Jimmy Carter was a president who tried to stop GWB's energy disaster...30 YEARS AGO!!!

[Selatius]

...

Two years later, as the bin Laden family's sole US representative was bailing out George Bush Junior's failing oil business, Jimmy Carter gave another speech on energy, further refining his national energy policy. He had already started the national strategic petroleum reserve, birthed the gasohol and solar power industries, and helped insulate millions of homes and offices. But he wanted to go a step further. "I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States," Carter said on July 15, 1979. "Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980s..." In addition, we needed to immediately begin to develop a long-range strategy to move beyond fossil fuel.

Therefore, Carter said, "I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000." But then came the Iran/Contra October Surprise, when the Reagan/Bush campaign allegedly promised the oil-rich mullahs of Iran that they'd sell them missiles and other weapons if only they'd keep our hostages until after the 1980 Carter/Reagan presidential election campaign was over. The result was that Carter, who had been leading in the polls over Reagan/Bush, steadily dropped in popularity as the hostage crisis dragged out, and lost the election. The hostages were released the very minute that Reagan put his hand on the Bible to take his oath of office. The hostages freed, the Reagan/Bush administration quickly began illegally delivering missiles to Iran.

And 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.

Today, despite the best efforts of the Bushies, the bin Ladens, and the rest of the oil industry, Carter's few surviving initiatives have borne fruit.

It is now more economical to build power generating stations using wind than using coal, oil, gas, or nuclear. When amortized over the life of a typical mortgage, installing solar power in a house in most parts of the US is cheaper than drawing power from the grid. (Shell and British Petroleum are among the world's largest manufacturers of solar photovoltaic panels, which can now even be used as roofing shingles.) And hybrid cars that get 50-70 miles to the gallon are increasingly commonplace on our nation's highways. Instead of taking a strong stand to make America energy independent, Bush kisses a Saudi crown prince, then holds hands with him as they walk into Bush's hobby ranch in Texas. Our young men and women are daily dying in Iraq - a country with the world's second largest store of underground oil. And we live in fear that another 15 Saudis may hijack more planes to fly into our nation's capitol or into nuclear power plants.

...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm

Think of the America that could have been.

"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -- JFK

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Tried ... and failed. We should do better this time - imagining a past

that never was won't help.

[DemoTex]

5. Jimmy Carter tried and was "failed" by Ronald Reagan and GHWB.

Carter did not fail, he was foiled. The GOP hates a visionary.

[krkaufman]

17. Carter didn't "fail" -- Reagan, the great Republican, ended the initiative

We'd be energy independent, now, if we'd continued Carter's plans. Just take a look at Brazil.

[madokie]

2. Thanks I enjoyed reading that

The wife and I were talking earlier about Jimmy Carter and how if we'd used, his vision, as a guide, how we wouldn't be in quite the fix we're in now.

[Selatius]

4. I'd rather 20 percent of our power come from solar than the shit we have now.

If it weren't for the backroom deals Reagan-Bush cut with Iran, we wouldn't be bleeding to death in Iraq or at the gas pump.

[madokie]

6. I agree

I do feel that we have us a good man coming into the whitehouse come january. In fact I'm just busting out with joy at that prospect as I feel like I prolly have a pretty good chance of making it that long where as 4 or 8 more years I'm not so sure and I would love to see us start to get our act together again as a country whose main focus is us the average joes and jans. A future for our children and grandchildren other that death and despair.

[eleny]

3. K&R

I remember those days. So much promise but the oily crowd hated him and has done a lot to tarnish Carter's image.

[Mabus]

7. Not to quibble but the solar panels were removed in 1986

and Reagan's first act was a hiring freeze because of his promise to eliminate big government.

on edit: I knew I could find it, if I looked for it:

The solar heating panels were installed on the roof of the West Wing, but removed during Ronald Reagan´s presidency in 1986, after the energy crisis and worries about dependence on foreign oil had subsided. http://www.unity.edu/news/solar1004.htm

K&R

[Raster]

8. The Presidency of Ronnie the Raygun was bought and paid for by

The Texas-American Petroleum Mafia and the Military Industrial Complex and their accomplices, the Saudi royal family. The last thing either wanted was energy self-sufficiency for the United States. And now we have yet another TAPM/MIC pResident in the White House.

[mdmc]

9. Carter Tried To Stop Bush's Energy Disasters - 28 Years Ago

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm
Thanks for this link!

[OwnedByFerrets]

10. And, McSame has been going around saying.....

that Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter.....as if that is a bad thing.:rofl: IDIOT!!

[krkaufman]

18. Well, given the "conventional wisdom"... Carter is routinely ridiculed as a President ...

... however unfairly, and plenty of idiots will buy this sort crap.

[eShirl]

11. I've been looking for the "Global 2000 Report"

"Sometimes in the year 1977, the then President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, commissioned a study to examine changes in global population, natural resources and the environment to the end of the century. The end result tagged, �Global 2000 Report� was submitted in 1980. It concluded that by the year 2000:

� World population would increase by a half, the greatest growth being in less developed countries;
� The gap between the richest and the poorest � measured in terms of per capital GNP, and the consumption of food, energy and minerals � would widen;
� There would be fewer resources available � notably land, water and petroleum;
� Important life supporting ecosystems � such as forests, the atmosphere, soil and wildlife species � would be reduced;
� Prices of many of the most vital resources would increase;
� The world would be more vulnerable to natural disaster and to disruptions from human causes."

(quoted from http://www.africanconservation.org/dcforum/DCForumID1/278.html )


I had a hard copy of this report way back in 1980; it was one of the required texts in my high school's elective class "Toward the Year 2000."

[Mabus]

14. It looks like it is available through Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Global-2000-President-Entering-Twenty-First/dp/0932020968

If it's available there you should be able to find it elsewhere on line.

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. Ever seen "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" The core story about oil destroying LA public transit is true.

They're doing it all over again in different ways.

Impeach and prosecute now.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Selatius.:thumbsup:

[windoe]

15. Yes, then the media propaganda machine ramped up in the 80s

under Raygun, and began using every trick in the book to navigate mainstream reality to enable their violent, backward, and greedy agenda and away from Carter's humanitarian, ecological and peaceful programs. Yes, we have had a couple of chances at peace and ecology, under JFK and Carter, but the MIC has unlimited funds--and now has the 'missing trillions', we should never forget that.

[krkaufman]

16. Yeah, I'm disappointed with the Obama campaign's response, thus far ...

... the the "Jimmy Carter" slur by McCain.

Obama's campaign should have come out swinging, asking McCain to explain his apparent opposition to or disregard of Carter's energy independence initiative, which had been ended by a Republican President. We're literally 30 years behind now because of the Republicans, at great expense -- to understate it just slightly.

edit: Oh, and toss-in that most unfortunate effort by Carter to bring peace between Israel and Egypt. The campaign needs to do a much better job of response.