So says a recent ad released by his Senate campaign.

Markey explains that before him, the Internet was nothing.

“It’s hard to believe but twenty years ago almost no one had broadband,” says Markey. “Facebook, Skype, Google … the stuff of science fiction.”

But then Ed Markey came around and opened the door for the Internet to flourish by fighting the telecom monopolies.

Markey follows in the footsteps of Al Gore, who falsely claimed to have invented the Internet. Gore was at least inducted to the Internet Hall of Fame. Markey has yet to be nominated.

The ad also features a glowing testimonial from a former staffer of Markey’s, who also contributed to his current campaign.

Markey is running against Republican Gabriel Gomez in the special election next month for the Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Gore told the crowd that “American democracy has been hacked” by special interests, and later emphasized his opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Globe and Mail reports:

In a public interview with The Globe and Mail’s editor-in-chief, John Stackhouse, Mr. Gore also spoke of his wish that U.S. president Barack Obama would cancel the Keystone XL pipeline intended to transport heavy crude from the Alberta oil sands to U.S. refineries. In part because oil-sands crude requires more energy to extract than conventional sources, and so produces more greenhouse gases per barrel, he suggested that the full social and environmental cost of developing the oil sands made it a more expensive proposition than a faster move by the U.S. to renewable sources.

When Mr. Stackhouse asked whether Alberta oil was more ethical because it came from a democratic nation with a commitment to human rights, Mr. Gore rejected the term.

“There’s no such thing as ethical oil,” he said. “There’s only dirty oil and dirtier oil.” The remark triggered applause from a nearly full house at the Globe-sponsored event at a Ryerson University auditorium.

Gore pocketed an estimated $70 million after debt on the January sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera, which is backed by the oil-rich Qatari monarchy. He reportedly pushed for the sale to be completed before Jan. 1, 2013, to avoid an increased tax burden. Since his defeat in 2000, Gore has acquired an estimated $200 million, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court by John Terenzio, who presents himself as a highly regarded media consultant, executive and TV producer who conceived the idea for the distribution of an American version of Al Jazeera.

Now, Terenzio claims that he has been cut out of the lucrative deal.

Terenzio, who says in the suit he created China Central Television and reprogrammed it for American audiences, alleges that in late 2011, he presented a proposal for Al Jazeera titled “Path to U.S. Distribution” by Richard Nanula, a principal in Colony Capital. The purpose of the presentation was to explore potential financing and joint venture partners for the project.

Terenzio says that in June, he identified Current TV as a potential acquisition target for Al Jazeera given its vast distribution network and well-publicized financial woes.

Terenzio maintains that he approached Current TV’s Richard Blum with a pitch on how to sell the network to American audiences and how to convince Gore to go along with the plan.

Although the former vice-president was adamantly against the sale to the “oil-rich Quataris who owned Al Jazeera,” he had a change of heart on the deal.

According to Terenzio, Current TV was sold to Al Jazeera for a reported $500 million without his knowledge and was motivated by the presentation he had made to the network.

Terenzio is “suing for breach of implied agreement, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit (“what one has earned”). He’s seeking $5 million for each cause of action.”

Gore, whose post-vice presidential work has focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is set to pocket $100 million from the deal.

The full lawsuit can be found here.

Gore defended the move despite his rhetoric in the past against news programming sponsored by oil, gas and coal companies, and what he views as the global threat of fossil fuels. He told Stewart that Al Jazeera has an excellent reputation for its climate change coverage, and that his independent network could not continue competing without “deep pockets.”

“In any decision, Jon, you have pros and cons,” Gore said.

“You had an opportunity to make a statement probably about your principles and some people would feel, and for me as well, I thought it was an odd move, not because of some of the other things, but because it’s backed by fossil fuel money,” Stewart said.

“I get it,” Gore replied. “But it was an easy choice after doing the diligence on the network itself.”

Gore made a reported $100 million on the deal.

LAUER: Yet even as you sold to Al Jazeera, you in the book blast other television news programs, saying this: “Virtually every news and political commentary program on television is sponsored in part by oil, coal, and gas companies–not just during campaign seasons, but all the time, year in and year out–with messages designed to soothe and reassure the audience that everything is fine, the global environment is not threatened.” And the critics jumped, and they said, here’s the guy who just sold to Al Jazeera, which gets an undetermined amount of funding from the country of Qatar, which gets its money from oil reserves. Isn’t there a contradiction in that?

GORE: I certainly understand that criticism. I disagree with it. I think Al Jazeera has, obviously, long since established itself as a really distinguished and effective news gathering organization. And by the way, its climate coverage has been far more extensive and high-quality than any of the networks here–

LAUER: But if they get funding from a country that bases its wealth on fossil fuels, and fossil fuels are the enemy you target in climate change, isn’t there a bit of hypocrisy in that?

GORE: Well, I get the criticism. I just disagree with it, because this network has established itself. It’s objective, it’s won major awards in countries around the world and its climate coverage, as I said a moment ago, has been outstanding and extensive.”

Gore pocketed an estimated $100 million on the sale, which was completed earlier this month. Reports indicate Gore had pushed for the sale to be completed before Jan. 1, 2013, in a bid to avoid higher taxes on the transaction.

Gore tried, but failed, to push through the $500 million sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera by Dec. 31 to avoid paying the higher tax rates that came with the fiscal cliff deal.

Unlike Gore, however, Goldman Sachs succeeded in evading the tax hike by awarding $64.8 million to its top executives one month ahead of time.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

As 2012 wound down, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. awarded 10 of its top executives a combined 508,104 shares one month earlier than normal and ahead of higher tax rates that kick in this year.

At Monday’s $127.56 closing price, the shares were valued at $64.8 million.

The grants are related to restricted shares awarded as part of prior years’ compensation, according to a series of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday. They aren’t related to 2012 compensation, the filings said. About 48 percent, or 245,838 of the shares granted overall, were withheld by Goldman to pay taxes, the filings show.

Such awards typically are paid in January, when Goldman also pays out bonuses for the prior year. The early awards weren’t limited to the top of the company, either. “The December delivery of shares went to a wider group of employees than the named executive officers,” a spokesman said. He declined to elaborate.

Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman Lloyd Blankfein was one of the executives awarded the stock that is regularly given to executives in January. Blankfein received 66,065 shares, 33,245 of which were withheld, netting him an award valued at more than $4 million.

Blankfein has been a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party and is a frequent guest of President Barack Obama at the White House. Blankfein appears on the White House Visitor Log 14 times. Additionally, Blankfein was the sole Wall Street banker invited to the White House for a meeting to offer Obama advice on how to approach the fiscal cliff.

Blankfein has also made it clear that he stands with Obama when it comes to raising tax rates.

Blankfein said in a CNN interview that he supports moving the top marginal tax rate for families making above $250,000 a year to 39.6 percent.

“I think if that’s what it took to make the math work, when you look at the entitlement side and when you look at the revenue side, I would not preclude that,” Blankfein said in regards to the tax hike.

Though Blankfein applauded the fiscal cliff deal on Twitter, it appears that he would prefer to avoid its financial results when it comes to his own money.

Built in 1990 and remodeled with entertaining in mind, the 20,248-square-foot manse features a two-story library, a theater, a library/study, a wine cellar, a gym, seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The 1.7-acre property includes a tennis court, a swimming pool and an expansive motor court.

The purchase of the home comes after the finalization of Musk’s second marriage to British actress Talulah Riley in September. The Daily Mail reported the billionaire was ordered to pay his ex-wife a meager $4.2 million of his estimated $2 billion fortune.

The estate is nestled in the affluent Holmby Hills neighborhood, home to the Playboy Mansion; the Spelling Mansion, which was purchased by Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Petra in 2011; and the Fleur de Lys, the estate built by David Saperstein his former wife Suzanne.

Musk inhabited the Bel-Air pad since 2009 before deciding to purchase the home from hedge fund manager Mitch Julis of Canyon Capital Advisors so he could add his own personal aesthetic, according to Forbes.

A source familiar with the sale told the Wall Street Journal that Julis agreed to sell the property to receive “capital-gains tax incentives” for the 2012 fiscal year.

The sale was a radical move by Julis to avoid the increase in capital gains tax to 20 percent, set to go in effect in 2013. Julis was not the only entrepreneur working against the clock to unload assets before the tax hike took effect Jan. 1.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Al Gore, the liberal eco-crusader who fiercely opposed the Bush tax cuts, was also trying to fast track the sale of his Current TV to the Arab news channel Al Jazeera. The sale of the cable channel missed the deadline and was not finalized until Jan. 3.