Liu Wins Nobel Peace Prize, Wife Held Away

Liu's Noble Peace Prize is declared this way on the web site: The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".

Liu Xiaobo was awarded the peace prize as he sits in a Chinese prison. The committee stuck to the decision despite the objections raised by the Chinese government. His is an eleven year sentence and he is there because he dares to speak up for freedom and human rights for all of the people of China. And, now his wife has been "moved".

From The Washington Times:

Authorities escorted Liu's wife from Beijing to the northeastern city where he is imprisoned but did not let her see him to deliver news of the honor. That will have to wait until Sunday, a family member said.

Activist lawyers in Beijing inspired by the award to hold a get-together said police followed them and told them to stay home, preventing them from meeting.

Also receiving an award, the Nobel Prize in Literature is a Peruvian novelist, Mario Vargas Llosa. He, too, speaks out about human - individual - rights. He, too, has a passion against dictators.

It does present a puzzle. Why would such worthy recipients be recognized one year and others so wholly undeserving receive the awards another year? Why are such political decisions made at the expense of recognizing the truly worthy?

Al Gore? Barack Obama? Mohamed ElBaradei? All embarrassments to the recognition. Where is the consistency? The committee can be applauded one year and scolded the next, rightfully so.

In the case of Liu, the Chinese government fears Western recognition, Western values creeping into the culture that has so richly rewarded Communism of the years over regular Chinese. The dictatorship is brutal and evil in thought and approach of governing. Liu is imprisoned for a lack of free speech in his country. Censorship is a prime method of holding the population in check.

While liberal ideologues like Thomas Friedman sing the praises of Chinese efforts into green energy technology as they belittle our country, it is hard to also not hold fools like him responsible for the lack of willingness of the Chinese dictatorship to move into the 21st century on human rights. Friedman has travelled to China. He knows what a dirty and nasty environment it has. Garbage collection and disposal is a consistent problem. The air quality in large cities is from bad to worse. How dare he hold China up as an example of how the U.S. should proceed. It is a deliberate lie in the form of propaganda for the environmentalists in our country. Shame on him.

When the far left ideologues in our country behave with the honest dignity of Liu, we will all reap the rewards. The likes of Friedman are too blind to see the error of their ways.