And the loser is …

“[T]he world must embrace a carbon-neutral lifestyle.” —Al Gore.

The 79th Annual Academy Awards have concluded. Personally, your host doesn’t watch these types of events. I have better things to do with my time than to watch a group of overpaid celebrities show up in obscenely overpriced clothes and jewelry just to fawn all over each other before throngs of adoring morons—who themselves need to get a life.

Remember, these are the same self-absorbed people who show up in clothing the cost of which would feed a starving kid in Africa for life. And yet they tack on some ribbon as if to prove they have some sense of humility or humanity?

As proof of the notable lack of decency among Hollywood’s mutual admiration society, consider that:

The best actor award went to a film about Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator who, according to Amnesty International, from 1971-79 was responsible for the deaths of some 500,000 people. Who’d have guessed the irony among a group of people who detest the actual removal of a brutal dictator as “immoral,” but who give an award to an actor playing one?

The best supporting actor award went to a film that portrayed a grandfather who’s a drug addict.

The best song award went to a lesbian singer/songwriter for a song from a fictional documentary about global warming. Although I must admit this is a slight improvement considering last year’s award went to some lowbrow act lamenting how “it’s hard out there for a pimp.”

The coup de grace, of course, was the former Vice President, inventor of the Internet and now environmental prophet Al “Goracle” Gore, whose An Inconvenient Truth was honored as best documentary.

Apparently, Goracle has joined fellow climatologist Melissa Etheridge and the rest of the tofu-farting celebrities in the Granola State who are in need of mental help. Next thing you know, Gore will be joining the Church of Scientology with Tom Cruise or taking up Kabbalah with Madonna.

The following came immediately after said event, courtesy of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. That organization is an “independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through free market policy solutions” (www.tennesseepolicy.org).

“Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.”

This group identified Goracle’s mansion, which is apparently located in some upscale area known as the “Belle Meade area of Nashville.” It consumes more electricity each month than the average American household uses in one year, based on figures obtained from the Nashville Electric Service.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy the average household in the country consumes some 10,656 kilowatt-hours per year.

“In his documentary,” the report says, “the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.”

Last year, Goracle apparently consumed some 221,000 kilowatt-hours at his Nashville home. (If you’re keeping score—that would be some 20 times the nation’s average.)

And since the release of the movie, Goracle’s own energy consumption has gone from 16,200 kilowatt-hours per month in 2005, to 18,400 kilowatt-hours per month in 2006.

“In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.”

To stop Mr. Environment, check out http://patriotpetitions.us/StopGore. At deadline, this story continues to develop, and the “facts” presented in the Tennessee Center for Policy Research’s study are under dispute. For more information, see www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702270382.