Obama's Nobel Prize

Image by Bearman2007 via Flickr

Friday's are a very busy day for me because I work my full time job and then deliver pizza right after. Consequently, I usually don't get to post anything unless I write it the night before and schedule a post.

Yesterday morning, while dressing for work I heard the news that President Barack Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  My initial reaction to the news was, "WTF??  What in hell has he done in less than a year to earn a Nobel Prize?"  I have had a full day to absorb the news, and not much has change in my reaction.

Obviously, it is quite an honor to have a sitting president win the Nobel Peace Prize.  The only two previous sitting presidents to win the award were Teddy Roosevelt, who helped brokered a peace agreement between Russia and Japan and Woodrow Wilson for his work on the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I and the formation of the League of Nations.  Obama has done nothing near as noteworthy as that.  Plus both Wilson and Roosevelt were well into second terms when nominated as opposed to Obama being in a mere two weeks.

Here are a couple of quotes from a few presidential historians and political scientists from the article "Obama's Nobel Is Premature, Historians and Political Scientists Say."


Fred Greenstein of Princeton University, "The jury is still out as to what his presidency is going to add up to. It's more of an embarrassment to the Nobel process."

Allan Lichtman of American University, "They're not comparable. Roosevelt and Wilson were six or seven years into two-term presidencies, and Obama has not completed a single year of his presidency, so it makes very little sense."

Stephen Wayne of Georgetown University, "It does seem to me, at this point, that's its premature. When I first saw it, I thought it was a joke. Obama may have been the first to get it for his rhetoric and his orientation. What had he done by February? He had been the first African-American elected president and provided sawing rhetoric. In one sense, Obama has always been more popular in Europe than in the United States. That popularity is based in part on the contrast he provides to former President George W. Bush, who was not popular in Europe. I am very favorable toward President Obama, but this prize is a surprise to me."

Ah, that's the ticket, he won the award because he isn't George W. Bush.  He won because he supports all the things that Bush didn't.  He supports the UN, which is a decidedly anti-American organization.  Bush didn't.  He supports cap and trade programs that will hurt the economy to thwart so called climate change, Bush didn't.  Even former Nobel winner Lech Walesa questioned the timing so early in his presidency, "So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is only beginning to act."

As I said, it is quite an honor for this country to have a sitting president awarded the prize.  So for that, we congratulate the president.  Maybe one day he will be worthy of having received it. 

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Pelosi Wants to Raise Taxes on EVERYTHING

Yesterday, I gave Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a small bit of praise for honoring the Dalai Lama for his humanitarian efforts.  Today, I am reminded of why I can't stand the woman.

In an interview on the Charlie Rose Show, he asks her about the possibility of implementing a Value Added Tax.  Pelosi looks positively giddy (or dare I say it, aroused) in saying that the VAT tax should be on the table.  She, like most Democrats, never met a tax increase they didn't like.

A VAT tax adds a tax at every stage of the manufacturing process where "value" is added to the item.  This tax is in addition to personal income taxes and corporate income taxes.  The chief problem with such a tax is that all of the burden for all these additional taxes falls on the final consumer, and is highly regressive as it impacts the lower and middle income folks the most. 

Take a look at this video and just watch how her eyes light up at the prospect of raising taxes.  Also, listen to the example she uses of the automobile industry.  Does she make any sense at all?

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Dalai Lama Receives Human Rights Award

Image by Akuppa via Flickr

A few years ago, I went through a period where I was reading a lot of books about Buddhism.  .My two favorite writers were Thich Nhat Hahn a Buddhist monk from Viet Nam who lives in exile in France.  I started reading him because several of his books dealt with Jesus Christ and the Buddha as spiritual brothers.  The other writer is the person that most Americans would think of when thinking of Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama the exiled leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama is in DC this week for a series of meetings.  In spite of his claims of being a big proponent of human rights, President Barack Obama will not be meeting with the Buddhist leader.  The decision came after the Chinese government has encouraged countries not to meet with the leader.  So, Obama, the great appeaser has decided to give in to the wishes of the Chinese rather than do what is right.  It will be the first time since the Dalai Lama began visiting DC that a sitting president has not met with him.

Fortunately, all in DC are not of the same mind as the President.  As much as I loathe just about everything that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stands for, she did present the Dalai Lama with the first Tom Lantos Human Rights Award. So I thank Congress for recognizing the work of the Dalai Lama.   

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That's Gotta Hurt!

With friends like this, who needs enemies?  Sure this is rather sophomoric humor, but when I saw this today, I laughed so hard I nearly cried.  Hat tip to my friend Jeff J. who emailed this video to me.

Music Monday-The Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"

Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were better known as the Righteous Brothers.  They were the epitome of "blue eyed soul" in the 60's and 70's. Their mega hit "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" is my pick this week for Music Monday.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.




PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

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And the 2016 Summer Olympic Games Go to Rio!

In spite of the last minute decision by President Barack Obama to join Oprah and the First Lady to help in the bid to land the 2016 Summer Olympic Games for the city of Chicago right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. the International Olympic Committee awarded the games to Rio de Janeiro marking the first time that South America will host the games.  Many speculated that when Obama decided to join the party that the USA had the bid in the bag.  Instead, we were eliminated in the first round of voting.  Somehow the libs will find a way to blame Bush or racism.  After all, if you don't decide in favor of Obama it has to be one of those two reasons.

So in support of our friends in Brazil, "I Go to Rio" by Peter Allen.

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So Long Saturn

Image via Wikipedia

I am kind of sad today with the news that the Saturn brand of automobiles will be discontinued.  Mrs. Dickster and I each drive Saturn automobiles.  Mine is a 2002 SL2 with over 134000 miles on it.  We have had very few problems with that car.  My wife is driving a 2005 Saturn Vue.  It is our third Saturn overall.

When General Motors announced their plans for restructuring under the government bailout the decision was made to retire some brands, keep some, and sell off other assets.  The Saturn brand was originally scheduled to be sold to Roger Penske and the Penske Automotive Group.  Penske announced that he would be unable to take over the brand because a third party manufacturing deal fell through.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dealings with Saturn.  We were always treated fairly when getting service.  All three of the Saturns we had bought at our local dealership were bought from the same salesman.  There was never any high pressure, and he went out of his way to search other dealerships to find us the car we wanted.  When it was announced that Penske would be taking over Saturn, we had hoped we would be able to stay with them when we were ready to get our next new car. Unfortunately it was not meant to be.

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