President Barack Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama has accepted the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Obama said Thursday that he wants to continue working on issues that are important for America and for building lasting peace and security in the world. 

Wingnuts Helped Win Obama the Peace Prize

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

When President Barack Obama accepts his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo two months from now, he ought to give a shout-out to all the right-wingers who damn near choked on their own rabid foam upon learning that he won the coveted medal.

He couldn’t have done it without them.

 

Wingnuts Helped Win Obama the Peace Prize....

Cornel West: Peace Prize 'A Double-Edged Sword'

By: EURweb.com

In the days following President Barack Obama's unexpected awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, reaction has been mixed among the public. 
 
The president's latest accomplishment was a weekend topic of conversation for Dr. Cornel West, a longtime supporter of Obama, who addressed the situation while promoting his new memoir, "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud."

Although he expressed his joy over Obama receiving the prize, the activist was left wondering what factors contributed to his friend receiving the honor. 

Cornel West: Peace Prize 'A Double-Edged Sword'....

President Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

NOBEL LAUREATE WATSON RETIRES

Scientist Watson quits post after race remarks

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nobel prize winner James Watson, renowned for describing DNA's structure, quit on Thursday as chancellor of a leading U.S. research facility after being quoted as questioning Africans' intelligence.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said Watson, 79, retired after nearly 40 years of serving the institution, located in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. He served as president of the laboratory until 2003 and since then had served as chancellor.

"Closer now to 80 than 79, the passing on of my remaining vestiges of leadership is more than overdue. The circumstances in which this transfer is occurring, however, are not those which I could ever have anticipated or desired," Watson said in a statement provided by the laboratory.

Watson said he is retiring immediately from his position as chancellor as well as his post on the laboratory's board.

The laboratory said last week its board had suspended Watson from his duties following his remarks to a British newspaper.

"For over 40 years, Dr. Watson has made immeasurable contributions to the laboratory's research and educational programs," Eduardo Mestre, chairman of the board of the laboratory, said in a statement.

"The board respects his decision to retire at this point in his career," he added.

The laboratory's statement announcing his resignation did not mention the controversy over Watson's comments.

In an interview published in the October 14 edition of The Sunday Times, Watson was quoted as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa."

"All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really," he was quoted as saying.

Watson shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins for the description of the double helix structure of DNA. He had been associated with the laboratory since 1948.

In the aftermath of the published remarks, Watson told an audience in London: "To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly."

Laboratory President Bruce Stillman said on October 17 that the board, leadership and faculty of the institution "vehemently disagree" with Watson's statements "and are bewildered and saddened if he indeed made such comments."

Fellow scientists condemned Watson's comments. The Federation of American Scientists called them "noxious." In the days after his remarks were published, Watson cut short a book tour in Britain and returned to the United States.

In his statement on Thursday, Watson said, "As an educator, I have always striven to see that the fruits of the American Dream are available to all. I have been much blessed."

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private research and education institution whose scientists study molecular biology and genetics to gain insight into cancer, neurological diseases and other maladies.



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JAMES WATSON APOLOGIZES FOR RACIST REMARKS

James Watson, the 79-year-old geneticist who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, has apologized for his controversial comments last week that blacks are less intelligent than whites.

"I am mortified about what has happened," Watson said Thursday through the publicist for his British publisher. "More importantly, I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said.

"I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways they have," he continued. "To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief."

Watson, a Nobel Prize winner in 1962 for his work in DNA, made his inflammatory comments in an interview with the Sunday Times of London. The newspaper quoted him as saying he's "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really."

While he hopes everyone is equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true," Watson continued in the interview. He also said people should not be discriminated against on the basis of color, because "there are many people of color who are very talented."

Watson's Sunday Times interview was to promote his new book, "Avoid Boring People: Lessons From a Life in Science." The comments, reprinted Wednesday in front-page articles in another British newspaper, The Independent, provoked London's Science Museum to cancel a sold-out lecture he was to give there Friday (Oct. 19).

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said his comments "represent racist propaganda masquerading as scientific fact. ... That a man of such academic distinction could make such ignorant comments, which are utterly offensive and incorrect and give succor to the most backward in our society, demonstrates why racism still has to be fought."

In the United States, the Federation of American Scientists said it was outraged that Watson "chose to use his unique stature to promote personal prejudices that are racist, vicious and unsupported by science."

The renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on New York's Long Island, where Watson serves as chancellor, suspended his administrative responsibilities Thursday following the outcry, the laboratory said in a news release. The board and administration of the privately run research facility said he wasn't speaking for the lab and commented that they "vehemently disagree with these statements and are bewildered and saddened if he indeed made such comments."

WILL HE OR WON'T HE ???

Is an '08 run the next step for Al Gore?

By Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore's win of the Nobel Peace Prize for his crusade against global warming set off intense speculation Friday that he might jump into the 2008 presidential contest.
Democratic activists, including some of his most trusted advisers, say that is unlikely —given the already crowded field of candidates and his commitment to focus his efforts on climate change.

"I don't think that this great honor will change that calculation," said Michael Feldman, who was a senior White House adviser to Gore. "Frankly, I don't think he's given politics a lot of thought lately."

Gore himself has sought to tamp down rumors in recent weeks, saying that he has no plans to seek the presidency. In a statement issued shortly after the prize was announced, Gore said: "The climate crisis is not a political issue."

At a brief news conference Friday afternoon, Gore did not discuss his political plans or take questions. "I will be doing everything I can to best use the honor and recognition" to increase awareness of global warming's perils, he said.

Donna Brazile, who managed Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, said she would enthusiastically support his return to politics, "but he cooled my jets months ago."

"He's made the decision at this point," she said. "I don't foresee that this will in any way get Al Gore back on the campaign trail."

That hasn't stopped people from trying. "I've called Al Gore and urged him to run for president so many times," former President Carter told NBC's Today show. "He finally told me the last time, 'President Carter, please do not call me.' "

Gore also has been the target of an intense, Internet-driven effort to draft him. It included a full-page ad Wednesday in The New York Times, urging him to join the race.

Monica Friedlander, a public relations executive in Oakland, who is one of the Draft Gore organizers, said the Nobel win is further proof of his job qualifications.

At midday Friday, the group's online petition had garnered more than 177,000 signatures — up by more than 10,000 from a day earlier, she said.

Gore's supporters "realize that the odds are that he will not" run, she said. "But we have to demonstrate to him the kind of support he enjoys and create the army of volunteers he would have if he decided on a last-minute entry."

A last-minute entry into next year's contest would leave Gore far behind several Democratic candidates in the race for campaign cash. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who leads the field in national polls, and Barack Obama each have raised about $80 million this year.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California, said Gore likely could raise a considerable amount of money quickly, "but the reality is that most Democrats are happy with the field as it is."

In a Gallup Poll conducted before the Nobel Prize announcement, Clinton had an 84% favorable and 11% unfavorable rating among Democrats, according to Frank Newport, the poll's editor-in-chief. By comparison, Gore received 73% favorable and 20% unfavorable ratings.

In addition, when pollsters included Gore in a list of potential nominees, 10% of Democrats picked Gore as their first choice; 43% picked Clinton.

"We just don't see in the data any evidence that Gore would transform the race overnight should he jump in," Newport said.

Gore has not ruled out endorsing a candidate — as he did in the 2004 race when he backed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who lost his party's nomination to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

Although Dean lost, Brazile said Gore's endorsement helped demonstrate the Dean was a credible candidate. In 2008, the former vice president's backing "will carry enormous weight," she said.

Bebitch said Gore's support probably would matter most to candidates who lag behind Clinton and Obama in fundraising and the polls, such as former North Carolina senator John Edwards and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Gore would have the ability to tap big donors on their behalf and generate buzz among the legions of environmental activists who support him, Bebitch said. "He's got a golden Rolodex from years and years in politics and the White House," she said.

Edwards was the first presidential candidate to release a statement congratulating Gore. An email from his campaign was sent at 5:18 a.m. — only minutes after the Nobel group announced the prize in Oslo.

Other candidates also praised the selection. Clinton said Gore's "dedication and tireless work have been instrumental in raising international awareness about global warming."

Obama, who has sought to distinguish himself from the Democratic field by emphasizing his opposition to the war in Iraq, said that Gore's fight against global warming — along with "his early and vocal opposition" to the war — has helped to advance world peace.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Fratto said President Bush is "happy for Vice President Gore" and "for the International Panel on Climate Change scientists who also shared the peace prize."

Contributing: The Associated Press

AL GORE WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Al Gore Nobel Peace Prize Press Conference.