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The Rat
SFN Regular

Canada
1370 Posts

Posted - 10/09/2009 :  19:45:27   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit The Rat's Homepage Send The Rat a Private Message  Reply with Quote

I admit to being an Obama cheerleader, but I was surprised by it too. I can see two reasons for it. First would be that just his presence on the world stage, a member of a visible minority leading America, has no doubt done a lot to ease tension. Many would see this as a sign that America has come of age, and we can only hope that they are right. The second reason that I can think of is that it was done not so much to honour him, but to piss all over the memory of his predecessor with a very pointed statement.

And I certainly don't have a problem with that.


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You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II

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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 10/09/2009 :  20:23:31   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Gorgo

Thousands of people are actually working towards contructive ends that could use the money, though.
That's true of any money. Perhaps one or more of the charities that Obama will be donating the monetary part of the Prize to will actually work towards some constructive end or other. Perhaps he should donate his salary, too. Perhaps you should wait until that list of charities is published, and you could donate your income, as well, to whichever charity you think is most constructive.

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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  02:56:37   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dave W.
That's true of any money. Perhaps one or more of the charities that Obama will be donating the monetary part of the Prize to will actually work towards some constructive end or other. Perhaps he should donate his salary, too. Perhaps you should wait until that list of charities is published, and you could donate your income, as well, to whichever charity you think is most constructive.


You lost me. Since we can't say that he's done anything to deserve any peace prize the point must be that the committee is encouraging him in his peaceful pursuits. Since his peaceful pursuits seem to be about continuing and even expanding at least two wars, then the committee's purpose must be to encourage war, not peace. We should give the Nobel committee the irony award.

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The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
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Robert Hunter



Edited by - Gorgo on 10/10/2009 02:57:21
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  03:08:03   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
"People marvel at the idiocy of these Nobel awards, but there’s method in the madness, since in the end they train people to accept without demur or protest absurdity as part and parcel of the human condition, which they should accept as representing the considered opinion of rational men, albeit Norwegian. It’s a twist on the Alger myth, inspiring to youth: you too can get to murder Filipinos, or Palestinians, or Vietnamese or Afghans and still win a Peace Prize. That’s the audacity of hope at full stretch.

"

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



Edited by - Gorgo on 10/10/2009 03:08:56
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9687 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  03:20:31   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by HalfMooner

Originally posted by On fire for Christ

He won it because he's black.
That's really offensively racist.
Indeed. Especially since the committee is staffed by people from a country which doesn't have racism like USA.

On fire for Christ, what the fuck were you thinking when you wrote that?


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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9687 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  03:29:30   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Gorgo


That's a pretty low bar, especially when we're talking about the most war-happy "leader" on the planet.
We're talking about Obama now, not George Bush.

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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  03:39:45   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse

Originally posted by Gorgo


That's a pretty low bar, especially when we're talking about the most war-happy "leader" on the planet.
We're talking about Obama now, not George Bush.


Bush isn't in office. Obama is carrying out and expanding his wars.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  05:04:18   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Gorgo

We should give the Nobel committee the irony award.
Surely some group other than the Nobel Committee is actually being more constructively ironic, no? Heck, the irony began when a merchant of death set up a "peace prize" which doesn't stipulate a decrease in wars in the first place, right?

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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  07:10:17   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dave W.

Originally posted by Gorgo

We should give the Nobel committee the irony award.
Surely some group other than the Nobel Committee is actually being more constructively ironic, no? Heck, the irony began when a merchant of death set up a "peace prize" which doesn't stipulate a decrease in wars in the first place, right?


Good point.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard

USA
4574 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  12:54:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send H. Humbert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Greg Laden has some thoughts on Obama's nomination for the Peace Prize.


"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman

"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9687 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  13:40:53   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Gorgo
Bush isn't in office. Obama is carrying out and expanding his wars.
That is a source of concern.
American troops are still in Iraq.
Guantanamo Political Prison camp is still open.
I'm starting to doubt Obama was sincere in his pledge of change.


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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  13:54:50   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Like all democrats, Obama can't seem to out-spin the GOP. When he says he is going to close GITMO they shout about having terrorists on US soil... The obvious response is to call the GOP a pack of scared little pussies afraid of a handful of men in chains being held in the world's most secure prison system. Yet somehow democrats can't muster the intellect to step on these idiots.

It seriously brings the sincerity, intelligence, and competence of democrats into question, imo.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 10/10/2009 :  15:40:31   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dude

Yet somehow democrats can't muster the intellect to step on these idiots.
In terms of dirty politics, the Dems drew first blood on this particular issue, though. Hammas and the Taliban both announced that they questioned the grounds upon which Obama deserved the Peace Prize, and then the RNC announced the same thing. So the DNC issued a press release comparing the Republicans to terrorists.

The Republican response was to draw a shocked breath at how the DNC was demonizing them. Nevermind the idiocy about Obama's middle name from over a year ago, or the more recent comparisons of Obama to Hitler. So, they clearly like the "X has at least one quality that's similar to evil person/group Y, so therefore X is as evil as Y" game, except when it's played on them. F-ing hypocrites.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard

USA
5310 Posts

Posted - 10/11/2009 :  03:28:03   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Gorgo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Paul Street , Alexander Cockburn and Howard Zinn weigh in.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter



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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 10/11/2009 :  05:47:48   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Gorgo

Paul Street , Alexander Cockburn and Howard Zinn weigh in.
And all three ignore what the Nobel Committee actually says, in favor of publishing anti-Obama screeds. Paul Street goes so far as to say, "It is said that the Norwegians wanted to..." without quoting even a single word of the Nobel Committee's own announcement, or the purpose of the Peace Prize. How are these people any different from the right-wingers who are using this event to try to tar and feather the President?

Street, Cockburn and Zinn could use any news of any minor inconvenience caused by any U.S. military action to rant about Obama's alleged imperialist actions. They don't put forth any argument whatsoever that the standards for handing out a Peace Prize should change from what they are now (which the authors don't even mention) to include the recipient actually having stopped a war (which would exclude most of the Laureates, along with Street's suggestion that Chomsky should have won it). By my count from this quick list, only eight people have received the Prize for actually having stopped a conflict. But I don't see Street, Cockburn and Zinn railing against many of the other wildly undeserving (by their standards) prior winners.

Even if these guys had made such arguments, who cares? The Nobel money isn't tax money, it's private money, and as such, the Nobel Committee has every right to tell those who think they're giving the money to the "wrong" people to go screw themselves.

(By the way, here's the "permalink" to Cockburn's bizarre piece.)

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
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