Summary: Don Vandergriff tells us about a well-deserved Medal of Honor presented to SSG Giunta by President Obama. As a contrast, Obama awards an undeserved Medal of Freedom to money, in the person of Warren Buffett.
.
For those of us not able to be present when this young NCO received the Medal of Honor, here is a video link to the 8-minute presentation by the president. Staff Sargeant Salvatore Giunta is the first living service member to receive this award since the war in Vietnam. This is what our country needs, leaders like SSG Giunta, who is so humble, and very squared away.
I took three things away from this, first SSG Giunta’s leadership, how humble he is. Second, the President’s sincerity for this even and toward SSG Giunta (shows me that he can have a better half of his term if he stands up to big money and turns attention to helping the middle class), and the third, is the comradeship of SSG Giunta’s fellow soldiers who attended, some that even left the Army, still showed up to support him. That makes the Band of Brothers more than a bumper sticker.
If you don’t have 8 minutes to invest, as my good friend SFC Jeffrey (R) Roper so eloquently pointed out to me, take the time to listen to this Soldier speak for the last 40 seconds of the video. It’s worth your time. For more information see this article in Stars and Stripes.
.
.
FM note, an addition to Don’s post
The antithesis of this is Obama’s decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to money. From the White House website:
Warren Buffett is an American investor, industrialist, and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors in the world. Often called the “legendary investor Warren Buffett,” he is the primary shareholder, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Buffett has pledged that all of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway – about 99 percent of his net worth – will be given to philanthropic endeavors. He is a co-founder of The Giving Pledge, an organization that encourages wealthy Americans to devote at least 50 percent of their net worth to philanthropy.
For your Thanksgiving enjoyment, some good news about America
- Good news: The Singularity is coming (again), 8 December 2007 — History tends to look better over longer time horizons. For example, consider one bit of good news: the Singularity is coming.
- Some good news (one of the more important posts on this blog), 21 December 2007 – I do not believe we need fear the future, despite the tough times coming soon. This remains a great nation, not because of our past but because of us and our polity. We differ from almost every other nation. The difference consists of our commitment to our political order, of which our Constitution is the foundation. In this we are like Athens more than our neighbors …
- Is America’s decline inevitable? No.. 21 January 2008 – Why be an American if one has no faith in the American people? How can you believe in democracy without that faith?
- Let us light a candle while we walk, lest we fear what lies ahead, 10 February 2008 — Many people look to the future with fear. We see this fear throughout the web. Right-wing sites describe the imminent end of America: overrun by foreigners, victim of cultural and financial collapse. Left-wing sites describe “die-off” scenarios due to Peak Oil, climate change, and ecological collapse – as the American dream dies from takeover by theocrats and fascists. Most of this is nonsense, but not the prospect of massive changes in our world. But need we fear the future?
- Fears of flying into the future, 25 February 2008 — Reasons we need not fear the future.
- Experts, with wrinkled brows, warn about the future, 2 May 2008 — Experts often see the future with alarm, seeing the dangers but not benefits. That gets attention, from both the media and an increasingly fearful public. Both sides feed this process. It need not be so, as most trends contain the seeds of good and bad futures. This post considers two examples.
- Good news about the 21st century, a counterbalance to the doomsters, 9 May 2008
- Some thoughts about the economy of mid-21st century America, 12 January 2009 — Optimistic words from the greatest economist of the 20th century.
- We have endemic terrorism – but few wars and epidemics. That’s good news!, 15 December 2009
- Good news: air quality in the US has improved!, 12 March 2010
.
.
