Some consider the Nation’s Capital as “Fantasyland on the Potomac”. Other outsiders are “Fed Up” with the Federal City. It's better to consider D.C. as “the District of Calamity” (sic).
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Jimmy Carter Runs the Race Yet Again
Recently, former President Jimmy Carter gave a provocative interview with AARP magazine which alleged that many Americans have racist tendencies. Perhaps the 90 year old former President still ruefully remembers his own role in the Civil Rights movement and that colors his judgment.
After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Brown v. Board of Education s in 1954, Jimmy Carter served on the Sumter County (Georgia) School Board which did not school desegregation in Carter's home town. In fact, this school board tried to block construction of a new "Negro Elementary School" in 1956 because it was too close to a "white school" and "the children, both colored and white, would have to travel the same streets and roads in order to reach their respective schools.” To that end, Carter requested that the state school board stop construction until a new site could be found. The state rejected the proposal because of the staggering cost. So Carter and the rest of the Sumter County School Board reassured parents that they “would do everything in its power to minimize simultaneous traffic between white and colored students in route to and from school.”
People can change or learn to hide their seamy side better. But the nonagenarian former President both impugns many Americans for harboring racist tendencies. Moreover, Mr. Carter has tarred of Southern Republicans and Tea Partiers as racists.
Prior to the Obama Administration, many Americans considered Jimmy Carter to be the worst President in American history. In his post-Presidential years, Mr. Carter had redeemed much of his reputation by his association with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center by "waging peace and fighting disease".
Yet in the last 10 years, "the Elder" Carter has stridently injected himself into politics.
If advisors cared to protect Mr. Carter's flagging reputation, they ought to ease him out of the limelight for his own good. Or maybe he wants to reclaim the mantle of being the Worst President in American History.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
George Pataki Comes Out of Social Media to Defend Caitlyn (ne Bruce) Jenner
What a way for a Republican Presidential candidate like former Governor George Pataki (R-NY) to attract attention. Pataki took to social media to indirectly criticize former Governor Mike Huckabee's (R-AR) snarky cultural comment and allying with a celebrity celebrating his/her transgender metamorphosis.
Somehow, this seems even less likely to score with the Republican base than Senator Rand Paul implying that the GOP was responsible for ISIS. While Huckabee's flippant comment may mock, it does so to bolster a broader theme about defending traditional values, offers a reductio ad absurdum over the California transgender bathroom choice law and shows a sense of humor. Pataki's comments seem steeped in political correctness, play upon celebutard worship and seem desperate for attention.
If Bruce Jenner wanted to preserve his dignity and be a positive role model, perhaps he should have avoided posing for Playgirl in 1982 or not starred on E! television's Keeping Up with the Kardashians or allowed himself to be exploited by the media as he finalizes his transgendering process.
Civility is a much needed quality in public discourse and unwarranted ad hominem insults ought to be avoided. But it is distressing that a conservative governor like George Pataki would be afraid to allow anyone to voice opinions on behaviors that are contrary to their own druthers.
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