Lifestyles of the Rich and Sanctimonious

One of the annoying attributes of global-warming scolds is their inability to practice what they preach. The US Chamber of Commerce produced a very amusing video last month explaining how much in carbon emissions the UN generated by insisting on conducting endless conferences on the issue. Today, the Los Angeles Times takes a look at the travel practices of Arnold Schwarzenegger, another booster of energy-production limits, and notices the stench of hypocrisy:

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Like many of the Californians he represents, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now spends more than three hours commuting because he lives so far from the office.

But his ride is a private jet.

After flirting briefly with buying a Sacramento abode for his family, then living alone for a while in a 2,000-square-foot hotel penthouse across from the Capitol, the governor has decided to stay nearly every night at his Brentwood mansion.

The commute costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, which aides say the governor pays for himself. Some environmentalists say the trips expand his carbon footprint enough to undermine his image as a crusader against global warming, despite the pollution credits he buys to offset the damage.

Arnold has his reasons, of course. He has teen-age kids at home and he wants to be with them. That’s not possible in Sacramento, because … well, who wants to live in Sacramento, for Pete’s sake? Even though the state has a 12,000-square-foot mansion built by Ronald Reagan for California’s First Families, Arnold’s Brentwood digs are tonier and closer to the Hollywood power base he courts.The Governator chooses to fly home every night instead, commuting between Northern and Southern California. That’s his choice; he’s footing the bill for the travel. However, instead of catching regularly-scheduled commercial flights between the capital and Los Angeles, he’s traveling by private jet — a huge waste of resources and a large release of the very gases that global-warming activists such as Schwarzenegger claim are dooming the planet.

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When global-warming Chicken Littles start living as though the crisis actually exists, then the rest of us will start believing it. Arnold could start by dumping the private jet and flying commercial. Even better, he could show a little sacrifice by moving into that 12,000-square-foot shack that the state has to maintain whether he’s there or not. Global warming activists want to limit our own living choices — they can start with their own.

We may have to dump the term limousine liberals. That came into vogue by describing the type of Hollywood political activist that demanded sacrifice from everyone but themselves. Given the escalation of the hypocrisy here, a better term might be private-jet progressives.

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