Dalai Lama to receive Congressional Gold Medal

[babylonsister]

Bush to attend ceremony for Dalai Lama
By Karissa Marcum
September 28, 2007


President Bush will attend an Oct. 17 ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda at which the Dalai Lama, will be presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the country’s highest civilian honor.

The event will be historic, signaling the first time a sitting U.S. president will appear with the Dalai Lama at a public event, according to International Campaign for Tibet.

Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama, said in the ICT statement Thursday, “Honoring His Holiness with the Congressional Gold Medal is a strong endorsement of His Holiness’ tireless commitment to enhancing the principles of non-violence, religious harmony, tolerance, and promoting a sense of universal responsibility.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will preside over the event, ICT said. On Thursday, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill confirmed Pelosi’s and the president’s attendance at the event.

“For millions around the world, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a source of spiritual refuge and a connection to inner peace and harmony. He has traveled the world, building bridges between and among the different faiths. He has used his position to promote wisdom, compassion, and non-violence as a solution - not only in Tibet - but to other world conflicts,” Pelosi said in the ICT statement.

Following the ceremony, the Dalai Lama will speak on the West Lawn of the Capitol. The ceremony will also mark the first time the West Lawn will be used for a Congressional Gold Medal celebration in the medal’s 200-year history.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bush-to-attend-ceremony-for-dalai-lama-2007-09-28.html

[PDenton]

1. Does Bush want a little holiness

rubbing off on him? With only about a year left, he needs to buff up his legacy a bit? If the Pope denounces him, maybe he can bribe a Lama?

[shain from kane]

2. What does he need a medal for, when he's got all those other things going for him? Reminds me of

LBJ giving a bust of himself to the Pope.


Carl Spackler: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

3. It feels aweful to have this pResident "honoring" someone like Dalai Lama.

;(