Word: honors
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...refuse to leave the recruiting center. The possibility of police arriving to press charges is not unlikely, according to Jacob P. Reitan, a Harvard Divinity School student who first conceived of the tour. Punishment for protesting an “immoral law” would be a badge of honor, he said. Harvard College Democrats President Jarret A. Zafran said the bill is “rank hypocrisy” and a government sanction of discrimination. He added that the possibility of punishment did not dissuade him. “It’s a small price...
When Groucho Marx famously remarked that he'd never want to join a club that would accept him as a member, he probably wasn't thinking of the elite group of recipients of France's Legion of Honor. But a comedian as sharp and profound as Marx would, no doubt, not welcome induction into club whose ranks have begun to swell with people nominated purely for their celebrity rather than any loftier merits. That list grew further, Thursday, when President Nicolas Sarkozy conferred the title on Canadian singer Céline Dion, welcoming her into the company of Alexis...
...After this, all that's needed is the induction of Jean-Claude Van Damme to justify a name change to the Legion of Bad Taste," says comic author and France Inter radio commentator Didier Porte of Dion's selection. "The Legion is now the way powerful politicians honor people for having attained celebrity and fame. It's basically now the manner in which VIPs get together to smell one another's behind...
...What those laws should do is ban Céline Dion from singing, and award the the Legion of Honor to people who listened to her and survived," suggests Porte - who was hardly alone in decrying Dion's selection as the most egregious example to date of the institution confusing fame with substance. "Has she saved the planet? Found a cure for AIDS? Legalized adoption for gay parents?" asked the weekly magazine Marianne. "Not at all, she represents success." Pinning the decoration on schlock goddess Dion, warned daily France Soir, risked "transforming it into a chocolate medal...
...there anything new in the Legion inducting honorees whose selection induces a blanching response among people of taste. While professional cynics such Porte lavishly mock a national joke (and Sarkozy pal) such as wrinkled rocker Johnny Hallyday enjoying Legion membership, they energetically defend Jerry Lewis deserving the same honor. Similarly, while some argue that actor G?rard Depardieu has done more than enough to merit his selection, it's difficult to find anyone in France who even knows who kitsch artist Jeff Koons is - much less why he's sharing a tribute with Helen Keller, Hans Blix and Jacques Cousteau...