Congrats to C-SPAN's Brian Lamb

Here's some good TV news that I overlooked earlier in the week: Brian Lamb, founder and face of C-SPAN, has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The courtly gentleman who had the foresight to push for a cable (and now satellite) channel dedicated to the goings on in Congress and other corridors of power back in the late 1970s, was lauded by the Prez for "elevating America's public debate" and for his "dedication to a transparent political system." (Straining not to make a wisecrack here...) Read all about Lamb and C-SPAN's accomplishments since its March 1979 bow by clicking here, and for more milestones, click here.

Also making the Medal of Freedom cut this year is author Harper Lee, whose inspiring 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" remains a standout of 20th century American lit, and the kind of book you can flip open to any page and be thoroughly drawn in, no matter how many times you've read it before.