Tuesday January 30, 2007, 12:06 am
This former President of the United States has done more for humanity worldwide than any politician I know. It is time that poverty, starvation, homelessness, epidemics, and other humanitarian issue get front page coverage so that the whole world can become informed and aware of the seriousness of the problem. Mr. Carter is not a man of all talk, no action. Quite the contrary, and he has ideas and plans the world should hear and give consideration to.

Tuesday January 30, 2007, 11:48 am
Seems like a simple concept to me. If we repress the poor and make it harder for them to eat good food for them than we make the growing disparate between the haves and the have not's in the mean time shortening their life span's and hope. This concept can be crossed over to a variety of different subjects including health care etc. Ergo the separation of the few...less than 1% of the population get the majority of wealth, health care, and better food, furthering the separation. Want a class war, this is how you encourage it.

Tuesday January 30, 2007, 11:11 pm
Carter cares! He continues to speak the truth and work for large changes a step at a time. The world world do well to heed him--his kindness is the greatest wisdom.

Wednesday January 31, 2007, 1:54 am
I think he means well he does pull up the shirt sleeves and work for what he believes in. Example Habitat for Humanity. However he actually did very little during his presidency possibly do to the fact that he owed so many for getting his job in the oval office. They wanted payback and being honorable he could not oblige and so went his presidency.Now he has more than made up for it and used his former job to make things happen now. Though he should remember to show respect and support to those who hold the office now thus continuing to set a good example.

Wednesday January 31, 2007, 7:10 am
President Carter continues to serve not only his own country but people in other countries. He has a good heart, and I'm glad that he continues to be healthy and active in human rights. There is also something about him that many do not realize. Pensions are vested and are not lost when a person goes from job to job during their life time thanks to him. This was something he signed into law and strongly supported. He is focused on improving life in nations that are not affluent, and is aware that scientists and engineers have the knowledge for creative solutions to improve their lives and reduce health problems. I hope some of them will feel a moral obligation to use their talents and skills in this pursuit. He made a good point about the ratio of personal earnings between the wealthy and the poor. He said, "We are approaching a hundredfold ratio between personal income within the 10 richest and poorest countries, and we become increasingly separated, aloof, and unaware of one another as our quality of life diverges." How much should one person receive? The CEO's of major companies receive obscene amounts. I use the word receive because it was not earned through work. President Carter is right to point out that there is a growing chasm between the have and have nots. They regard the poor as a nuisance and as if they are from another planet. There should be a redistribution of wealth to reduce the gap. When a person is in love with acquiring things and surrounding themselves with expensive things, they lose sight of God, and in the end lose sight of who they could have been.

Wednesday January 31, 2007, 10:50 am
Jimmy Carter is the best. He has done so much good work. If only the world had more people like him.

Wednesday January 31, 2007, 11:19 am
Linda, you don't think the PEACE TALKS that Jimmy Carter engineered between Menachem Begin and Anwar al-Sadat were "a big deal"?

I'd say The Camp David Accords are a great part of Jimmy Carter's legacy.

Linda, what do you think GeeDumbya Bu$h's legacy will be?

Wednesday January 31, 2007, 3:36 pm
A little "refresher course" on presidents and legacies:

REAGAN'S FINAL YEARS....In the course of a column advocating that President Bush create several new empire-building agencies, including a Department of Peace (!), Max Boot makes this claim in passing:

These ideas may sound overly ambitious for the final two years of an administration mired in major difficulties. But remember that in his second term, despite the Iran-Contra scandal, Ronald Reagan was able to simplify the tax code and streamline the military chain of command -- major reforms -- by working with a Democratic Congress.

This is not the biggest deal in the world, but for some reason this is a very common claim. Can we please put it to rest?

First: The "last two years" of a presidency surely don't start until, um, the last two years of a presidency. At its earliest, it starts after the sixth year midterm elections. For Reagan, this happened on November 4, 1986. Until then, he had a split Congress (Democratic House, Republican Senate).

Second: the 1986 Tax Reform Act was negotiated in 1985-86 and passed in October 1986. Ditto for the Goldwater-Nichols Act. None of this happened in Reagan's final two years.

Third: News of the arms-for-hostages deal was first reported in the Lebanese press on November 3. Neither of these acts was passed "despite the Iran-Contra scandal."

I'm not sure why this bugs me, but I see it often and it's just wrong. The fact is that Reagan accomplished very little domestically in his final two years, and largely for the same reasons Bush won't: Democrats won the midterms, after November he was mired in scandal, and seventh year presidents are widely considered lame ducks anyway.

That is all. You may now return to the 21st century.

—Kevin Drum 12:27 PM Permalink

Wednesday January 31, 2007, 8:08 pm
the bitch is gone
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/31/obit.ivins.ap/index.html

Thursday February 1, 2007, 3:23 pm
Well Patt your demi-god Bill Clinton succeeded in reducing our military, selling secrets to the chinese and having sexual relations with that woman after (i never had sexual relations with that woman"). Other than those fine things the man never did anything worth while in his entire time in office. Now the leftist granola would love to have the Hilda beast in office just so she could bring Billy boy back.

Friday February 2, 2007, 5:52 pm
I think we should have some sort of sliding scale incentive regarding fuels.
There are those which leave no environmental impact, geothermal and solar;
then, I suppose we should consider that wind kills birds;
no coal is clean;
bio-anything is carbon based, as well, and pollutes;
all nuclear is horribly polluting and we can never dispose of the waste in a guaranteed not to harm way;
then their is our present fuel, which is as bad as nuclear in its impact.
How would we reward those using the best fuels and
penalize those using the carbon-based garbage, and
especially penalize those using nuclear?

Friday February 2, 2007, 8:35 pm
I'm posting the article because it's about the ideas President Jimmy Carter has. He has a big heart and works toward improving the quality of life of all people. He is a statesman, a credit to this country, as well as having been a nuclear engineer. He doesn't just talk. He does something. Habitat for Humanity, building homes for the poor, is one of his projects and he has labored with his hands constructing these homes. Pat, penalizing people will never work. Energy use in whatever form is so people can survive. Making other forms available and conservation is the answer.

"By Jimmy Carter
National Academy of Engineering
Updated: 11:43 p.m. CT Jan 11, 2007

Having been educated in naval and nuclear engineering, I have a great interest in the role of our profession in helping to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.

The safe and efficient use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes will inevitably be an important challenge for engineers, as will the development of renewable forms of energy. As a farmer and woodsman, I have a personal interest in the production of ethanol and biodiesel fuels to replace the limited supplies of oil. Although it is unlikely that there will ever be enough food grains and sugarcane to meet these needs, cellulose from trees can make this contribution and also help resolve the overall problem of global warming. There will be numerous suggestions like these within the National Science Foundation to improve the quality of life in the more affluent industrialized nations, so I would like to emphasize another, even greater need.

At the turn of this century, I was asked to deliver lectures, in Asia and Europe, on "The greatest challenge the world faces in the new millennium." My easy choice was that the greatest challenge is the growing chasm between the rich and poor, not only between nations but within them. We are approaching a hundredfold ratio between personal income within the 10 richest and poorest countries, and we become increasingly separated, aloof, and unaware of one another as our quality of life diverges."
T
"The Carter Center has programs in 65 of the poorest nations in the world, including 35 in Africa, and we are in daily contact with the people's deprivation and suffering. One of the recent elections we have monitored was in Liberia, where more than half the population lives on less than 50 cents a day. It is almost impossible for those reading this article to imagine how anyone can pay for food, housing and clothing from this income. It is obvious that these people have nothing left for health care, education, human dignity, or hope for a better future.

My own hope is that the engineering community will devote part of its effort to devise and apply technological advances to meet some of the rudimentary needs of water, fuel, housing, health, and information. One notable example is the recent development of long-term impregnated bed nets, which we will be providing early next year to every home in Ethiopia to control mosquitoes that spread malaria among the 50 million people in the endemic areas.

I'm sure that members of the National Academy of Engineering can identify many other specific needs to be addressed.

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and is the founder of the Carter Center. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Copyright 2006 National Academy of Engineering. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. Refer to the original version of this essay at the "Grand Challenges for Engineering" Web site to leave your comments.

Saturday February 3, 2007, 11:39 am
Kevin, tell us all, won't you please, what GeeDumbya Bu$h!t's legacy will be...

Saturday February 3, 2007, 3:13 pm
Patt as far as i see it, it will probably be the same as every president before him except George Washington and FDR absolutely nothing.