Capitol Notes: Veterans, troops complain Medals of Honor slow to come
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WASHINGTON -- Gripes are growing in the ranks of some U.S. troops and veterans about the virtual absence of Medals of Honor bestowed upon a growing list of those who have performed extraordinary acts of combat valor in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So far, just one of the nation's top decorations has been awarded, and that was posthumously to Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, who died in the early days of the war while protecting fellow soldiers from enemy attack near the Baghdad airport.
Critics are especially ticked that no living hero has been selected for the award, and note that -- if the medal were awarded at the same rate at which it was during the Vietnam War -- at least 30 would have been presented so far.
The Pentagon says the process for awarding Medal of Honors is necessarily painstaking, but is proceeding.
DO AS I SAY...
As any real estate professional will tell you, the best thing to do if you want to sell your home is to listen to your agent. But Thomas Stevens, president of the National Association of Realtors, admits he didn't follow his own profession's advice. This week, he blamed himself for not cutting the $1.45 million price on his house for sale in the wealthy Washington suburb of Great Falls, Va., where it has sat, unbought, for a year.
Mr. Stevens said he could have sold the house fast if he had sliced $100,000 or so off the price early on before the local housing market cooled substantially. The lesson: "Listen to your agent," he told reporters.
PENTAGON DISLIKES LESBIANS
The military appears to be disproportionately unfriendly to lesbians, according to data from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Although women make up about 15 percent of the nation's active-duty force, they accounted for 30 percent of those discharged last year under the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Pentagon policy. In all, 219 of the 726 troops booted out of uniform were women, with the Army expelling the most (146).
PANDA MAY STAY
Fans of the National Zoo's toddler panda are knocking wood that a panda baby boom this year may mean that 1-year-old Tai Shan might not be forced to go to China when he is 2. When it acquired a pair of young pandas in 2001, the zoo cut a deal with China to send any offspring back to help bolster the dwindling wild population there. But the births of a record 25 cubs in captivity in China, Atlanta and elsewhere this year have Tai groupies hoping he'll be able to stay.
CHUPPIES: CHINA'S YUPPIES
Speaking of China, that giant country's urban consumers -- sometimes called "Chuppies" -- adore American DVDs, moisturizer, athletic shoes and washer-dryers, according to a UPS survey of 1,200 middle-class residents in six Chinese cities. They also are increasingly partial to plastic, with more than half saying they use credit or debit cards.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"If I were running for president, you can bet that I'd want Bill Clinton as my spouse -- even if it meant a change in sexual orientation. He's good at everything."
-- Bob Kerrey, former Nebraska senator and 1992 Democratic presidential candidate, discussing the prospects for a White House run by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
"It seems every time there's a traumatic event in American history, it spawns conspiracy theories. I mean, people still think that John Wilkes Booth got away and hid somewhere in the South."
-- Tom Kean, former New Jersey governor and co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, on the plethora of suspicions surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
First Published September 17, 2006 12:00 am
