Just days after former Vice President Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on global warming, the United States Supreme Court handed Mr. Gore a stunning reversal, stripping him of his Nobel and awarding it to President George W. Bush instead.
For Mr. Gore, who basked in the adulation of the Nobel committee and the world, the high court's decision to give his prize to President Bush was a cruel twist of fate, to say the least.
But in a 5-4 decision, the justices made it clear that they had taken the unprecedented step of stripping Mr. Gore of his Nobel because President Bush deserved it more.
"It is true that Al Gore has done a lot of talking about global warming," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority. "But President Bush has actually helped create global warming."
Even as Mr. Gore was being stripped of his Nobel, he received strong words of support from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said that the former vice president's Nobel win "shows that he is devoting his life to the right thing and should definitely stay the course."
In an interview with reporters in Iowa, Sen. Clinton said that "Al Gore should remain dedicated to the cause of global climate change, at least through November of 2008."
Sen. Clinton suggested that Mr. Gore could further research the source of global warming by immediately boarding a rocket ship to the sun.
The Borowitz Report, October 12 2007
Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com. He appears at the 92nd St. Y in NYC on Nov. 7 with Alec Baldwin, Arianna Huffington, and Mo Rocca. For tickets go to 92y.org.
Follow Andy Borowitz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BorowitzReport
PLEASE let us know when you'll be on The Daily Show!
This ordeal was followed by four hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic to Long Island, in no small measure due to the fact that about 40% of the toll booths of the G.W. bridge were either not working, or not staffed.
The total travel time from Newark to L.I was just one half hour less than my trans-atlantic flight from Amsterdam to Newark, and quite a bit bumpier (what with our highways that are falling apart).
I do hope the people in Iraq and Afghanistan appreciate all this.
Chaney: " Yes sir, and the big metal guy just
flashed something at the Secret Service."
But, I think we're forgetting something very important. It's not just the Supreme Court who cost Gore the election, or the Nadar voters. Tennessee and Florida admitted to voter suppression.
And, for all the Dems in the Senate in 2000, including Edwards, of the 100-not-one-black-member body in 2000, there was no one willing to co-sign papers with a representative to contest the election results for being tainted by illegal voter suppression. They have some blame in this, too.
And pardon me for being not impressed with Nobel Peace Prizes. Kissinger got one. So did David Trimble. Enough said.
2-I was just conceding one point in order to focus on another. And I don't think that ALL of you would've voted for Gore, but enough to make a difference. If you weren't going to vote for Gore, and Nader wasn't on the ballot, who would you have voted for? I think our "matter of faith" is that Gore is closer to Nader than Bush.
3-Opinions about the NPP really have nothing to do with the fact that members of the Senate could've made a difference in 2000 had one of them only joined a member of the House to contest the election results.
We demand mediocrity from our presidents and Bush has set a standard nobody can surpass.
Gore gets a cold shoulder
Steve Lytte
October 14, 2007
The Sydney Herald Tribune
“(Dr William Gray, a pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts) ONE of the world's foremost meteorologists has called the theory that helped Al Gore share the Nobel Peace Prize "ridiculous" and the product of "people who don't understand how the atmosphere works"”.
In fact, while Dr. Gray is pontificating about the non-existence of global warming, he's also apparently missed the point of the particular Nobel Prize. Gore is sharing the Prize not for research or for his "theory" (he's not a scientist, he hasn't proposed a theory), he's being honored for his efforts in educating people about the problem. More people now are talking about global warming, debating the causes (if any), and discussing possible solutions (if any) than have ever given it any thought before. And THAT is why Gore was honored.