The Norwegian parliament appoints the committee members responsible for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize. This is why such people as Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Rigoberta Menchu have received the accolade. It is why, consulting my Magic 8-Ball, the Nobel committee will likely award Al Gore its Peace Prize today.

Might the award hold less prestige, if, instead of the Norwegian parliament, the Alabama state legislature selected those deciding who gets the peace prize and who doesn't? My point is that the prize is held in esteem because the people who give the award and the people who get the award generally come from the Left. Leftists in the media play along and act as though some objective process results in a deserving person to come away with the award. But it's often a person who has nothing to do with world peace, but rather someone who has been the most successful at ingratiating himself to the Left over the past year.

Enter Al Gore. He made leftists happy by bringing global-warming theory to mainstream audiences through his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Nevermind that it is overflowing with errors, the politics it preaches is right (Or should I say Left?). That his film, and his activism, is not connected to world peace in any sense will just affirm, should he win, that this is a politicized prize, not necessarily a peace prize.

The competition is, in a sense, rigged before it begins. This is because Norway is a socialist nation, and the award reflects its political sensibilities. That's fine. Just don't expect people who reject the political sensibilities prevalent in Norway to give any weight to the prizes its politicians give out. If you think that's unfair, would you think highly of a peace prize awarded by people contemptuous of your politics, say, the Alabama state legislature? My Magic 8-Ball says, "Outlook not so good."

Yes the Peace Prize is bogus.

The ones they give out for the hard sciences are usually (or unusually) respectable though and surprisingly not completely PC-determined. It is nice to see people getting remuneration for real contributions (otherwise scientists only make money by selling themselves off to weapons manufacturers).

This year 6 of 6 of the hard sciences winners were white males which as Steve Sailer points out means that "white males continue to oppress the rest of humanity by discovering and inventing stuff."

Those jerks.

I think he really got it for his complete body of work including invention of the internet, the inspiration for Love Story, his stellar record in public service, etc.. The GW thing just pushed his selection and eventual win over the top.

What an f'ing flim flam man!