Rest Well, Mr. President

 The main news today, the sad news, really, was the death of former President Jimmy Carter, who had turned 100 in October.  He was the longest-lived president in American history being the first to reach the centennial, and he also had  the longest post-presidency of 43 years.  Neither record is likely to be broken anytime soon.

His presidency was mired with a rabid media that trashed him and family members (think of Billy Carter), and over all the time he had to spend negotiating over the hostage situation in Iran.  He enabled their release, but we all know, or should, that the Reagan campaign interfered with the release of the hostages, the so-called "October Surprise."  It was no coincidence the hostages were released on the day of Reagan's inauguration even though he had nothing to do with the negotiations.  However, it is clear at least to this observer other people were involved in hijacking those negotiations to help favor Reagan.

Carter also had to deal with inflation and other shit that the media blew totally out of proportion.

I actually met the former president back in 2006, when he campaigned on behalf of his son, Jack, who ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign against Republican John Ensign, who, as we know, had to resign his Senate seat thanks to a sex scandal. When I met Carter, he was doing a private fundraiser at an exclusive part of Reno on the way to Lake Tahoe, Montreaux.  I contributed $250 and posed with the former president after exchanging pleasantries, but I didn't get to get a print because I hadn't contributed $500.  

He made a few trips to northern Nevada then and gave some speeches.  His late wife, Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at the age of 96, was also a part of the Jack Carter campaign.

Here are a few photos I took of an event on September 27, 2006, at the University of Nevada, Reno, campus, where the former president spoke in support of his son Jack's Senate campaign:

A brief video clip:

He received the Nobel Peace Prize and both he and Rosalynn were heavily involved with Habitat for Humanity.  He and his family were simply great; not a bit of phoniness about them.  He really was a Christian in the best sense of the word.

At least he doesn't have to be around for a second Trump term.  

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

James Earl Carter Jr. was born in Plains on Oct. 1, 1924, the first of four children of Earl Carter, a farmer and businessman, and Lillian Gordy Carter, a registered nurse.

He gained an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated and joined the Navy submarine branch where in seven years he worked his way into “Rickover’s boys,” the elite nascent unit of America’s nuclear submarine fleet championed by the iconic Admiral Hyman Rickover. Carter was on his way up until a death at home changed his destiny.

His father Earl, a farmer, businessman and cornerstone personality in the Plains community, died from cancer. Carter left the Navy and its far-from-Plains postings such as Hawaii, and he, Rosalynn and their growing family returned to Georgia in 1953 to take over the family farming business. It was there he first ran for school board, then state senator.

He was elected governor in 1970. Carter served one successful term before launching an improbable bid to become president, winning the Democratic nomination and then defeating Republican President Gerald Ford in November 1976.

Photo of the Day

Photo taken by the former president himself:

More here.

One of the Longest and Worst

examples of institutionalized prejudice is men's use of the Bible to keep women in second-class status or even as targets of abuse.

Former president Jimmy Carter takes issue with with sexism and the Bible.

Blasts From the Past, Part II

Jimmy Carter (1977):



This video is NOT complete, and C-SPAN doesn't have it up yet.


Ronald Reagan (1981):




George H.W. Bush (1989):




Bill Clinton (1993):





George W. Bush (2001):




Note there are no videos of second-term presidential inaugural addresses.

Economic Mess

Former President Carter says Bush's economic policies, which actually began in earnest during the Reagan years with its embrace of the Friedman cult, is responsible for the world economic mess.

George claims the bailout will work in destroying our country and rendering it helpless to do anything for people, but it will take time.

Unfortunately, there is no indication from either of our major candidates they will reject Friedmanism and go back to re-regulation and actually doing things for the American people.

Campaign Foot-in-Mouth

Of course John McCain is going to "milk" his POW experience for political gain, just as Barack Obama is milking his exotic ethnic background for political gain. Still, it is not good for former president Carter to even bring McCain's experience up.

McCain's POW experience is really something people should not bring up because there will be a backlash from voters. There are other things to go after McCain on.
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Campaign Follies.

Even though Obama hasn't won the nomination and may not win it after all, former president Carter advises him against picking Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

While Clinton may have 50 percent negatives, Obama's are even higher.

She needs to save her political capital for 2012 if Obama ends up getting the nomination.
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Meanwhile, the GOP is preparing to do what it does best, apart from smear, and that's play the terror card. The reason the party wants Obama is he is tailor-made for trashing. It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel.
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According to this, the bigwigs in the Democratic Party are attempting to force Clinton out in order to throw the 2008 election to John McCain.

Will there be protests in the convention if they will pull this shit?
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Campaign Notes.

With all due respect to former president Carter, he really needs to keep quiet about the campaign.

The superdelegates should do absolutely nothing about the contest. Besides it WILL go to the convention.

Obama is totally tainted and CANNOT under any circumstances be the nominee.
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In this article from a month ago, Michael Lind, who wrote the excellent Up from Conservatism, explains what Obama's problem in a nutshell is. He represents the interests of the elites of the party rather than the working class, and he will not do a thing to repair the rift.

Hell, by the time the GOP gets done with Obama, if he gets the nomination, the elites and the working class will unite by voting for McCain or not voting at all.

Campaign Notes.

This "report" from the Scotsman is total bunk and wishful thinking on the part of Obama supporters.

Nobody that prominent is going to waste his or her political capital on something like this.
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Chelsea Clinton honed her campaign skills in Portland, Oregon.
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Tonight CNN held a faith forum for Clinton and Obama.

Miscellaneous.

Dan Rather tells it like it is.

He's right about this year's election and on his lawsuit against CBS.

Here is the clip:


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Actor Patrick Swayze, 55, is battling pancreatic cancer. That's really bad, considering just 5 percent of patients live five years after diagnosis.

The National Enquirer makes this claim, denied by Swayze's connections:

For the past month, Patrick, 55, has been traveling to Stanford University's prestigious cancer center in Palo Alto for radical chemotherapy, but his doctors are no longer optimistic that the treatments will be successful.

Patrick and his wife Lisa Niemi — who both have pilot's licenses — have been flying their private Beechcraft plane into Palo Alto's airport, minutes away from the Stanford Cancer Center, where the actor has received outpatient treatment.

He received three doses of chemotherapy and the tumor shrank, but less than his doctors had hoped for — and Patrick was told he should prepare for the end.

"He was told he could have two more treatments, but his cancer was not responding. In short - they held out little hope for a cure," said an insider.

Michael Landon and Jack Benny are two famous individuals who have died from the disease.
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I think the Mouth and the DNC screwed up regarding Florida and Michigan.
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This story is beyond disgusting:

A teacher's assistant was sentenced to six months in jail this week for stealing lunch money from a disabled student at Camarillo High School.

Kristen Rene Santoyo, 37, was also given four years probation during a hearing Tuesday before Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger. In addition, Santoyo was ordered to pay $285 restitution to the student and to attend at least one year of weekly child abuse counseling sessions.

The victim, a 14-year-old high school freshman who suffers from severe autism and cannot speak, was sent to school with a lunch box that had snacks and $5 to purchase a cafeteria meal, prosecutors said. After she came home from school hungry and went straight to the refrigerator multiple times, her parents grew suspicious and contacted the school principal and teacher.

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In this article from the New York Times former president Jimmy Carter has lost several family members to pancreatic cancer, including both of his sisters, his brother, and both parents. Surprisingly he hasn't developed the disease so far. He has a theory:

Mr. Carter said doctors had offered various theories about what had caused so much disease in his family. “Nobody knew,” he said. “They thought my family might have imbibed some kind of poison, a pesticide. Back in the olden days, the federal government didn’t care what kind of poison you used.”

His family lived near cotton fields, where malathion was used, he said. But some researchers think pesticides are a long shot — many people spend their lives near cotton fields — and say genetics is a more likely cause of pancreatic cancer.

The big question is, why was Mr. Carter spared when others in his family were struck down?

“The only difference between me and my father and my siblings was that I never smoked a cigarette,” Mr. Carter said. “My daddy smoked regularly. All of them smoked.”

Studies have shown that smoking doubles or triples a person’s risk of pancreatic cancer.

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A very early photo of Helen Keller and teacher Anne Sullivan has been discovered.
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Former President Carter's

remarks blasting our dictator have gone largely ignored by the national media.

Former President Carter

says what everybody in the world knows this side of Free Republic that our dictator is the absolute worst when it comes to international relations.

That's in addition to him being the worst at everything else.

Presidential Notes.

If you vote for Hillary Clinton, you also get her husband.
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John Edwards was wrong when he said Clinton and Obama should chill.

I say they should go after each other and knock each other out of contention.
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President Gore is tired of getting phone calls from former President Jimmy Carter urging him to run for re-election next year.

Al insists he doesn't want to do it.
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Governor Richardson should get a lot more attention than he is getting.

I have been giving money to the Edwards campaign, as he is still my top pick. However, I am seriously considering giving money to Dodd and Richardson because I don't want the goddamned media to tell me who I should pick in next year's caucus.

I already gave a small amount of money to Biden.
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