peace prize?

while the bombs fall on afghanistan? while the drones fly over pakistan? while billions in military aid is given to israel? while iran is threatened? while a 600 billion dollar military budget is passed in the democratically controlled senate? while obama ponders a 40,000 troop increase in afghanistan? while the destruction of iraq continues?

of course, there should be no surprise. the nobel committee almost gave the 1938 prize to hitler. according to tariq ali, it was between hitler and gandhi, and since they couldn't choose between those too, they gave it to a group that helped refugees. but, other war criminals have won the reward, including the fellow i like to refer to as the "jewish nazi," henry kissinger. if you think that a strong nickname, ask the millions buried in the lands of vietnam, laos, cambodia, chile, indonesia, argentina, and elsewhere.

teddy roosevelt once won a nobel as well. he who took cuba from spain so he could keep it for himself. it would take 60 years, and a cat named castro, to change that ugly piece of peace. it was teddy the bear who devastated the philippines, killing hundreds of thousands of filipinos, who were guilty of wanting to be in charge of their own country. they say it was vietnam before vietnam. in short, teddy was a brutal bastard. and, the winner of a peace prize.

good old woodrow wilson also won a peace prize. of course, he also invaded haiti and the dominican republic, bombed mexico, got the u.s. involved in the mass slaughter known as ww1, and was a rabid white supremacist. our involvement in the first world war got around 300,000 u.s. soldiers killed. who knows how many people our soldiers killed. it seems this bloody resume was a perfect record for a prize. for, you see, woody was a key player in the creation of the league of nations. which begs the question, did the league of nations save a single life? a young ho chi minh once tried to talk to woody at the league. needless to say, he never was granted any time.

so, we have soaring rhetoric on one hand, and bloody deeds on the other. the nobel people seem to prize the rhetoric, as they ignore the butal deeds of those they honor.

so, congrats, mr o'bomber.

but as they say, consider the source.