World

Congratulations - President Barack Obama just won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said... It came as a huge suprise to the people in the room as well as President Obama and his White House staff. The main reason for the shock was because up to now President Obama hasn’t done much in terms of foreign policy. We are still engaged in two wars with the President currently contemplating ramping things up in Afghanistan. That's not very peace-like in a lot of people’s minds.

So everyone has been talking about Saturday’s Tea Party March on Washington and how it represents a sea change of sorts. Perhaps it does, perhaps it doesn’t. Whether it was 1.2 million people or tens of thousands who showed up, it all has to be put in context. First, we already know close to 46 million people voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin so close to half the country that voted has a different political outlook on things. We should not be suprised or intimidated by how vocal that opposition is. We have our own troops in large numbers.

The first time I heard of Blackwater was around the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. We started hearing reports that there was a private army that was running around, guarding hotels and preventing people from taking refuge and seeking shelter as they fled from the horrors of the 9th Ward.

At first we thought they were security guards, but later learned they were navy seals, and ex military men who had come in from Iraq and were given full authority to shoot and kill, detain folks and basically run the show. The word was these guys were scary and out of control.

Former congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney talks about her trips to Gaza to bring humanatarian aid and how it took 3 different attempts. Here she talks about the Israeli Navy ramming and destroying their ship - The Dignity.