What's So Great About a Nobel Peace Prize?

The Nobel Peace Prize apparently exists only as proof that our world is filled to the brim with bullshit.

Billionaires get taxpayer money when they're caught cheating, while Jane and Joe down the street lose their jobs and then their house. The CEO's that were "hurt" by the bad economy they've propagated for years really should thank Jane and Joe for their lifelong tax contributions, ensuring many more happy caviar parties aboard their yachts.

Opponents to health care reform scream "murder" and "socialist", but they're not the ones who need a reasonable health plan. Ask Jane why Joe can't get any coverage any more because he caught an infection that damaged his heart and nearly killed him, thereby stigmatizing him as a "risk" and thus uninsurable. His four monthly medications cost somewhere between $100 and $300 per bottle. What does he do after his company goes bankrupt, he loses his job, and he needs to pay for the $800 - $1200 monthly medications that keep him alive?

Somewhere in Afghanistan at this moment, a mother wails because her husband and son were rent into so much collateral damage when a Predator let loose one of its Hellfire missiles upon a party. Later, after she walks into a market and blows herself up, a soldier will perish and his family will suffer for years from the shock.

These things can be averted with the right policies and priorities, but I have yet to see the "yes we can" president follow through on his commitments. Health care is doomed, jobs are disappearing, the rich keep getting richer, and he will very likely capitulate to the generals that supposedly work for him and escalate an already-lost war.

So, where's the peace? Is it in death? It must be because the Nobel team picked the one person in this world who has made sure that peace in death will assuredly come to thousands more.