30 PIECES OF SILVER:

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Carter, With Jab at Bush (JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, Oct. 11, 2002, NY Times)

Friends say though Mr. Carter is driven more by his deeply held Christianity than by prizes or compliments, he had always ached for the Nobel Peace Prize.

That things have happened in this manner is in no way Mr. Carter's fault, but because the Nobel Committee has styled this award as an intentional rebuke to the ex-president's country and his countrymen, he has a moral obligation to refuse the award. Let him refuse it and there's no doubt we'll all raise enough money for him to fund his Carter Center. He'd be a patriot and a hero to even we Americans who have long despised him. But let him accept this award and the money that goes with it, which symbolizes nothing more than the contempt of a few Norwegian political hacks, and it will be the final unforgiveable blow from which his reputation may never recover. Do the right thing, Mr. Carter. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 12, 2002 10:16 AM