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Raising the Bar
Author: Raine    Date: 08/13/2009 12:47:40

Yesterday President Obama awarded 16 people the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for their service to mankind. It was begun in WWII to recognize civilians for their service and revived by President John Kennedy to recognize individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." (source) These were the recipients of this award for 2009:

Nancy Goodman Brinker
Pedro José Greer, Jr.
Stephen Hawking
Jack Kemp
Sen. Edward Kennedy
Billie Jean King
Rev. Joseph Lowery
Joe Medicine Crow – High Bird
Harvey Milk
Sandra Day O’Connor
Sidney Poitier
Chita Rivera
Mary Robinson
Janet Davison Rowley
Desmond Tutu
Muhammad Yunus


Some of these people we all know well, some not. All have served in the interest of bettering mankind through all fields of interest. Some of us are lucky to have been able to have met a few. Some of us were lucky to have voted for them as our elected representatives. Some us found a new way of seeing the universe by reading. Some of these people broke barriers that we may have not thought could happen. Some marched for civil rights, and still do today. Some of us have had the wonderful pleasure of enjoying the work they did in entertainment while knowing the tireless work they did in civil rights. Some were beautiful to watch compete as athletes, knowing they served a higher calling in raising up people who had less. All made the world a better place. You can read the short bios on these people here.

Compare that to some of the more highlighted recipients of the past administration : Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Howard, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Tommy Franks, George Tenet, L. Paul Bremer, General Peter Pace and General Richard B. Myers.

I say highlighted because former president Bush did award the medal to some very fine people such as Julia Child, Arnold Palmer and B.B. King. However in awarding this honor to people like George "Slam Dunk" Tenant and Paul Bremer he truly lowered the bar. It kinda gave the Medal of Freedom a bit of the taint. Amanda Terkel (Think Progress) said it quite well: "The award seems to be finally regaining the honor that it largely lost during the tenure of President Bush, who doled it out to his cronies."

I fully concur. It is nice to see the bar being raised again and shine coming back.
and
Raine

 

60 comments (Latest Comment: 08/13/2009 23:48:54 by Raine)
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Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 12:53:02
Morning

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 13:10:41
Mornin'!

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 13:17:31
Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 13:22:09










I'm guessing that was photoshopped but they are really all over the place

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 13:55:37
Going to Rep. Lewis office this afternoon! gonna bring him a copy of the HCR website.

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 13:59:29
It's the party line - Mike Steele backs up Palin on "Death Panels"



And what's with that choice of words anyways.. death panels? Sounds like something a sadistic Irishman would put up on the walls of his house.

Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 14:05:01
Too bad I'm having a yard sale on 9/12 or I would go down to DC to check out this supposed giantic rally on Capitol Hill

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 14:10:20
Quote by wickedpam:

Too bad I'm having a yard sale on 9/12 or I would go down to DC to check out this supposed giantic rally on Capitol Hill


What's this rally about now?

Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 14:14:12
Quote by Scoopster:

Quote by wickedpam:

Too bad I'm having a yard sale on 9/12 or I would go down to DC to check out this supposed giantic rally on Capitol Hill


What's this rally about now?






its that dumb Glen Beck rally that's he's pushing



link here

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 14:42:02
Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 14:46:30
okay I just did a search of USA Today and no where in there was something about 99 Trillion dollars of anything

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 15:29:04
Whew -- running errands in the AM, not so fun.

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 15:30:06
Quote by Scoopster:

Quote by wickedpam:

Too bad I'm having a yard sale on 9/12 or I would go down to DC to check out this supposed giantic rally on Capitol Hill


What's this rally about now?
I just read in the Paper that there is going to be about 15000 people coming for an ANTI health care rally here in Atlanta at Centenial park.







Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 15:31:36
Quote by Raine:

Quote by Scoopster:

Quote by wickedpam:

Too bad I'm having a yard sale on 9/12 or I would go down to DC to check out this supposed giantic rally on Capitol Hill


What's this rally about now?
I just read in the Paper that there is going to be about 15000 people coming for an ANTI health care rally here in Atlanta at Centenial park.











where are they getting these numbers?

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 15:33:20
here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 15:35:58
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS STAND UNIFIED IN LARGEST HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL TO DATE



Key Note Speaker: Congressman Dick Armey

Town Hall Moderator: Talk Show Host Herman Cain

Signatory Host: Talk Show Host Joel Aaron



It's YOUR health and YOUR life that's at stake!



August 5, 2009 – More than twenty national organizations dedicated to free market, patient centered health care reform are coming together with small business owners to discuss positive health care reform and call for the defeat of the Democrats' health care reform plans.



20 groups representing more than 4.5 million members nationwide have confirmed their participation in America’s Health Care Town Hall on August 15, 2009 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. The event is being held to show the size and diversity of opposition to the Democrats health care reform bill that has caused so much controversy in the last couple of months.



Marine Sergeant and Constitutional Advocate Paul Curtman, will open the program. Paul has become a YouTube sensation for taking Senator Claire McCaskill to task in a town hall meeting for her failure to adhere to Constitutional powers. A video of the exchange is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98HxYbsdBM



House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Chairman of Freedom Works, will be the key note speaker during the first part of the event discussing the loss of personal freedoms under the Democrats’ health reform measures. Congressman Armey was a major figure in the defeat of then First Lady Hillary Clinton’s secret health care panels.



Herman Cain, host of the Herman Cain Show on WSB 750 in Atlanta, will introduce and moderate a panel of experts from the medical, insurance and patient rights fields discussing positive free market ideas to improve our current health care system. Mr. Cain took on Bill Clinton during a town hall on health care back in 1994 and has been championing common sense solutions since. Video of the exchange with President Clinton is here: http://www.hermancain.com/thebestof.asp?section=vid&id=5



The panel includes America’s Health Care Town Hall Sponsor, Stephen Northington, President of Group Insurance Solutions, a health plan provider to small and medium sized businesses in Georgia. “Insurance agents can not just sit by and do nothing while the White House and Democrats destroy our industry”, Northington said. “The President holds these carefully staged town halls where real people can’t ask tough questions, so I thought it was important to bring everyone together and discuss real issues both good and bad.”

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 15:44:59
I say counter-protest.

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 15:45:19
Quote by Scoopster:

I say counter-protest.
Whatcha doing Saturday scoop?



Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 15:50:29
Flat tax penalizes the poor mostly

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 15:50:55
Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.


Actually, link a bunch of people you know to this page and have them check "not attending". Maybe the appearance of apathy will discourage them.

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 15:52:43
Quote by Raine:

Quote by Scoopster:

I say counter-protest.
Whatcha doing Saturday scoop?


I'd come down there but I don't think I can afford the plane ticket (and bus is too slow).

Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 15:55:49
Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.






how do you report the pix?

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 16:03:21
Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.


how do you report the pix?


Only thing I found was the link to report the event itself, and they were pretty careful about how they worded the event so I wasn't sure what category to report them under.

Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 16:08:24
Quote by Scoopster:

Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.


how do you report the pix?


Only thing I found was the link to report the event itself, and they were pretty careful about how they worded the event so I wasn't sure what category to report them under.






maybe pornography since the pix is offensive?

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 16:26:13
ok we are off to our reps office! CUL8R!

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 16:36:32
Les Paul (guitar legend) has died at age 94.



Edit: It's probably more appropriate to say he invented the electric guitar, or at least the forerunner to today's electric guitars.

Comment by livingonli on 08/13/2009 16:44:26
A belated good day to everyone. I ended up sleeping until Noon but I have to be at work by 1:30 so my daytime internet activity will be brief..

Comment by livingonli on 08/13/2009 16:47:11
Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.


I got a connection failure when I clicked on the link.

Comment by m-hadley on 08/13/2009 16:53:44
Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.




Raine,

It certainly offends me I hope that the real response rally for true Health Care reform in Atlanta gets way more people than the Faux "we don't wanna change a thing" Insurance Co. sponsored rally. I went to my congress critter's office on Tuesday after work to voice my support for the president's efforts to pass true Health Care reform. I talked to his office director and he told me that I wasn't the only one who'd been in with this message, but the guy who came in the door as I was leaving began his conversation wih "How we gonna stop the government from taking over health care?"

Cheers, mfaye & :peace:

Comment by livingonli on 08/13/2009 17:00:23
And now it's time for me to head off to work. Not much accomplished.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 08/13/2009 17:34:06
Good morning, bloggers, from the Valley of the Sun! Excellent post, Raine!



I think that we have to make sure that the Presidential Medal of Freedom does not become a political tool as it was under the Bush administration. This year's list is truly impressive.



Finally, after weeks of internet connection headaches, I am back online. I have an interview for subbing this afternoon, and I have several leads to follow up. Sorry to have been away and I missed being here with all of you.

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 18:27:26
What the heck is HuffPo playing at?



It's not a secret that Obama negotiated with the pharma industry.. He friggin' GLOATS about it!

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 18:29:09
Quote by m-hadley:

Quote by Raine:

here is what we can expect in Atlanta.... I think I am going to report that picture as offensive.




Raine,

It certainly offends me I hope that the real response rally for true Health Care reform in Atlanta gets way more people than the Faux "we don't wanna change a thing" Insurance Co. sponsored rally. I went to my congress critter's office on Tuesday after work to voice my support for the president's efforts to pass true Health Care reform. I talked to his office director and he told me that I wasn't the only one who'd been in with this message, but the guy who came in the door as I was leaving began his conversation wih "How we gonna stop the government from taking over health care?"

Cheers, mfaye & :peace:
We talked with our office director as well. Luckily we were in a safe place



Going to schedule a meeting with representative Lewis. I feel so fortunate that his office is literally 10 minutes from here.



Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 18:31:20
Quote by Will in Phoenix:

Good morning, bloggers, from the Valley of the Sun! Excellent post, Raine!



I think that we have to make sure that the Presidential Medal of Freedom does not become a political tool as it was under the Bush administration. This year's list is truly impressive.



Finally, after weeks of internet connection headaches, I am back online. I have an interview for subbing this afternoon, and I have several leads to follow up. Sorry to have been away and I missed being here with all of you.
I have been wondering where you have been Will. Nice to see you back.



Thanks regarding the blog. I probably should have said it a little batter, as you did, about it having been politicized under the Bush administration.



That said, I don't oft get to use the word *taint*..



Comment by Will in Chicago on 08/13/2009 18:40:56
Quote by Raine:

Quote by Will in Phoenix:

Good morning, bloggers, from the Valley of the Sun! Excellent post, Raine!



I think that we have to make sure that the Presidential Medal of Freedom does not become a political tool as it was under the Bush administration. This year's list is truly impressive.



Finally, after weeks of internet connection headaches, I am back online. I have an interview for subbing this afternoon, and I have several leads to follow up. Sorry to have been away and I missed being here with all of you.
I have been wondering where you have been Will. Nice to see you back.



Thanks regarding the blog. I probably should have said it a little batter, as you did, about it having been politicized under the Bush administration.



That said, I don't oft get to use the word *taint*..







Raine, I think you meant better not batter -- unless Bush is now baking cakes in his spare time. (Rum cakes if Don Rumsfeld is coming over for a visit.) ;)

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:06:39
none of my Randi streams are working! Even KUDO is acting sketchy...

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:09:09
ooo000OO000ooo!!!!



Pheonix is online!!! http://wms141.netromedia.net/1480kphx



But it doesn't sound quite right -- is Randi talking about the C Street House?

Comment by Scoopster on 08/13/2009 19:09:20
Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:09:50
Quote by Will in Phoenix:

Raine, I think you meant better not batter -- unless Bush is now baking cakes in his spare time. (Rum cakes if Don Rumsfeld is coming over for a visit.) ;)










Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 19:20:50
Quote by Raine:

ooo000OO000ooo!!!!



Pheonix is online!!! http://wms141.netromedia.net/1480kphx



But it doesn't sound quite right -- is Randi talking about the C Street House?






just got back from lunch to hear her talking about it, yeah its the C Street House. Wonder if they added that to the scandel tour



Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:31:54
Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 19:34:57
Best of Randi

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:36:55
Quote by wickedpam:

just got back from lunch to hear her talking about it, yeah its the C Street House. Wonder if they added that to the scandel tour

Thanks. It just feel like I have heard a lot of this story already.



But I am quite happy that Pheonix is back on the stream. I hope that they will return to letting us listen on iTunes... ( ooOOo Will? Any inside scoop?)



Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:37:47
Quote by wickedpam:

Best of Randi


POOP!



Ok, well I guess this isn't bad to hear again. Especially since Dick Armey is going to be speaking here in Town on Saturday.

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 19:40:03
Oh yeah I remember this guy.



Insulting assknob.

Comment by wickedpam on 08/13/2009 19:47:29
Isn't the Healthcare thing really just boiling down to regulating Healthcare Insurance agencies and providers? Like making all the standards match?

Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 20:10:33
Quote by wickedpam:

Isn't the Healthcare thing really just boiling down to regulating Healthcare Insurance agencies and providers? Like making all the standards match?
To a big extent, yes. But it also comes down to making sure that everyone has the same kind of options that the government has.



Obama said something VERY interestiing at the town hall... he said that a janitor working for the government has the same kind of options that congresscritters have. HE said that the Government negotiated what would be acceptable for all workers and if insurance companies complied with that they could participate in the government insurance program.



That is the insurance exchange.



The devil in the details is how an entire nation can do that. Because working for the government means you have employee sponsored insurance. What they are trying to do is make sure everyone can have even those that have PRIVATE insurance.











Comment by TriSec on 08/13/2009 20:12:08
Quote by wickedpam:











I'm guessing that was photoshopped but they are really all over the place






No, actually that's accurate. That group was a little past where I was standing, up towards "airshow center". They were a disjointed and scatterbrained bunch.



Comment by Raine on 08/13/2009 20:13:09
I would love it if we could just offer everyone what the government has... But unless we work for the Government that isn't going to happen -- remember, the government operates like a company in that they can secure group benefits to lower costs. They can also tell the insurance companies that this is what they wan tto provide for the employees. (that is in a sense what hr 3200 is all about)

Comment by Mondobubba on 08/13/2009 20:19:13
Muscle spams in the neck, not so much on the fun side of things. It's why I've been absent most of the day.