President Awarded Purple Heart

…and I’m not making this up. I saw it on Bill Maher’s show then did a little digging myself.

A couple weeks back, while the domestic media had its head 110% up the ass of the Virginia Tech shootings, a Texas Viet Nam vet, one Bill Thomas, got to pondering about the President’s delicate little feelings (killing all those Am’r’can kids in Iraq every day and all) and decided that the President’s emotional suffering had gone unacceptably unrecognized and unrewarded. As the recipient of three Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat in the 173 Airborne Brigade in 1965 himself, this well-meaning (if arguably misguided) duffer decided he oughtta give one of his Purple Hearts to the President. You know, for his suffering, emotionally-wise.

The President’s. His suffering.

No, stop it, I’m serious.

According to the Killeen Daily Herald’s Joyce May, Thomas said he and his wife came up with the unprecedented idea to present the president with the Purple Heart over breakfast one morning a few months ago as they discussed the verbal attacks, both foreign and domestic, the commander in chief has withstood during his time in office. "We feel like emotional wounds and scars are as hard to carry as physical wounds," Thomas said.

So far, so sad. But as far as crazy shit that former soldiers have done, making statements by doing symbolic things (returning, refusing, etc.) with their medals has long been accepted practice. It’s actually a pretty healthy form of free speech.

Here’s the twist:

Our irony-impaired President actually accepted in a White House ceremony from which I have seen not a single image emerge (obviously somebody on staff gets irony). No official photo of the ‘presentation’ that I can find has been released by the administration; you know somebody there took a photo, but it hasn’t shown up on the wire and my The Google skills have failed me in this effort as well.

[Full disclosure: I really like this last bit, even though I stole it from the comment section of somebody else’s blog then added the part about clearing brush. Funny, there’s lots of photos available of the President clearing brush…]

Now if only Bush could find a Wizard to give him a brain and some courage, he could be clearing brush in Kansas in just three clicks of his Tony Lamas.