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Video can be found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-LwgTbgbHE Just wanted to share this video the University Republicans made in response to Obama accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. The group went around campus for a couple hours asking students what they "intend" to do to receive a Nobel Peace Prize; for their responses, students were given edible, chocolate Prizes. :-) We wanted to make a serious and entertaining policy critique while showing the various student responses. There are some student responses at the beginning; then a hypocrisy-and-inaction montage of news clips; then back to student responses after Professor Pape's commentary at...

A group of Islamic militants forced villagers to watch as they stoned a man to death for adultery, it has emerged. The group, Hizbul Islam, also shot dead a man they claimed was a murderer. But the verdict was so shocking that it prompted a gun battle between rivals within the group that left three militants dead, witnesses said.

A Border Crossing by Ari Bussel The Jordan River A family friend is a professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The city is located at the confluence of the McKenzie and the Willamette rivers. I vividly remember looking at awe at a river, thinking of God’s power, the enormity of nature and the fragility of man. Thursday, I was standing near the Jordan River, gazing at the water surface. It was a serene picture, playing with my senses. The water still like glass, on the opposite bank two men fished, the distance shorter than the cement-Los Angeles River....

Accepting Peace Prize, Obama Evokes 'Just War'2009-12-10 16:05:18 (4 hours ago) Posted By: Intellpuke President Obama, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize here in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday, acknowledged the age-old tensions between war and peace but argued that his recent decision to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan was justified to protect the world from terrorism and extremism. “We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth,” said President Obama. “We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but...

Earlier today in Oslo, Norway, President Barack Obama finally, formally accepted his Nobel Prize for "peace." But where are the internationally-acclaimed prizes for "liberty" and "justice"? These are far worthier goals -- far loftier ideals. Politically speaking, and in other ways too, what the world needs above all else -- today and always -- is individual liberty and universal justice! If the Nobel Committee is going to embrace questionable, unworthy goals and dubious, lowly ideals, why not sink all the way down to giving out renowned awards for international "security," or even multinational "stability"? Clearly there are times when peace...

OSLO – President Barack Obama's decision to break with tradition and not follow the lead of past Nobel Peace Prize winners bewildered some Norwegians. Others thought he was being impolite. Obama had quite a whirlwind day Thursday — he signed the Nobel guest book, huddled with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, met with King Harald V and Queen Sonja, and delivered an acceptance speech after he was formally presented with the prize. He also was joining the king and queen at an evening banquet.

The text of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, delivered Thursday in Oslo, Norway, as provided by the White House: Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world: I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations — that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice. And yet I would be remiss if I did...

Large circulation Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun's reporter in Washington, D.C., Mr. Etsunari Kurose, reports in Japanese that Americans are not so hot on the idea of Obama receiving that award in Oslo, Norway.66% of registered voters in a very recent Quinnipiac Poll said Mr. Obama did not have the right to receive that award. Only 26% said that he did.

It is difficult to turn on a TV or radio or pick up a newspaper these days without finding some pundit or other deploring the dismal prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace or the dreadful living conditions of the Palestinians. Even supposedly neutral news reporters regularly repeat this sad tale. “Very little is changing for the Palestinian people on the ground,” I heard BBC World Service Cairo correspondent Christian Fraser tell listeners three times in a 45-minute period the other evening. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I had spent that day in the West Bank’s largest city, Nablus. The city...

Oslo (dpa) -- US President Barack Obama will likely spend two nights in Oslo next week where he is to receive his Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Tuesday. "What can be confirm today is that that he will arrive on Wednesday the 9th, and he will arrive 'late evening' it is said," Geir Lundestad, secretary of the committee, told broadcaster NRK. Obama is due on December 10 to receive his Nobel Peace Prize. He was cited by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The day before...

"People are discouraged," said Susan Lamont, a Santa Rosa resident who drives a Subaru wagon plastered with bumper stickers. Donations that fund the nonprofit center were down 10 percent last year and another 20 percent this year, a trend that has crimped budgets for many nonprofit groups. But political activism has also waned, with many on the left now merely signing e-mail petitions, which Lamont considers a "worthless effort."

When Hemnecher Amen, a student, joined a protest outside the White House recently, it was the latest visible opposition here to US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hardly anyone took any notice. "There's a lot of apathy and a growing disconnectedness to what's going on in world affairs," the frustrated Howard University junior said as around 200 people, including a handful of students, gathered for the march. "Students are more interested in trying to get a job and make money." With the US military several years into two faraway wars, American students like Amen are taking to the streets less...

President Barack Obama was surprisingly given the Nobel Peace Prize "primarily for his work on and commitment to nuclear disarmament," according to Agot Valle, a Norwegian politician who served on the award committee. Valle told the Wall Street Journal that the stewards of the prize wanted to "support" Obama's goal, as expressed recently at the U.N., "of a world without nuclear weapons." It's tough to think of a goal more widely espoused than the dream of an H-bomb-free planet. President Ronald Reagan and activist Jane Fonda, political opposites, came together on this one — in his second term, Reagan stunned...

SIERRA VISTA — From the founding of America through today, the citizens of the nation owe veterans a debt of gratitude, an Army colonel said Wednesday. Speaking at the end of Sierra Vista’s 15th annual Veterans Day parade, Col. Timothy Faulkner said no less a person than President George Washington noted the need to appreciate veterans after the Revolutionary War. Faulkner, Fort Huachuca’s garrison commander, said it was Washington who set the tone that carries through to today when he said, “We owe veterans a debt of gratitude, indeed a debt of honor.” And the colonel noted that from Valley...

Any commemoration in the Knesset of the anniversary of Rabbi Meir Kahane's assassination would be harmful to the peace process, the US Embassy told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. The American comments came after the Post obtained a series of e-mails in which an embassy official told Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin's office that the possibility of such a ceremony was "something that Senator [George] Mitchell and his team are following with concern." Following a Post report describing Rivlin's denial that he had allowed MK Michael Ben-Ari to commemorate Kahane in the Knesset plenum, the US administration contacted Rivlin's office to keep...

Sorry for the vanity...but I have been here for awhile and I just cannot stay quiet any more...if anyone is wondering...there are hundreds like me...by personal contact...not CNN estimates.

Find out who is getting the next Nobel Prize!

On Sunday evening at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., J-Street opened its first ever-national policy conference. Officially founded over a year ago, the self-proclaimed "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby was birthed amid controversy. While J-Street positioned itself as the voice of mainstream American Jewish opinion on Israel, critics (myself included) argued it was a left-wing front far from the mainstream.

Dispersed between the speakers we bring in (great success with Amb John Bolton last week btw) and activist projects we work on, the University Republicans like to have some fun in adding to the political discourse on campus. This upcoming event is a great example. I thought readers would find the event info quite amusing and so pasted the event info below. Be on the lookout come Monday from 12:00-1:30 on the University of Chicago Quad as YOU have a chance to become a Nobel Peace Prize recipient! Yes, you could join the venerable ranks of activists like Henry Kissinger,...

Only in a parallel dimension.

As the African Synod opens its second week, by now the Aula's heard a word on seemingly everything thanks to the five-minute interventions from its 250-some bishop-members and non-bishop auditors, which comprise the first part of each global assembly. But even as the delegates have heard no shortage of strong comments calling for everything from debt forgiveness and inculturation to combatting corruption and advancing a greater role for women in the church, perhaps the most emotional and profound of the bunch came Friday, when the testimony of a Rwandan religious, Sister Genevieve Uwamariya, provided the monthlong gathering's most personal reflection...

President Barack Obama Rome, Italy, Oct 12, 2009 / 01:33 pm (CNA).- The semi-official Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, has called the decision to award President Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize premature and more of an invitation to choose peace through politics. The award is also questionable because of his position on various bio-ethics issues, especially abortion. The article points out that “the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama has taken everyone somewhat by surprise, first and foremost the U.S. president himself.” “During the last 90 years,” L'Osservatore noted, “the prize has never been awarded to a sitting...

"President Barack Obama's Nobel peace surprise was given "primarily for his work on and commitment to nuclear disarmament," according to Agot Valle, a Norwegian politician who served on the award committee. Valle told the Wall Street Journal that the stewards of the prize wanted to "support" Obama's goal, as expressed recently at the United Nations, "of a world without nuclear weapons." It's tough to think of a goal more widely espoused than the dream of an H-bomb-free planet. Ronald Reagan and Jane Fonda, political opposites, came together on this one - in his second term, Reagan stunned his own advisers...

TMZ Exclusive: Trump To Nobel Panel - "You're Fired!"Changes Format to Reality Show - Adds Paula Abdul as Judge Oct 11, 2009 - New York, NY: Donald Trump, American business magnate, socialite, author and television personality, assumed full control of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and its functions late Saturday evening, sources have informed TMZ. Trump, Chairman and CEO of the Trump Organization, a US-based real-estate developer, serves as host and executive producer of his own NBC reality show, The Apprentice.After witnessing the botched awarding of this year's prize to President Barack Obama of the United States, an irate...

In recent years I have viewed the Nobel Peace Prize as being akin to Confederate currency. Now I’m sure of it. In his address following being conveyed with the supposed honor, President Obama said that he didn’t feel worthy of it. Brother, you said a mouth full there! Then again, considering it’s been also given to the likes of Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Kofi Annan, et all, perhaps Obie’s in good company after all. This vacuous backslap ironically comes right on the heels of “Saturday Night Live” doing a skit on how Obama has done nothing so far. Likewise, he...

Bishop Selim Sayegh Amman, Jordan, Oct 9, 2009 / 02:25 pm (CNA).- The Vicar of Jordan, Most Rev. Selim Sayegh, spoke to CNA in Amman last week about the tensions in the Middle East as well as the diminishing number of Christians in the area.  He noted that Catholics can assist those struggling in the region by praying for peace because “true peace comes from the Lord,” not Obama, or Israeli/Palestinian leaders.Sayegh, who has served Jordan as an auxiliary bishop for 27 years, addressed the plight of Christians in the Middle East, particularly the ones living in Iraq. He...

Hemingway kiddingly called the Nobel Prize “the Ignoble,” even when he won it. Too bad Papa’s nickname has become reality, given recent recipients of the Peace Prize: Yasser Arafat (a terrorist), Jimmy Carter (an anti-Semite and hater of America), Al Gore (an environmentalist poser and peddler of junk science) and now Barack Hussein Obama (a community organizer and America’s premiere apologist). The latest awarding is the biggest joke of all. In the past the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for accomplishment. The 1895 will of Alfred Nobel states that the prize should go to those who “shall have done the...

I woke up, read the New York Times website and thought I had come to the Onion instead. I hit refresh. Still there: "Obama Wins Nobel for Diplomacy." Maybe this is one of my weird work-related dreams, I thought. Maybe I am still drunk from last night's party. Better close my eyes and wake up again in the real world. Five minutes later...and still no dice. Yes, Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. My first reaction is that this is going to be a test of how much crazier Orly Taitz and the Republican Anti-Christers can get. Not...

I too woke up to the news about President Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize and saying WTF several times. In an effort to bring some perspective and a warning to "Da Man" at a time of his glory, I want to remind all of a predecessor of his that DID NOT get the Peace Prize but should have and probably would have gotten it eventually except for a greater tragedy! At the start of World War 1, this man was an international business man, lecturer and author who by his own efforts had become a millionaire. In 1914 he...

From a reader: I just went to this link and, in the "Type your nominee here!" field, entered "Barack Obama." The winner of this Nissan-sponsored promotion will actually receive one official vote for the Heisman award as sort of the people's choice. You can actually go back and vote once each day between now and the Heisman award in December.

Well, that didn’t take long. But it was almost inevitable: the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama. As “the world” hated Pres. George W. Bush, “the world” loves President Obama. What do we mean by “the world”? We mean the editors of Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and the Guardian. The faculty at Brown University. The secretariat of the United Nations. We mean Lord Malloch-Brown, not Václav Klaus. When President Bush visited Iraq for the last time, a foe of his threw a shoe at him. The shoe-thrower was taken to be “the world.” Hugo Chávez even made...

I'm feeling a little verklempt. Here's a topic: Obama was only in office 11 days before the deadline of the nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. Discuss.

I hope the members of the Nobel committee feel pleased with themselves for giving this year's peace prize to Barack Obama. I bet they do, the smug idiots. It is hard to imagine a more effective way to undermine him both at home and abroad. It smacks hugely of sentimentality and condescension. Disdain for the award from the Middle East, Pakistan and other regions that have felt the sharp edge of American hard power – bombs and missiles included – since the president was inaugurated on 20 January will more than outweigh the warm, fuzzy feelings that the news will...

Congratulations Mr. Obama apparently the Norwegeians caught the hope and change fever and reduced the Nobel peace prize to a set of promises. At least Gore (sort of) made a movie (8.0 on IMDB, well done)despite being debunked along with the "experts" at international climate change counil. At least Arafat once attempted to seek peace even if it was after waging terror on innocent civilians. Today's winner fittingly shocked observers because while he has not accomplished anything YET, he has fantastic potential. Why the shock? The Norwegeian commitee consists primarily of politicians who represent the political leanings of Norway's parliament....

(Newser) – Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize laureate? "They could have awarded it to Kylie Minogue and I wouldn’t have been half as surprised," writes Ben Brogan of the Telegraph, who thinks the "bunch of Scandinavian worthies" have made a silly, self-satisfied choice. Yet while the Norwegians have embarrassed themselves, the president doesn't have to—he's better than the caricature he's being made into, and he should tell the Nobel committee thanks but no thanks.

The award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself. Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world. Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and...

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Svenska Freds) has classified as "shameful" the decision by the Nobel Committee in Oslo to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 to Barack Obama. "The choice of Barack Obama as the recipient of the world's foremost peace prize is shocking," said the group's chairwoman Anna Ek in a statement. Ek conceded that the US president had sent "positive signals" with regard to his future commitment to global peace. "But at the same time Obama is the president of the biggest military power in the world and is waging two wars in the world....

Stunning. Befuddling. Disturbing. Words that used to be used to describe Nancy Pelosi’s plastic surgery record can now be applied to the Nobel committee once again. After choosing pseudo-religious environmentalist Al Gore in 2007 for his film, An Inconvenient Truth, the Nobel group has apparently decided to award the president its highest award for… hope? In a statement issued by the committee, Obama was being honored for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Also cited by the Oslo, Norway group was Obama’s push to make the United Nations a preeminent force in international relations. “Only...

President Barack Obama now faces a ... tough decision. The war in Afghanistan is not going well. The rebuilding effort isn't going well. The effort to create a competent government isn't going well. So should he commit American support if he isn't committed to doing what is needed to succeed? Mr. Obama owns the war in Afghanistan. He bought it, on credit. But he is fulminating at the cost now that the bill is coming due. Gen. Stanley McChrystal has made clear what the bill will be in terms of additional troops. And the president now wants a review to...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is trying to restore Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak as the U.S. ace-in-the-hole in its decades-long effort to forge an elusive peace among Israel and the Arabs. After a serious falling out over Bush administration pressure on human rights and democracy in Egypt, Mubarak is back in the U.S. capital for the first time in more than five years to meet with Obama on Tuesday. The relationship is far from healed, despite Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton having eased back on those touchy issues and Egypt showing greater willingness to help with the...

Hamas is prepared to deal "positively" with US President Barack Obama's Middle East peace plan, a top political aide to Ismail Haniyeh, the organization's prime minister, said Thursday.... According to various reports, Obama is soon set to unveil his plan for comprehensive Middle East peace

Saudi Arabia has thoroughly rejected appeals by U.S. President Barack Obama that the Arab world make modest gestures to Israel to show it is interested in advancing a regional peace that would include the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state within Israel’s current borders. "The question is not what the Arab world will offer," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday. "The question really is: What will Israel give in exchange for this comprehensive offer?" The Saudi rebuff, which also ignored an appeal by more than 200...

Sunday Poll: Are you at peace? A Daily Poll.

<p>Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing a push to deregulate the state's electricity markets -- a move embraced by business leaders and some energy analysts but criticized by many Democrats and consumer advocates as a return to the failed policies that sparked California's energy crisis.</p>

i think we could form a more perfect union if we could find peace in the nation and abroad.we should not be dictators.dictatorship ended in the early 1960's.some say cummnuism is where you share your countrys' wealth.i'm more in favor sharing wealth with the united and free world.

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Sunday, June 14, 2009. New Richmond, Ohio was the sight of the Flag Day Rally for Freedom, and gray sky and a late monsoon like downpour could not damper the spirit of about 500 people of like mind. Although I arrived late, along with muggs, I heard rousing, inspirational, informative speeches by Mike Wilson, organizer of Cincinnati Tea Party, and Tom Tabback, author of THINGS FORGOTTEN, and JOE THE PLUMBER. Cincinnati 912 Project was also represented. www.Cincinnati912Project.com. Photos coming

In his Cairo speech President Obama tried to convince Muslims that conflict with America was unnecessary. We can all get along, argued Obama, because, despite historical conflicts, the Islamic world and the West share core values: We just need to understand each other better. “Partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't.” But what exactly is Islam? Obama assures us it is a religion of peace, a religion that would never justify terrorist atrocities. “The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind;...

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly anticipated foreign policy speech, in which he called for immediate peace talks and endorsed the creation of Palestinian state without military capabilities. An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the speech "sabotages" regional peace efforts, due to Netanyahu's refusal to accept an influx of Palestinian refugees into Israel and his unwillingness to compromise on the status of Jerusalem. "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions," said Nabil Abu Rudeinah. He noted Netanyahu's demand that Jerusalem...

Netanyahu succeeded overnight in taking back a very major concession that previous Israeli governments had made and turning it into a significant bargaining chip. For years - surely ever since Ehud Barak made his famous magnanimous peace offer - Israeli support for a two-state solution was more or less taken for granted. In a surprisingly short period, Netanyahu has put Israel into a position in which if it agrees to two states, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan will be able to say that they and Obama have wrested a major concession from Israel's "right-wing government." Unlike Kadima, that offered 97%...