evolution

I present, you decide. I thought that the Nobel Peace Prize was a sham long before today because of the prizes awarded to Yasser Arafat and Jimmy Carter. But, I don’t know enough about this winner to say for sure. This year’s winner was Kenyan Wangari Maathai, for her work with the Green Belt Movement, which combats deforestation and the resulting soil erosion.

First, coming courtesy of WorldChanging, a summary of Maathai’s work and the specific movement for which she won the prize.

Next, brought to you by Wizbang, are statements by Maathai that claim that the HIV virus is a biological weapon meant to exterminate Africans. This is an utterly insane claim, as the first case of what would be known as AIDS was traced back to 1958, and the technology to create a virus that affects people based on race was not then nor is now within humankind’s grasp (and let us pray that will forever be the case).

This Peace Prize is different from the others in that it was the first to be awarded to an African, and also the first to be awarded for environmental work. Both of those are important. Do these comments make her less worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize?

[Thanks also go to the commenters at protein wisdom, one of whom notes: "Ah, yes. A biological weapon that kills queers, junkies, and ignorant Third World savages. Just too perfect. Which was Ryan White again?"]

UPDATE [18:49]: An article in Nature corroborates the CNN item referenced above. Unfortunately, you must be a subscriber to Nature to read the full text, but hopefully you are convinced.