The awards to Rep. Gus Bilirakis and Thanasis Maskaleris, as well as to a plethora of other prominent Greek Americans are indeed applauded by HellasFrappe, but we refuse to applaud the award given to Mrs. Angelopoulos and for this reason we have decided to post a letter of complaint with the hope that it is read by our Diaspora leaders.
Do our American leaders realize that the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Committee, which she was heading, is suspected of mishandling millions and millions of tax payer euros?
If our leaders know this... Then why the hell not give the award to someone who was more worthy? If they don't know this, then we advise them to brush up on the news. And if they purposely ignored this... Then this is indeed sad and just goes to show you that the elite, take care -and in this case honor- their own.
AHC apparently celebrates the achievements of dedicated community members who have made major contributions to Hellenism, Greek culture and heritage every year. We applaud them for this, but we suggest that these awards be given to people who actually deserve them.
And the reason we say this is because they honored US Congressman Gus M. Bilirakis, who is a Republican from Palm Harbor, and someone who we believe was actually deserving of the award he was given.
(He was first elected to Congress in 2006, and is currently serving his fourth term in the United States House of Representatives.)
So what are his achievements: Get a load of this!
Gus has always been vocal in supporting every resolution that reaches the House of Representatives and represents positions that the American Hellenic Council supports. As co-Chair of the Hellenic Caucus in Congress, he has spearheaded several efforts calling for religious freedom in Turkey, for an end to the occupation of Cyprus and for a resolution in the name dispute between Greece & FYROM.
He was either lead sponsor or co-sponsor of HR676, HR180, HR306, & HR506 during the 112th Congress.
His voting record on Hellenic issues is impeccable, having earned him a 100% voting score according to the AHEPA Congressional scorecard.
Now stand back for a moment and ask yourselves how the hell does this compare with Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and her so called achievements towards Hellenism?
She was honored for "winning" and apparently "saving" the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Oh really!!!
Then why were they the most costly games in history?
Why is the organizing committee under investigation?
And why the hell honor her with anything when her own husband declares that her Villa in Athens is a company so that they can save on electricity bills!
The infrastructure for the games took too long to construct and they end results were very disappointing. The millions of tax payer Euros that were given to these games only made several elite families in Greece extremely wealthy, and is one of the reasons Greece is in the mess it is in today!
Alexander Mizan, Executive Director of the American Hellenic Council said that they “decided to honor Mrs. Angelopoulos in recognition of her exemplary and dedicated work in successfully leading the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and her devotion to education and philanthropy in Greece as well as in the US.”
In the US she is desperately trying to promote her image by supporting ($$) Harvard University, and reports in Athens claim that she is doing this because she is either pushing for the SYRIZA party or simply because she wants to start up her own political party.
The philanthropy work in Greece part is indeed a joke. Do our leaders in the US even read the news? She has not given a dime to Greece or the Greek people during this crisis and we highly doubt that she even cares to do so.
We speculate that the only reason Mrs. Angelopoulos Daskalakis was honored is because she is a good friend to the Clintons and part of the Clinton Global Initiative.
And the reason we say this is because the mere mention of the name "Clintons" only brings bitterness to Greeks in Greece. Aside from the mess that Hillary made in the Middle East, the tens of thousands of people who have died in Syria -especially Orthodox Christians- as well as the fact that this former first couple is very chummy chummy with characters such as Henry Kissinger, George Soros, and our own George Papandreou, does not -and can never- sit well with us. And the reasons are clear. Greeks cannot forget the dismantling of Yugoslavia, which is directly related to the Clinton government just like the wars in the M.East are related to the Bush family. But most importantly, Greek citizens cannot forget the real reasons behind Hillary's visit to Greece two years ago. Need a hint - OIL and NATURAL GAS.
Now we know that Mrs. Angelopoulos is very good friends with the Clintons, and we have also heard that she is also chummy chummy with the British royals. When we hear the words "British royals" we can only think "Imperialists" and this alone is an alarm that says RUN.
But of course this is just speculation, and our opinion but in reality there are other reasons why we do not like this woman and are disappointed that you gave her this award.
Reports in Greece claim that her son supports the SYRIZA party and has been regularly photographed at many of its rallies. Do our leaders in the US realize even comprehend that by supporting her -or rather awarding her- they are supporting a pseudo-communist party that is in favor of dividing the Aegean with Turkey? Do they realize that SYRIZA's youth has rallied alongside with FYROManians against Greece? Do our leaders in the US realize that some of its members openly talk against Greece on other national issues? Do our leaders realize that some of the people photographed with Tsipras in his recent trip to the US have worked against Greek interests? And finally, do our leaders realize that on his recent trip to the US reports in Athens said that Angelopoulos was actually helping to promote the SYRIZA leader?
And if the AHC is aware of all of this then how hypocritical is the award to Mr. Gus M. Bilirakis who has been fighting against all the above?
Lavish awards ceremonies should not be held just for the sake of holding an event and finding an excuse to talk shop with champagne and caviar. They should be held for a reason and certainly those awarded should deserve these distinctions. Therefore, we applaud the AHC for awarding Gus M. Bilirakis, because we need more men such as him in Washington to lobby Greek interests, but we highly criticize and refuse to applaud the award that was given to Mrs. Angelopoulos.
Shame.
Signed
Editorial Team
HellasFrappe
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