To begin with, I don't hail from Cuba. I was born and raised here, and both my parents were born and raised here. My grandparents all spent most of their adult lives here.

I do not believe wealth is inherently criminal and I have never said that.
And to accuse me of saying that is to deliberately distort my message in order to avoid having to deal with it.

The flaunting of wealth may be in bad taste, but it is not a a crime either. Even when environmentalists do it. Gore and Travolta's lifestyles are hypocritical only because they choose to live like those they criticize. And I can agree fully with that, but it's not what I'm talking about and it doesn't make what they have to say illegitimate any more than the deliberate waste encouraged by their opponents is a civic virtue. Travolta is a Scientologist too, and I don't agree with that either. I'm surprised you didn't bring that up to further condemn his alleged environmental policies.

And neither is it necessary to live the life of an ascetic to counsel that as a society we should not deliberately encourage waste and ostentation as a matter of national policy, any more than it is necessary to be a battlefield hero to counsel a strong national defense. Not that it would make any difference, Ralph Nader flies coach and wears an old rumpled suit and it gets him nothing but contempt and ridicule from the gang in first class.

We can have our cake and eat it too if we exercise some restraint, but we can't all gorge ourselves indefinitely without all of us going hungry eventually, and if some of those who speak that message are guilty of hypocrisy it still does not invalidate the message. It just gives those who wish to discredit them an opportunity to ignore and dismiss everything they have to say. And of course, you deliberately ignore the most telling line of my post...

"Just because I think we're unnecessarily promoting oil consumption for private profit does not mean I have to take the bus to work for my opinions to be legitimate."

And I cetainly don't expect anyone to walk while I'm in my Sentra in traffic. But don't expect me to fight for your right to your SUV without some resistance.

Listen to what we have to say and try to learn why we feel so passionate about it, instead of picking through it looking for little inconsistencies you can use to subvert and deny and ridicule it. The environmental movement is not about falling back to a nineteenth century existence, it's about trying to maintain a sustainable lifestyle indefinitely. That is not an unreasonable or unpatriotic goal. Neither is it an impossible one.