Nobel Peace Prize

Alfred Nobel died in 1896 and set up his foundation. Presumably the Peace Award was created because he felt guilty about inventing dynamite and other explosives. Most of the Nobel Laureates over the years are people I have never heard of. Martti Ahtisarri won the Peace Prize last year. This is the fault of the media in the USA. I did not know that Martti was the former President of Finland. But, I do know who John and Kate are fooling around with and what drugs Michael Jackson took, and who Letterman slept with.

Over the years some questionable people got the awards. In 1994 Arafat received the award jointly with Peres and Rabin. Some may argue that Arafat had his fingers crossed when the three met and really wasn’t interested in peace. Rap performers get Grammies and I don’t even consider Rap music. But, just like the Nobel Prize I have no say and I’m not paying for it.

Some of the categories conflict with each other. Enrico Fermi got the physics award in 1938. Enrico has his hand in inventing the atomic bomb so I doubt that he was considered for the peace award.

I‘m proud of Obama and the USA for receiving this year’s award. It’s not up to me to say whether or not Obama deserved the award and it’s certainly not Rush Limbaugh’s call. I don’t know who else was in the running. I didn’t vote for George Bush and I didn’t much care for anything he did. But, I have respect for the office of the President of the United States. I suggest that Rush, the Dixie Chicks and others that don’t respect the office of the President exercise one of the greatest rights we have in the USA: the right to leave.

I was led to believe that I was in the running for the Nobel Prize in Literature for my book Am I the Only One That Signals? I was not upset when Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born German poet won. Rush: how about a little plug here. Do you think Herta deserved the prize more than I did?