Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Medal of Freedom Loses It's Luster

Today, President Bush awarded three men the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour that the US can bestow and regarded as the civilian equivalent of the Medal of Honor.

These great recipients of this most august award? Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw combat in Afghanistan and the initial invasion of Iraq, former CIA Director George Tenet and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer. It would seem that this President's ability to pick mediocrities is not confined to just his cabinet.

Previous winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, that these three must be measured against, include:

Wilma Mankiller, who was twice elected to head the Cherokee Nation
Mother Theresa of Calcutta
Neil Armstrong
Pope John Paul II
James Doolittle, aviation pioneer
Pope John XXIII
Henry Ford
Rev Martin Luther King Jnr.
Gen. Omar Bradley
Ronald Reagan
James D. Watson, co-discoverer of DNA
John F. Kennedy
'Duke' Ellington
Buckminster R. Fuller
Karl Menninger

Oh yeah, and Dick Cheney, Colin Powell (both awarded by Bush Snr.) and Donald Rumsfield (awarded by Gerald Ford).

5 comments:

Kyle E. Moore said...

Sorry about putting this in comments, but do you ever check your e-mail? Or am I just using the wrong e-mail adress?

Mr. M

Cernig said...

Hi Mr M,

Several times a day. I sent a mail back in reply. It didn't arrive??

Regards, C

Kyle E. Moore said...

No, I didn't. try sending it again?

M

Cernig said...

I did. If you still havent got it, then it may be a problem at your end??

Kyle E. Moore said...

Huh, must be on my end.

But if you're gettin' mine, I'll send you a couple more.