Pacific and Atlantic have threatened whole cities. Millions have been displaced by massive flooding in South Asia, Mexico, and 18 countries in Africa. As temperature extremes have increased, tens of thousands have lost their lives. We are recklessly burning and clearing our forests and driving more and more species into extinction. The very web of life on which we depend is being ripped and frayed.

We never intended to cause all this destruction, just as Alfred Nobel never intended that dynamite be used for waging war. He had hoped his invention would promote human progress. We shared that same worthy goal when we began burning massive quantities of coal, then oil and methane.

Even in Nobel's time, there were a few warnings of the likely consequences. One of the very first winners of the Prize in chemistry worried that, "We are evaporating our coal mines into the air." After performing 10,000 equations by hand, Svante Arrhenius calculated that the earth's average temperature would increase by many degrees if we doubled the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Seventy years later, my teacher, Roger Revelle, and his colleague, Dave Keeling, began to precisely document the increasing CO2 levels day by day.

But unlike most other forms of pollution, CO2 is invisible, tasteless, and odorless -- which has helped keep the truth about what it is doing to our climate out of sight and out of mind. Moreover, the catastrophe now threatening us is unprecedented - and we often confuse the unprecedented with the improbable.

We also find it hard to imagine making the massive changes that are now necessary to solve the crisis. And when large truths are genuinely inconvenient, whole societies can, at least for a time, ignore them. Yet as George Orwell reminds us: "Sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield."

In the years since this prize was first awarded, the entire relationship between humankind and the earth has been radically transformed. And still, we have remained largely oblivious to the impact of our cumulative actions.

Indeed, without realizing it, we have begun to wage war on the earth itself. Now, we and the earth's climate are locked in a relationship familiar to war planners: "Mutually assured destruction."

More than two decades ago, scientists calculated that nuclear war could throw so much debris and smoke into the air that it would block life-giving sunlight from our atmosphere, causing a "nuclear winter." Their eloquent warnings here in Oslo helped galvanize the world's resolve to halt the nuclear arms race.

Now science is warning us that if we do not quickly reduce the global warming pollution that is trapping so much of the heat our planet normally radiates back out of the atmosphere, we are in danger of creating a permanent "carbon summer."

As the American poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice." Either, he notes, "would suffice."

But neither need be our fate. It is time to make peace with the planet.

We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war. These prior struggles for survival were won when leaders found words at the 11th hour that released a mighty surge of courage, hope and readiness to sacrifice for a protracted and mortal challenge.

These were not comforting and misleading assurances that the threat was not real or imminent; that it would affect others but not ourselves; that ordinary life might be lived even in the presence of extraordinary threat; that Providence could be trusted to do for us what we would not do for ourselves.

No, these were calls to come to the defense of the common future. They were calls upon the courage, generosity and strength of entire peoples, citizens of every class and condition who were ready to stand against the threat once asked to do so. Our enemies in those times calculated that free people would not rise to the challenge; they were, of course, catastrophically wrong.

Now comes the threat of climate crisis - a threat that is real, rising, imminent, and universal. Once again, it is the 11th hour. The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and growing, and at some near point would be unsustainable and unrecoverable. For now we still have the power to choose our fate, and the remaining question is only this: Have we the will to act vigorously and in time, or will we remain imprisoned by a dangerous illusion?

Mahatma Gandhi awakened the largest democracy on earth and forged a shared resolve with what he called "Satyagraha" - or "truth force."

In every land, the truth - once known - has the power to set us free.

Truth also has the power to unite us and bridge the distance between "me" and "we," creating the basis for common effort and shared responsibility.

There is an African proverb that says, "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." We need to go far, quickly.

We must abandon the conceit that individual, isolated, private actions are the answer. They can and do help. But they will not take us far enough without collective action. At the same time, we must ensure that in mobilizing globally, we do not invite the establishment of ideological conformity and a new lock-step "ism."

That means adopting principles, values, laws, and treaties that release creativity and initiative at every level of society in multifold responses originating concurrently and spontaneously.

This new consciousness requires expanding the possibilities inherent in all humanity. The innovators who will devise a new way to harness the sun's energy for pennies or invent an engine that's carbon negative may live in Lagos or Mumbai or Montevideo. We must ensure that entrepreneurs and inventors everywhere on the globe have the chance to change the world.

When we unite for a moral purpose that is manifestly good and true, the spiritual energy unleashed can transform us. The generation that defeated fascism throughout the world in the 1940s found, in rising to meet their awesome challenge, that they had gained the moral authority and long-term vision to launch the Marshall Plan, the United Nations, and a new level of global cooperation and foresight that unified Europe and facilitated the emergence of democracy and prosperity in Germany, Japan, Italy and much of the world. One of their visionary leaders said, "It is time we steered by the stars and not by the lights of every passing ship."

In the last year of that war, you gave the Peace Prize to a man from my hometown of 2000 people, Carthage, Tennessee. Cordell Hull was described by Franklin Roosevelt as the "Father of the United Nations." He was an inspiration and hero to my own father, who followed Hull in the Congress and the U.S. Senate and in his commitment to world peace and global cooperation.

My parents spoke often of Hull, always in tones of reverence and admiration. Eight weeks ago, when you announced this prize, the deepest emotion I felt was when I saw the headline in my hometown paper that simply noted I had won the same prize that Cordell Hull had won. In that moment, I knew what my father and mother would have felt were they alive.

Just as Hull's generation found moral authority in rising to solve the world crisis caused by fascism, so too can we find our greatest opportunity in rising to solve the climate crisis. In the Kanji characters used in both Chinese and Japanese, "crisis" is written with two symbols, the first meaning "danger," the second "opportunity." By facing and removing the danger of the climate crisis, we have the opportunity to gain the moral authority and vision to vastly increase our own capacity to solve other crises that have been too long ignored.

We must understand the connections between the climate crisis and the afflictions of poverty, hunger, HIV-Aids and other pandemics. As these problems are linked, so too must be their solutions. We must begin by making the common rescue of the global environment the central organizing principle of the world community.

Fifteen years ago, I made that case at the "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro. Ten years ago, I presented it in Kyoto. This week, I will urge the delegates in Bali to adopt a bold mandate for a treaty that establishes a universal global cap on emissions and uses the market in emissions trading to efficiently allocate resources to the most effective opportunities for speedy reductions.

This treaty should be ratified and brought into effect everywhere in the world by the beginning of 2010 - two years sooner than presently contemplated. The pace of our response must be accelerated to match the accelerating pace of the crisis itself.

Heads of state should meet early next year to review what was accomplished in Bali and take personal responsibility for addressing this crisis. It is not unreasonable to ask, given the gravity of our circumstances, that these heads of state meet every three months until the treaty is completed.

We also need a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store carbon dioxide.

And most important of all, we need to put a price on carbon -- with a CO2 tax that is then rebated back to the people, progressively, according to the laws of each nation, in ways that shift the burden of taxation from employment to pollution. This is by far the most effective and simplest way to accelerate solutions to this crisis.

The world needs an alliance - especially of those nations that weigh heaviest in the scales where earth is in the balance. I salute Europe and Japan for the steps they've taken in recent years to meet the challenge, and the new government in Australia, which has made solving the climate crisis its first priority.

But the outcome will be decisively influenced by two nations that are now failing to do enough: the United States and China. While India is also growing fast in importance, it should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters -- most of all, my own country -- that will need to make the boldest moves, or stand accountable before history for their failure to act.

Both countries should stop using the other's behavior as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment.

These are the last few years of decision, but they can be the first years of a bright and hopeful future if we do what we must. No one should believe a solution will be found without effort, without cost, without change. Let us acknowledge that if we wish to redeem squandered time and speak again with moral authority, then these are the hard truths:

The way ahead is difficult. The outer boundary of what we currently believe is feasible is still far short of what we actually must do. Moreover, between here and there, across the unknown, falls the shadow.

That is just another way of saying that we have to expand the boundaries of what is possible. In the words of the Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, "Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk."

We are standing at the most fateful fork in that path. So I want to end as I began, with a vision of two futures - each a palpable possibility - and with a prayer that we will see with vivid clarity the necessity of choosing between those two futures, and the urgency of making the right choice now.

The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, "One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door."

The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: "What were you thinking; why didn't you act?"

Or they will ask instead: "How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?"

We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.

So let us renew it, and say together: "We have a purpose. We are many. For this purpose we will rise, and we will act."

(via Al Gore's website)

Sphere: Related Content

Al Gore Faces George W. Bush in Oval Office Meeting

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Al Gore and President George W. Bush met privately for the first time since 2000 in the Oval Office today, the office Gore would have occupied should the presidential election in 2000 have been determined by America's popular vote and not by a Supreme Court decision that stopped the recount in Florida.

The AP reports: "The two men stood next to other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out. 'Familiar faces,' the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing. The two also had a 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office, part of Bush's effort to show some outreach to his longtime rival. Bush aides said it was private and would not comment on it. Gore, trailed by the press as he left the White House very publicly on foot, allowed that he and Bush spent the whole time talking about global warming. 'He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation, Gore said. And that's all I want to say about it.'"

Sphere: Related Content

Al Gore Tired of Opposing Discredited Climate Skeptics

In an interview with Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore yesterday on the Today show, criticized Meredith Vieira and other reporters who use discredited climate skeptics in their reporting for the sake of simply presenting an "opposing view" in order to make global warming a "story".

Vieira used a recent op-ed by John Christy, a former member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the Nobel this year with Gore), as a form of opposition research on the matter.

Replied Gore: "...[John Christy is] an outlier. He no longer belongs to the IPCC, and he is way outside the scientific consensus. But, Meredith, part of the challenge the news media has had in covering this story is the old habit of taking the on the one hand, on the other hand approach. There are still people who believe that the Earth is flat, but when you’re reporting on a story like the one you’re covering today, where you have people all around the world, you don’t take — you don’t search out for someone who still believes the Earth is flat and give them equal time."

Think Progress offers a few more examples of media sloppiness on the issue:

"Last month, for example, Colorado State University professor Dr. William Gray sharply criticized Gore, saying that he is 'brainwashing our children' on global warming. His comments were covered by multiple major cable networks and newspapers (with no mention that he also once compared Gore to Hilter). Additionally, Media Matters documented that the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, CNN, and Fox News all recently reported that a British judge pointed out nine 'errors' in Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, without “mentioning that he also stated in the ruling that the film is 'substantially founded upon scientific research and fact.'"

Sphere: Related Content

News: Dinosaur, Mann Coulter, Art Sex, Clay Aiken, Uganda

Canadian soldiers sentenced to jail for anti-gay attack in Amsterdam: "Eric Wright was sentenced to five months in jail and ordered to pay 6,000 euros (8,300 Canadian dollars/8,500 US dollars) in damages and Ryan Dowie was given 45 days in jail, a court spokesman told AFP."

Since she'd like to perfect the Jews, Maxim's editors went ahead and tried to figure out how they would perfect Mann Coulter.

DNA: Genetic study of gay brothers gains steam...

Gay activist group to go door-to-door in South Carolina.

The Guardian reports on the sex exhibit that recently opened in Britain: "...we live in a world that fears erotically charged images. Pornography is loathed even as it is consumed. In Britain, there has been a recent moral panic about one of the artists in this show, Nan Goldin, whose photograph of a naked young girl was removed from an exhibition at Gateshead's Baltic Centre. That is the modern version of anxieties that for centuries drove artists to veil passion in fine ideas. This show includes a copy of Michelangelo's drawing of The Rape of Ganymede, which he gave as a present to a young nobleman he adored, and which portrays Jupiter taking the form of an eagle to carry away a boy he lusted after."

REPORT: Air America talk show host Randi Rhodes assaulted in NYC.

Massive new dinosaur unearthed in Patagonia.

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation apologizes to gay group after party raid: "The written communication came after Ebony Pyramid Entertainment demanded a public, published apology from the Royal Bahamas Police Force and assurances from the Ministry of Tourism that their annual event will not be targeted again to 'intimidate' homosexuals. The group received one of their two demands. The Executive Director said he is still awaiting an apology from the RBPF. The police 'raid' on their October 6 party which was attended by over 200 lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) tourists was nothing more than a poorly disguised attempt to harass, intimidate, and frighten the homosexual community, Xavier said in a release addressed to the MOT."

UC Berkeley student asks, why not marriage for all?

Is Britney Spears dreaming of escape with her new reading material? Or has she just completely wigged out?

Clay Aiken to join Broadway production of Spamalot as Sir Robin. Role was originated by David Hyde Pierce.

Skeptical global warming meteorologist hailed by traditional media once compared Gore to Hitler: "MSNBC called Gray a 'top meteorologist.' McClatchy referred to him as a 'pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts.' The Washington Times coined him one of the 'world’s foremost meteorologists.' But all failed to note that Gray has a long history of climate skepticism and attacks on Gore. In May 2006, a Washington Post magazine article quoted Gray directly comparing Gore to Hitler: 'Gore believed in global warming almost as much as Hitler believed there was something wrong with the Jews.'"

Muslim leader in Uganda wants gays sent to an island until they die.

93-year-old pens gay romance novel: " Mr Soper only decided to write the novel after 'coming out' at the age of 91 - and only told his fellow residents at the The Old Vicarage nursing home, in Moulsford, where he lives, after they asked to read his novel. He said: 'When all the old ladies heard about the book, they asked if they could read it. So I had to tell them I was gay and that it was a gay-themed novel.' Mr Soper, a former academic at Christ Church, Oxford, until 1981, said it had been nice to be honest about his sexuality after so many years."

Sphere: Related Content

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Al Gore and UN Climate Change Panel

As many had predicted, former Vice President Al Gore and the UN Climate Change Panel have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Peace. Gore and the IPCC were chosen from a field of 181 candidates, the Guardian reports.

Said the committee: "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted...Thousands of scientists and officials from over 100 countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control."

According to the BBC, "[the committee] wanted to bring the 'increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states' posed by climate change into sharper focus. [It] highlighted the series of scientific reports issued over the last two decades by the IPCC, which comprises more than 2,000 leading climate change scientists. The reports had "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming."

Said Gore: "I am deeply honoured to receive the Nobel peace prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honour of sharing it with the IPCC - the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis - a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years."

The White House response to the announcement? "Of course we're happy for Vice President Gore and the IPCC for receiving this recognition."

It must make them pleased that something good came out of their stealing the election from him.

Now, of course, the big question that remains is will this significant honor push Gore to make a second run for the nation's top job?

Sphere: Related Content

News: Al Gore, Arctic, Todd Haynes, Wide Stance, J Lo

Maryland House Speaker Michael E. Busch says he believes in civil unions: "I think people should have the same rights as far as probate is concerned, as far as health care is considered, as far as visitation and all those things."

The New York Times looks at Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan film I'm Not There: "Todd Haynes’s Dylan film isn’t about Dylan. That’s what’s going to be so difficult for people to understand. That’s what’s going to make “I’m Not There” so trying for the really diehard Dylanists. That’s what might upset the non-Dylanists, who may find it hard to figure out why he bothered to make it at all. And that’s why it took Haynes so long to get it made. Haynes was trying to make a Dylan film that is, instead, what Dylan is all about, as he sees it, which is changing, transforming, killing off one Dylan and moving to the next, shedding his artistic skin to stay alive. The twist is that to not be about Dylan can also be said to be true to the subject Dylan."

Al Gore frontrunner for Nobel Peace Prize "in a controversial move that could place saving the planet above saving people from war and conflict."

An animated study of the melting of the Arctic ice pack.

Ugly Betty's subversive flamboyance.

Alabama minister dies during autoerotic undertaking. Gary Aldridge "was found hogtied and wearing two complete wet suits, including a face mask, diving gloves and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask." There was also another detail that the Montogomery Advertiser failed to mention in their story on the late pastor.

J Lo is assembling a lovely collection of body tents but still hasn't announced that she's pregnant.

I Love New York 2 contestant "Unsure" is sure of one thing: he enjoys showing his naughty bits off to the gays.

"Wide stance" enters the lexicon.

The Daily Show's Samantha Bee: "It's been months since the Minneapolis High Court found Larry Craig gay. Now that his petition of 'not gay' has been thrown out, it's official: Larry Craig is gay in the eyes of the law."

Gawker heads inside NYC's "Slingback" party.

Lesbian who was thrown out of New York restaurant women's room by bouncer because she looked like a man, files civil rights lawsuit: "He began pounding on the stall door saying someone had complained that there was a man inside the women’s bathroom, that I had to leave the bathroom and the restaurant. Inside the stall door, I could see him. That horrified me, and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I said to him, 'I’m a female, and I’m supposed to be in here.' After I came out of the bathroom stall, I attempted to show him my ID to show him that I was in the right place, and he just refused to look at my identification. His exact words were, 'Your ID is neither here nor there.'"

Sphere: Related Content

News: Al Gore, Facebook, Mike Gravel, Backstreet Boys, Scottsdale

Al Gore wanted by voters, according to new Michigan poll: "The crowded field of presidential hopefuls isn't crowded enough to suit Michigan voters, who prefer two unannounced candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations, a new Detroit News/WXYZ-TV poll shows. Former Tennessee Senator and TV star Fred Thompson would lead the GOP pack and former Vice President Al Gore would top the Democratic slate should they decide to run, according to a statewide survey of 400 likely Republican and 400 likely Democratic primary voters in Michigan conducted last Wednesday through Monday by EPIC/MRA of Lansing."

Janice Dickinson and manslave step out on the town.

Outsports' Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler talk to Salon about their new book, The Outsports Revolution: "We don't try to undermine gay stereotypes. We simply try to be who we are."

Me-Me-Me talks to the Backstreet Boys. Brian: "We could get a gay [member]! We are missing a member. Some of my good friends are gay; it’s not a big deal but unfortunately, we don’t have a gay member. Not to my knowledge anyway. But if someone wanted to come out, I’d love them just the same."

White House upset over Hillary Clinton campaign ad claiming Americans are "invisible" to President Bush: "As to the merits of it, I think it's outrageous. This is a president who, first and foremost, has helped millions of seniors across the country have access to prescription drugs at a much lower cost," Perino said. "As to whether or not our troops are invisible to this president, I think that is absurd and that it is unconscionable that a member of Congress would say such a thing." (watch spot)

Facebook launches "stunning" custom interface for the iPhone.

Hillary Clinton to open for Ellen DeGeneres.

Mike Gravel slams Hillary Clinton over gay rights stance: "By drawing upon the language of states rights, Hillary embraces the tradition of John Calhoun and the defenders of slavery along with Strom Thurmond and the segregationists. Throughout our nation's history, every time national public opinion turns against oppression, opponents of progress use states rights to present themselves as defenders of liberty in the face of federal power. States rights has always been the last refuge of the bigots. Now Hillary has given rhetorical cover to the homophobes. If she wins the Democratic nomination, opponents of gay marriage will cite her statement to justify their opposition to national marriage equality over the next decade."

Following recent gay bashings, Scottsdale, Arizona's mayor Mary Manross is trying to make sure gays know they're welcome there.

The way to Jake Gyllenhaal's heart is clearly through his stomach.

Sphere: Related Content

News: Cornwall Great White Shark, Gordon Brown, Cher, Estonia

Veanka McKenzie, a worker at New York state's Human Rights Division, has filed a lawsuit alleging that the division discriminates against women and blacks in its dress code, offering preferential treatment to gay white men, some of whom are inclined to wear cowboy hats: "Lawyers for McKenzie, 40, argued that the inconsistent policy was a reaction to negative publicity about alleged ageism and race discrimination against whites when Commissioner Kumiki Gibson, who is black, fired two older Caucasian women. Tom Shanahan, a spokesman for the Human Rights Division, said, 'We categorically deny the allegations and we look forward to vigorously defending against them.'"

Becks' pecs: Motorola uses the subtle approach to marketing their new phone.

Does Bush have a new poodle in UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown? "Gordon Brown last night praised George Bush for leading the global war on terror -- saying the world owed America a huge debt. The Prime Minister vowed to take Winston Churchill's lead and make Britain's ties with America even stronger. Mr Brown stunned critics by THANKING President Bush for the fight against Islamic extremism, and insisted the UK-US relationship will be his No1 foreign policy priority."

Mark Carter, a polieman in Great Britain who was crowned Mr. Gay UK last October, has lent his support to a hate crime reporting center. Carter: "It is very important that the public can have a facility to report hate incidents other than at police stations. If minority groups are unlikely to report incidents, then the police cannot do their job correctly."

Debate over Great White Shark spotted off the coast of Cornwall, UK continues: Some experts are skeptical while others insist it's possible: I would not rule out the possibility of this being a Great White — the tail is identical. There are other sharks off the coast of Britain that have similar features. But I would be amazed if there are not Great Whites in the sea off Cornwall. There is a plentiful supply of food and I cannot see why they could not thrive in the conditions."

Al Gore's son enters guilty plea in Prius drug charge: "In case you're not familiar with this case, young Mr. Gore was pulled over for going 100 mph in his Toyota Prius over the July 4th holiday weekend, and subsequently charged with possession of various drugs found in his vehicle."

Cher at work on new album with "very very difficult songs."

Estonian capital of Tallinn receive authorization for gay parade: " Police suggested in mid-July that organizers reroute the march away from the city center, saying six participants in the 500-strong Tallinn Pride parade were seriously injured when attacked by Estonian nationalists last year. Several organizations representing sexual minorities in the ex-Soviet Baltic state of 1.4 million approached the president, prime minister and other senior government and city officials for assistance after the police refusal. The issue was resolved when organizers agreed to hire security guards to ensure the marchers' safety in line with police recommendations."

Sphere: Related Content

News: Mitt Romney, Gordon Brown, Sweden, Big Brother, Morrissey

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown appoints openly gay man, Spencer Livermore, director of political strategy at 10 Downing Street: "The 31-year-old has unrivalled access to the new Prime Minister and will play a key role in shaping the direction of the Brown government. Mr Livermore was ranked seven in this year's Independent Pink List, making him the most powerful gay person in UK politics."

They're not going: Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson are BFFs.

Al Gore takes lead over other Democratic candidates in hypothetical New Hampshire poll.

Sweden may soon adopt "gender neutral" marriage legislation, allowing same-sex couples to not only marry legally but to do so within a major church. Pastor Arne Wikstroem of the Oscars parish: "If today we are blessing homosexuals, I see no reason not to celebrate gay marriages. I think all people are equal before God. And no man is unholy or unblessed. We are all equal and all need God's blessings in our lives. If God has created people as homosexuals, we must accept them and we must bless them."

Still ill: Morrissey down with throat infection, cancels tour dates.

Britney Spears was expected to join the True Colors tour at its stop in Los Angeles but canceled when she found out a small but important detail — she would actually have to sing.

On 1983, vacation, Mitt Romney scared the shit out of his dog...literally: "The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest."

20-year-old receives a designer kiss.

Andre Jackson the East Side High School student at the center of the gay yearbook kiss controversy, graduates.

Elton John planning massive Las Vegas charity bash...in England: "Elton is hoping that his friends will enjoy tonight and remember it as their best invite of the year. He wants it to be an enjoyable night for all of his closest friends, so he thought came up with the idea of Las Vegas. He has invested in getting roulette wheels, croupiers, slot machines and generally re-enacting the atmosphere of Las Vegas, and he has got his entire celebrity guest list waiting to turn up."

Bangkok nightclub faces boycott after refusing entry to a transvestite. Management: "What happened on Saturday night was regrettable but was most definitely not part of the CM2 nightclub entry policy, nor was it supported by its management."

CBS announces Big Brother 8 cast, reveals photos of new house.

Sphere: Related Content