Al Gore, Nobel winner? What a joke!

Granted, the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize took a nosedive when it was awarded to Yasser Arafat, but now it's proven to be nothing more than a political back-patting tool. After doing the awards circuit through Hollywood for his questionable global-warming tome, Al Gore now scoops up the Nobel Prize, despite a) junk science having little to do with peace, b) chiding others about climate change while hopping on his gas-guzzling private jet, and c) his Live Earth concerts leaving a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla's.

What's nauseating is not so much another honor for Gore, but those whose struggles have been ignored to throw wreaths at the ex-vice president (and Manbearpig hunter, hat tip to "South Park"). What about Father Nguyen Van Ly, the Vietnamese priest who's worked tirelessly for democracy and spent years in and out of dank prisons for rallying the people for freedom? What about Kareem Amer, the Egyptian blogger who advocated peace and justice, and now sits in prison? What about the monks of Burma, many of whom are now dead or missing because, as the world stood by and just watched, they took the lead to demand democracy in peaceful marches through Myanmar's streets?

Then again, none of those people really working for peace has ever walked a red carpet -- just seen the red of bloodshed and oppression in countries few seem to care about anymore, and did all in their power to make a difference.