LOTTOMIKE's Blog

   

Tattoos Firmly Mainstream, Survey Says


WASHINGTON (June 10) - A sun shines on Dan Yu's back, alongside a swimming koi fish. A tree soon may grow on his arm.

"Your body's an empty canvas, so you almost want to continue to add to it," said Yu, 28, as he showed off his tattoos.

   

According to a survey about 36 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 have at least one tattoo.


   

A generation or two ago, Yu's tattoos - to say nothing of his pierced nose - probably would have placed him in a select company of soldiers, sailors, bikers and carnival workers. But no longer: The American University employee is among about 36 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 with at least one tattoo, according to a survey.

The study, scheduled to appear Monday on the Web site of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, provides perhaps the most in-depth look at tattoos since their popularity exploded in the early 1990s.

The results suggest that 24 percent of Americans between 18 and 50 are tattooed; that's almost one in four. Two surveys from 2003 suggested just 15 percent to 16 percent of U.S. adults had a tattoo.

"Really, nowadays, the people who don't have them are becoming the unique ones," said Chris Keaton, a tattoo artist and president of the Baltimore Tattoo Museum.

But body art is more than just tattoos.

About one in seven people surveyed reported having a piercing anywhere other than in the soft lobe of the ear, according to the study. That total rises to nearly one in three for the 18-to-29 set. Just about half - 48 percent - in that age category had either a tattoo or piercing.

Given their youth, that suggests the percentage of people with body art will continue to grow, said study co-author Dr. Anne Laumann, a Northwestern University dermatologist.

"They haven't had time to get their body piercing. They haven't had time to get their tattoo. They are just beginning to get into it and the number is already big," Laumann said.

So why has body art become so popular?

Laumann and others believe it allows people to broadcast to the world what they are all about. Others call it sign of rebellion or a rite of passage. The survey found nearly three-fourths of the pierced and nearly two-thirds of the tattooed made the leap before 24.

"It's a very easy way to express something that you think represents part of your identity - that you don't have to tell someone but you can just have seen," said Chelsea Farrell, 21, an American University senior from Albany, N.Y. Farrell has a tattooed fish on each hip and a Celtic knot on the small of her back.

The survey also found that what your mother may have told you about who has tattoos is true: People who drink, do drugs, have been jailed or forgo religion are more likely to be tattooed.

   
   
The same holds for piercings, though rates do not appear to vary with education, income or job category. In that sense, they appear to be "different animals," said Laumann, who has traditionally pierced ears but no tattoos.

One obvious difference is that piercings can be easily removed, unlike tattoos.

"I guess I liked the way they looked and the rush of getting them pierced, as well as them not being permanent. I can take them out and the holes will close up," said Simah Waddell, 21, of Rochester, N.Y., of her pierced nose, tongue, belly button and ears.

Waddell, who is entering her senior year at American University, said she suffered no side effects, other than the anger of her parents. The survey suggests that is not always the case for others with piercing. Nearly one in four reported medical problems, including skin infections. Among those with mouth or tongue piercings, an equal proportion reported chipped or broken teeth.

For tattoos, 13 percent of respondents had problems with healing. Generally, the Food and Drug Administration receives few reports of complications from tattoos.

The industry is regulated by state and local officials, but not the FDA, and there is no such thing as an agency-approved tattoo pigment or ink. The FDA is considering more involvement, said Dr. Linda Katz, director of agency's Office of Cosmetics and Colors.

"If you look at the fact that a quarter of adults have a tattoo, it's amazing how safe the industry is," said Dr. R. Rox Anderson, a Harvard Medical School dermatologist and tattoo removal expert. None of the survey respondents had ever had a tattoo removed, though 17 percent had considered it.

Freedom-2 LLC, a Philadelphia company co-founded by Anderson, hopes to launch the first of two lines of not-so-permanent tattoo inks next year, though without FDA approval.

To create the ink, pigments would be encapsulated in a polymer and the microcapsules injected into the skin. A tattoo would be permanent only as long as its wearer wanted it to be.

It would only take a few pulses of a laser to break open the capsules and release the ink into the body to be safely absorbed, said Martin Schmieg, the company's president and chief executive officer.

A second ink, to be available in 2008, would rely on the same technology, except the capsules would dissolve on their own. Depending on the version, the tattoos would naturally vanish after six months, 12 months or 24 months.

"It will be like wearing a tattoo like it's jewelry, where you will be able to take it off. It will just fade on its own," Schmieg said.

The telephone survey on tattoos included 253 women and 247 men and was conducted in 2004. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

look for the 5984 to hit in tennessee soon.......

Elderly Women Scammed Men, Police Say

LOS ANGELES (June 9) - Police are investigating the traffic death of a third man linked to a pair of elderly women accused of taking out insurance policies on two transients who later died in hit-and-run crashes.

   

Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt, both in their mid-70s, are accused of scamming homeless men for life insurance money.

   
   

The latest suspicions arose when investigators found that Helen Golay, 75, and her daughter moved a 97-year-old man from Massachusetts into a Santa Monica apartment. They acquired his home for $1, borrowed money off of it and then sold the home for $200,000, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The man, Fred Downie, was later struck and killed by a driver in what police still believe was an accident, Lt. Paul Vernon, a Police Department spokesman, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Vernon said police do not think the driver who hit Downie in 2000 had any connection to Golay or Olga Rutterschmidt, 73. But he said the relationship with Downie mirrored others that led to the scams with which the women have been charged.

Authorities say Golay and Rutterschmidt befriended vulnerable men, persuaded them to sign them on to their life insurance policies and then collected some $2.3 million after they were killed. Police are investigating whether the women also played a role in their deaths. Paul Vados died in 1999, and Kenneth McDavid was killed last year.

   


   
Golay and Rutterschmidt pleaded not guilty to federal mail fraud and related charges on Monday. They have not been charged in any of the deaths.

Golay's lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond, dismissed the latest suspicions as nonsense.

"Life is filled with coincidences," Diamond said. "It is a titillating issue for some lawyers. But it is not a criminal case, there was no wrongdoing, she's not a suspect. She fully cooperated. That should be the end of the matter."

Vernon said police are continuing to investigate connections between the two women and close to a dozen other men - a number that has doubled in the past week.

Bin Laden Keeps Low Profile, Remains Elusive


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (June 9) - Tracking down Osama bin Laden has proven tougher than getting to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi because the top al-Qaida leader keeps a lower profile, surrounds himself with far more faithful followers and has more places to hide, intelligence experts say.

   



   

The mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks avoids using satellite phones and the Internet. He is believed to be holed up along Pakistan's border with Afghan in rugged, remote terrain, protected by loyal tribesmen.

Al-Zarqawi was killed Wednesday just 30 miles from the Iraqi capital. In late April, he was featured in a videotape firing a machine gun in the desert and talking to insurgents.

"Osama bin Laden is a far more difficult leader of al-Qaida to be caught as compared to al-Zarqawi," said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistan army general. "Firstly, bin Laden is not involved in day-to-day operations and we believe that he enjoys the support of much more loyal people."

Al-Zarqawi had a $25 million bounty on his head -- the same amount offered by the United States for information leading to bin Laden.

Henry Crumpton, the U.S. ambassador in charge of counterterrorism, last month called parts of Pakistan's border region a "safe haven" for militants. He said bin Laden was more likely to be hiding there than in Afghanistan.

According to a senior Pakistani security official, bin Laden avoids using the Internet or satellite phones.

Bin Laden "has seen the fate of those who used satellite phones. He has seen that many such people were arrested by us, and they included some close associates of the al-Qaida chief," the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job.

The official said Pakistani forces, in cooperation with U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, were working to get closer to bin Laden, but "so far we don't have any clue on his whereabouts."

   


   
The Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Gen. Zahir Azimi, said he hopes al-Zarqawi's death will invigorate the hunt for bin Laden. "The hunt for Osama continues," he said.

A written statement purportedly from supreme Taliban leader Mullah Omar on Friday mourned al-Zarqawi and vowed to keep fighting in Afghanistan.

Omar was "deeply sad over the martyrdom of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi" but his death would not weaken the resistance in Iraq, "as it is the people's resistance and every youth can become al-Zarqawi," the Pashto-language statement said.

"I want to assure the Muslims across the world that we will not stop our struggle

More than 20,000 U.S.-led coalition soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan pursuing Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. Pakistan has 80,000 soldiers in its Waziristan tribal region, the area regarded as the most likely hiding place for bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The two leaders are now fairly disconnected from al-Qaida's activities, said a senior Western diplomat in Islamabad, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because of the sensitive topic.

"They've been able to escape detection as they aren't communicating and aren't effectively involved in al-Qaida operations. It makes it very hard to run them down, but moves them significantly from an operational role to a symbolic one," he said.

"It doesn't make any sense to talk of getting closer to them. One day they will be killed or captured, and it will happen like that," the diplomat said, snapping his fingers.

A written statement purportedly from supreme Taliban leader Mullah Omar on Friday mourned the death of the al-Zarqawi and vowed to keep fighting in Afghanistan.

Omar was "deeply sad over the martyrdom of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi" but his death would not weaken the resistance in Iraq, "as it is the people's resistance and every youth can become al-Zarqawi," the Pashto-language statement said.

"I want to assure the Muslims across the world that we will not stop our struggle"

just got through watching boogie nights.i've always been a sucker for three hour movies.some of the best movies are very long and enjoyable.how can you go wrong with sex,drugs and disco,lol.i know this movie come out in the late nineties but it does represent that era very well.burt reynolds did a superb job.shows what drugs will do to you over a long period of time also.i love the soundtrack to this.dirk had a killer corvette only to run it out of gas when it counted most.the ending shows everyone bouncing back and hitting their stride.i didn't care too much for the last scene of the movie........

Breeder Beaten With Dead Dog, Police Say
Woman Angry Over Death of Chihuahua

ST. PETERS, Mo. (June 8) - A woman angry that her new puppy had died pushed her way into a dog breeder's home and repeatedly hit her on the head with the dead Chihuahua, authorities said.


The 33-year-old woman told police she had taken the puppy to a veterinarian, who said it was only 4 weeks old and needed to be returned to its mother. But before she could return the puppy, it died.


Early Wednesday, the woman went to the breeder's home, pushed her way inside and began fighting with the breeder as she tried to make her way to the basement to get another puppy, police said.


The breeder wrestled the woman out of her house to the front porch, where the woman then hit the breeder over the head numerous times with the dead puppy, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, citing police.


As she pulled away, the woman waved the dead puppy out of the car's sunroof and yelled threats at the breeder, police said. She later called the breeder and threatened her and her family, according to court records.


Police said they are considering felony burglary charges against woman and misdemeanor assault charges.

could the 6666 be coming soon.i think so.........

maybe i was just to busy to notice before but after being told that betslips was offering canada too on its site i am starting to take an interest in them.they are ball drawn which is a huge plus.i want to play them so i might start looking at some past draws here soon.

Former MVP McNair Is Dealt to Ravens
QB Played 11 Seasons With Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 7) - The Tennessee Titans ended their stalemate with quarterback Steve McNair on Wednesday and traded the former MVP to the Baltimore Ravens pending a physical.


Will McNair Succeed?


"We have granted permission to Baltimore to give Steve McNair a physical, which we expect to take place in the next 24 hours," the team said in a statement.


"Upon passing a physical, final trade terms will be agreed upon."


The Ravens, who reportedly have offered a fourth-round pick in next spring's draft, confirmed that McNair will take a physical Wednesday, but the team said the results were not expected to be available until Thursday morning.


McNair, who turned 33 in February, was the winningest quarterback in franchise history. In 11 seasons, he went 81-59 and led them to their only Super Bowl in 2000. He and Peyton Manning shared the league's MVP award in 2003.


McNair won a grievance last week that allowed him to return to the team's headquarters and work out after being told he couldn't on April 3. The Titans had been trying to renegotiate a cheaper salary for McNair to lower a $23.46 million salary cap hit.


But the Titans had given McNair's agent, Bus Cook, permission to talk with Baltimore on April 30 about a contract, and Cook worked out a five-year deal with an $11 million signing bonus and $1 million salary for 2006.


That was much more than McNair could get from the Titans, who had drafted quarterback Vince Young of Texas with the third overall pick in April.



Assuming he passes the physical, McNair is expected to be Baltimore's starting quarterback. Kyle Boller, the incumbent, conceded on Tuesday that was likely to be the case.


"If Steve gets here, or when he gets here, we'll handle it then. But as far as now, I'm just out here competing and trying to get this offense where it needs to be," Boller said. "I'm going about my business right now like I'm the starter. That's the only way I can think of it."


McNair is one of only four players in NFL history with 150 touchdowns passing and 35 rushing, trailing only Steve Young, Randall Cunningham and Steve Grogan. He is one of five with 25,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing, a group that includes John Elway, Fran Tarkenton, Young and Randall Cunningham.


During his MVP season, McNair had a 100.4 passer rating and led the Titans to a wild-card playoff victory over the Ravens in Baltimore and came up short on a late drive in a divisional loss at New England.


McNair played in 14 games in 2005 and threw for 3,161 yards and 16 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He missed the regular season finale because of a strained pectoral muscle, but recovered to play in the Pro Bowl in February.


Mcnair is washed up.i'm glad the titans got rid of him.just like eddie george he was once great but a shell of his former self.

·



Town of Hell, Michigan, Heats Up for 6-6-6 Party

HELL, Mich. (June 6) - They're planning a hot time in Hell on Tuesday. The day bears the date of 6-6-06, or abbreviated as 666 - a number that carries hellish significance. And there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that the day will go unnoticed in the unincorporated hamlet 60 miles west of Detroit.

   
The Fascination With 666
   
   


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BetUS.com sets the odds of the apocalypse happening on Tuesday at 100,000-to-1. A maximum $500 wager that the world survives could win you half a penny.


Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town's self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop.

"I've got `666' T-shirts and mugs. I'm only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they're gone, that's it," said Colone, also known as Odum Plenty. "Everyone who comes will get a letter of authenticity saying you've celebrated June 6, 2006, in Hell."

Most of Colone's wares will sell for $6.66, including deeds to one square inch of Hell.

Live entertainment and a costume contest are planned. The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children's play area in time for the festivities.

"They're 8 feet tall and 5 foot wide and each gate looks like flames, and when they're closed, it's a devil's head," Colone told The Detroit News for a Saturday story.

Mike "Smitty" Hickey, owner of the Dam Site Inn, wasn't sure what kind of clientele would show up Tuesday.

"We're all about having fun here. I don't think we're going to get the cult crowd, the devil worshippers or anything like that," said Hickey, whose bar's signature concoction is the Bloody Devil, a variant of the Bloody Mary.

Colone, meanwhile, has been in touch with radio stations as far away as San Diego and Seattle that are raffling off trips to Hell in honor of 6-6-6.

   
   
The 666 revelry is just the latest chapter in the town's storied history of publicity stunts, said Jason LeTeff, one of its 72 year-round residents - or, as the mayor calls them, Hellions or Hell-billies. But LeTeff wasn't particularly enthused.

"Now, here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things and the town where we live is having a 6-6-6 party," he said.

According to the town's semiofficial Web site, there are two leading theories about how Hell got its name.

The first holds that a pair of German travelers stepped out of a stagecoach one sunny afternoon in the 1830s, and one said to the other, "So schoene hell" - roughly translated as, "So bright and beautiful." Their comments were overheard by some locals and the name stuck.

The second holds that George Reeves was asked after Michigan gained statehood what he thought the town he helped settle should be called, and reportedly replied, "I don't care, you can name it Hell if you want to." The name became official on Oct. 13, 1841.


06-06-06 Civilian Death Claims

   


A Calendar Date to End All Others Nears


WASHINGTON (June 5) - Is Tuesday's date - 6-6-6 - merely a curious number or could it mean our number is up?

There's a devilishly odd nexus of theology, mathematics and commercialism on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year. OK, it's just the sixth year of this millennium, but insisting on calling it 2006 takes the devil-may-care fun out of calendar-gazing.

   
The Fascination With 666
   
   




BetUS.com sets the odds of the apocalypse happening on Tuesday at 100,000-to-1. A maximum $500 wager that the world survives could win you half a penny.


Something about the number 666 brings out the worry, the hope and even the humor in people, said the Rev. Felix Just, a professor of theology at the University of San Francisco. A Jesuit priest, Just has taught both apocalyptic theory and mathematics and maintains a "666-Numbers of the Beast" Web site that contains history, theology, math and precisely 66 one-line jokes about 666.

You can even make sport of it, betting online whether the apocalypse will happen on that date. The good news is that one online oddsmaker has made the world a 100,000-to-1 favorite to survive Tuesday - something that Just said is supported by theology.

"Many people avoid the number; they're afraid of it almost and there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of it," Just said. "It is not a prediction of future events. It is not supposed to be taken as a timetable for when the world is going to end."

It all started with Revelation 13:18 in the Bible: "This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six."

The beast is also known as the Antichrist, according to some apocalyptic theories.

Many scholars, such as Just, say the beast is really a coded reference - using Hebrew letters for numbers - for the despotic Roman emperor Nero and 616 appears instead of 666 in some ancient manuscripts. The Book of Revelation isn't prophesying a specific end of times but "is about the overall cosmic struggle of good versus evil," Just said.

But for some more apocalyptic theologians, the end of times is coming, even if not specifically on Tuesday. The evangelical Raptureready.com Web site puts its "rapture index" at 156, calling that "fasten your seatbelts" time.

   


   
It's not the date June 6 that's worrisome, but the signs in our society of the approach of the 666 antichrist, said the Rev. Tim LaHaye, founder of a self-named ministry and co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic novels. And even though LaHaye said Tuesday isn't the date of the apocalypse, his Left Behind Web site promotes his new book "The Rapture" with an ominous "06.06.06 Will You Be Ready."

"I don't think that people understand that 666 is not a good time," LaHaye said. He said he sees signs of an upcoming "tribulation period" that leads to the Antichrist's arrival in a movement toward one-world government, a single economic system and single religion.

Apocalyptic culture and theology, especially those surrounding 666, "is especially appealing for people in an underdog situation," said Just (pronounced Yoost).

So people have looked for - and found - 666 in all sorts of places. Believers in the number's power have used biblical letter-numeric code to convert the names of countless political leaders, including many popes, to come out 666, marking them as that generation's Antichrist. That includes Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

It's a number that the Reagans didn't want as an address when they moved out of the White House in 1989 to the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel-Air. So they changed their address from 666 St. Cloud Road to 668. In 1980, a TV host and others rigged the number 666 to come up in a Pennsylvania lottery drawing. It's a number that is part of every UPC barcode on groceries (a coincidence according to the code's inventor). With biblical coding, 666 also is the number for the WWW of the World Wide Web.

The math of 666 is also open to biblical interpretation and manipulation. Just points out that 666 is the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel. Other oddities include variations on pi and products of prime number multiplication.

There's also something special about the number 6, which in the Bible stands for man, said Brian C. Jones, a religion professor at Wartburg College in Iowa.

"People need to lighten up about this," Jones said, adding that it's hard to take a Tuesday seriously as a day of reckoning. "Monday, we always hate Mondays. Wednesday is hump day. Friday sometimes has the 13th attached to it. But Tuesdays and Thursdays, they don't ring for me as days when bad things happen or good things happen. They're filler days."

But it's a day to cash in on the number associated with the apocalypse. Tuesday will mark the debut for a remake of the classic 1970s horror film "The Omen," the publication of LaHaye's new "Left Behind" book, and an Ann Coulter polemic called "Godless: The Church of Liberalism."

And for truly cashing in, there's the nonsectarian online sports book, BetUS.com, which gives Earth a better than sporting chance. At 100,000-to-1 odds, if you bet the maximum $500 that the world will survive and it does, you win half a penny. If you bet $100 that the apocalypse happens and it does, you can earn a cool $10 million, but you might have a devil of a time collecting it. People are betting both ways, company spokesman Mike Foreman said.

Commercialism based on numbers and fear bothers American University astronomer Richard Berendzen.

"What it really does is use some coincidence of some numbers for commercial gain," he said. "It's superstition and money when it comes down to it. And that's about as satanic as you can get."

Still scared about the date 666? Jack Horkheimer of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium has a piece of advice: "If it really spooks you, you can stand on your head and it'll be 999."

look for 8758 to hit in virginia or georgia soon.....

look for 4556 to arrive in tennessee soon.......

i'm fixing to do a study on pick 4 for all states.computerized and ball drawn.the one state i think that is computerized that flows like a regular ball state is oregon.there are some ball drawn states that are hard and some that aren't.feel free to contribute anything you find.....

Gore Says He Has 'No Plans' for 2008 Run
'I Don't Expect to Ever Be a Candidate for President Again'

Al Gore, speaking at a fund-raiser in April, has devoted his time and energy to promoting environmental causes.


   
(June 4) - In an exclusive appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," former Vice President Al Gore said he's content to stay out of the political arena, preferring to fight against global warming rather than run for the White House.

"I have no plans to be a candidate for president again," Gore said. "I don't expect to ever be a candidate for president again. I haven't made a so-called Sherman statement, because it just seems unnecessary."

Then he joked, "I'm 58 years old; that's the new 57 now."

So far, the long-time politician -- whose crusade to educate Americans on the effects of global warming is the subject of the documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," released worldwide this weekend -- is content to spread his message at the theater and not on the campaign trail.

"I can't imagine any circumstances in which case I would become a candidate again," he said. "I've found other ways to serve [and] I'm enjoying them."

Stephanopoulos, ABC News' chief Washington correspondent, pressed Gore as to whether or not the former vice president might feel a "duty" to run if Democrats appeared poised to lose the White House for the third consecutive election.

Gore thanked Democrats who have been making the case for his candidacy in 2008 but insisted his focus would remain on global warming.

"I don't feel that I have to apologize for focusing my energies on trying to create a sufficient awareness and sense of urgency on the single biggest challenge that humankind has ever faced," he said.

   
   

A longtime environmentalist, Gore wrote "Earth in the Balance," a bestseller about the perils of global warming and the importance of environmental issues, shortly before joining then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in a successful run for the White House in 1992. And this summer, "An Inconvenient Truth" competes against the likes of "The Da Vinci Code" and "X-Men 3" in an attempt to spread his global warming warning.

Gore's film debut came after producer Laurie David, wife of comedian Larry David, saw the global warming lecture he has been presenting and refining for the past 20 years. David teamed an at-first-reluctant Gore with documentarian Davis Guggenheim, who turned the former vice president's slides and charts into a Cannes Film Festival entry.

"This has to do with the future of the human race, literally," Gore told ABC News. "Because if we really should cross this point of no return that the scientists are warning us about, the world wouldn't end tomorrow. The world wouldn't end in a century, but it would mean that the process of degradation would then be irretrievable."

In their one-on-one at the Gore family farm in Carthage, Tenn., Stephanopoulos asked, "Here's what I've heard. Tell me what's right and tell me what's wrong. One group says, if Sen. Clinton runs, you're not going to be able to help yourself, you're going to have to get into the race. The other is, you'll only get in if there's a vacuum, if she chooses not to run. Any truth to any of that?"

Gore replied, "No, no," adding, "There's a lot about the political process I really don't like. It's a toxic process. There are things I miss -- having the ability to influence events from the White House, of course. It's unparalleled, as I've said. But, you know, there's a lot about politics I don't think I'm particularly good at. And I also think that the urgency of creating a political environment where whoever runs for president in either party will be forced to respond to this [global warming] crisis is the most important thing that I can possibly do."

On the subject of Iraq, Gore, who opposed the invasion, said of the allegations of Marine misconduct and possible war crimes in Haditha, Iraq, "I don't have enough evidence to see how they've handled that particular set of charges. I don't think that we have enough information now to know how they have handled it. I think that the situation in Iraq itself has contributed to the impossible situation our soldiers so frequently have found themselves in, and so that's a part of it."

The former Democratic contender criticized his former foe's handling of the war.

"The environment has been set where truth is a career decision for this administration," Gore said. "When Gen. Shinseki told the truth about what was needed [in troop levels] before the war in preparing for it, he was cashiered prematurely. And so, the environment is partly involved. But where these specific allegations are concerned, I think that we need to let the process work. And I think the process of military justice can. And I hope we'll deal with this appropriately."

Gore, however, disagreed with Sen. John Kerry's, D-Mass., call to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

"I would pursue the twin objectives of trying to withdraw our forces as quickly as we possibly can, while at the same time minimizing the risk that we'll make the mess over there even worse and raise even higher the danger of civil war," Gore said.

Dismissing calls for any deadline, Gore added, "It's possible that setting a deadline could set in motion forces that would make it even worse. I think that we should analyze that very carefully. My guess is that a deadline is probably not the right approach; but again, you have to weigh that question in the context of how the political decisions are made between the Congress and the executive branch. Sometimes the Congress itself has blunt instruments and limited options to play a role in matters like this."

Regarding another hot political topic, the NSA wiretap surveillance program, Gore inched back from his previous statements that indicated he thought the issue was an impeachable offense.

"That's for Congress to decide," Gore told Stephanopoulos. "From what we know about it, it's hard not to conclude that it's a violation of the law."

When asked by Stephanopoulos how America would be most different had Gore become president, the former politician said, "It's hard to look in a crystal ball and see what would have happened."

He quickly turned the subject back to his pet cause.

"Let's just take the question of global warming," Gore said. "I would have urged the Congress and done my best to lead the country to take on this climate crisis, become independent of carbon-based fossil fuels as quickly as we can, to shift towards conservation, efficiency and renewable energy.

"I'm under no illusions that there is any position in the world with as much influence as that of president of the United States," Gore added. "But I ran for president twice, and I was in politics for a quarter century, and I honestly believe that the highest and best use of my skills and experience is to try to change the minds of people in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world about this planetary emergency that we simply have to confront."

The former vice president concluded, "I hope to get the message about the climate crisis to more people in a shorter period of time. I've been trying to tell this story for 30 years, and the debate in the science community is over. And my single objective is to try to move our country, and to the extent I can play a role in it people elsewhere, past a tipping point beyond which the politicians in both parties will feel compelled to start competing by offering genuinely meaningful solutions to the crisis."

Five percent of the film's overall proceeds will go to battling global warming and 100 percent of the Gore's take will do so, as well.

"This is not a political issue. It is a moral issue," Gore told ABC News.

But, the one-time Democratic nominee couldn't resist a subtle political shot.

"I don't exclude the possibility that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney will be forced to change their minds about global warming during these next two years," he said. "Reality has a way of intruding on illusion, and they've tried to create their own reality where global warming is concerned, and a few other things as well. And over time, that tends to collide with the real world."