Cross-Posted: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson is joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the market reaction to Democrats potential killing of Obama’s tax cut deal, Francis will respond to Pej, and today’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Profanity, Anger Spill Over in House Democratic Caucus Meeting
Wednesday’s Show with Pej: The Liberal Outcry Over Obama’s Tax Cut Deal
Pelosi Attends Nobel Ceremony for Jailed Chinese Peace Price Winner
At Peace Prize Ceremony, Winner’s Chair Stays Empty
Liu Xiaobo: Words a Cell Can’t Hold

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The other day I pointed out the fact that President Obama has yet to donate the money he was awarded as the Nobel recipient. Obama stated he would donate the $1.4 million prize to charity. It’s been several weeks since he received the money and no one knows what’s happened to it.

The US Code is very clear in Receipt and Disposition of Foreign Gifts and Decorations. The code states:

1) The Congress consents to—
(A) the accepting and retaining by an employee of a gift of minimal value tendered and received as a souvenir or mark of courtesy; and
(B) the accepting by an employee of a gift of more than minimal value when such gift is in the nature of an educational scholarship or medical treatment or when it appears that to refuse the gift would likely cause offense or embarrassment or otherwise adversely affect the foreign relations of the United States, except that—
(i) a tangible gift of more than minimal value is deemed to have been accepted on behalf of the United States and, upon acceptance, shall become the property of the United States; and

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On Sunday morning, Instapundit drew attention to a startling photograph posted on the internet by the White House. In it stands President Obama in black tie, leaning against a wall, his arms folded, speaking not a word, and looking down on Vice-President Biden with hooded eyes.

When this shot is shown in high resolution, as one perceptive observer soon noted, “Obama looks like he has contempt for Biden” –which, he added, may be the case “given Joe ‘The Gaff Machine’ Biden’s performance this year.” I am, he concluded, once again reminded “of how this administration seems to have become oblivious to the images they project to the public.”

I wonder whether this last point is right.

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“Ever since Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform in 1912, seven presidents — Democrats and Republicans alike — have taken up the cause of reform time and time again,” President Obama said in a statement hailing the Christmas Eve Senate vote to take over 1/6 of the nation’s economy.  “Such efforts have been blocked by special-interests lobbyists who have perpetrated the status quo that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people.”

Note the date of TR’s “calling” for reform. It’s 1912.  Nationalized health care was part of the platform of the Progressive Party that year and every year thereafter. Americans are more familiar with the name Theodore himself gave to that third party bid. After being shot by a would-be assassin in Milwaukee, TR said it takes more than a single bullet to stop a Bull Moose. Instantly, the colorful sobriquet was applied to the Progressive Party.

What did Theodore himself think of his new-found allies, the Progressives? He was sincerely committed to reform. And he certainly thought he had been cheated out of the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1912. After all, he had won all the state party primaries in the limited number of states that held them. But TR also recognized that some of his Progressive supporters went over the top. For them, he coined the wonderful phrase, “the lunatic fringe.”

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Hands down, the ’00s were the worst political decade at least since the 1990s.

Reason.tv celebrates the (lack of) personalities, the scandals, and the screw-ups that made us all want to forget the first 10 years of the 21st century.

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Today, President Barack Obama makes a pit-stop in Oslo, Norway to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize.

We really don’t have anything else to say on this surreal event.  Sure, we could list all the heroes who never received such an accolade or point out the strikingly thin justifications for Obama’s award, but that would assume the prize carries any value at all anymore. Perhaps, long ago, it was a serious achievement. No longer.

Like any halfway sentient member of the human race I reacted to the news of Obama’s Nobel win last week with disbelief, soon giving way to scorn and ridicule, before experiencing a nasty sinking feeling.

Just a week after the naughty boys and girls at the IOC had delivered a blow to the president’s majestic ego, some idiots in Norway had decided to puff that balloon right back up again. And lo, there was Mr. Obama on TV, floating about in front of a podium, chin held aloft, doing the old mock humility routine as he wittered on about his daughter and his dog: just a regular guy, doing my best to save the world. Aw, shucks.

Since that moment of world-historical absurdity a great deal of commentary has been produced. As even Mr. Obama admits he does not deserve to stand in the company of earlier laureates such as Mandela or Mother Theresa, the focus has thus been on the ulterior motives of the Nobel Committee. Was this a late snub to Bush? Condescending encouragement to America for electing someone all right-thinking Norwegians approve of? Victor Davis Hanson offered this elegant piece, anatomizing social democratic Norway and its pathologies. However the one factor which nobody has discussed, and yet which I think is central is-

SATAN.

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In an age where style trumps substance in so many ways, few can be surprised that a fledging President would receive a Nobel Peace Prize.  It bears repeating that Obama was President for just a matter of days before the nomination process was closed.  Nevertheless, and without any substantive accomplishment, Obama was awarded the Prize – unanimously – apparently for things to come.  No wonder 58% of Americans believe that politics was behind the choice.

By contrast, consider the accomplishment of Ronald Reagan who, last I checked, did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  According to Margaret Thatcher, Reagan won the Cold War “without firing a shot.”   In the words of Henry Kissinger, it was “the most stunning diplomatic feat of the modern era.”  In the wake of that victory, millions upon millions of people were set free – and, as history has shown, a free people are far more likely to be a peaceful people.

So why didn’t Reagan get the Prize?  The answer is simple, the political Left, including the Nobel committee, didn’t like the way Reagan went about setting people free.   Reagan, we well remember, installed missiles in Europe.  He did so because he believed what Thomas Jefferson told us long ago:  “Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace.”  Reagan, in time, would modernize Jefferson’s wisdom by advocating “peace through strength.”

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“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Some things are more important than prizes. See you in the comments.

The Thesis: The Nobel Peace Prize means nothing. It is now just another paragon of political correctness manifested on the world stage. It’s the international equivalent to “Student of the Week” or any other unearned, self-esteem-based prize.

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From an email to Newsweek:

“The Nobel gang just suicide bombed themselves. Gore, Carter, Obama, soon Bill Clinton. See a pattern here? They are all leftist sell-outs. George Bush liberates 50 million Muslims in Iraq, Reagan liberates hundreds of millions of Europeans and saves parts of Latin America. Any awards?… Obama gives speeches trashing his own country and for that gets a prize, which is now worth as much as whatever prizes they are putting in Cracker Jacks these days.”

“This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama. It is a greater embarrassment than losing the Olympics bid. And with this ‘award’ the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States. They love a weakened, neutered U.S and this is their way of promoting that concept.  I think God has a great sense of  humor, too.” (more…)

Open thread here.

From the AP:

OSLO (AP) – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism. (more…)

Sorry to interrupt the previous open thread, but, are you kidding me?

We await word from the Baseball, Basketball and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. Have at it…and, really, really tip your waitress now.