The Hollywood Liberal

More Obama Talk From the Nobel Jury
All but one of the five judges who picked President Barack Obama as the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize sounded off on Tuesday about their decision, noting Obama’s less-than-jubilant initial reaction to the announcement and shedding more light on the reasons behind their choice, which one judge reported was unanimous.  —KA AP via Google News: Even the most seasoned Nobel watchers were surprised by Obama’s Nobel — they hadn’t expected the U.S. president, who took office barely two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline, to be seriously considered until at least next year. Jagland said that was never an issue for the Nobel committee, which followed the guidelines set forth by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prize in his 1895 will. “Alfred Nobel wrote that the prize should go to the person who has contributed most to the development of peace in the previous year,” Jagland said. “Who has done more for that than Barack Obama?” Aagot Valle, a left-wing Norwegian politician who joined the Nobel panel this year, also dismissed suggestions that Obama was undeserving of the honor. “Don’t you think that comments like that patronize Obama? Where do these people come from?” Valle said from the coastal city of Bergen. “Well, of course, all arguments have to be considered seriously. I’m not afraid of a debate on the Peace Prize decision. That’s fine.” Read more READ THE WHOLE ITEM

All but one of the five judges who picked President Barack Obama as the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize sounded off on Tuesday about their decision, noting Obama’s less-than-jubilant initial reaction to the announcement and shedding more light on the reasons behind their choice, which one judge reported was unanimous.? —KA

AP via Google News:

Even the most seasoned Nobel watchers were surprised by Obama’s Nobel — they hadn’t expected the U.S. president, who took office barely two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline, to be seriously considered until at least next year.

Jagland said that was never an issue for the Nobel committee, which followed the guidelines set forth by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prize in his 1895 will.

“Alfred Nobel wrote that the prize should go to the person who has contributed most to the development of peace in the previous year,” Jagland said.

“Who has done more for that than Barack Obama?”

Aagot Valle, a left-wing Norwegian politician who joined the Nobel panel this year, also dismissed suggestions that Obama was undeserving of the honor.

“Don’t you think that comments like that patronize Obama? Where do these people come from?” Valle said from the coastal city of Bergen. “Well, of course, all arguments have to be considered seriously. I’m not afraid of a debate on the Peace Prize decision. That’s fine.”

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

Related Entries

• October 13, 2009 In Search of Great Men
• October 13, 2009 Snowe Helps Baucus Bill Pass Committee Hurdle
• October 12, 2009 Bribe, Vote, Repeat
• October 12, 2009 We’ll Need 70 Percent More Food
• October 12, 2009 The Poor Will Have to Wait for Health Care Help

Jeffrey Smith: Vilsack Mistakenly Pitched “GMOs-Feed-The-World” to an Audience of Experts–Oops
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was getting lots of appreciative applause and head nods from the packed hall at the Community Food Security Coalition conference…

Michael Moore: Pilots on Food Stamps
You know, maybe it’s just me, but the two occupations whose workers shouldn’t be humpin’ a second job are brain surgeons and airline pilots. Call me crazy.

Most Democrats Undecided In Illinois Senate Primary: Hoffman Poll
Most Illinois Democrats have yet to make up their mind whom they intend to vote for in the 2010 U.S. Senate primary, a new poll…

Jonathan Kim: The Nobel Prize Wasn’t for Obama — It Was for the American People. Do We Deserve It?
That means it’s our responsibility to force Obama and other electeds to recognize our priorities and pick up the pace. So call your representative and your senator, and let them know how you feel.

Allison Kilkenny: Media Decides Tasered Grandmother Was Asking For It
Kathryn Winkfein, a 72-year-old great-grandmother, is better known as the woman who became the target of an officer’s taser after she was pulled over for…

Fox News accuses Obama of delaying troop deployment to win Nobel Peace Prize

Fox News personalities have reacted to President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize by accusing Obama of — in the words of Fox News contributor Dick Morris — “delaying the decision to commit troops to Afghanistan” in order to “win this prize.” Responding to initial reports that Obama was awarded the peace prize, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said he was “wondering” whether the Nobel charter “has anything to do with the delay of the deployment of 40,000 troops in Afghanistan,” adding, “If you add forces to a war, you can’t win.”

Fox News personalities accuse Obama of withholding troops to secure Nobel Peace Prize

Morris: Obama “delaying the decision to commit troops to Afghanistan … because he wanted this prize.” During an appearance on the October 12 edition of Hannity, Morris stated, “I think the reason that Obama was delaying the decision to commit troops to Afghanistan is because he wanted this prize, and he probably knew he was nominated for it, he knew roughly when the decision is being made, and I don’t think he’s going to send troops until after that award is safely in his pocket.” [Fox News’ Hannity, 10/12/09]

Kilmeade: “I’m wondering, does [the Nobel Peace Prize charter] have anything to do with the delay of the deployment of 40,000 troops in Afghanistan?” Responding to initial reports that Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Kilmeade stated, “I’m looking at the charter — and we’re just getting this now — but this guy, Alfred Nobel, stipulated the peace prize should go to the person who will have done the most or the best work of the fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses. I’m wondering, does that have anything to do with the delay of the deployment of 40,000 troops in Afghanistan, because that was his big postulization over the last week or so. ‘Should I put more troops in?’ ” Kilmeade went on to say, “If you add forces to a war, you can’t win.” [Fox News’ Fox & Friends, 10/9/09]

Musician: Rehberg Didn’t Seem Drunk On Night Of Boat Crash
A musician who says he saw Rep. Denny Rehberg in Lakeside, MT, shortly before a boat crash that left five injured has come forward to say that Rehberg did not seem drunk that night.

Presented By:

Failing Upward: Many SECers Who Failed To Catch Madoff Haven’t Paid A Price
Many of the SEC officials who missed Bernie Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme have landed lucrative private sector jobs, or been promoted within the agency.

Health insurance companies make a case for public option
Excerpt: In a last-ditch effort to derail a vote for health care reform in the Senate Finance Committee, the health care insurance industry, ironically, made a case for a public option. Over the weekend, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) circulated a study it commissioned from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. According to the president of AHIP, Karen Ignagni, also a […]

Christie Barely Hangs On To Lead
A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds Chris Christie (R) leads Gov. Jon Corzine (D) by just one point, 41% to 40%, with independent Christopher Daggett at 14%.

Just two weeks ago, Christie held a four point lead.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: “It’s still a nail-biter. Christopher Christie has never given up the lead, but it’s been getting slimmer and now it’s a dead heat.”

A PPP survey yesterday also showed Christie with a one point edge.

Daily Pulse: Merging the Health Care Bills
“Senators are wasting no time in launching negotiations to merge the Finance Committee’s $829 billion health care overhaul bill — passed Tuesday on a 14-9 vote — with competing legislation approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, with hard bargaining expected to begin Wednesday,” Roll Call reports.

President Obama and Senate Democratic leaders “now face the arduous task of crafting a bill that can garner 60 votes, without dismantling the Finance bill’s signature achievement: a Congressional Budget Office analysis projecting that the legislation will extend health coverage to millions of Americans without adding to the federal deficit.”

“Fresh off a victorious committee vote over a year in the making, Baucus signaled his intent to forcefully protect his bill in the merger negotiations.”

Politico notes Democrats “are headed toward an intraparty battle” that even President Obama “will struggle to mediate.”

The Fix lists the winners and losers from yesterday’s vote.

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that with the legislation heading to the Senate floor, interest groups “have unleashed a torrent of spending and grassroots activity to influence the Senate healthcare debate.”

Wexler to Step Down
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), “a self-described ‘fire-breathing liberal,’ defender of Israel and friend of both President Barack Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist, is quitting Congress to head a think tank seeking peace in the Middle East,” the Miami Herald reports.

CQ Politics: “Wexler’s 19th Congressional District is safe Democratic territory and there will no doubt be a long line of interested candidates running in a special election to fill the vacancy.”

CNN Can’t Have It Both Ways: It Can Either Broadcast Hateful Lou Dobbs or Have a Latino Audience

Latinos across America are intensely concerned about CNN's hypocrisy: broadcasting Dobbs' anti-immigrant extremism while running a Latinos in America special series.

Ridiculous Study Blames Feminism for Non-Existent ‘Happiness Gap’ Between Men and Women

Much-discussed study claims that women are more depressed relative to men in recent decades, when it actually suggests that neither marriage nor children make women happy.

Judge Finds Abusive Gitmo Interrogations Yield False Confessions, Bad Info

A judge's recently-released opinion opens a window on Gitmo's harsh interrogation techniques, and the bad intel they yield.

Won’t You Please Come to Chicago?
The elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where the elites call the shots. Inside accounts reveal the extent to which Johnson and Nixon’s conduct…


Sponsored Topics: Richard Nixon - United States - Barack Obama - Business - Nixon

Obama’s Disarmament Prize
My first reaction was “how can a guy who’s only been in office for nine months win the Nobel Peace Prize?” But once I woke up and thought about it for a few minutes I realized that the honor being…


Sponsored Topics: Nobel Peace Prize - Warfare and Conflict - Weapons - Nuclear - Barack Obama