As IF Times

As many may know, January is the beginning of award show season for those participants in the entertainment business.  Among the long list of award shows are:  the Golden Globes, then the Oscars, then the Grammys, then the Tonys, the Emmys, the critic’s choice awards etc., etc.  The actual complete list is actually about 3 times the ones just listed including of course the Dorian awards, given by the LGBTQ community.

Some may argue that these awards are frivolous and serve only to augment the fragile egos of those in the entertainment industry.  It certainly can’t compare to the prestigious awards given by the state for being not only famous but for also being an all-around great citizen.  In the UK, such an honor is designated by the honorific ‘Sir’ or ‘Dame’ bestowed upon the winners.  Thus we have Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Agatha Christie.

In the United States, the parallel honorific is the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, which is bestowed upon people deemed to have contributed in some significant way to the cultural enrichment of the nation.  As it happens, a very large number of the recipients have been involved with the entertainment business, so we can consider it to be a more prestigious version of the Academy Awards.  In the case of the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, the requirements are rather vague, as there is no peer committee to pass judgement on the merits of the inductee.  As far as we know, it’s totally discretionary on the part of the sitting President.  What we can note is that you cannot be a winner if you’re not famous.

Among the most recent recipients are the names Hilary Clinton and George Soros.  Their names were included with such as Denzel Washington and Michael J. Fox and others in this year’s inductee group. The names of Soros and Clinton may have irked some of the other winners in the same way that a desk jockey General displaying a chest full of notional medals is paraded among genuine soldiers receiving medals of valor. Hilary Clinton has as much to do with freedom as a turtle has to roller skates.

It’s human nature to want and grant recognition; this much is obvious by the many instances of contests and awards regimes we’re all exposed to during our lifetimes. Ribbons for this, medals for that, a gold star here, a statue there. .

As Sally Field exclaimed during her Oscar acceptance speech in 1985, “…You like me, right now, you like me!..”

It’s intensely ironic that the “Medal Of Freedom” was awarded to both Clinton and Soros, both of whom have been the strongest advocates of oppression for Americans, certainly not freedom.  Soros is widely reputed to have stated that his life’s mission is, “to destroy the United States”. Maybe he was misquoted and just misunderstood; the media can exaggerate so much these days. Remember what Abe Lincoln said about stuff you find on the internet.  But this is certainly the same Soros who was evicted from Hungary for his subversive activities there. Also the same Soros who funds the Open Society Foundations supporting all manner of anti-American causes. Of course you could argue that via his activities, Soros contributed to cultural enrichment of the US by funding such as Black Lives Matter.  Contrast this with the work of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden who have sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of freedom and transparency but who remain outcasts in society.

Among the crop of this year’s recipients is Lionel Messi, a soccer player.  He concluded that the whole spectacle was not his thing and decided not to attend. We don’t know his motives, perhaps he had a scheduling conflict.  Or perhaps he didn’t want to be accorded the same accolade as some of the other honorees.  It could be that he understands that it’s all theater and he isn’t in such need of attention.  His awards case is already full of real trophies.

link Soros: I Cant Stop a Republican “Avalanche” – NYTimes.com.

The interesting nugget from this article is not so much that Soros is allegedly resigned to a Republican sweep in the upcoming November mid-term elections in the U.S., henceforth to be referred as the ‘great flushing’.  No, the amusement is found in one of the enlightened comments from a poster named Paul from Montreal Canada.  In one fell swoop, this goof throws out the usual tired and misleading talking points that liberals offer to perpetuate myths about the conservative GOP.  While I am not an apologist for the GOP, I am amused by the disingenuous moaning of the left when attributing cause and effect to the Republicans.  Let’s have at some of the delusional talking points:

“- Kids receiving even worse education”  I’m not even sure how that conclusion is reached.  But doing some very cursory research indicates that some of the very worst schools in the U.S. as far as grades underperformance occurs in states run by Democrats as well as Republicans.  According to the website, Walletpop.com which purports to list the worst 25 schools in America, http://www.walletpop.com/mortgages/worst-performing-public-schools/ there appears to be a concentration of low performing schools in Illinois, Wisconsin and South Carolina.  Are these the fault of Republicans? Let’s not forget that problems such as high drop out rates, gang activities and high ESL students occur in predominantly Democratic enclaves, Washington DC, Detroit and Los Angeles.  He should really be concerned about adults receiving a miseducation from watching mainstream network news or reading the Huffington Post.

 
“- Health care only for those who can afford it”  This is patently true anywhere in the world even in Canada, Paul is just ignorant of it. The fact is, SOMEONE pays the bills for healthcare costs, either the state from collecting high taxes or the individual through high fees.  The root cause of high healthcare costs? Punishing legal claims and commensurately sky-high insurance costs.  Lack of significant tort reform is the single biggest impediment to affordable medical costs.  Guess which political party lawyers overwhelmingly support  in the U.S.?  Yup, Democrats.  

“- Outsourced military”  I’m not even sure what he refers to here.  As far as I know, the U.S. military is still using homegrown talent….and volunteers at that.  Is he upset that we are outsourcing people to get into harm’s way rather than having domestic soldiers at risk?

 
“- More outsourced law enforcement”  Again, not sure what he refers to.  Is he talking Latino mall cops?

 
“- More jobs to low wage countries and receive tax refunds for it”  I’m not sure how he thinks that this issue is something to be hung around the neck of Republicans.  Take automobiles.  GM, Ford and Chrysler got into trouble precisely because wage and benefit packages factored into the price of cars made them uncompetitive in the domestic and world markets.  Most of this can be laid at the feet of the powerful union movement still trying to impose industrial revolution mentality upon a post modern industrial society. 

 
“- You being able to buy more goods for low prices at WM, but not having the money to buy it”  Again, not sure how he lays the blame for this on Republicans.  Would he prefer economically disadvantaged people not have access to inexpensive clothing and hard goods?  Should high tariffs be placed on all manner of consumer items to protect high wages domestically?  Wasn’t one of the NAFTA signatories Bill Clinton? How else does Paul think that he can afford to buy a Playstation (where he probably spends most of his time) unless it was manufactured overseas?

 
“- More debt”  On this item, Paul is clearly delusional, uninformed or likely both.  Since coming into office, President Obama has increased the debt obligation of the United States more than the sum of all presidents ever in the history of America….COMBINED!
http://neveryetmelted.com/2010/03/26/obama-has-increased-the-national-debt-more-than-43-previous-presidents-combined/

“- More religious bigotry in every day politics, not freedom of religion but freedom to convert others.” This ridiculous claim can be the subject of an entire AsIF piece by itself.  Suffice to say, NOT! Nary a year goes by without some nutbar group trying to dismantle any vestiges of Christmas from public display while at the same time encouraging tolerance of Muslim observances.  Frank Costanza of Seinfeld fame was way ahead of his time in introducing Festivus. 

 
“- More isolation of the outside world”  Says who? If the U.S. is such a pariah to the world at large, why are there so many people trying to get into the U.S. both legally and illegally?  I don’t recall who first observed that if you were to impose a gate upon the borders to the country, would there be more people trying to get in, or scrambling to get out? As far as I can tell, the U.S. still is a draw to most in the world.

“- More people living in poverty”  This statistic may be hard to argue with.  Again, it’s difficult to see any logic as to how this was solely the doing of the evil Republicans.  Perhaps the lesson here is to get into the professions of law, union boss or hollywood entertainment, or just be Warren Buffet, all of them being key constituencies for Democrats.  That makes sense.  Meanwhile, since the present Democratic administration has come to office, the unemployment rate is stuck near 10%. Liberals are blind to the link that ties a benign corporate environment to full employment.  This was in full evidence when Nancy Pelosi recently declared that nothing would spur stimulus spending more than unemployment cheques in the hands of the unemployed! 

He did however leave out Republicans causing global warming.  Yeah, that’s entirely reasonable.