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Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Michelle Malkin :: Townhall.com Columnist
Malibu Babs: Snapshots of an eco-hypocrite
by Michelle Malkin
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Are Barack Obama's friends -- like Bill Ayers -- legitimate political issues?

People who live in 10,000-square-foot oceanfront mansions shouldn't throw stones.

That hasn't stopped Barbra Streisand from lecturing her fellow Californians about their energy use ("We must make concrete changes in our lifestyles to help solve this energy crisis . . . try to line dry (clothes) . . . only run your dishwasher when it is fully loaded . . . ") and lambasting President Bush's environmental policies ("Bush has discouraged energy conservation every step of the way -- suing California for passing a law requiring more fuel-efficient vehicles and even proposing a tax cut for SUV owners!").

Now, this multiple home-owning, custom-built SUV-riding, California coastline-hogging diva has lobbed a $50 million lawsuit at an eco-activist who posted photos of her massive estate on the Internet.

Malibu Babs says the litigation is about protecting her privacy. She claims that the aerial pictures, posted on www.californiacoastline.org by Kenneth Adelman, violate anti-paparazzi laws and "provide a roadmap into her residence."

But Adelman's site does not list Streisand's address, nor do the photos contain the star's image. Adelman and his wife are wealthy environmental do-gooder types who created a Web site to document erosion along the California coastline for scientists and land-use researchers. The photos of Streisand's home are just a few among the 12,000 in his online archive. "He's not doing this for profit, or stalking anyone," Adelman's lawyer Richard Kendall told the Los Angeles Times. "He is engaged in a public-interest effort to document the entire coast to preserve it from degradation. He's not about to carve out exceptions for celebrities who don't want to be identified as owning coastal land."

Moreover, as the editors of The Smoking Gun Web site, which has posted Streisand's lawsuit filed under seal last week, point out, maps and images documenting the location of the entertainer's property are publicly available elsewhere on the Web sites of Mapquest, the Los Angeles Office of the Assessor, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Streisand has yet to sue them.

The clear detailing in Adelman's photos, taken with a Nikon digital camera, is causing Streisand "considerable anxiety" about stalkers and undesirables, according to the lawsuit. She's mad that the snapshots show "the positioning of her parasols and deck chairs," and the location of her windows and French doors. (Well, there goes the exclusive at-home shoot with InStyle magazine, whose readers were just dying to know whether Malibu Babs' chaises face east or west!) Continued...

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About The Author

Michelle Malkin makes news and waves with a unique combination of investigative journalism and incisive commentary. She is the author of Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild .

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