Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

I Love Jimmy Carter

Salon.com Wire Story: ‘What has happened at Guantanamo Bay … does not represent the will of the American people,’ Carter said. ‘I’m embarrassed about it, I think it’s wrong. I think it does give terrorists an unwarranted excuse to use the despicable means to hurt innocent people.’

Jimmy Carter was a very fine president and he’s one heck of a decent human being. How can you not love this man?

Remember all those great alternative energy programs that were put in place back in the late 70s? That was Jimmy Carter’s work. You can thank Ronald Reagan and that freak, James Watt, for undoing all of Carter’s fine work.

Check out this interesting entry on the Common Dreams web site for a little history lesson on how the Republicans trashed Carter’s energy policies and created the mess we’re in now. (Be aware, the author has mixed in some allegations about Bush I’s relationship with the bin Laden family and with “oil-rich mullahs of Iran” that, in my opinion, distract from the verifiable facts of how the Republicans dismantled Carter’s energy policy. Still, many excellent points are made.) The entry includes quotes from a speech Carter gave in 1977.

‘Ours is the most wasteful nation on earth,’ he said, a point that is still true. ‘We waste more energy than we import. With about the same standard of living, we use twice as much energy per person as do other countries like Germany, Japan and Sweden.’ Carter directly challenged the fossil fuel and automobile industries. ‘One choice,’ he said, ‘is to continue doing what we have been doing before. We can drift along for a few more years. Our consumption of oil would keep going up every year. Our cars would continue to be too large and inefficient.’

And this was before SUVs!!!

‘Three-quarters of them would continue to carry only one person — the driver — while our public transportation system continues to decline.’

You all know George W. Bush wants to completely cut off funding for Amtrak, right?

‘We can delay insulating our houses, and they will continue to lose about 50 percent of their heat in waste. We can continue using scarce oil and natural gas to generate electricity, and continue wasting two-thirds of their fuel value in the process.’

And, of course, that’s exactly what we did — thanks primarily to Ronald Reagan.

…Ronald Reagan’s first official acts of office included removing Jimmy Carter’s solar panels from the roof of the White House, and reversing most of Carter’s conservation and alternative energy policies.

And now, look at our current situation. Fighting a war that’s really all about access to OIL. That’s what I’d call a fuckarow.

This country so desperately needs Jimmy Carter’s moral clarity and common sense.

Jimmy, come back and be president again!