PHOTO: President Carter installed solar panels on top of the White House some 30 years ago.

[Bluebear]

Reagan had them dismantled and taken down.

Watch "Green Days" on PBS, it will make you sick.

====
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.

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

[polichick]

1. That was such a happy day - thanks for the pic! nt

[JuniperLea]

2. Can you imagine...

If we'd followed Jimmy's advice all this time? Boggles the mind.

[JohnnyBoots]

43. And Ike's warning about the MIC....

[JuniperLea]

45. Seems we've been issued several clue cards...

And neglected to follow.

[liberation]

48. Interestingly they were both Libras ;-)

[bvar22]

3. One of the things I fault Bill Clinton for....

NOT immediately replacing the Solar Panels on the White House roof....on Day 1.

(I believe these were solar Hot Water Heaters, and not Solar Panels, but I could be wrong.)

[Bluebear]

4. Solar somethings :)

I believe you are correct.

[NYC_SKP]

7. They were solar water heating panels.

[Captain Hilts]

23. A large % of the world heats water using solar power. nt

[immoderate]

34. Excuse me but...

Pet peeve time -- those are cold water heaters. Why heat water if it's already hot? :shrug:

Could not resist. :evilgrin:

--imm

[RaleighNCDUer]

51. Because you want it really, really hot? nt

[immoderate]

58. OK, so where do you get the hot water from?

--imm

[RaleighNCDUer]

59. In the Carter WH? From Ham Jordan, obviously.

He was always in hot water.

[immoderate]

63. My dealer?!

--imm

[alstephenson]

5. Thanks for posting.

I'd forgotten.

[Festivito]

6. I wonder how many tax dollars we'd have saved without Republicans.

They seem to spend borrow and spend more.

[1620rock]

8. And St."ray-gun" had the panels removed as soon as he took office.

[HughBeaumont]

42. At least 9 trillion . .. .

Funneled to the MIC and the Wealthy. A dink and a dunk to shit that matters.

[walldude]

9. And that was over 30 years ago...

What could have been boggles the mind. K&R

[MajorChode]

10. I consider Carter to be the greatest president of my time

Carter was the first president to actually have a national energy policy. He understood more about energy than any president before or since and he foresaw all the problems we are having with energy today and had a plan to prevent them. Had we fully implemented his policies we would be much better off today. The reason why Raygun's presiduncy looked so good was because Carter corrected a lot of the economic problems of the Nixon/Ford years. Carter deserves to go down in history as one of our greatest presidents and Raygun our worst.

[ShortnFiery]

18. Too bad Carter wasn't pretty, personable and gregarious enough to overcome the right-wing M$M.

Obama could do great things for average working people because he has ALL THE GIFTS. But, to date, I'm profoundly disappointed.

After serving as President, Jimmy Carter, "walked the walk" of Christianity by devoting his life to assisting the least of us.

IMO, Jimmy Carter is truly living a Christian life. Jesus said, "What you do for the least of us, you do for Me." :-)

[MajorChode]

50. I don't think anyone could during that time period

Carter was a victim of a duplicitous right wing campaign to discredit him. The neocon Team B goons seditiously leaked portions of their classified report to the press before his reelection. Years later we would find out that almost every bit of Team B's assessment on the USSR was wrong. Still their treasonous damage was done and it laid the groundwork for Raygun reviving the cold war and trillions of dollars in federal debt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_b

Team B was one of the most evil RW incarnates ever and most people don't even know about them. Not even GW Bush's evil campaign in Iraq is that evil and btw, some of the same Team B goons who were the architects of the Raygun cold war were architects of Bush's Iraq war(Paul Wolfowitz among others).

We should all strive to be even half as human as Carter is.

[dotymed]

35. My very first Presidential vote

was for Carter. It is so disgusting, the media, the people, everyone knows what reagan did to this country. Yet he is an idol to the rethugs. If nothing else, this should let the world see what their party stands for. How do Christians or anyone claiming religion, explain this conundrum?

[keith the dem]

52. My very first vote...period.

And one of my proudest moments.

[xxqqqzme]

40. Carter had a plan for a better future for all Americans

We had not had a president like that before, and have not had one since. We have presidents that cannot see beyond next month. Carter was unique and I am proud I voted for him twice.

I was in college when st. ronnie was governor. I knew what he was going to do.

[JI7]

11. just think of where we would be if Reagan hadn't gotten into office

he really had negative impact for the long term. Nixon had issues but he didn't set back or put a stop to progress in the way Reagan did.

[Bluebear]

12. Reagan, the "Moral Majority", Reagan "Democrats"....was a real turning point for the US.

Turning 180 degrees around, that is.

[AlbertCat]

29. just think of where we would be if Reagan hadn't gotten into office

Just think if Reagan hadn't made a secret deal with terrorist to keep our hostages just long enough to make Carter look bad and get them released just after Reagan became prez?


A crook and a cardboard cutout PR prez.... just like Bush. Who was really running the show during Reagan's terms? (We know who it was for Bush)

[HughBeaumont]

47. MIC/Financial Executives, that's who.

Reagan himself started off life as a GE mouthpiece. Donald Regan ("Speed it up") used to run Merrill Lynch.

[tex-wyo-dem]

13. Underscores the difference between progressives and regressives...

Carter the progressive 30+ years ahead of his time, Raygun the regressive promptly setting things back 30+ years.

It does truly make you wonder where we would be right now if the rygun/bush years hadn't happened.

[Bluebear]

14. oh texwyo, thank you for putting that into words for me

'Carter the progressive 30+ years ahead of his time, Raygun the regressive promptly setting things back 30+ years.'

Perfectly true. Where indeed could we have been? :(

[tex-wyo-dem]

16. you're welcome, Blubear...

Pretty much sums up a lot what we are seeing now.

As for Carter, I consider him one of our best presidents -- not only for his vision, but that he was/is a truly decent and wonderful human being.

[CLANG]

24. and he's not a fake christian

He believes in helping the least of us

[Moostache]

33. Ironically, the math is pretty solid...

I would say that we really ARE about 60 years behind where we should be, and in fact where we NEED to be!

The lost decades of the 1980's (Reagan's follies and Bush I's continuation of them), the 1990's (between Clinton's lost opportunities and Rethug hacks under Gingrich) and the 2000's (Bush II's stolen elections and out-right un-prosecuted and un-investigated criminality) we truly have lost 30 years of progress.

Even if we started the entire program running full speed TODAY, we won't achieve the aims of the Carter proposals until the middle of this century! (some 50-60 years later than originally envisioned)!!

God, guns and greed....it makes the soul cry bitter tears of angst to know, not feel or think or suspect, but KNOW we could have been so much more than we have become, that our nation could have taken the trajectory of post-WWII beyond Apollo and beyond SALT/START and beyond "cold wars" to truly been a light of humanities better angels...instead, the man who truly served his god, who truly believed and applied the teachings of Christ to his life was defeated by a man who professed belief until it came time for actions, then he served only the aspects and attributes of men - powerful, rich and greedy men.

Carter, a true believer and a true patriot, had his potential legacy to humanity stomped out and snuffed like a cigarette by Reagan (and the work finished by Bush-the-Lesser, the marionette of the 'religious' right), the standard bearer of hypocrites and fools. The cruel irony of it all is heart breaking...

[amborin]

15. Carter was ahead of the curve in many ways

[Raster]

17. Yes, and at the time, 75 percent of Americans believed in Carter and were prepared to take

the first steps toward America's new energy future, and AWAY from the Middle East/Texas-American Petroleum Cartel's future. Of course, that was not to be. Shortly thereafter, the Cartel initiated the "gasoline crisis" and threw the country into a panic. And then there were the events in Iran, culminating in Reagan/Bush supplying weapons to Iran in exchange for CONTINUING to hold American hostages, assuring every diplomatic solution Carter tried failed.

[tomm2thumbs]

19. thanks for posting

the blatant anti-environment message sent by Reagan speaks volumes, and all to kick sand around

[salguine]

20. I can't help but notice that Reagan didn't rise from the dead after three days. Hey Ron,

how's Satan?

[lynne]

21. Carter panels removed to repair roof leaks. Bush installed different solar panels in 2003-

Story about Bush solar energy here > http://www.solardesign.com/pdf/SolarToday-WhiteHouse.pdf

NYT story here > http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/technology/how-it-works-from-a-white-house-roof-solar-power-proclaims-gains.html?pagewanted=1

[kpominville]

26. Bush installed on shed for pool

He did not put any panels back on the white house.

[lynne]

30. - which is why I said "different". However, I'm glad that at least some solar power is in use.

[Dappleganger]

31. Any fool can install solar panels for a pool.

More than half the homes in our neighborhood w/pools here in FL use solar heating, that's hardly ground-breaking.

[Hannah Bell]

44. "leaks" - they went up in 1979. reagan took them out in 1980. you really think it

was about "leaks"?

no, it was quite clear at the time it was a symbolic gesture. "leaks" was the cover story when he was criticized from some quarters -- but the tone of 'nyah, nyah' was obvious in the media.

they never went back up.

reagan was an ass. bush was too.

[Captain Hilts]

22. I remember when Reagan removed them. nt

[oldlib]

25. My Republican friends...

during the Carter administration would only discuss him with ridicule, and the press at that time followed the same pattern. Jimmy Carter was a Nuclear Engineer and a former commander of a nuclear submarine. He was more then capable of running the country and in my mind he was one of our greatest Presidents.

[unc70]

28. Carter was and is great, but never commander of nuke sub

While Carter was training for possibly such a position, he left the Navy before the first nuclear sub was deployed.

One of my favorites, probably because he spoke without a noticeable accent (to me!).

The Establishment and MSM hated him, made fun of him, and attacked all those small-town Southerners in his administration. Go back and look at the banking "scandal" involving Burt Lance and compare it with today.

[harun]

32. I agree.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for thread, Bluebear.

[fascisthunter]

36. looking into solar for my mother's home

[Dappleganger]

41. We're looking into solar water heating.

We already have solar for the pool. If the HOA approves, we'd be the first in the neighborhood with regular panels. We have friends who have done this recently and it looks very good, and with the rebate incentives the cost is a 'wash' over the next five years and they'll be saving more money after that. We plan to be here for awhile.

[BrklynLiberal]

37. He was very underappreciated and truly a victim of the Great RW conspiracy...

[mimitabby]

38. Jimmy Carter is my hero

and we now have solar panels on our modest urban home.

[newtothegame]

39. Some 30 years later, they STILL probably wouldn't have paid for themselves. nt

ed for sp

[happygoluckytoyou]

46. I INSTALLED A SOLAR CLOTHES DRYER IN MY BACKYARD...but the wooden pins keep falling off the cord ! !

[liberation]

49. Nature does not really give a sh*t about human abstract concepts such as "capital."

Esp. when it comes to matters of shitting where you drink from.

[keith the dem]

53. In DC, they would have done quite well.

I did engineering for many of these back in the early 80's. These type of collectors were very simple with a basic easily serviceable systems. The payback for collectors in a sunny relatively warm place like DC was very attractive, much better than things like window replacements.

[Ikonoklast]

54. Nonsense.

Do a little research on ROI for solar water heaters of this type.

[Bluebear]

57. Yes, because environment be damned as long as it "pays" for itself.

[redqueen]

62. Money is paramount for far too many people.

That's the biggest reason the world is in the shape it's in.

[deaniac21]

55. He looks like he is warming his hands at the fireplace.

[moondust]

56. Substance vs. style.

Reagan was a man of style who went around telling everybody whatever he knew they wanted to hear. He may have been the first modern President that was all hat and no cattle but he certainly wasn't the last.

[redqueen]

60. Pretty much says it all about republicans.

:puke:

[fishwax]

61. a great picture

What a shame that reagan rolled it all back :(