Friday, August 9, 2013

Awards

* Bill Clinton
  a) humanitarian work through Clinton Foundation, promoting global public health, economic development and environmental protection
  b) also got Bush to help with Haiti
  c) spoke on O's behalf 2012 Dem. convention
* Oprah Winfrey
  a) philanthropy centering on education opportunities for women, girls, in US and Africa
* Daniel Inouye, posthumously
* Ben Bradlee 
* Sally Ride
* Richard Lugar
* Gloria Steinem
* Ernie Banks
* Bayard Rustin, civil and gay rights activist, posthumous
* Daniel Kahneman, psychologist, Nobel Econ
* Loretta Lynn
* Maria Molina, chemist, environmental scientist,  Nobel in Chem
* Arturo Sandoval, Cuban jazz musician
* Dean Smith, coach UNC
* Patricia Wald, first woman US Circuit Court of Appeals for DC, became chief judge
* C.T. Vivian,  civil rights, minister

* blessed with extraordinary talent, but these guys' gift is for sharing that talent with the rest of the world.
* President Kennedy created the medal fifty years ago.




It is a very nice award.

It's good to be king.

It is one of the reasons, one of the littler of reasons among many greater reasons, but one of the reasons nonetheless why some of them worked so touchingly diligently to make you king.

I have nothing to say about any of that. We don't expect you to acknowledge anything outside your own values, and we sure do not expect you to award your political adversaries.

Paybacks for jobs well done as seen in the eyes of the guy in charge. It is the pharaoh's award, not Egypt's award, after all, for service to the pharaoh not to the State. And to some pharaohs there is no difference between the interests of State, and Party and self, they're all the same interest. 

There is not all that much art that went into the gold discs directly that look like simple Necco wafers, drilled gold coins, not so much art as devoted to the floral and chain counterweights in back.



And so it was with a broken hearts and deep distain for the king and for the king's distain for tradition that the elderly aristocrat Ay and the aging military commander Horemheb who had done so much for Egypt and together had given so much in the service to Egypt watched in tearful dismay as their young iconoclastic king dispensed awards of gold  traditionally reserved for the most striking service to State, the wealth that flowed into the nation's coffers veritable fortunes in gold tossed from his viewing platform with insouciant abandon to his friends and his household staff below.


19 comments:

rhhardin said...

It's good character inflation.

Soon good character won't be good for anything.

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Giving Willie an award is a laugh.

The only reason anybody even thinks about him is Dubya rehabilitated his image.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I'm guessing that medals like that would look kind of different if they'd gone ahead and made the turkey our national bird instead of the bald eagle.

dc said...

Gloria better bring her running shoes.Willie will no doubt try and take advantage of Gloria's "one free feel"rule.

dc said...

Gloria better bring her running shoes.Willie will no doubt try and take advantage of Gloria's "one free feel"rule.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Link to the NYT story.

16 Medal of Freedom Honorees Are Named

Basta! said...

Egypt was (and still is) loaded with gold, but has no silver deposits to speak of. Silver remained rare enough that, for more than a millennium after its introduction, it was worth more than gold. Upside-down world indeed.

That's how Herodotus seemed to be characterizing Egypt in his Histories, describing the many things that Egyptians (allegedly) did differently than everyone else in the known world. My favorite: Egyptian men pissed squatting down, while the women pissed standing up.

Herodotus doesn't get enough credit as a humorist, IMO.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Interesting choice of picture of Oprah at the NYT for this story.

TOP hat.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

George W Bush quietly does more for humanity and aids in Africa - without any notice.

Well, at least Bono notices.


The Clintons seem phony... propped up by their media adoration Pravda "media matters" machine.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Judging from some of the commercials I've seen on TV, lately, I think Oprah Winfrey might be in some new movie intended to appeal only to black people.

Similarly, judging from recent TV commercials, it would seem that KFC franchises now brand their chicken parts as coming exclusively from the Tyson Corporation.

And thus arises an opportunity for cinematic product placement, I should think, synergism being what it is.

ndspinelli said...

April, I've seen Matt Damon give kudos to W for Africa. And, 60 Minutes did a no bullshit piece on W and Africa. Certainly not enough, but it is out there.

Leland said...

So who gets their award first:
Weiner or Filner?

Trooper York said...

How is that Ernie Banks gets a Medal of Freedom before A-Rod?

William said...

Except for Steinem, I don't have any problem with the awards. I guess Steinem was purposefully chosen in the hope that someone would say something outrageous about her. Then the Dems can claim that there's a war on women and they're the protectors of women's rights. Bonus points for the juxtaposition of Bill Clinton and Gloria Steinem.

Icepick said...

Weiner or Filner?

Sidney Leathers.

ricpic said...

Where's the award for those who alert us to the depredations of the state? he asked jokingly.

I'm Full of Soup said...

More royalty type BS- it's another sign we are royally screwed.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Also, this list is full of 1%ers.

I thought Obama despised the well to do.