2005 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.

2004 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 to Wangari Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa. She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women's rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts locally.

Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya. Her unique forms of action have contributed to drawing attention to political oppression - nationally and internationally. She has served as inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encouraged women to better their situation.

2003 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2003 to Shirin Ebadi for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children.

As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond its borders. She has stood up as a sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threats to her own safety.

Her principal arena is the struggle for basic human rights, and no society deserves to be labelled civilized unless the rights of women and children are respected. In an era of violence, she has consistently supported non-violence. It is fundamental to her view that the supreme political power in a community must be built on democratic elections. She favours enlightenment and dialogue as the best path to changing attitudes and resolving conflict.

2002 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy Carter, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.

During his presidency (1977-1981), Carter's mediation was a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, in itself a great enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. At a time when the cold war between East and West was still predominant, he placed renewed emphasis on the place of human rights in international politics.

Through his Carter Center, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2002, Carter has since his presidency undertaken very extensive and persevering conflict resolution on several continents. He has shown outstanding commitment to human rights, and has served as an observer at countless elections all over the world. He has worked hard on many fronts to fight tropical diseases and to bring about growth and progress in developing countries. Carter has thus been active in several of the problem areas that have figured prominently in the over one hundred years of Peace Prize history.

2001 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001, in two equal portions, to the United Nations (U.N.) and to its Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.

For one hundred years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to strengthen organized cooperation between states. The end of the cold war has at last made it possible for the U.N. to perform more fully the part it was originally intended to play. Today the organization is at the forefront of efforts to achieve peace and security in the world, and of the international mobilization aimed at meeting the world's economic, social and environmental challenges.

2000 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2000 to Kim Dae-jung for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

In the course of South Korea's decades of authoritarian rule, despite repeated threats on his life and long periods in exile, Kim Dae-jung gradually emerged as his country's leading spokesman for democracy. His election in 1997 as the republic's president marked South Korea's definitive entry among the world's democracies. As president, Kim Dae-jung has sought to consolidate democratic government and to promote internal reconciliation within South Korea.

1999 Nobel Peace Prize - The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1999 to Médecins Sans Frontières in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents.

Since its foundation in the early 1970s, Médecins Sans Frontières has adhered to the fundamental principle that all disaster victims, whether the disaster is natural or human in origin, have a right to professional assistance, given as quickly and efficiently as possible. National boundaries and political circumstances or sympathies must have no influence on who is to receive humanitarian help. By maintaining a high degree of independence, the organization has succeeded in living up to these ideals.

I don't think Joyner would've been happy with any of those and would still be whining about the liberal conspiracy in Hollywood.

If only there was a Mockumentary category then we could've congratulated the team behind 'The Path to 9/11' for their sterling work.

Kevin Polk FTW.

If you haven't read Treppenwitz's Hitting Close to Home; you must. Life in Israel has similar thoughts with a context. If you haven't read New line of export old line of import at SimplyJews; you must. Half funny. Half unfortunately not. If you have...

Boy is the left pissed off about this:
Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an e…

......

Bit, have you ever read Gore's actual remarks on the subject?

BLITZER: I want to get to some of the substance of domestic and international issues in a minute, but let's just wrap up a little bit of the politics right now.

Why should Democrats, looking at the Democratic nomination process, support you instead of Bill Bradley, a friend of yours, a former colleague in the Senate? What do you have to bring to this that he doesn't necessarily bring to this process?

GORE: Well, I will be offering -- I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins. And it will be comprehensive and sweeping. And I hope that it will be compelling enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it will be.

But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.

For those who are interested in the real story of what Gore actually claimed to have done and the role he did play in helping the internet along there is a fine article on the subject at:

http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/col/rose/2000/10/05/gore_internet/index.html

As for Bit, I am sure he is sticking with "I only know what Rush and Captain Ed have told me".

Now I will grant that Gore's use of language in this case was a bit clunky, a lot of "initiaves", but it is clear to anyone who reads this with anything resembling an open mind that Gore never claimed credit for inventing or creating the internet, or "internets" as Mr. Bush would say.

It it pretty clear that Gore got the potential and improtance of the internet early on, and worked to help provide a government policy that would expidite its growth and help prevent a regulatory climate that might hinder its growth.

I am not a huge Gore fan, though he has risen a notch or 2 in my book since his poor election/post election performance in 2000.

It is pretty clear that partially thru Gore's efforts, someone like Bithead is able to share his vast supply of utter drivel with the world online.

Why was he holding an Oscar and thanking the Academy, then?

Because he was taking credit for it. Rather like he was taking credit for inventing the Internet.

If you are so ill-informed, what could possibly have moved you to write a blog post on the subject?

That is what is done on conservative blogs. Reality is not something they let get in the way of making a political point, ever.

This is one of the few blogs where right wing propaganda and rational thought can simultaneously exist.

I mean, for heaven sakes, he hasn't said that the movie should have lost because God told him so, or because it fails to support our troops, or because an Academy Award for it means that Al Qaeda wins or any of the other drivel that these days passes itself off as conservative thought.

If anything Dr. Joyner's position on this reminds me of a (southern) friend of mine whose objections to Ken Burns civil war documentary centered largely around his personal dissatisfaction with the ending.

The title of this entry should have been "How come liberals win all the really cool awards?"

Why was he holding an Oscar and thanking the Academy, then?

Because Davis Guggenheim invited him up on stage and handed the statue to him. Do I assume that you have seen neither the film nor the awards ceremony? If you are so ill-informed, what could possibly have moved you to write a blog post on the subject?