This has got to be a joke. What does this have to do with peace? Maybe I misunderstand the basis of the award, but I always thought that the name had something to do with why it was given. I could be wrong, but trumped up environmental scare tactics don’t seem to have anything to do with peace. “Raising awareness.” Right. Al Gore has become a parody of himself. And now the Nobel committee has joined him in the joke.
It just happens that I also found this today.
“It is now common ground that it is not simply a science film – although it is clear that it is based substantially on scientific research and opinion – but that it is a political film.”
But, of course, that has nothing to do with whether Al Gore is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In a statement, Gore said he was “deeply honored,” adding that “the climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity.”
Clearly, winning a “peace” prize for a non-political issue would have nothing to do with U.S. politics, would it?
A source involved in Gore’s past political runs told CNN that he definitely has the ambition to use the peace prize as a springboard to run for president.
But he will not run, because he won’t take on the political machine assembled by Sen. Hillary Clinton, said the source. If the senator from New York had faltered at all, Gore would take a serious look at entering the race, the source said. But Gore has calculated that Clinton is unstoppable, according to the source.
Gore repeatedly denied he has any plans to run again, but this week a group of grass-roots Democrats calling themselves “Draft Gore” took out a full-page ad in The New York Times in a bid to change his mind. …
The Nobel committee praised Gore as being “one of the world’s leading environmentalist politicians.”
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Timotheos
Balaam's Ass 
Tim, you might have seen that the president of the Czech Republic — who has expressed his doubts about global warming science generally — also has questioned how Mr. Gore’s work relates to peace. One link to it is http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=15975
Agreed, getting a peace award for putting together a film about the environment is dumb. And, as others have pointed out, Gore joins that honored list of recipients like Yasir Arafat and Jimmy Carter, who brought peace to the middle east. That award became a sad joke long ago.
From Salon.com: “What’s world peace got to do with global warming? Perhaps everything. Or it will if things don’t change fast — if, in 10 or 20 or 40 years devastating floods and droughts displace millions of refugees and spur nations and tribes to desperate bloodletting.”
For the rest of the article, go here:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/10/11/gore/index.html?source=rss&aim=yahoo-salon It should answer your question pretty well.
To misquote you: “Even if I grant you that global warming will necessarily bring about more wars (which I don’t),” I doubt that Salon is unbiased in its commentary. In fact, the article you quote is from Carl Pope, who is the executive director of the Sierra Club. I mean, it’s not like he would have a dog in this fight!
With fawning comments like this: “Gore is, quite simply, the indispensable player in the drama of mankind’s encounter with the possibility of destroying the climatic balance within which our civilization emerged and developed,” tell me again why I should listen to him? I think this guy is a little unbalanced. Has anyone checked to see if he has Al shrines in his home?
Tim
Let’s not forget the canidate that the Nobel Peace Prize Comittee turned down this year in favor of Al Gore:
Name: Irena Sendler
Age: 97
Nationality: Polish
Cause of Nomination: This woman saved 2,500 Jewish children from certain death in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Even under torture she did not betray their locations.
She smuggled children past Nazi patrols on her person. Disguised as an infection control nurse, she diverted Nazi occupation funds to support the hidden children for the remainder of the war. She maintained lists of names and addresses in order to reunite them with their parents if they survived the war.
In 1943, Irena Sendler was arrested and tortured. The Nazi’s sentenced her to death by firing squad, but she never divulged the location of the lists or her Polish underground contacts. She was saved by a bribery that secured her freedom, but still bears the scars from her torture.
I guess Sendler is just not Peace Prize material…
If I weren’t already convinced that the Nobel Prize was meaningless, I’d be offended that Ms. Sendler did not get it. As it is I agree with Scott Adle – when somebody gets the prize for peace in the Middle East, you know it’s a joke.
On the other hand, perhaps this will give Wile E. Coyote renewed hope of winning the Nobel Prize for Physics.
For those interested in seeing some fun (not real) Nobel Prize winners go to this site:
http://www.fireurl.com/j0Wk934da
Wheeewooheeee!!!!
Getting dizzy from the Spin!!!