Peace, Man

So today Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I was quite surprised [so was he, apparently] - the Nobel awards aren't really like the Academy Awards in terms of hype leading up to them. I don't really get it. I think it's a bit ridiculous that someone who is the commander-in-chief of two wars to win an award for peace. Unless the awards are now being given out ironically? I'm well-aware that there have been numerous controversial winners in the past and the whole selection process seems a bit sketchy. But since when do we [and by we I guess I mean everyone in the world - not to cast too sweeping of a generalization here] give out major awards just for aspiring to something? Should the Olympics be decided that way - whomever is really into skiing and would really like to be the best skier...ladies and gentlemen - there's your gold medal winner [even if they can barely stand on skis?]! Another interesting note on this is that Obama was president for less than two weeks by the time of the nomination deadline...things that make you go hmmm, right? I hate things that make me agree with Republicans [I'm just assuming Republicans have something negative to contribute about this]. I'm wondering if Obama would have been able to turn it down? That might have been a terribly classy move - I've checked out some of the folks that were nominated this year and they are an inspiring bunch...for my money, much more than Obama [in the field of peace and stuff - Obama's story is inspiring, but in a different way].

In other Barack Obama and family news - it is First Doggie Bo's first birthday today. I've never been classy enough to have a pet with a known birthday [I think this sort of thing happens when you buy from a reputable breeder or if a dog/cat you know has babies], so I randomly assigned a birthday to my beloved evil cat, Guthrie. I felt that St. Patrick's Day was close enough to his likely birth date and he behaved like a surly and occasionally belligerent drunk pretty much all the time, so it was very appropriate. He didn't really care about his birthday [or much else besides causing mayhem], but we tried to give him some extra milk caps, bottle caps, soup [he loved minestrone and would eat it out of the pot on the stove] and yogurt tops. I'm sure that Bo is having a much more refined celebration