When I heard the news, I literally burst out and said "You've got to be fucking kidding me!":

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.

I've always felt a small amount of pride that someone distantly related in my family was a recipient of that award.  Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Peace prize in 1953.  His most important philosophy was for what he called a "reverence for life", and he worked tirelessly throughout Africa to help sustain that belief.  He founded a hospital in Gabon, among other works.  He worked for decades on these projects... he truly made it his life's work.

What did Al Gore do?  He made a movie... about something which is by no means a settled issue... and to be honest... can't even trust his motives for doing.  And for how long did he work tirelessly on these things?  Is this now the level to which we've lowered the bar of greatness?  Is the world in such shambles, with no one truly working hard at peace that we could find no one else more deserving?

Is this what we've become?