Tag: #Jimmy Carter

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The Window in Time

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The Window in TimeJimmy Carter with Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

The Window in Time

By John Curran

 

If you’ve ever seen a photo of the late Jimmy Carter in his dress whites, his formal Navy uniform, well you saw a man who looked good in uniform. And naval officer Carter also knew a little something about higher level military functioning; with a Bachelor of Science degree from Annapolis in 1946, and post graduate work in nuclear physics, Carter was well-prepared for service on the future nuclear submarine fleet. Sadly, when his father died in 1953 Carter was forced to resign his commission and return home to run the family peanut business.

He he had real first hand knowledge of what it takes to be on a serious long term deployment at sea. It’s like, he’d been there, and he knew. Carter knew what it was and he cared. Such that when he became president in 1976, right after that long nightmare called Vietnam, the people were definitely ready for some respite from all of that. The nation had to heal. With Jimmy stepping in right then, whatever else did or did not occur, healing from that rupture did begin.

Jimmy did not want war and he delivered on that. For four years it was quiet. There was no reckless misadventures occurring anywhere.  No provocations; like the stirring up of that old hornets nest in the Middle East when there was no need.  No, there was no egging ’em on just because of some misguided ego driven power play.  Jimmy would never make our troops fodder for misguided, reckless and even corrupted grand schemes. No,  Jimmy Carter knew what it was to serve, and he cared; it was evident by how he conducted affairs during his time in office. He was responsible for the Camp David Accords, the most positive bit of almost there diplomacy concerning that Arab-Israeli mess that has been achieved, before or since.

And myself, I had the great good fortune to have done my service time during his four year single term. And even though mine was a combat job, infantry rifleman, I wasn’t sweating it. It was peace time now and it felt like peace time; it really did. For one damn moment in recent time the whole damn world was not talking war shit constantly and let me tell ya’ it was sure a nice change of tone; that it was. And ya’ did even get the feeling somehow that Big Guy there in Washington, DC did give a damn about even little ‘ol line troops slogging it out on some rainy muddy hill in Hawaii in the dead middle of the darkest night ever. Not shortchanged, nor forgotten, as we soldiered on with our dummy ammo and our plastic M16’s on our little war games practice mission. No more, no less, than what we had signed up for. And we were gonna make it through ’cause this ain’t asking us to do too much, only what is really necessary, to make sure we are good and ready, for if and when the time ever does come, God forbid. Jimmy knew this. I believe that Jimmy knew this very well. And I believe too, that Jimmy really cared, cared about each and every service member, as flesh and blood.

Trump’s Torturous Tribulations

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Trump’s Torturous Tribulations

Trump’s Torturous Tribulations

By Cate Rees-Hessel w/ D.S.Mitchell

 

Disaster Impending

As we draw closer to the dreaded day of January 20th, Donald Trump’s second inauguration, something I thought I would never hear or say, allow me to point out more insane things he has done prior to his taking office again this month. We absolutely must resist this devastating excuse for a president…

Cold Day in Hell?

But it should be noted first, even his inauguration itself demonstrates his all-consuming self-interest: the ceremony has been moved indoors because the temperature is predicted to be in the low twenties. At least two prior Presidents in the last 60 years or so were inaugurated outside in similar cold, and the last time an inauguration was moved indoors, the temp at noon was 7 above zero. Even more telling is the official statement that the most of the quarter-million tickets sold for the event when it was set for outside won’t be honored for indoor seats, but are now “commemorative”. In other words, worthless – but wait a minute, they were already. All the more reason we absolutely must continue to resist this coming travesty.

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Books About Donald J. Trump and Other Literary Legacies

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BOOKS ABOUT DONALD J. TRUMP 

“A biography, is a detailed description of a person’s life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person’s experience of these life events,” Wikipedia

By Trevor K. McNeil

Write It All Down

Trump rarely reads and has been writing his memoir on his Twitter feed.

Trump rarely reads and is writing his memoir on his Twitter feed, 240 characters at a time

We live in an age of documentation. The word “biography” did not enter the English lexicon until relatively recently. We now have the ability to create personalized literature 240 characters at a time.  I’m sure a book about Donald Trump will someday be written based on his Twitter feed.  Before this age of technology however, a person had to be somewhat well-known  before anyone would think to write, or read, a book about them. One group that has almost always been in this category are U.S. presidents.

Once In The Ground

For much of American history, a president could count on being at least out of office before the ink began to fly. Some of the former leaders with the most pages dedicated to them being those who are long dead. Once in the ground, presidents become easy targets for writers and historians to delve into every aspect of their life and career from multiple angles. It’s always easier once someone is dead to dig about in their personal correspondence and investigate rumor and innuendo, and talk to people who shared time with the president.

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HANLON’S RAZOR: Cutting Through the Hype

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HANLON’S RAZOR:

CUTTING THROUGH THE HYPE

By Trevor K. McNeil

A “culture war” by American definition implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. It is most obvious when urban and rural American values come into clear conflict–T. K. McNeil

Origins

Little is known about the originator of Hanlon’s Razor, Robert J. Hanlon. To the point that it came to be thought that it might have been a misspelling of the famous science fiction author Robert J. Heinlein. Although this similarity proved to be purely coincidental. Originally composed as an entry for a writing contest based on the largely satirical “Murphy’s Law”. An axiom which states that anything that can go wrong invariably will. Though, Hanlon’s philosophy is generally more optimistic. Showing a modicum of faith in human nature. Attributing seeming misconduct to human frailty and incompetence rather than inherent cruelty.

Hanlon’s Razor

Much of the rhetoric based on gross exaggerations may not be  intentional manipulations of the truth. Hanlon’s Razor states, A truth most clearly expressed in the political aphorism known as Hanlon’s Razor.  Hanlon’s Razor states, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.” Or as former British press secretary Bernard Ingham rephrased it: “Cock-up (screw up) before conspiracy.”

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