Not so much a retraction, but just an apology, Shout Bits seems to have gotten the wrong impression of John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO. Yesterday, Reason.TV posted a must see interview with Mackey in which he displayed his libertarian bonafides. A prior Shout Bits entry accused Whole Foods of being a pile of BS, and we sincerely regret the friendly fire.

In a dialogue supporting his famous Wall Street Journal op-ed, Mackey defended capitalism, individual choice, and market based health care reform. Generally validating this blog’s opinion of Whole Foods’ customers, the op-ed generated a firestorm of indignation from the left. The call for a boycott has largely faded away, as these suburban leftists like their granola more than their Guvera.

How to reconcile the lies upon lies that make up Whole Food’s marketing and image with it’s CEO’s patriotic individualism? Simple, it is not a company’s job to tell its customers what to want; it is a company’s job to deliver what customers want even if it does not always make sense. Mackey is just a smart businessman, the backbone and unsung hero of the world.

Most people do not need a Hummer SUV, a .44 magnum pistol, or bottled French water, but the US system of free choice demands that nobody stop them from wasting their money on whatever they want. Even though most people cannot tell the difference between organic produce and much less expensive FDA approved equivalents, they must be free to waste their money if the US is to survive.

So, Mr. Mackey, we are sorry, we simply did not understand you. Still, don’t look for rational consumers to buy into the whole organic/green thing (although your pizza rocks).

Back in December 2008, this blog predicted that Sec. Hillary Clinton would never run for the White House again (Secretary Clinton). The entry suggested that Clinton’s window of opportunity had closed and that Secretary of State would be the highest office she could ever expect to hold. Today, CNN is reporting that Clinton has acknowledged all of this.

Well, she is right on one count, but her pride will not allow her to admit that she is marginalized. Pres. Obama has consistently gone outside the chain of command to keep Clinton out of the loop on issues the Secretary of State usually handles. Speaker Pelosi should be shocked. All this shows that the Obama administration is a well oiled political machine. Their back stabbing tactics, well known to Chicagoans, are elegant and represent a new form of the Washington game.

The untidy fact that most voters do not want socialized health care, cap and trade, and card check is not going to stop Obama. In one form or another, Obama is going to deliver his far left agenda, and his treatment of political enemies shows he has the skills to make it happen.

White House administrations should study the tight lipped Norwegians when it comes to media blackouts. A bombshell like Pres. Obama’s Peace Prize could never be kept secret in Washington. Friday’s announcement was the type of surprise that in retrospect makes so much sense that it is a surprise that it was a surprise. Well, no surprise, the Peace Prize Committee has an agenda and used Obama to advance it. While rare Peace Prizes go to accomplishments so great they cannot be ignored (e.g. saving billions of lives through more effective crop varieties), many Peace Prizes go to ponderous organizations that never deliver the goods when it comes to peace.

The Nobel Committee has spent many years lauding such groups as the International Peace Bureau, the Permanent International Peace Bureau (nice touch with the name there), The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (a bit verbose when Marxist would do), The League of Nations, or the current global failure, the United Nations (with an extra prize for its especially incompetent subsidiary, The International Labour Organization). The Scandinavian socialists support order through central planning, and the Peace Prize selections show it.

Another common thread in Peace Prizes is an anti-US bias. Even though collectivism in the form of fascism and communism resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions of people in the 20^th Century, the Peace Prize very often goes to adherents of these left wing ideals. Instead, the US itself deserves a Peace Prize. While the US has fought plenty of wars in its short history, it is also the only credible power that stands for the rule of law, individual rights, and human advancement. Nearly every worthwhile advance in the human condition has come from the 6% of humans that live in the US. Prosperity, comfort, and individual rights are more powerful keys to peace than bloated debating societies.

Obama’s surprise prize reflects the Nobel Committee’s desire to reduce the US’s influence around the world. Through no fault of his own, Obama has done nothing yet to create peace. Indeed, Obama’s initial policies regarding war and terrorism are rather similar to Pres. Bush’s. Obama has, however, gone on an international apology tour denouncing the US’s greatness and claiming that the US is just another country. Obama’s US is subordinate to the UN and Old Europe. The US’s culture of individualism and capitalism is ruining the environment along with polite discourse around the world. The US, in fact, needs to humble itself and realize that people like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are valid leaders who have a place at the table. Obama’s Peace Price is a reward for spreading the idea that the US is not unique and that its world leadership is an unwelcome relic of history.

Still, why care what a few elitists think? After all, the Peace Prize has been granted to baby murderers like Yasser Arafat. The transparency of Peace Prize voting rivals that of the Grammys. Barbara Streisand earns more singing a single song than the prize pays out. There is no objective reason to give the Prize any credence, yet the media fawns over Oslo’s only reason for a press bureau. While simply ignoring the Peace Prize would be best, it might take a few more indelicate stunts like Obama’s Peace Prize before the press gives up on the tarnished and irrelevant institution.