Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn Awarded Medal of Freedom

3l1za writes ""President Bush on Thursday announced the recipients of this year's Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil award." Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn -- for their design of "the software code used to transmit data over the Internet" -- are among those to be honored next Wednesday. "

Comments

The history of the award, and the need.

[dada21]

This is newsworthy? This is the same President who gave George J. Tenet the Medal of Freedom.

This is generally cronyism at its worst, and media attention getting at its finest. There is no Constitutional mandate or power. President Harry Truman enacted the medal in 1945 and it was virtually ignored until JFK brought it back -- through an Executive Order in 1963.

That same Executive Order also expanded the size of unconstitutional government by extending the "Distinguished Civilian Service Awards" board -- yet another cronyist bunch given very nice salaries* by the President.

I know the political spectrum is well covered here, but does anyone honestly believe a government that is trillions in debt needs a board to give out awards? Disregard any constitutional grounds and focus on the need of the governed. Can't an independent not-for-profit group do the same? BTW, Clinton also gave the award to some ridiculous recipients, so I'm not Bush bashing. This is just a waste of your money.

*There's almost no oversight or budget restrictions on what the board can be paid: Expenses. Necessary administrative expenses of the Board incurred in connection with the recommendation of persons to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, including expenses of travel of members of the Board appointed under Section 3 (a) of this Order, during the fiscal year 1963, may be paid from the appropriation provided under the heading 'Special Projects' in the Executive Office Appropriation Act, 1963, 76 Stat. 315, and during subsequent fiscal years, to the extent permitted by law, from any corresponding or like appropriation made available for such fiscal years. Such payments shall be without regard to the provisions of section 3681 of the Revised Statutes and section 9 of the Act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1027 (31 U.S.C. 672 and 673).

Re:The history of the award, and the need.

[Zevon 2000]

You make some good points, but I'm not sure that the idea of the government recognizing public service itself is bad. What's bad is the cronyism, the recognition of questionably deserving recipients (Jack Nicklaus? Is playing golf well and being paid millions for it really constitute distinguished service?), and maybe even a board whose compensation isn't given proper oversight. Although I don't know about that last bit for sure.

What this feels like to me is a mix between Knighthood, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and political party in the White House any given year sucking each other's lollipops. What would be legitimately cool would be an American Knighthood bestowed only on 1-2 deserving people a year. Keep the bar raised high, have to nominating committee serve for a small stipend and the prestige of serving on such a committee, and give us something we can be proud of. As is, it's just another bit of propaganda to mock, and I think we're all get sick of that (both the propaganda and the mocking).

And of course the real shame is when deserving recipients like Vint Cert and Robert Kahn are overlooked on /. because the merits of the award itself are so questionable. The world needs more Nobel Prizes, and fewer Walk of Fames.

Re:The history of the award, and the need.

[x8]

It looks like you missed copying the last sentence of the paragraph you copied from the executive order, which reads:

"Members of the Board appointed under Section 3(a) of this Order shall serve without compensation."

Or was this sentence intentionally left out because it contradicts your claim that the board is "yet another cronyist bunch given very nice salaries" ?

Re:The history of the award, and the need.

[fm6]

This is generally cronyism at its worst, and media attention getting at its finest. There is no Constitutional mandate or power. President Harry Truman enacted [medaloffreedom.com] the medal in 1945 and it was virtually ignored until JFK brought it back -- through an Executive Order [wikipedia.org] in 1963.

Dude, get a life. Cronyism is handing out jobs to underqualified friends. Dubya has certainly done his share of that, but it's not the same thing as handing out commerative tchatchkas to people he deems important.

BTW, there was only one president (Eisenhower) between Truman and Kennedy. So every prexy since Truman, with a single exception has done this.

allow me to get this joke out of the way first...

[schnits0r]

KHAAAAAAAN.....yea someone was gonna say it, it may as well be me.

MM Ok

[davro]

Quote
"The medal was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize notable service in the war.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy reintroduced it as an honor for distinguished civilian service in peacetime. "

And this is considered peacetime ?

Let's not forget

[Anonymous Coward]

Aretha Franklin won it, too. As long as we're talking about mighty national heroes, and such. Maybe we should show these two a little R- oh, god, I can't do it!

Woo!

[failure-man]

A useless, nationalist-buzzword-laden award from the most dangerous man in the world! What an honor . . . . .
 
If it were me I'd ask for the lesser award of "presidental medal of awesome." Also, it would come with double prize money.

Why is he giving it now? Why not years ago?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he's handing out the award now, because Vint Cerf (ICANN director) is backing Bush's proposal for US controlled DNS and taking Google with him.

Whether you agree or disagree with the USA control of DNS, if Vint Cerf was deserving of the award then he should have got it years ago, not JUST BEFORE a meeting on the future control of the Internet on 18th November.

Re:Why is he giving it now? Why not years ago?

[Zevon 2000]

Excellent point. On the other hand, it's certainly possible that no one in the Bush camp had heard of Vint Cerf before Europe started making noises about giving over control of DNS to an international group. Maybe they thought Al Gore really had invented the Internet?

Re:Why is he giving it now? Why not years ago?

[patternjuggler]

I think he's handing out the award now, because Vint Cerf (ICANN director) is backing Bush's proposal for US controlled DNS and taking Google with him.

It's funny because you'd think they would want to distance themselves as much as possible from the administration if they want to convince the rest of the world to maintain the status quo on this issue on technical or economic grounds or whatever (I don't really know what their argument is supposed to be). The more personally interested the US political leaders are, the more it will appear validate the claims of the other countries that something of high political value is at issue and internationalized or localized control is in order, that national sovereignty is at stake, and so on.

WTF?

[khasim]

A boxer ... an actor ... a singer ... a different actor ... a baseball player ... a radio personality?

The Medal of Freedom?

So the requirements are ... what? It certainly isn't "distinguished service" anymore.

Re:WTF?

[flyingsquid]

So the requirements are ... what? It certainly isn't "distinguished service" anymore.

What do you expect him to do? Awarding medals to people who've done the nation a real service will just show what a poor job Bush has done serving the country.

He hasn't caught Osama, he's used false pretenses to launch us into a war in Iraq with no end in sight and turned that country into a breeding ground for terrorists, he screwed up royally on Katrina by appointing incompetent cronies, and he's created a massive budget deficit.

Instead, Bush gave medals last year to George "Slam Dunk" Tenet, and L. Paul Bremer, the guy who implemented de-Baathification and the disbanding of the Iraqi Army, two of the worst moves of the occupation. Trying to rebrand miserable failure as success. This year, the theme seems to be giving medals to celebrities, perhaps in hopes of distracting the nation from its real problems, problems which he's created.

Re:WTF?

[Bogtha]

George Orwell referred to misuse of words like this as "swindles and perversions":

Many political words are similarly abused. The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. Statements like Marshal Petain was a true patriot, The Soviet press is the freest in the world, The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution, are almost always made with intent to deceive.

-- Politics and the English Language

Throwing words like "democracy" and "freedom" around as generic terms of praise is not just poor English, it actively clouds peoples thinking and is often deceitful.

I'm confused

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

the nation's highest civil award." Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn -- for their design of "the software code used to transmit data over the Internet"

Shouldn't it have been Al Gore?

Internets

[mabu]

Shouldn't those guys get more than one medal? One for each of the internets?

And if they'd patented it....

[rdean400]

we'd still have a bunch of proprietary network islands floating in a sea of mediocrity.

Vinton Cerf and DARPA?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean TCP/IP wasn't developed and patented by a private company that invested billions in R&D?

They should turn down the medals.

[CyricZ]

It would be very noble of them to turn down the medals. Instead they should request that the money that would have been spent on the medals themselves, and any additional monetary award, be used towards the formation of an annual Nobel Prize-style award. The recipient could be an individual who has made a major contribution to computer networking.

Everybody in the field knows (or should know) that they are amongst the Gods of the Internet. Their fame has peaked. That is why it would be very sportsmanlike of them to help highlight the achievements of others in their field.

Re:They should turn down the medals.

[s20451]

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with them accepting the prize money, or getting other money from sponsors, and establishing such awards themselves. Alfred Nobel was just a prviate Swedish citizen. For that matter there is nothing preventing you or I from doing the same.

Secondly, unless the money spent is in the neighborhood of $20 million (not likely), there would be no hope of setting up an annuity equivalent to a Nobel prize (which are worth about $1 million each).

Thirdly, rejecting a prize is insulting and generally doesn't make people willing to hear your suggestions as to how the money should be otherwise spent.

Jack Nicklaus?

[Evro]

* Muhammad Ali. The three-time heavyweight boxing champion, who lives in Berrien Springs, Mich., successfully defended the title 19 times and was a gold medalist at the 1960 Olympic Games.

* Carol Burnett. The actress and comedian debuted on Broadway in 1959 and starred for more than a decade on "The Carol Burnett Show."

* Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. They designed the software code used to transmit data over the Internet.

* Robert Conquest. The historian is known for his work on Soviet history, politics, and foreign policy. More than 35 years after its publication, his book, "The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties," remains one of the most influential studies of Soviet history.

* Aretha Franklin. The singer has nearly two dozen No. 1 singles and has won numerous awards. The Detroit native was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

* Alan Greenspan. He has been chairman of the Federal Reserve for the past 18 years.

* Andy Griffith. The actor first achieved national acclaim in the 1950s for his standup comedy routines. He went on to star in television shows such as "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Matlock" and numerous Broadway productions and films.

* Paul Harvey. The radio personality's broadcasts started airing nationally in 1951.

* Sonny Montgomery. A veterans' supporter during his 30 years as a member of the House of Representatives. The Montgomery GI Bill helped make education affordable for millions of veterans.

* Gen. Richard Myers. He recently retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

* Jack Nicklaus. The golfer won 18 major tournaments as a professional and more than 70 PGA Tour events.

* Frank Robinson. The current manager of the Washington Nationals, Robinson won most valuable player awards in both the American and National leagues. He broke the color barrier for managers, becoming the first black manager in Major League Baseball in 1975.

* Paul Rusesabagina. The hotelier's life was the subject of the movie "Hotel Rwanda," which depicted his courage and compassion in sheltering people at the hotel he managed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Jack Nicklaus? How is playing golf now worthy of a "Freedom" medal? Sounds like a pretty worthless medal.

You're not really at "war".

[CyricZ]

Sure it is. Remember, the wars you guys are involved in are taking place on the other side of the world from you! You know, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Things are very peaceful for you, since you're isolated away from all of the fighting itself. No warring is actually taking place in the United States.

Yes you are

[Mark_in_Brazil]

Shouldn't it have been Al Gore?

Cerf and Kahn think so.

In other news...

[sdo1]

API - Washington, DC. The FBI and local authorities today arrested Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn at the behest of the MPAA and RIAA. "Their design of the software code used to transmit data over the Internet has cost the entertainment industry hundreds of billions of dollars in annual losses." said MPAA president Dan Glickman. "These two thugs deserve what's coming to them in prison." added RIAA president Cary Sherman. Meanwhile, Sherman and Glickman, working with congressional leaders, have drafted a bill to add "design of internet software" to the list of federal crimes eligible for the death penalty. "The crimes of Al Gore will not go unpunished." said Republican House leader Tom DeLay. "He invented this internet thing and it's destroying our way of life."

Re:In other news...

[commo1]

If this were true... couldn't you see the collective heads of the MPAA and the RIAA shouting "KAHN!!!!!" while an overhead shot of their offices cuts higher and higher.....

What about Jon Postel?

[merc]

Yes, he has passed away but he could have been given the award posthumously.

Thank god for speechwriters...

[jpellino]

Bush's original draft read "that whole deal used to transmogrify data over teh Interweb"

Irony?

[Drasil]

The man at the head of the world's largest heirarchical power structure gives out "Freedom" medals.

"You're doing a heck of a job, Bobbie, Vintie..."

[sakusha]

The Medal of Freedom is generally considered the Kiss of Death to any career. But consider that Cerf was already awarded the National Medal of Technology by Bill Clinton in 1997. At least Cerf and Kahn got the Turing Award, which came with a $100k cash prize.

If you don't find this 'Newsworthy'...

[Mulletproof]

"This is newsworthy?"

Well let's see, these people only helped create a system that has not only impacted millions of people worldwide, but changed the nature of information dissemination and business commerce for you, your kids and their kids. You tell me if this is news worthy. On second thought, let me tell you. It's nothing short of revolutionary. Then you go about discrediting an example of another award, as if it somehow makes this any less newsworthy or deserving of recognition when it really has nothing to do with anything.

Yeah, some people will find the shit in anything if it's labelled Microsoft, Bush or [insertyourfavoritenamebrandehere], regardless of how deserving it is.. I thought we marked crap like this 'trolls'...

Well, the real question is...

[msormune]

Is it better than the Amulet of Yendor? What are the stat raises with one of these?

A Political Statement

[Steve B]

Bush is underscoring the US position: we built it; you furriners who want to control it can go install a CAT5 cable where the sun don't shine.

Stupid name for the award...

[Goonie]

Look, if you're going to have awards specifically for people who contributed to Freedom, use the word "Freedom" in the award. But Jack Nicklaus was a professional golfer who went on to career in designing golf courses. He's contributed precisely zero to "freedom" (IIRC, he refused to play in South Africa in the 1970's when the sporting boycotts began to be enforced. That was the right thing to do, but hardly exceptional).

Rename the damn award the "Presidential Medal of Achievement" or "Presidential Medal of Service", and then it won't be so incongruous to give it to golfers.

I do have to wonder about giving the highest civilian award to Nicklaus, whatever it's called. He was a great golfer, sure. But he was very, very well renumerated for that, and won all manner of sporting awards. Did he do something exceptional beyond that to improve the lives of Americans in any way? I don't think so. But, hey, it's your country, and my own is hardly pure as snow on this kind of thing... The easiest way to become Australian of the Year is to captain the Australian cricket team...