Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

[ms.peachy]

He really is just like Hitler!

[RobMoney$]

Christiane Amanpour, CNN:
"The Committee has said that this is more an award to reward and encourage the promise of what President Obama might bring to the world, rather than what has actually been achieved at the moment."


I'd like the recession to be over real soon and world hunger elimainated.

Where's my Nobel Prize?

[Drederick Tatum]

it's an award for not being George Bush.

they should've waited until he did something.

[Guy Incognito]

he's given a lot of people hope that the world can be run by people with their interests at heart and not dodgy fat cat feeders. that may not turn out to be true but the hope of it is worth a lot.
fair do's for getting the award(y)
he should really dedicate to the americans who voted for him

[RobMoney$]

it's an award for not being George Bush.




Yes, but isn't it interesting that Obama's gone along with virtually all of Bush's policies such as the Patriot Act, Iraq, and Afghanistan?

The committee probably didn't want to be accused of being racist. :rolleyes:




they should've waited until he did something.

Hey, he did bring a white police officer and a black professor together for a beer.
Who else could do that, Right?
Ok, Oprah,
but no one else!

Hey CNN, How ya like SNL now?



For the first time in a long time...I am proud to be an American.

[kaiser soze]

America Fuck Yeah!

honestly I think it's quite silly

[Burnout18]

Just watch out for kanye west, mr. president.

[DroppinScience]

Just watch out for kanye west, mr. president.

Mr. President, I'm really happy for you. I'mma let you finish... but Jimmy Carter had one of the best Nobel Peace Prize's of all time. Of ALL time!

[RobMoney$]

America Fuck Yeah!

honestly I think it's quite silly


Let's be honest.
There's no way to even defend it being legit.

[kaiser soze]

Like I said....it's silly

[Guy Incognito]

am i the only one who thinks this is fair enough? who else would you have given it to? who else has had an impact like obama this year?

[RobMoney$]

am i the only one who thinks this is fair enough?


Probably.


Let's hear your defense then.
What did Obama do to be nominated?
While you are at it, please defend any remaining credibility that this award has.

[Guy Incognito]

okay speaking as a non american who doesnt normally get involved in this part of the board and admits to not being that poilitical:

my basic take on it is that me and probably a lot of other non americans thought that the majority of your country were pretty stupid to let a guy may or may not have cheated and basically was a corprate puppet win another election and that you would never elect someone who care about something other than lining the pockets of the fat cats. Obama ( and his campaign team) managed to win over the democrats and then the majority of americans and my opinion ( and probably others) that your country isnt full of redneck nobheads and is more progressive than mine for voting for a) a non white person and b) someone who seems to give a shit about everyone.

this may prove not to be the case, but he has ignited peoples interest in politics who never cared before and that surely deserves recongition and seems like a genuine guy and for a politician thats pretty rare in my opinion.

i realise you may not be in agreement with any of this, i just dont see why you have to knock it. i was asking for any other nominations because i genuinely dont know of anyone - if you have any then lets hear them and i will take them on board.

i must stress that thats how a very general member of the general public sees it, i expect you to try and shoot me down with flames and articles and shit but its just the way i see it. i probably should have stayed out of this shit but i was shocked at the amount of posts knocking it and i thought i should stick up for the decision.

EDIT: the redneck comment was a sweeping generalisation and i was just trying to quickly represent an opinion of americans that i have heard a million times over here

[saz]

the award is premature, but obama certainly does seem to have the right intentions. sure, he hasn't really done too much yet (perhaps closing guantanamo, or setting a closing date), and the nobel committee should have waited until obama has accomplishments.

still, obama could save a school bus full of kids about to go off a cliff and rush limbaugh's head would still explode.

[Documad]

How completely ridiculous.

[YoungRemy]

what are those silly Norwegians thinking?

[b i o n i c]

pretty retarded

[Guy Incognito]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6868457.ece
i guess i am the only one - probably coulda called it the nobel hope prize this year.
still nobody on here has suggested ANYBODY else.

i just dont see why everyone's knocking it so much, probably because i chipped in

[b i o n i c]

i think its because whether you like him or hate him, he hasnt been around long enough to prove anyone right or wrong, at least not that level

and that the nobel people should and do probably know that

[saz]

i'm not really sure if either one would've qualified, but awarding the nobel peace prize to hossein mousavi or to the iranian green movement would've been a nice 'fuck you' to ahmadinejad and the supreme council.

[Guy Incognito]

i'm not really sure if either one would've qualified, but awarding the nobel peace prize to hossein mousavi or to the iranian green movement would've been a nice 'fuck you' to ahmadinejad and the supreme council.

yeah nothing says fuck you like the nobel peace prize! I get what you mean but i dont think thats the intention of the award. and thank you for being the first person to give some other names

EDIT: i know the prize has been given before to people who have peacefully fought stuff before , like desmond tut for one but i dont think the committee would make that bold a move. i think this one has been fairly bold but in a different way.

[DroppinScience]

It IS too soon. I guess he gets the award for various "symbolic" reasons. Obama's heart is in the right place, but I'd like to see him follow through on the things that would make him deserve the award in the first place.

Whether he does anything or not is irrelevant to Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, valvano, and RobMoney. They could have given Obama the prize 20 years later for peace in the Middle East, the restoration of the world economy, stopping genocide, etc. etc. and would still attempt to paint it as evil. It's like those weirdos who continue to call Nelson Mandela a terrorist.

[b i o n i c]

as much as i hate the fat shithead, rush limbaugh said this and it made me think a bit

"And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States... They love a weakened, neutered U.S, and this is their way of promoting that concept."

[saz]

think about what, how much of an idiot he is?

[DroppinScience]

I will say this: awarding the prize to Obama IS an improvement over some of their past recipients such as Henry Kissinger and Yasser Arafat (as far as my recollections, neither of these men advanced world peace but spilled a whole lot of blood).

As rare as it is, RobMoney is correct in questioning the legitimacy of this award and who has been awarded (after all, naming a peace prize after the guy who created DYNAMITE? There's some irony). The Right Livelihood Award has widely been called the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Their past recipients have probably been more appropriate than some of the actual Nobel prizes.

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/home.html

[b i o n i c]

well, if anything being the winner of a nobel peace prize winner could make invading iran kind of ridiculous

even though i dont think theres any way in hell that the us would do that

[b i o n i c]

As rare as it is, RobMoney is correct in questioning the legitimacy of this award and who has been awarded (after all, naming a peace prize after the guy who created DYNAMITE? There's some irony). The Right Livelihood Award has widely been called the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Their past recipients have probably been more appropriate than some of the actual Nobel prizes.



the rest of the world and rob money

[DroppinScience]

Interesting to note that Hamas and the Taliban also condemned this decision. I guess the teabaggers are in good company.

[Guy Incognito]

i didnt originally defend the actual prize becasue i dont feel qualified at all to do that BUT i have just had a thought. Yeah, there's the dynamite thing and other possible bad awards of it, but what are they gonna do, cancel it and say there is no one worthy and say "peace" is not worth it. lets fuck it all off.
again i am having trouble describing what i mean in actual words but surely its worth having an award that recognises peoples struggle for a better world. i'm not saying every award has been the right one but surely its better to try then not try at all. am i making sense?

shit, i feel massively out of my depth here.:o

[Whatitis]

HOPE
It's the only real reason I can see why he received this award.

It's amazing as to who gets these awards...and who doesn't. Reagan was shut down as well as Cesar Chavez. Gandhi of all people didn't receive the award.

[Guy Incognito]

for reference:

http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/peace.html

EDIT: just found out they have fucked it off a few times. jesus, shows what i know

[HAL 9000]

This seems pretty stupid, as pointed out above, this seems to be about not being George Bush. I think it is really award for the American people for taking a small step back from the brink of full-on theocratic lunacy.

I would have given it to Morgan Tsvangirai or Richard Dawkins.

I wonder what Obama will do with the money?

[RobMoney$]

okay speaking as a non american who doesnt normally get involved in this part of the board and admits to not being that poilitical:

You don't have to keep qualifing your posts with the fact that you're not American. Plenty of the folks who post here are not American either, so no need to worry.
And welcome to this side of the board.

my basic take on it is that me and probably a lot of other non americans thought that the majority of your country were pretty stupid to let a guy may or may not have cheated and basically was a corprate puppet win another election

You didn't have to worry about him getting re-elected because he was ineligible to run.
Bush had already reached the two term limit for the office.
John McCain was representing the Republicans in the 2008 Presidential elections against Obama.

and that you would never elect someone who care about something other than lining the pockets of the fat cats

All politicians are in the pockets of special interests, including Obama.

Obama ( and his campaign team) managed to win over the democrats and then the majority of americans and my opinion ( and probably others) that your country isnt full of redneck nobheads and is more progressive than mine for voting for a) a non white person and b) someone who seems to give a shit about everyone.


No, my country isn't full of nobheads. Sure, we have our fair share, and even the nobheads have a right to be represented, but Bugs Bunny could have ran on the Democratic ticket and won this election because of the majority of America hated Bush that much.
I do find it alarming how you describe the way US politics are portrayed in your country. It's kind of offensive to be honest.
I'd have to suggest not believing everything you see on TV, or how we're portrayed.

this may prove not to be the case, but he has ignited peoples interest in politics who never cared before and that surely deserves recongition and seems like a genuine guy and for a politician thats pretty rare in my opinion.

Ms. America's always say they want world peace and want to end world hunger.
Should they give them a nobel prize too?

i realise you may not be in agreement with any of this, i just dont see why you have to knock it. i was asking for any other nominations because i genuinely dont know of anyone - if you have any then lets hear them and i will take them on board.

Here's what Wiki says about nominations for the award:

Nominations for the Prize may be made by a broad array of qualified individuals, including former recipients, members of national assemblies and congresses, university professors (in certain disciplines), international judges, and special advisors to the Prize Committee. In 2009, a record 205 nominations were received.


Now I can't sit here and name a single University professor, International Judge, or special advisor to the committee. And I know very few members of other countries heads of state.
But the fact that a record number of nominations were recieved tells me there must have been other qualified candidates.
I'm not trying to discredit Obama here today, or any impression the world may have of him.
The deadline for this awards' nomination was Feb. 1. 2009. That means Obama was in office for a matter of two weeks.


i must stress that thats how a very general member of the general public sees it, i expect you to try and shoot me down with flames and articles and shit but its just the way i see it. i probably should have stayed out of this shit but i was shocked at the amount of posts knocking it and i thought i should stick up for the decision.

No problem.
I respect the fact that you were able to post a differing opinion than the majority and did it respectfully and without disparaging anyone.
There's not enough of that here.
Look no further than the disparaging comments that have been made towards me in this very thread, completely unprovoked.


EDIT: the redneck comment was a sweeping generalisation and i was just trying to quickly represent an opinion of americans that i have heard a million times over here

Yeah, it's pretty offensive and untrue.
But I think you already realize that.

[RobMoney$]

It IS too soon. I guess he gets the award for various "symbolic" reasons. Obama's heart is in the right place, but I'd like to see him follow through on the things that would make him deserve the award in the first place.

Whether he does anything or not is irrelevant to Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, valvano, and RobMoney. They could have given Obama the prize 20 years later for peace in the Middle East, the restoration of the world economy, stopping genocide, etc. etc. and would still attempt to paint it as evil. It's like those weirdos who continue to call Nelson Mandela a terrorist.


I think you just said that you agree with me on this.

As rare as that is, you can't even do that without disparaging me.
You're obsessed.

[Guy Incognito]

Wow - i was just about to go to bed! Thought you'd chosen to ignore the idiot, ha ha

You don't have to keep qualifing your posts with the fact that you're not American. Plenty of the folks who post here are not American either, so no need to worry.
And welcome to this side of the board..

I meant that he's not my president and i dont pretend to know that much about him, well not as much as americans. I felt a bit strange defending the american president to other americans. and thanks.

You didn't have to worry about him getting re-elected because he was ineligible to run.
Bush had already reached the two term limit for the office.
John McCain was representing the Republicans in the 2008 Presidential elections against Obama..

I knew bush couldnt be re-elected. I was kinda thinking that despite all the hoo-ha in 2004 about making sure the vote couldnt be considered rigged and all the pressure on your country to vote and to ensure fairness that bush still got in, i know john kerry wasnt the greatest but it gave me the impression that a lot of people in your country didnt really give a shit about poilitics ( same as mine) and the fact that obama was elected changed my perception and probably others.


No, my country isn't full of nobheads. Sure, we have our fair share, and even the nobheads have a right to be represented, but Bugs Bunny could have ran on the Democratic ticket and won this election because of the majority of America hated Bush that much.
I do find it alarming how you describe the way US politics are portrayed in your country. It's kind of offensive to be honest.
I'd have to suggest not believing everything you see on TV, or how we're portrayed..

yeah i havent come accross well there. I just meant that there is a perception of a certain type of american, that is probably wrong and down to wathcing too many films. i didnt mean to offend or call anyone a nobhead, as i said i was genrealising , badly.

Ms. America's always say they want world peace and want to end world hunger.
Should they give them a nobel prize too?.

The deadline for this awards' nomination was Feb. 1. 2009. That means Obama was in office for a matter of two weeks...

well maybe it was the committe getting caught up in it all but also maybe they wanted to recongise it. As other people have said its about the hope he has given people, i know thats not a tangible thing or an actual achievement but it is quite a remarkable thing, in my opinion.


No problem.
I respect the fact that you were able to post a differing opinion than the majority and did it respectfully and without disparaging anyone.
.

I'll save having a go at people for BF and you'll probably already know i aint that good at it


Yeah, it's pretty offensive and untrue.
But I think you already realize that.

Yeah, i havent got my point across and your probably right, it wasnt really a very well qualified statement.

[yeahwho]

I think Obama aced it in the swimsuit competition (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QOtwayIJJNU/SVuGG7A61DI/AAAAAAAAApU/uXCY9ccpGJ0/s320/obama+on+beach.jpg).

[RobMoney$]

He would have won the Nobel Prize in literature, but he actually wrote two books.

[jennyb]

This is all completely awkward. I'm fairly certain the Rupert Murdoch channel is lapping this up today feverishly.

[RobMoney$]

Judging by this thread, liberals and conservatives are all finding this to be ridiculous.

[DroppinScience]

I think you just said that you agree with me on this.

As rare as that is, you can't even do that without disparaging me.
You're obsessed.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[yeahwho]

The media cracks me up, I'm happy and there are multiple reasons to be happy about this, especially if you're an American citizen looking for some leverage in the World.

To find it puzzling or something to belittle Obama about is silly. He's immensely popular and I know that drives certain factions of the political spectrum nuts.

That makes me very, very happy.

[DroppinScience]

I wonder what Obama will do with the money?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/09/president-obama-to-donate-nobel-prize-money-to-charity/

[Bob]

he should just put it in the treasury

[DroppinScience]

Glenn Greenwald's reaction.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/09/obama/index.html

When I saw this morning's top New York Times headline -- "Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize" -- I had the same immediate reaction which I'm certain many others had: this was some kind of bizarre Onion gag that got accidentally transposed onto the wrong website, that it was just some sort of strange joke someone was playing. ...

Hopefully you'll read further than that.

[jennyb]

On Daily Kos, Michael Moore writes ironically: "Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!"

lol

[RobMoney$]

Obama is now being nominated for the Cy Young this year for throwing the first pitch at the All Star game.

[DroppinScience]

Nobel Prize committee explains their choice:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/nobel-prize-to-obama-defe_n_316098.html

[RobMoney$]

I just read your link Lambert, and I just couldn't help but go back to what The Bionic One shared from Limbaugh...


as much as i hate the fat shithead, rush limbaugh said this and it made me think a bit

"And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States... They love a weakened, neutered U.S, and this is their way of promoting that concept."


You have to admit, it's a valid point.

[saz]

yeah, it's just as valid as his "halfrican american" remark

[RobMoney$]

Article which names some early favorites for the award.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iAekET4T1D_vzDMN4JW_xZyvgezAD9B7FOR00


OSLO (AP) — Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba and Chinese dissident Hu Jia are among the favorites to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK reported Friday.
French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and Afghan woman's rights activist Simi Samar also are possible candidates for the prestigious prize, NRK said, about an hour before the Norwegian Nobel committee was set to announce the prize at 11 a.m. (0900GMT).
As always, the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee has remained tightlipped about its decision, which it made earlier this week, but will unveil its choice Friday. A record 205 nominations were received this year.
"We've had all the meetings we're going to have, and done what we needed to do," the committee's nonvoting secretary Geir Lundestad told The Associated Press Thursday.
British bookmaker Ladbrokes and its Irish counterpart, PaddyPower, give the best odds to imprisoned Hu, Cordoba, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, and Samar.
Hu, a human rights activist and an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, was sentenced last year to a three-and-a-half-year prison term for "inciting subversion of state power" ahead of the Beijing Olympics. He also was a favorite for the prize last year, when the 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) award went to Finland's ex-president Martti Ahtisaari for decades of work as a peace mediator.
Kristian Berg Harpviken, the director of the Peace Research Institute, Oslo, said he favored Cordoba, who leads Colombians for Peace, an organization whose aim is to facilitate peace negotiations between the government and the country's leftist FARC guerrillas.
Cordoba is a polarizing figure in Colombia owing to her close relations with Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, and her criticisms of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's government as an illegitimate "mafia state" that came to power with the help of right-wing death squads.
Despite that polemical status, she has been at the forefront of efforts to peacefully end her country's half-century-old conflict, which is rooted in deep social divisions. She was nominated by Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine who won the peace prize in 1980 and is a fierce critic of Uribe.
Guesses from the Peace Research Institute — an annual ritual — have become the cornerstone of world Nobel Peace Prize speculation. However, institute officials admit they have no inside information, and they rarely predict the winner.
Harpviken also mentioned bin Muhammad, a philosophy professor in Jordan who advocates interfaith dialogue in the Middle East, a region shot through with sectarian violence, and Samar. She currently leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and serves as the U.N. special envoy to Darfur.
He said he thought this year's award would go toward making "an impact on evolving processes" — such as armed conflict resolution — with the hope of encouraging their continuation.
In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel's death.
The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel's guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change. Some experts believe the committee will turn to human rights this year, because it hasn't picked a human rights activist since tapping Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi for the prize in 2003.
"Twenty years since Tiananmen Square? Maybe a Chinese?" said Dan Smith, of the London-based International Alert peace group.
Emerging superpower China remains deeply sensitive about criticism of its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square. And awarding dissidents would be a major poke-in-the-eye in the year the communist regime, established 60 years ago, celebrates its diamond jubilee.
The committee is famous for making grand symbolic gestures aimed at influencing the world agenda, as in 1989 when, in the wake of the Tiananmen massacre, the prize went to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
Although most of the buzz this year surrounds Hu, another candidate could be Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. He now lives in the United States.
Harpviken told journalists last week that he was skeptical of suggestions that a dissident of any nationality might win the prize this year. He noted that Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland, who just ended a four-year term as president of Norway's parliament, was elected secretary general of the Council of Europe on Sept. 29.
Harpviken said he believes Jagland's connection to both the Norwegian government and a major pan-European organization will make the committee "careful" about who it chooses, hoping to avoid a public debate about its political independence. He also suggested that Jagland might want to avoid complicating his five-year term at the helm of the Council of Europe.
"It would be hard to think that it hasn't had an impact" on the deliberation process, Harpviken said.
Jan Egeland, director of Oslo's Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, said he nominated Denis Mukwege, a physician in war-torn Congo who opened a clinic to help rape victims.
"He is working for the people in the biggest war," he said. "Sometimes the committee has to address the biggest wars."

Associated Press Writer Libardo Cardona in Bogota contributed to this report.

[yeahwho]

I'm more than perplexed by the animosity. To become indignant and indifferent over such an honor for not only the President, but also the United States seems mentally off.

He won, if he lost I'm sure the belittling and ridiculousness would take up as much space on here as the Olympics FAIL thread.

Now the Republican party is mocking (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKInWrfVAD8c-prNKvUr3hmLBuowD9B8CRF03)the President and the Nobel as a fundraiser ploy.

Republicans see the award as so outrageous that they're using it to raise campaign money. Obama won the prize "for awesomeness," says the mocking GOP fundraising letter. Obama's honor shows "how meaningless a once honorable and respected award has become," says the letter, signed by Michael S. Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

The above is the saddest, most pathetic statement the Republican Party has ever put upon the United States of America. They truly have become the party of division and unpatriotic dribble.

[DroppinScience]

Howard Zinn on the Nobel Prize win...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/10-3

[yeahwho]

Howard Zinn on the Nobel Prize win...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/10-3

He seems like a particularly small minded fuck.

[DroppinScience]

He seems like a particularly small minded fuck.

Disprove or refute anything Howard Zinn said in that column. Simply disagreeing with him doesn't make him a "small minded fuck."

[DroppinScience]

Glenn Greenwald wrote a related column commenting on the DNC's counter-attack that the Republicans are aligning themselves with terrorism (both the Taliban and the GOP ridiculed the Nobel Prize win) that you all should take a look at:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/10/prize_reaction/

[yeahwho]

Disprove or refute anything Howard Zinn said in that column. Simply disagreeing with him doesn't make him a "small minded fuck."

He is encapsulating one aspect of the award, he is not using anything other than a base argument that Obama hasn't finished the wars of Bush.

I'm not going to disagree with him, I just find his meager writing to be poorly researched and he is missing the the points and objectives of the Nobel Peace. We have gone from instilling mass hysteria (http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1814466_1814467_1814509,00.html) to being extremely popular (http://sendtofriend.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8155223&page=1).

Having some semblance of gratitude is not a sign of weakness. I just don't understand why Obama is wrong on everything, it's old. The hate is old and the great Howard Zinn will backpeddle once he realizes how incredibly lame his myopic quick response is. He is condemning Obama before his tenure is 1/4 through as President.

Even lefty idealist Michael Moore (http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/get-obamas-back-second-thoughts-michael-moore) realizes how abrupt negativity is just a reactionary moment, rather than some well thought out rationalization of what this means, for us as Americans at this time in our History.

I'm very perplexed at the hate.

[DroppinScience]

Howard Zinn's commentary doesn't deserve to be lumped in with the "hate" from the right-wing bashing the prize (I don't think we need to go into much detail that Rush Limbaugh's perspective is illegitimate). Zinn is simply saying that Obama is getting the award for what he might do, not what he has already done. Nobel Prizes are typically given for past accomplishments.

"Poorly researched" is not quite the adjective I'd reach for to describe his short column either. He gave three previous historical examples of the Nobel Peace Prize committee going to war mongerers and imperialists, not peacekeepers. So there is a history of the committee giving the award to dubious recipients.

And my first Glenn Greenwald posting I linked went into much more depth about the troubling implications of Obama getting the award and escalating the Afghanistan conflict, which has resulted in the death of civilians, including women and children (these are now Obama's casualties, not Bush's). Actions that happened under Bush do not suddenly become okay because now it's under Obama.

[RobMoney$]

He seems like a particularly small minded fuck.


Disparaging people just because they don't agree with you would seem pretty fucking small-minded if you ask me.

[RobMoney$]

He is encapsulating one aspect of the award, he is not using anything other than a base argument that Obama hasn't finished the wars of Bush.

Now it's the wars of Bush...as if he single-handedly declared war.

I just don't understand why Obama is wrong on everything, it's old. The hate is old and the great Howard Zinn will backpeddle once he realizes how incredibly lame his myopic quick response is. He is condemning Obama before his tenure is 1/4 through as President.

I'm very perplexed at the hate.

So condemning him based on the short tenure is wrong, but awarding it is acceptable?
And I really don't see anyone in here criticizing Obama for anything, or showing any outrage. AT ALL.
Just more of a basic head-scratching type of response. And even that's aimed at the NPP committee, not really Obama himself.
And it appears it's the same from his supporters as well as his critics.

It's pretty clear you're overreaching for something that's not there at a desperate attempt turn this into a fight.

[yeahwho]

Hey DroppinScience and RobMoney$ I don't give a shit what you think. That much should be obvious, I feel as if the Nobel Peace Prize is an honor for not only Obama but the United States.

Rob, I'm not only defending the Nobel process, I'm defending the acceptance of the award. That is over reaching what? It is a perfectly obvious reply to this thread.

Droppin, yes. he poorly researched his response, it is based solely on wars, not on a diplomatic policy shift. The rest of the World that currently is congratulating us scratches their collective head and wonders WTF.

Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize has many more positives than negatives and if you two are so blind as to not understand that you may as well keep picking away and searching for the naysayers articles... those who would rather live in a world of failed presidencies and hate.

[yeahwho]

Disparaging people just because they don't agree with you would seem pretty fucking small-minded if you ask me.

If this is in regards to Howard Zinn's article to which I responded he seems to be a particularly small minded fuck, just because I think his writing is limited, doesn't mean I disagree with him.

I'm disparaging him for his limited view and obviousness. I think he writes to a certain faction of people who want to look at the World in only terms of 4 paragraph responses.

I am not so fucking stupid that I don't know we are currently heavily involved in two wars. Howard Zinn didn't just remind me of that.

Now if either one of you would read one of the thousands of leveled well written congratulations to the President of the United States it would be nice. Actually this is our reward, our military's reward, their families award and the American peoples. At any rate if you were to go beyond the fringe and join those who are at least neutral on this topic, it would be pleasant.

If you don't I understand. It is a free world.

peace.

[DroppinScience]

We must have reached bizarro-land if me and Rob are suddenly on the same side here. :eek:

If good things come after this Nobel Peace Prize (and good lord, I think we're all counting on good things!), then that will be the positive outcome of this award. If Obama escalates the Afghan war and the coalition continues to be mired in what looks to be a staged re-enactment of the quagmire that was the Vietnam War, then the Nobel Prize will look hollow.

I know Obama is taking this award as a call to action (what else can he say? He can't pat himself on the back and say he's done everything), but just as last night's "Weekend Update" on SNL said: "Last year's election was ALSO a call to action."

Obama is handling his prize win well. I still reserve the right to think the good folks over in Norway made a dubious judgment, but I'm prepared to jump for joy if the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president ends up delivering on his campaign promises and furthers world peace efforts.

And just for you, yeahwho. Here is Michael Moore having second thoughts for his earlier criticisms of Obama's Nobel Prize:

http://michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/get-obamas-back-second-thoughts-michael-moore

[yeahwho]

And just for you, yeahwho. Here is Michael Moore having second thoughts for his earlier criticisms of Obama's Nobel Prize:

http://michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/get-obamas-back-second-thoughts-michael-moore

Sometimes I wonder why people miss my point, but I'll reread what I already posted a few hours ago (http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=1702229&postcount=56) if you want me to.

[yeahwho]

Do you guys have anymore Obama/Nobel Peace Prize/Chicago Olympics/Beer at the White House bashing to do today?

Obama woke up so it would probably be a good time to start "capping on" about the morning concept and how fucked up it is.

[Schmeltz]

There's an awful lot of ducking and weaving going on in this thread, so for the sake of refocusing the discussion let me state the obvious again: this was clearly a political decision, made not on the basis of who Barack Obama is, or what he has accomplished, but on the basis of what he represents. The committee can ramble on at leisure about his commitments to nuclear disarmament and diplomatic rapprochement and sustainable energy trading, but at the end of the day all of these notions continue to be, at best, half-fulfilled campaign promises. And what's the problem with that, exactly? After eight years of silly Republican bullshit, ten months is hardly enough time to make a direct ideological turnaround on any one of these issues, let alone the two far-distant wars in which the USA is embroiled, or the domestic turmoil over healthcare. The situation might be very much the same a year from now, or five, or however long it takes to undo the damage.

No, the committee made its selection in early February, in the heat of the moment when Obama's election was as revolutionary and transformative an event as when the towers fell. The fact that the first black man ever elected to the American presidency came to power on the strength of an agenda of change was a resounding rejection of the destructive and fruitless programs of the preceding administration. It was, after eight long years, an affirmation that ordinary Americans had finally come into tune with the rest of the world in understanding that their country could still be a leader in the realms of progress and cooperation, instead of an exemplar of wanton militant destruction and governmental negligence. Barack Obama was awarded this prize because the very fact of his achievement showed the West that there was still hope for itself, that its core values had not been extinguished by the hollow insubstantiality and vicious predatory consumption of the Bush years.

Whatever the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs and all the associated gum-flapping mouth-foaming gun-toting shit-eating right wing of the GOP want everyone to believe, the fact is that people around the world celebrated Obama's election not because we hate America and want it to die, but because in an age of confusion and uncertainty we want to believe that America can still serve as the guiding light of Western civilization, and indeed of humanity, in our collective quest for peace, progress, and fulfillment. This was not a possibility under George W. Bush and PNAC. But after that barbaric eight-year shitshow its truly something to see an American president who at least gives lip service to those values, and who seems to embody a more globalist and universal perspective on how America, and the civilization it leads, ought to conduct itself towards others.

So no, bionic, Rush hasn't given us anything at all to think about. All the right wing has to offer is the tired-ass lame canard of how anyone who doesn't unequivocally support their radical agenda must be an America-hater. The really sad thing is that this broken record continues to find an audience at home in the very country to which the world continues, against all odds, to look for a leader that brings hope for change instead of a perpetuation of the same old vicious, inhuman status quo. Because that's why Barack Obama's a Nobel Laureate, and George W. Bush is a half-literate redneck on a ranch in Texas.

[DroppinScience]

That's all well and good, Schmeltz, but I continue to stand by the fact that it's premature. Let's talk again when he goes beyond paying lip service. I've yet to see a true effort at dismantling the Bush war machine and overturning some of Bush's more authoritarian domestic impulses.

As a slight correction, Obama's name was submitted to the committee in February, they didn't make their decision at that time.

This is why the "Alternative Nobel Peace Prize" is where it's at:

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/laureates.html?&no_cache=1

[yeahwho]

That's all well and good, Schmeltz, but I continue to stand by the fact that it's premature. Let's talk again when he goes beyond paying lip service. I've yet to see a true effort at dismantling the Bush war machine and overturning some of Bush's more authoritarian domestic impulses.

Your comment of premature reminds me of preemptive, like George W's preemptive war, I'm thinking a preemptive peace prize just might work out better than that preemptive war.

Obama has already said himself he is not deserving of the award. It seems incredibly obnoxious to be this hypercritical. If something good happens (which just did) being graceful about it shows not only class, but good debating policy.

Of course we'll have to deal with his being a Kenyan born Muslim socialist after he starts wearing the Nobel bling during his 2nd term campaign run in 2012.

[yeahwho]

Whatever the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs and all the associated gum-flapping mouth-foaming gun-toting shit-eating right wing of the GOP want everyone to believe, the fact is that people around the world celebrated Obama's election not because we hate America and want it to die, but because in an age of confusion and uncertainty we want to believe that America can still serve as the guiding light of Western civilization, and indeed of humanity, in our collective quest for peace, progress, and fulfillment.

Nice sentence, I'll add this,

Where the fuck was all of this style of pointed criticism as we marched off to war in Iraq under false pretenses?

The media has pounced on this Peace Prize as if it is physically maiming them.

[dugmatics]

The Nobel Peace Prize hasn't meant shit since that ugly ass arafat won it in 94.

[DroppinScience]

Your comment of premature reminds me of preemptive, like George W's preemptive war, I'm thinking a preemptive peace prize just might work out better than that preemptive war.

Obama has already said himself he is not deserving of the award. It seems incredibly obnoxious to be this hypercritical. If something good happens (which just did) being graceful about it shows not only class, but good debating policy.

Of course we'll have to deal with his being a Kenyan born Muslim socialist after he starts wearing the Nobel bling during his 2nd term campaign run in 2012.

I know what you're getting at, but in good conscience Obama cannot win the Nobel Peace Prize due to his escalation of Afghanistan, which if we're not careful will blow up in Obama's face like it did for LBJ and Vietnam. I do wonder what Afghan civilians like this (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MnYI3_FRbbQ/Ss8p62SeYII/AAAAAAAACIY/OK6ZHYnQK3E/s1600h/afghanistan.png) or this (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MnYI3_FRbbQ/Ss8s46tH22I/AAAAAAAACIg/GkOOePNsjJI/s1600-h/afghanisgtan1.png) might think. Not to mention the drone wars going on in Pakistan.

[yeahwho]

I like to think of this Nobel as a Hope/Change Prize.

This is actually the Nobel Hope Change Peace Prize.

[yeahwho]

President Obama has another supporter of his Nobel Peace Prize in Bono. Mr. Bono has an Ed/Op piece in todays (10/17/09) NYTimes, it is titled Rebranding America (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18bono.html).

Bono presents his case for President Obamas Nobel,

So here’s why I think the virtual Obama is the real Obama, and why I think the man might deserve the hype. It starts with a quotation from a speech he gave at the United Nations last month:

“We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.”

They’re not my words, they’re your president’s. If they’re not familiar, it’s because they didn’t make many headlines. But for me, these 36 words are why I believe Mr. Obama could well be a force for peace and prosperity — if the words signal action.