Posted on 11/04/2005 8:39:44 AM PST by Borges
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AFP) - US President George W. Bush will bestow the highest US civilian honor on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, "Hotel Rwanda" hero Paul Rusesabagina and 11 others, the White House said.
Singer Aretha Franklin, US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, and golfer Jack Nicklaus will also receive presidential medals of freedom in a November 9 ceremony at the White House, said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan.
Last year, Bush raised eyebrows by giving the medal to former CIA director George Tenet, retired general Tommy Franks and the former civilian overseer for Iraq, Paul Bremer, sidestepping their ties to controversies over the Iraq war.
This year, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers; comic actress Carol Burnett; television star Andy Griffith; a historian of Stalin's rule, Robert Conquest will also get the award.
Medals will also go to Radio personality Paul Harvey; the author of the GI Bill that sent millions of World War II veterans to college, Sonny Montgomery; baseball great Frank Robinson; and Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, who designed the software code that is used to transmit data over the Internet.
Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, used his influence to bribe and cajole military and government officials to save 1,268 people sheltering from the massacre of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus between April and July 1994.
Drudge reports Muhammed Ali may not have long to live. His disease is advancing and he no longer has much of an attention span.
Al Gore is deeply saddened.
Hey,no problem at all with the "Hotel Rwanda" hero...but
that bum Cassius Clay????????
"sidestepping their ties to controversies over the Iraq war."
bogus 'controversies' initiated and perpetuated by the media.
Andy Griffith also, who is a big democrat.
This may be merely a semantic point but was Ali a draft dodger? He didn't leave the country to avoid service he stayed and took the consequences of his actions. It seems closer to Civil Disobedience whether we agree with it or not.
Hotel Rwanda was one of the best movies i've ever seen. Very touching. Everyone who hasn't should see it!
He was drafted.
He refused to go.
Hence he was draft dodger.
No "if's" "but's" or "and's" about it...
and someone always has to take the place of the draft dodger...
and some don't make it back!
and their "consequences" are fatal!!!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
popularity contest awards
Never have like Ali. Don't understand the hoopla over him.
This one is certainly deserved.
100 days of Rwanda. http://www.silent-edge.org/mt/rwanda/
yes, I'm sure there are some deserved people.
The genocide in Rwanda lasted "only" 100 days. Three months where an average of 8,000 Rwandans were killed every day. Everyone should go to the blog link and start from April. That would be day one.
BTW: The Supreme Court ruled that Ali was, indeed, a conscientious objector. Its not like he fled to Canada or Cuba.
"Cassius Clay?"
the draft dodger? Cassius Clay?
ya gotta be kidding me????"
WTF is wrong with Bush? Whose next on his award list, Benedict Arnold?
yea, well if GWB saw as many dead Marines as I did in Nam you wouldn't be giving Clay the time of friggin' day!!!!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
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