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Nobel Jurors Facing Bribery Probe
RockDoctor writes "A report is circulating that in the run-up to the selection of prize-winners for 2006 and 2008, some members of the Nobel jury accepted an expenses-paid trip (or trips) to China to 'explain the selection process.' That's not, in itself, an incriminating event ('Is there something that we're doing incorrectly, or not doing?' is a valid question), and if there was dishonorable intent, it doesn't seem to have worked too well (the last Chinese Nobel Laureate was in 1957). There does seem to be embarrassment about falling into an obvious conflict-of-interest mantrap."
PhysOrg mentions that a corruption prosecutor is also looking into a Nobel-related sponsorship from a pharmaceutical company that was linked to one of the winners for this year's Medicine prize.
Almost from the first prize awarded, there have been controversies. This latest round is nothing new, but perhaps remarkable only for its apparent blatentness.
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
...Al Gore jokes and conspiracy theories.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
How about a movie about that? Oh, and I already have the idea for the sequel. A movie about the movie about the hollywood conspiracy and how the movie didn't get a single Oscar nomination despite great reviews.
All rights reversed.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Modern "Portfolio" Theory has received at least three Nobels. Yet MPT has lead directly and predictably (no fat tails) to the financial crisis.
I'm very unimpressed and becoming highly cynical on what passes for "accepted science." There seems to be a strengthening political element. Quite obvious in the case of Global Warming.
Did somebody buy his award, or was the committee having a joke like when they gave awards to Kissinger and Arafat?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Meh... the Swedes will launch a corruption investigation if a kid gets a penny toffee without paying for it.
And it's no secret that the selection committees have made mistakes in the past (the icepick lobotomy, anyone?) that only become clear with the benefit of hindsight.
In either case, never ascribe to corruption what can be adequately explained by incompetence.
-- Yep. It's me again.
NOBEL PROMOTES SCIENCE NOT PEOPLE!
AWARDS ARE SYMBOLIC PROMOTIONS of industries, careers, and/or ideals.
NOBEL is more important now more than ever; corrupt or not, we live in an age that idolizes karaoke singers, sports people, actors, and war heroes. Science types complain that we need science to be "cool" and well, this is about all we get.
If you want a wider reaching better award you should look at the "Alternative Nobel" http://www.rightlivelihood.org./ This award promotes the important yet unrecognized causes without restriction to a few sciences; which arguably are the least important factor to bringing peace to mankind (ex: "The Apple Orange Award".)
I wonder if children ever learn the purpose of scholastic achievement awards? It seems the same psychology works on adults. Different package, same trick. If that doesn't blow your mind, start applying the aspects of this to academia, political offices, or cultural rituals like marriage.
Doesn't matter if some baseball cheater gets in the hall of fame; outside the fanatics, nobody will remember or care except for the few stand outs on the long list of award winners. The symbolic meaning will be maintained and carried on by continually hyping up the new award winners. Sure, too many bad winners hurt the symbol but it takes a lot and people forget quickly...
Parent misses the all the points including his ad-hom attack on Jimmy Carter.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Jimmy Carter does not hate Israel. Instead he is simply trying to understand the root of the problem by talking to BOTH sides. Its a really novel concept for most people who seem so involved in what is really a mutual fuck-up. If the world had more people like that this conflict would have been solved years ago. Instead the world is full of people who think like you do- that one side is morally better.
The Nobel Jury awarded a peace prize to Fidel Castro. A peace prize for Fidel Castro is like a humanitarian award for Adolf Hitler. Fidel is a Marxist, and the stated goal of Marxists is using violent means to install world-wide Communism. Fidel Castro used military force to keep Cubans prisoner in Cuba, attempting to flee Cuba is punishable by death... how is that different from slavery?
Jimmy Carter was a clown... Not that he intended to be, he set out with good intentions. His fault was that he focused on being a man of peace, bad people used this as leverage against him. Instead of crying to the UN, he should have offered Iran total destruction. The Persian people were supremely embarrassed by the Ayatollah and would have over-thrown him upon an American invasion.
I think in the near future, we are going to see the beginning of Iranian sponsored nuclear catastrophes, and we can follow the trail back to the weakness of "a man of peace".
- High Tech workers, please say NO to Union Carpenters, their Union sees fit to control our compensation.
Fidel Castro has never received a Nobel peace price.
Cuba placed a moratorium on the use of capital punishment in 2001. The rest of your post is just ridicululous.
"A couple of years ago they picked some writer in England because he was a leftist."
I take it that you are referring to Harold Pinter who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005 the last male British writer to win this prize. This comment just shows how little you know about English literature. Pinter is indisputably the greatest living British playwright and in the view of many including myself, who has been seeing his plays since I was a child, the greatest living playwright in the English language. This indeed does qualify him as a leading contender for the prize which he so deservingly won.
The political controversy over the prize arose because while hospitalized by a serious infection he videotaped his Nobel Prize acceptance lecture "Art, Truth & Politics" from a wheelchair. It was a scathing attack on US war of aggression against Iraq. Any suggestion that the award was made for political reasons is both erroneous and unwarranted. The criticisms of Pinter were that he used his award as a vehicle to put forward his political views. But this comes from those whose job it is to viciously denounce anyone who condemns US foreign policy so in fact it is a compliment. What is a public intellectual for but to criticise the wrongdoings of those in power.