I was just updating my CV. It's getting a little long for some purposes so I set to thinking about what things to take off. One option was this scholarship I had throughout college called the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship. I never applied for it, NY State just gave it to me. Maybe it's super crappy and they give it to everyone? So I looked up some information.
Many of you already know that Robert C. Byrd is a Senator from West Virginia. Here's his picture:
He's the longest serving senator in US history and the oldest current member of congress. He's been in the Senate longer than Obama has been alive. In 1942 he joined the Ku Klux Klan, and was elected Exalted Cyclops (which is ridiculous. Cyclops? Wizards? Is the KKK even trying to be taken seriously?) He swears that he quit a year later and was never interested in the Klan again (but there is some evidence that it took a couple years to wean himself off). He was elected to the House in 1952 and has not left Congress since. As a dixiecrat, he filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (he says he regrets that), and voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965. By 1968, he started changing his mind and voted for the Civil Rights Act and decided to finally stop being a segregationist and racist. Then he did a bunch of other stuff, was called "The King of Pork", and launched this scholarship program. It is actually the only merit-based scholarship funded through the US Department of Education. They give out about 27,000 a year. Now I feel honored to have this award. I also take to heart Senator Byrd's 1997 advice to young people interested in politics (as should you all): "Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Don't get that albatross around your neck. Once you've made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena."
3 comments:
I will take that advice to heart.
I want term limits for the house of representatives... It really gets my goat when these hooligans stay in office for over 50 years... really? I had to do that subtraction like 3 times to make sure it was right. Give them 4 or 8 years! Senators: 12! That is unless you are Baldwin or Feingold. They should stay forever!
OK, Byrd may have been a GrandCyclops with a +2 sword and 18 strength and all the rest, but he is hilarious to watch on the Senate floor. He'll take out his handkerchief and flutter it around ramatically as he rants and rails about nincompoops and hobbledeehoys and other words no one has used in 100 years. He's like a spry, Democratic Mr. Burns.
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