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Barack Obama Wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
Barack Obama has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The BBC opines: "In awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian committee is honoring his intentions more than his achievements. After all he has been in office only just over eight months and he will presumably hope to serve eight years, so it is very early in his term to get this award. ... The committee does not make any secret of its approach. It states that he is being given the prize 'for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples.' This is of course an implied criticism of former US president George W Bush and the neo-conservatives, who were often accused of trying to change the world in their image." The Washington Post collects more reactions from around the world.
That's what a lot of people are thinking. The Nobel Prize is famous for being conservative, waiting decades after the achievements of individuals before they give the prize, and then only if they're still living!
The concensus of the nay-sayers is that Obama doesn't have any achievements, he's only 8 months into his first term.
I think this is populist sh*t, same with the prize for the inventors of the CCD--the photodiode was physics, the CCD was a superb engineering effort based off the photodiode. The CCD in combination with fibre optics made it possible for us to see thousands of photos of teenage girls taken in their bathroom mirror. All hail the Internet.
Damn, I already moderated this topic. Now I'll have to log in with my sock puppet to comment.
And it is. The world has announced sternly how much the USA loathing rised during the Bush presidency.
Greetings from Sweden, the land of Nobel.
Bla, bla, bla... Obama is the outbreak of common sence and has done stuff that should have happened all the time. Of course he can't get everything done and needs to make comprimises but he is the best thing since Kenedy. Period.
I don't know what your failing perception of an ideal world is, but it can't be good. Let me guess... You get your information from Fox News?
Yes, pun intended. Flamebait? No.
Here be signatures
Uhm... you're talking about a religiopolitical movement which prescribes (among other things) that, to prove she has been raped, a woman must have four male witnesses to the penetration. And for bringing a charge that she cannot prove, she can then be convicted and sentenced for admitting to having extramarital sex. This is not a construct of the "society", this is a ruling passed down from the founder of the religion.
Condemning a wart for being a wart is proper.
I trust I'll get it next year, then.
After all, I've done nothing really to deserve it, but I just might do something "that might not have happened without the award" if I get it.
Stupidest reason ever for the Peace Prize.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I think right now they could start handing out peace prizes on Futurama and it would have more legitimacy than the Nobel Peace Prize.
I'm not sure I understand quite what you're saying. Are you claiming that in your Republican worldview there is some sort of conflict between what you term "working man" and some other groups which you presumably consider "nonworking?"
Please expound at great length, just so we're all clear on the exact character of your Republican ideas.
Go on.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Some would say the prize is premature, but this prize isn't about accomplishments. It's about one of the top leaders of the world, coming into office, and immediately doing everything in his power to apologize to the world for our arrogance, remind us and others that the US is one among many nations, reaching out to all other nations, friends and enemies, and making efforts to reduce nuclear arms around the world. Has he succeeded in all these things? Some. Will he succeed in more? Well that's the point of the award.
The award serves two purposes. One, he is rewarded for his intentions. It lets Obama know that the rest of the world perceives his intentions and actions favorably, and that he should continue in this way if he truly seeks peace and harmony among nations. Second, it gives him a slight boost in authority. He is now widely recognized for his intentions, and his desire to bring peace to the world, and that should help him (albeit, only slightly) when negotiating with others. It gives him credibility, and leaves less room for others to doubt his motivations. It encourages others to support his efforts if they also seek peace.
In other words, the award is recognition of his efforts so far, and will act as a tool to help him proceed with his peaceful goals in the future.
Mahmoud is responsible for fewer bodies in six years, than Barack was in his first six months.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
He hasnt done a damn thing. He's Black thats it. He received an award for being black. Thats the only rational way ANYONE could ever make any sense out of this.
He has failed on Universal Health Care and have handed over our tax dollars to rich corporations while Americans lose their jobs, their homes and receive nothing in the form of a ballout or help from our government.
He's robin hood for the wrong team.
A failure so far. I'm a progressive Independent and I see nothing new with Obama.
I have hopes... but if i dont see anything in 3 years... this guy is out on his ass. Mark my words. America is tired of lies. He can be thrown out along with the rest of the democrats and republicans who are frankly traitors, bleeding our country dry for their corporate paymasters.
Don't forget non-working honkies, hillbillies, and rednecks who sit on their asses and post racial slurs on slash dotall day.
"In any case, why is "the US President acted only in the interests of the US" a bad thing? At worst, it's a neutral thing."
I guess Adolph Hitler's actions were neutral then.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Wow! Where did you get all that information? Fox News? You must be a genius!
He has failed on Universal Health Care
You can't fail at something you weren't trying to do.
and have handed over our tax dollars to rich corporations while Americans lose their jobs, their homes and receive nothing in the form of a ballout or help from our government.
So, no Americans work for the corporations who got the bailout money?
A failure so far. I'm a progressive Independent and I see nothing new with Obama.
I have hopes... but if i dont see anything in 3 years... this guy is out on his ass.
If you're a progressive, who are you going to vote for in 4 years? Mitt Romney?
Wouldn't you call allowing your personal religious beliefs to dominate your "concerns" for the well-being of your patients a bit of a right-wing tenet? She thought suffering brought you closer to god, and imposed (by inactivity) that suffering on others when should could have eased their pain instead.
Might makes right, eh?
http://nbgazette.com/index.php?entry=entry090910-210927
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/167/35807.html
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
You mean his push to let Iran get nuclear arms?
I'm sorry, one sided nuclear disarmament while radical militant islamists hell bent on wiping Israel off the face of the map are getting nuclear weaponry is clearly myopic at best.
Of course it is great that everyone else is getting rid of nuclear arms, like Russia, Pakistan, China, North Korea .....
Oh wait, they aren't. But we have "Hope" and "Change we can Believe in" and "Yes we can" sloganeering, which is good enough for a Peace Prize 11 days after taking office.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
More likely, Vastly Higher Bill, Vastly Higher Taxes, and probably, just probably NO CHOICE whatsoever.
If you don't look at both possibilities, you'll never make an informed choice.
Let me ask you, why is Nevada being exempted from parts of the current health care bill if it is so great?
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
If you add up the monetary damages and the damage to people's lives, white crime is FAR bigger than black crime. Think white collar crime. The guys in charge in Bhopal were white. Think of all the millions of lives ruined over the years by corporate malfeasance. Sure, blacks are incarcerated at a far higher rate than whites but this is because we've criminalized the victimless crime of drug possession. And because police are more likely to stop and arrest a black person than a white person. And because we keep blacks in second class positions through institutionalized racism, they do not have the same opportunities that the dominant whites do.
You say such discussions are not possible, yet here we are having that discussion. You are exhibiting symptoms of paranoid delusion and severe cognitive dissonance.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Actually, I haven't noticed much of that. On /. maybe, but apart from that the USA have merely progressed from "dangerous scumbags" to "still dangerous, probably still scumbags". The bg change is that it's a new administration that might be better. Essentially, everyone would have won that Nobel Prize simply for being elected after George Bush.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
That ought to do it. Thanks for proving my point that the Republicans are nothing but a pile of racists. Anybody decent has apparently long since left for the Libertarian party.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
To save us from the war against the nation of Warming and its attempted global conquest? A peace prize, really? Screw the people who actually promote peace and settle conflict, it's someone who speaks on shifty scientological rhetoric, fear mongers, and presents a politically polarizing presentation on perishing poles that receives the prize. You're right, it wasn't science that he won it for, since they haven't even scientifically proven that CO2 causes any greenhouse effect (even if it does, its influence is statistically negligable, so much so that the strong positive correlation between CO2 and warming are practically proof that it's NOT cause of global warming, but the warming is the cause of CO2!)
I wonder if I can get a peace prize for ignoring all the hate, violence, genocide going on in the world, selling weapons technology that can only be used against the US to foreign nations, and then telling the civilized nations they'd better buy, in gross surplus, from companies I have stock in, or the penguins and polar bears will be the first to go!
Actually, if that's all I need to do, I don't really want one.
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
And that is the attitude that encourages warfare, and ensures matters of global importance are left untackled. A great leaders first responsibility should be to mankind, not to group selfishness.