[Rhodes22-list] Political - special post for Stanley since he has some time today

[Brad Haslett]

Ed,

When I first learned of Jimmy Carter I was a freshman in college at
SIU (Southern Illinois University) - Carbondale and when I almost
voted for him a year later I was a sophomore at EIU (Eastern Illinois
University due to a job change).  It was close, and I don't blame
anyone either way on that vote.  Carter WAS a loser but none of us had
any way of knowing at the time. He looked good on paper.

Now, there is no excuse!

It doesn't matter whether your political heritage is Truman, JFK, or
Reagan.  Anyone who thinks Obama is the One, hasn't done their
homework or hasn't paid attention to Illinois politics in the last six
decades.  Bill E said it best the other day, "I thought this ended
with Tammany Hall".  Well, no folks, it hasn't, but this may be the
chance to end it!.  The good folks from downstate Illinois can't do it
on their own.  Lord knows we've tried.

Brad



On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 1:57 PM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:
>
>
> American History By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, September
> 10, 2008 4:20 PM PT
>
>  Jimmy Carter became our 39th president at the young age of 52.  He was a
> one-term governor from Plains, GA, where he managed the family peanut farm
> and taught Sunday school.  He was also a graduate of the Naval Academy and
> served seven years in the Navy, leaving as a lieutenant.
>
>  He came to power in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the resignation
> of President Nixon.  The public wanted change and someone new, and Carter
> was an ambitious, hands-on politician who promised better days.  As good as
> his intentions were, however, the things he tried were not successful.  In
> fact, he created far more serious problems than he ever solved.
>
>  The centerpiece of Carter's foreign policy was human rights, and he did
> achieve one noble success peace treaty between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and
> Israel's Menachem Begin.  Unfortunately, that later led to Sadat's
> assassination at the hands of Muslim radicals.
>
>  Many people felt Carter was a good man who worked hard and meant well.
> But he was naive and incompetent in handling the enormous burdens and
> complex challenges of being president.
>
>  He wrongly believed Americans had an 'inordinate fear of communism,' so he
> lifted travel bans to Cuba, North Vietnam and Cambodia and pardoned draft
> evaders.  He also stopped B-1 bomber production and gave away our
> strategically located Panama Canal.
>
>  His most damaging miscalculation was the withdrawal of U.S. support for
> the Shah of Iran, a strong and longtime military ally.  Carter objected to
> the Shah's alleged mistreatment of imprisoned Soviet spies who were working
> to overthrow Iran's government.  He thought the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini,
> being a religious man, would make a fairer leader.
>
>  Having lost U.S. support, the Shah was overthrown, the Ayatollah returned,
> Iran was declared an Islamic nation and Palestinian hit men were hired to
> eliminate opposition.
>
>  The Ayatollah then introduced the idea of suicide bombers to the Palestine
> Liberation Organization, paying $35,000 to PLO families whose young people
> were brainwashed to kill as many Israelis as possible by blowing themselves
> up in crowded shopping areas.
>
>  Next, the Ayatollah used Iran's oil wealth to create, train and finance a
> new terrorist organization, Hezbollah, which later would attack Israel in
> 2006.
>
>  In November 1979, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranians stormed the U.S.
> embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.  Not until six
> months into the ordeal did Carter attempt a rescue.  But the mission, using
> just six Navy helicopters, was poorly executed.  Three of the copters were
> disabled or lost in sandstorms.  (Pilots weren't allowed to meet with
> weather forecasters because someone in authority worried about security.)
> Five airmen and three Marines lost their lives.
>
>  So, due to overconfidence, inexperience and poor judgment, Carter
> undermined and lost a strong ally, Iran, that today aggressively threatens
> the U.S., Israel and the rest of the world with nuclear weapons.
>
>  But that's not all.  After Carter met for the first time with Soviet
> leader Leonid Brezhnev, the USSR promptly invaded Afghanistan.  Carter, ever
> the naive appeaser, was shocked.  'I can't believe the Russians lied to me,'
> he said. [Does that sound like Bush's opinion of Putin?]
>
>  The invasion attracted a 23-year-old Saudi named Osama bin Laden to
> Afghanistan to recruit Muslim fighters and raise money for an anti-Soviet
> jihad.  Part of that group eventually became al-Qaida, a terrorist
> organization that would declare war on America several times between 1996
> and 1998 before attacking us on 9/11, killing more Americans than the
> Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
>
>  On Carter's watch, the Soviet Union went on an unrestrained rampage in
> which it took over not only Afghanistan, but also Ethiopia, South Yemen,
> Angola, Cambodia, Mozambique, Grenada and Nicaragua.
>
>  In spite of this, Carter's last defense budget proposed spending 45% below
> pre-Vietnam levels for fighter aircraft, 75% for ships, 83% for attack
> submarines and 90% for helicopters.
>
>  Years later, as a civilian, Carter negotiated a peace agreement with North
> Korea to keep that communist country from developing nuclear weapons.  He
> also convinced President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
> to go along with it.  But the signed piece of paper proved worthless.  The
> North Koreans deceived Carter and instead used our money, incentives and
> technical equipment to build nuclear weapons and pose the threat we face
> today.
>
>  Thus did Carter unwittingly become our Neville Chamberlain, creating with
> his well-intended but inept, unrealistic and gullible actions the very
> conditions that led to the three most dangerous security threats we face
> today:  Iran, al-Qaida and North Korea.
>
>  On the domestic side, Carter gave us inflation of 15%, the highest in 34
> years; interest rates of 21%, the highest in 115 years; and a severe energy
> crisis with lines around the block at gas stations nationwide.
>
>  In 1977, Carter, along with a Democrat Congress, created a worthy project
> with noble intentions the Community Reinvestment Act.  Over strong industry
> objections, it mandated that all banks meet the credit needs of their entire
> communities.
>
>  In 1995, President Clinton imposed even stronger regulations and
> performance tests that coerced banks to substantially increase loans to
> low-income, poverty-area borrowers or face fines or possible restrictions on
> expansion.  These revisions allowed for securitization of CRA loans
> containing subprime mortgages.
>
>  By 1997, good loans were bundled with poor ones and sold as prime packages
> to institutions here and abroad.  That shifted risk from the loan
> originators, freeing banks to begin pyramiding and make more of these
> profitable subprime products.
>
>  Under two young, well-intended presidents, therefore, big-government plans
> and mandates played a significant role in the current subprime mortgage mess
> and its catastrophic consequences for the U.S. and international economies.
>
>  Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the citizens that
> Democrats always claim to help most inner-city residents who fell victim to
> low or no down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive loan
> applications and commission-hungry salespeople.
>
>  Now we're having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the
> very agencies that were supposed to stabilize the system.  In time, this
> should improve the situation.  But the party of Carter and Clinton that
> midwifed our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take over and have the
> government run our entire system of health care!
>
>  And everyone is blaming Bush for our current problems.
>
> Posted by
> Ed K
> For Stan's enjoyment
>
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Political---Advisors-tp19827360p19827912.html
> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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