This isn't the real America

[moghrabi]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter14nov14,0,7164514.story

This isn't the real America
By Jimmy Carter

JIMMY CARTER was the 39th president of the United States. His newest book is "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis," published this month by Simon & Schuster.

November 14, 2005

IN RECENT YEARS, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican.

These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights.

Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, state and local autonomy and fiscal responsibility.

At the same time, our political leaders have declared independence from the restraints of international organizations and have disavowed long-standing global agreements — including agreements on nuclear arms, control of biological weapons and the international system of justice.

Instead of our tradition of espousing peace as a national priority unless our security is directly threatened, we have proclaimed a policy of "preemptive war," an unabridged right to attack other nations unilaterally to change an unsavory regime or for other purposes. When there are serious differences with other nations, we brand them as international pariahs and refuse to permit direct discussions to resolve disputes.

Regardless of the costs, there are determined efforts by top U.S. leaders to exert American imperial dominance throughout the world.

These revolutionary policies have been orchestrated by those who believe that our nation's tremendous power and influence should not be internationally constrained. Even with our troops involved in combat and America facing the threat of additional terrorist attacks, our declaration of "You are either with us or against us!" has replaced the forming of alliances based on a clear comprehension of mutual interests, including the threat of terrorism.

Another disturbing realization is that, unlike during other times of national crisis, the burden of conflict is now concentrated exclusively on the few heroic men and women sent back repeatedly to fight in the quagmire of Iraq. The rest of our nation has not been asked to make any sacrifice, and every effort has been made to conceal or minimize public awareness of casualties.

Instead of cherishing our role as the great champion of human rights, we now find civil liberties and personal privacy grossly violated under some extreme provisions of the Patriot Act.

Of even greater concern is that the U.S. has repudiated the Geneva accords and espoused the use of torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, and secretly through proxy regimes elsewhere with the so-called extraordinary rendition program. It is embarrassing to see the president and vice president insisting that the CIA should be free to perpetrate "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment" on people in U.S. custody.

Instead of reducing America's reliance on nuclear weapons and their further proliferation, we have insisted on our right (and that of others) to retain our arsenals, expand them, and therefore abrogate or derogate almost all nuclear arms control agreements negotiated during the last 50 years. We have now become a prime culprit in global nuclear proliferation. America also has abandoned the prohibition of "first use" of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear nations, and is contemplating the previously condemned deployment of weapons in space.

Protection of the environment has fallen by the wayside because of government subservience to political pressure from the oil industry and other powerful lobbying groups. The last five years have brought continued lowering of pollution standards at home and almost universal condemnation of our nation's global environmental policies.

Our government has abandoned fiscal responsibility by unprecedented favors to the rich, while neglecting America's working families. Members of Congress have increased their own pay by $30,000 per year since freezing the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour (the lowest among industrialized nations).

I am extremely concerned by a fundamentalist shift in many houses of worship and in government, as church and state have become increasingly intertwined in ways previously thought unimaginable.

As the world's only superpower, America should be seen as the unswerving champion of peace, freedom and human rights. Our country should be the focal point around which other nations can gather to combat threats to international security and to enhance the quality of our common environment. We should be in the forefront of providing human assistance to people in need.

It is time for the deep and disturbing political divisions within our country to be substantially healed, with Americans united in a common commitment to revive and nourish the historic political and moral values that we have espoused during the last 230 years.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter14nov14,0,7164514.story

 

[Ocean Breeze]

read that earlier today. good item. Mind you J.Carter is smart and can conceptualize things on a more intelligent level than any of the blokes in washington today.

Saw him interviewed on Larry King.... and he continues to be articulate and very aware of the situation the US Is in now.

so sad that so many americans are blinded by party politics and condemn anything/ one outside of their own party/belief system without considering the wisdom that many of these people have.

 

[moghrabi]

RE: This isn't the real A

Jimmy Carter is one of the very few Americans I respect. He is the total opposite of the moron we have in the WH.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Re: RE: This isn't the real A

Jimmy Carter is one of the very few Americans I respect. He is the total opposite of the moron we have in the WH.

indeed. and he has done SO MUCH good since he left the washington rat race .......including winning the N.Peace Prize. And he does not blow his own horn..........or draw attention to himself. Speaks to the character of the man.

 

[moghrabi]

Re: RE: This isn't the real A

Jimmy Carter is one of the very few Americans I respect. He is the total opposite of the moron we have in the WH.

indeed. and he has done SO MUCH good since he left the washington rat race .......including winning the N.Peace Prize. And he does not blow his own horn..........or draw attention to himself. Speaks to the character of the man.

Not mentioning the houses and homes he built by hand to poor Africans and other people. I think this guy must've been Canadian and then kidnapped by the US. He is too good to be one of them.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

the thing that this theme raises is " WHAT was/ is the real america???" (without the puffed up egotistical nonsense) Or does anyone know/remember now?? Can it be resurrected?? Kinda don't think so...........as too much has changed for the worse ........and it will take time to level things off again into some new semblance of order./and sense.

 

[Ten Packs]

My wife and I were talking about Carter, after he was on Larry King recently. I told her that I can remember (to varying degrees) every President going back to Eisenhower...

Of all of them, Jimmy Carter is the ONLY one that, if he said it's raining, I wouldn't bother looking out the window... his say-so is good enough for me.

 

[Karlin]

November 15, 2005

"American Political Crisis"

The crisis in American politics extends far beyond Bush.
Arresting and impeaching him won't solve it. Voting the Democrats into power won't solve it either. They are not their only bosses, it is a combination of corporate forces, Elites, and various associations internationally.

If secretive forces are controlling America, as if for example, the Bilderberg meetings provide all the direction and instructions for whomever gains power in the USA. The will of the people, and the essense of democracy, are all for nought.
In reality, it is not simply Bilderberg controlling everything, but it IS "like that" - we just don't know the indentities of all the groups influencing American politics.

It doesn't really matter who they are, it is enough to know they are. It is enough to know it is NOT average Americans, the ones who have been led to believe they are the ones who choose the powers to be. The ones who give their support based on that premise have been duped, and therefore their whole concept of American politics is bogus, a lie, a farce in the face of you and I. This means it is illegal,essentially immoral, and basically just a criminal operation based on deciept and lies.

It must be shut down and purged of all the forces that holds it's present form together. This cannot be done from within, the people have become powerless even as a majority. When a majority is held hostage to the process, the process must be taken down by outsiders, a horrible thought that, in this situation, brings images of the Final War where the greatest military machine of all time will surely shoot its wad off before dying. The result would be global chaos, from which the evil side will arise first and take over.
a Quiet coup from within will fail, because the difference between terrorism and a coup cannot be easily made, and an attempted coup will be judged as terrorism, public support will fail.
Electing an independant without either party involved would not solve the presidential power struggles, nor is there any way to gaurantee the independant won't be another plugin sent by the oilside.

Shutting America down by way of United Nations resolutions will work. First, sanctions will remove the economic influences on foreign leaders and nations that the USA has used for so long to keep their enemies as their dependants. Secondly, crude oil supply will stop coming to America and their entire motorcade - military included - will putter and stop, electricity will be in short supply too, disabling much of America's tactical abilites.

The crisis in American politics needs a harsh remedy. Once the crisis is acknowledged and identified, the perpetrators named and numbered, the ball starts rolling.
"We" can do this, it just takes willpower of the average person - how willing are you to fight for what is right? Where is your good old spirit now? Have they drowned it in a sea of tears and fears? Lets step up and see that this is worth doing, and that letting it continue as it is ensures that this way of life is not worth living.

Anonymous blogger

K - I found that attached to the Carter article. It means corporations are controlling America, and everything, and it is not good...

 

[I think not]

Re: RE: This isn't the real A

Jimmy Carter is one of the very few Americans I respect. He is the total opposite of the moron we have in the WH.

indeed. and he has done SO MUCH good since he left the washington rat race .......including winning the N.Peace Prize. And he does not blow his own horn..........or draw attention to himself. Speaks to the character of the man.

Not mentioning the houses and homes he built by hand to poor Africans and other people. I think this guy must've been Canadian and then kidnapped by the US. He is too good to be one of them.

Tsk Tsk Tsk. Bigotry at its finest.

 

[Jay]

Wasn't Carter the one who started in Afghanistan?

 

[I think not]

The only thing I give Carter credit for is the hostage release from Iran. Anybody who believes Reagan did it after being 2 hours in office needs their head examined.

Other than that, he did much more after his Presidency.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

The only thing I give Carter credit for is the hostage release from Iran. Anybody who believes Reagan did it after being 2 hours in office needs their head examined.

Other than that, he did much more after his Presidency.

that might be the case. But WHAT one does as opposed to how much is even more relevant. His focus was diplomacy and PEACE initiatives. ......and that might not be sensational, headline grabbing, but is just as important.

There might have been an anti american attitude on the planet then........but it was NOTHING compared to what bush has created. Maybe americans don't give a damn about how they are percieved on this planet........but it just might be time they did CARE. America is but one nation on this earth.... and getting along with others is more important than "ruling" .....or dictating to others.

 

[Jay]

I'm pretty sure it was Carter who started aiding Afghanistan.

 

[I think not]

The only thing I give Carter credit for is the hostage release from Iran. Anybody who believes Reagan did it after being 2 hours in office needs their head examined.

Other than that, he did much more after his Presidency.

that might be the case. But WHAT one does as opposed to how much is even more relevant. His focus was diplomacy and PEACE initiatives. ......and that might not be sensational, headline grabbing, but is just as important.

There might have been an anti american attitude on the planet then........but it was NOTHING compared to what bush has created. Maybe americans don't give a damn about how they are percieved on this planet........but it just might be time they did CARE. America is but one nation on this earth.... and getting along with others is more important than "ruling" .....or dictating to others.

Americans were scorned before they were even Americans. And no, we won't care. Get over it. It's our turn to be *smug*, you had your roll for 200 years.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

The only thing I give Carter credit for is the hostage release from Iran. Anybody who believes Reagan did it after being 2 hours in office needs their head examined.

Other than that, he did much more after his Presidency.

that might be the case. But WHAT one does as opposed to how much is even more relevant. His focus was diplomacy and PEACE initiatives. ......and that might not be sensational, headline grabbing, but is just as important.

There might have been an anti american attitude on the planet then........but it was NOTHING compared to what bush has created. Maybe americans don't give a damn about how they are percieved on this planet........but it just might be time they did CARE. America is but one nation on this earth.... and getting along with others is more important than "ruling" .....or dictating to others.

Americans were scorned before they were even Americans. And no, we won't care. Get over it. It's our turn to be *smug*, you had your roll for 200 years.

so be smug........... nothing new. & nothing to get over./as nothing has changed. seems that nothing is learned either from all the misadventures the US has had. ya know.......something called 'maturity" , wisdom, class, dignity, accountability, and the power of understatement.

..........but then that would mean an identity crisis ......and harder to deal with than the current mess.

 

[Jay]

"President Jimmy Carter immediately declared that the invasion jeopardized vital U.S. interests, because the Persian Gulf area was "now threatened by Soviet troops in Afghanistan. But the Carter administration's public outrage at Russian intervention in Afghanistan was doubly duplicitous. Not only was it used as an excuse for a program of increased military expenditure that had in fact already begun, but the U.S. had in fact been aiding the mujahideen for at least the previous six months, with precisely the hope of provoking a Soviet response. Former CIA director Robert Gates later admitted in his memoirs that aid to the rebels began in June 1979. In a candid 1998 interview, Zbigniew Brezinski, Carter's national security adviser, confirmed that U.S. aid to the rebels began before the invasion:"

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Afghanistan/Afghanistan_CIA_Taliban.html

 

[I think not]

ya know.......something called 'maturity" , wisdom, class, dignity, accountability, and the power of understatement.

..........but then that would mean an identity crisis ......and harder to deal with than the current mess.

I won't continue this in this thread, start another topic if you want. I have all day today, my students are having mid-terms

 

[Ocean Breeze]

ya know.......something called 'maturity" , wisdom, class, dignity, accountability, and the power of understatement.

..........but then that would mean an identity crisis ......and harder to deal with than the current mess.

I won't continue this in this thread, start another topic if you want. I have all day today, my students are having mid-terms

wee diversion for a second.......but what do you teach ??? and to what grade level??? thanks.

 

[I think not]

ya know.......something called 'maturity" , wisdom, class, dignity, accountability, and the power of understatement.

..........but then that would mean an identity crisis ......and harder to deal with than the current mess.

I won't continue this in this thread, start another topic if you want. I have all day today, my students are having mid-terms

wee diversion for a second.......but what do you teach ??? and to what grade level??? thanks.

I don't teach anything, who the hell wants to listen to me? :lol:
Just look at my website on my profile, any other questions just ask.