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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.
Must be for that PhD of his in Fried Chicken-ology.
Don't jump the gun... with insane health reforms he might incite the US to civil war. I know I'm more annoyed at him than at W.
HE has yet to do anything but spend me out of a job. he is the worst president ever and he got the peace prize. i am ashamed to be an american with him as president.
there are 10 types of people in this world, those who read binary and those who don't. which are you!
All Hail the Anti-Christ! Let the little children sing his praises! Kiss your freedom goodbye.
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.
I remember when the Nobel Prize used to mean something, when people won it many years after tremendous accomplishments. It was so exclusive that the best of the best never knew if they would ever receive it. Now it seems you get it for not being like the guy before you.
Hey, compared to recent standards being president of the USA for eight months without invading another country is a real achievement. Standards are getting lower.
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
He has accomplished far more peaceful action than 8 years of Bush gave the world. It's now possible to hope for something other than WWIII.
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.
And as has been pointed out hundreds of times since that stupid SNL sketch it has only been eight months, moron.
What did you do in the last eight months? Sort your sock drawer? At least he and the rest of the democrats are trying to change things.
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
Why did he get that prize?
The US is still at the top of the most invading countries.
They are threatening Iran without reason.
They are protecting Israel instead; why no NPT for them? What about warcrimes?.
They still do not want to stand trial in the Hague.
Their country, the US of A, is crumbling each day that the debt increases, no good basis for stability and peace internally.
So why is the president of a mess like that awarded a Nobel prize?
Points for stupid straw-man arguments.
Oh you mean Cuba - where they JAIL aids patients
Or Canada where if you need a heard bypass surgery you might just DIE before your turn comes - unless you take your own money and go to the United States?
Don't worry, the private health insurance industry will fail. :
No for-profit establishment can begin to compete with the not-for-profit able to print money to pay its debts government clinics. Wait, I hear it, the faint murmur of "post office" and "Fedex" - old president's tale there - the Post Office and Fedex don't really compete - Fedex may not, by law, deliver first class mail. for packages
The Postal Service was the least expensive by far for local and long-distance deliveries. For letter-size envelopes, such as the ones it gave us for sending the books, it charges a flat rate of $16.50. (Flat rates for slower delivery are lower.) The other shippers base prices on weight and distance traveled. UPS charged $62.87 to send our book next-day to Oregon and $29.55 to Manhattan. FedEx charged $54.57 and $27.48, respectively. ...Asked how the Postal Service, an independent part of the U.S. government’s executive branch, can deliver overnight shipping for less, a spokeswoman, Yvonne Yoerger, said: "We have an infrastructure in place and letter carriers everywhere. We’re simply adding package delivery to a network that already exists."
http://consumerist.com/5072394/overnight-shipping-battle-fedex-vs-usps-vs-ups
When your boss figures out that he can unload the cost of your medical insurance onto the taxpayer, you will find out exactly how much you get to keep your own doctor or health care plan. The one out of a hundred bosses who let people choose regardless of the cost will not be able to hire everyone who wants to maintain the choice.
Death Panels? No, but there will be shortages and rationing - simple economics: reduce the price of any good to zero and the demand rises past the ability to produce the good.
Hoards of atheists burning churches? really? what do atheists have to do with the health-care issue?
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.
"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!
What? But the conservative-controlled media haven't been reporting on that! They've just been reporting on how Obama hasn't managed to accomplish everything he wants to overnight while also saving the economy Bush raped AND undoing all of the wars he started and countries he pissed off.
If Obama can't do everything overnight, he's clearly a failure as a president.
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.
You're on my foes list for a reason. And that reason is your
utter stupidity.
Nobel PEACE Prize is what Gore won, you Kanye-class battle jackass.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
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)
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.