It was announced today that President Barack Obama of the United States had won the once-prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Obama was awarded the prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

There was no accompanying 'rimshot' sound effect to the announcement. This was not a joke.

Obama was nominated for the prize within a couple of weeks of being sworn in to the office of the Presidency. A couple of weeks during which he earned the nomination by, uh, doing...er, uh. Well, he made a couple speeches, right? Uh, he, er, uh said some pretty good things, I think?

A year ago, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martii Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland who after leaving that office had established the Crisis Management Initiative in 2000, a non-governmental group that helps mediate and resolve crisis around the world. Ahtisaari had worked for decades in places like Kosova, Iraq, and Indonesia to promote peace.

Barack Obama, in just a couple of weeks in office, made some "extraordinary efforts" that got him the same award. What it took Ahtisaari and all other Nobel laureates a lifetime to achieve, Obama managed through those extraordinary efforts to achieve in mere weeks.

For his part, Obama on one hand seemed to understand that his nomination was out of place saying "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures who've been honored by this prize." However, Obama went on to say that he would accept the prize anyway as a "call to action" and "as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."

Come on, folks, this is an organization that honored Al Gore with a straight face. This was nothing more than a purely political endorsement by a European organization that has found a sympathetic figure it hopes will further bolster the EU's efforts to undermine American strength and drive us closer to a new Socialist world order.

CBS news chief Bob Schieffer, a liberal spokesperson for a liberal news organization, believes this was purely a slap at the Bush administration's aggressive policies in the world, and suggested that the award may have been a prize "for winning the election." The conservative National Review wondered if Obama would next be honored with Major League Baseball's prestigious Cy Young Award as it's top pitcher.

Alfred Nobel himself is probably rolling over in his grave right now. In his will, Nobel stipulated that the prize should be awarded to someone "who shall have done the most or the best work" on behalf of peace. Man, that Obama sure is something, getting all that work done in just a couple of weeks in order to be nominated.

To use boxing terms, if giving Al Gore a Nobel Peace Prize for what is at best a controversial and at worst a fraudulent global warming presence was the 'left hook' then giving Barack Obama the award is the 'right cross' and the final blow that knocks the Nobel Prize out of the credibility fight.

Barack Obama noted when he took office that America is "at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred" and yet he has done nothing since taking power to keep America safe from these Islamist terrorists. In fact, his words and actions have undermined that process and made America even more vulnerable today, and set up the processes by which we will become increasingly more vulnerable going forward.

Obama stated in his inaugural that "earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions." What he failed to state was that there are no longer nations with the moral backbone to stand up for their convictions as allies for true freedom, only cowards who surrender to maintain peace, hiding behind the apron strings of socialism as they await the onrush from the forces of Islamism.

The legacy that Barack Obama is forging here at home is certainly not one of peace among Americans. It is one of being a divider, not the uniter that he said he would become. He is a partisan leader of a partisan political party in a partisan environment in which roughly half of the people of his own country do not support him or his policies.

Be it at home in the United States among fellow Americans, or within our own hemisphere in dealing with situations in places like Cuba and Venezuela, Obama has done little or nothing to forge peace. In the Middle East with our friends in Israel, or with or Islamist enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama has done little or nothing to forge peace. In relations with major powers such as Russia and China, Obama has done little or nothing to forge peace.

Webster's defines 'noble' as "possessing outstanding qualities" and "possessing, characterized by, or arising from the superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals." Combined with the Gore award, today's awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama can only leave us with the notion that the award is now purely political, and the Nobel organization has surrendered all nobility.

Congressman Joe Wilson had enough of the lies, and could no longer contain himself. The Republican from South Carolina had sat patiently in his chair while trying to endure 45 minutes of President Barack Obama droning on about extending his Socialist vision of America into the health care industry.

But then Obama told one lie too many for Wilson during last night's nationally televised attempt at indoctrination and bullying. The President let slip that his proposed government option would not cover illegal aliens. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back for the Congressman.

"You Lie!" shouted Wilson.

If you were watching on television, you heard it plain as day. The uproar in response was immediate and boisterous as various members of Congress either gasped in astonishment, hollered their disapproval, or mildly cheered the outburst. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, seated immediately over Obama's left shoulder, shot an icy stare in Wilson's direction.

Obama was also stunned by the outburst and momentarily glanced away from his teleprompter, causing him to stumble and mumble a weak "That's not true" as a response. Unfortunately for Obama, Pelosi and the Democrats, particularly the ultra-liberals on the far left who are pushing the President further and further towards that Socialist disaster, Joe Wilson was the only one actually speaking truth.

On the issue that caused Wilson's outburst, Obama has repeatedly rebuffed calls for individuals to provide proof of citizenship in order to receive health care under the proposed government option. This will undoubtedly result in illegals receiving such care, and increased numbers of them as Mexicans and others stream across our southern borders to receive better medical care here at no cost.

Well, it's at no cost to the illegal aliens. It will, however, cost every single taxpaying American as money is sucked from our paychecks in order to provide health care for people who are not even citizens of our country.

The funding for this project is another of it's controversial elements, and was addressed last night with another of Obama's lies. He spoke of increasing costs by $900 billion over the next decade, and compared that amount to the same amount to fund the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His point was that it is affordable if we choose to take care of uninsured sick Americans instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy or going to war.

As usual, Obama was lying. The $900 billion dollars over the next decade figure comes from adding up to 18 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls. But that is just the rock bottom basic cost. Everyone involved knows that costs will rise and that the plan would end up costing at least hundreds of billions of more dollars. And then there is the fact that the plan doesn't go away after a decade.

Harsh to say that Obama is lying? Not at all. I am going to give Barack Obama credit where liberals were unwilling to give George W. Bush credit by saying that Obama is smart. Fact is, so was Bush, but you'll never convince most libs of that notion. But they would definitely agree with me that Obama is both intelligent and informed.

To even contemplate that Obama does not know all of the facts involving his health plan would be ludicrous. So when he tells you that it will be affordable, that there will be no increase in the federal deficit, that illegal aliens won't be covered, and that abortions won't be covered he is quite simply not telling the truth as he knows it to be. The word we all use for such a person is 'liar' in other instances, and it applies here as well, whether you like the sound of Obama being called one or not.

As to the controversial abortion topic, for instance, the President claims that the language of his health bill is 'neutral' on the issue. Fair enough, but fact is that most Americans have already spoken their minds that they do not want a publicly funded abortion option as part of any taxpayer funded plan. So Republicans tried to insert amendments that would specifically prohibit the plan from covering abortions. The amendments were voted down by the Democrats. So much for the President' bill being 'neutral' on abortion. What is to keep it from covering the procedure, Mr. President?

Mr. President, it might make Nance Pelosi cringe, your fellow Democrats bellow, and even moderate Republicans feign public indignance, but the facts are the facts and the American public deserves more than you and your administration are giving us on issue after issue. A 'Change' to Socialism was not what they voted for last November. I can't blame Joe Wilson for his outburst because frankly, Mr. President, he simply was telling the frustrating truth when he shouted "You Lie!"