The Nigh Seen Creeder

I shall say a few words about the worldwide left's successful lobbying effort that today resulted in Al Gore's winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize -- if only because Al Gore is one of about a dozen braying jackasses I'd like to see disappear from the planet. Chuck Schumer, Keith Olbermann, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, and Rosie O'Donnel are also on my list.

We can expect to see Al Gore on a great many network and cable "interview" shows in the next few weeks. I would give anything if Gore would emulate his fellow Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing when asked about his peace prize:

"Doris Lessing pulled up in a black cab where a media horde was waiting Thursday in front of her leafy north London home. Reporters opened the door and told her she had won the Nobel Prize for literature, to which she responded: 'Oh Christ! ... I couldn't care less.' ...

"Surrounded by members of the international media in her flower-packed garden, Lessing was dismissive of the Nobel -- calling the award process graceless and saying the prize 'doesn't mean anything.'"

Of course, the only thing larger than Al Gore's waistband these days is his ego. Thus, we're more likely to see Haley's Comet return than we are to hear Gore poo-poo the Peace Prize's importance or learn that he's turned down an interview request.

That said, I'm still trying to understand how a prize that's supposed to be awarded to an individual or individuals who've made a discernable impact on mankind can be snatched up by someone whose main peace-making claim to fame is a propaganda film. (It's important to note that Mr. Gore has turned down each and every challenge to debate the merits of said propaganda film.) When you look at the sacrifices made by former Peace Prize recipients, Gore's list of accomplishments look quite - nay, incredibly - puny by comparison. For example:

● Mother Theresa (1979) lived most of her life in the slums of Calcutta feeding, clothing, and comforting people who, as she stated in her acceptance speech, were being "shunned by everyone."

● Aung San Suu Kyi (1991) fought for democracy and human rights in Burma despite mass arrests and killings directed by the country's military junta. She lived under house arrest, without charge or trial, from 1989-1995, and her movements within Burma (Myanmar) have been restricted ever since.

● Médecins Sans Frontières (1999) has sent doctors into war-torn nations (Sudan, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, etc.) to provide medical care and water to "populations in danger."

Besides making a "scientific" film with profound inaccuracies, what's Gore done to help his fellow man? Let's see:

He's made a fortune serving on various corporate boards (of course, he needs a small fortune to heat and light his mansion); he's hob-knobbed with Hollywood celebrities, Upper East Side dilettantes, and other titans of conspicuous consumption; and he's traveled the world in chartered jets and gas-guzzling SUVs, with a retinue of Secret Service agents in tow, preaching a message of "shared sacrifice."

Call me cynical, but I will never cease to be amazed that a man who's availed himself of every opportunity to lecture others on how their materialistic ways are contributing to the destruction of the planet can live like a French aristocrat.

Now that a Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to a propagandizing hypocrite, I shudder to think who's going to win the thing next year ... and the year after that ... and the year after that. To borrow a line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I weep for the future.