Potluck Quote of the Day (4 of 10): Jimmy Carter

Today's Quote of the Day is from former President Jimmy Carter, who is now 91 years old; last night, Carter's time in the White House was the basis for a PBS documentary on "The American Experience."

We are indeed quoting Carter because it's an election year. In 1976, the year Carter ran for president against Republican Gerald Ford, the Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck also ran for office. Coincidentally, Mr. Duck was from Cleveland, Ohio, where this year's Republican convention took place. We gather no one there was dressed like Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie in the new film "Suicide Squad", and the ever-gorgeous actress Anne Hathaway was not there either!

Here is today's quote from Carter:

"If you're totally illiterate and living on one dollar a day, the benefits of globalization will never come to you."

http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/

http://marvel.com/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/

Presidential Quotes (15 of 16): Jimmy Carter

Yes, we would probably get more hits by arbitrarily mentioning Phil Robertson of "Duck Dynasty," who is apparently not related to the televangelist Pat Robertson or the fringe minister Johnny Robertson, from Martinsville, Va.

But, we are sticking with our game plan and quoting former Democratic president Jimmy Carter, whose term lasted from 1977 to 1981; Carter was also the governor of Georgia before becoming president.

He is the only president we've quoted so far in this series who is still alive, and he is the second oldest president behind George H.W. Bush:

"You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it better than you think you can."

http://www.cartercenter.org

http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org

Presidential Quotes, Cont'd: Jimmy Carter

Greeting to our blog readers in the Netherlands, Croatia and Uzbekistan.

Today, we are continuing our series of presidential quotes with a quip from Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer from Georgia who upset other Democratic candidates in the 1976 primaries and then defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford, whom Carter later became good friends with, to become president of the United States.

Other quotes in the series can be found on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguys38.blogspot.com

Interestingly enough, the Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck also ran for president in 1976; we think he got more votes than Ralph Nader.

Here is the quote:

"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, human rights invented America."

http://www.carterlibrary.gov

http://www.cartercenter.org

Quote of the Day/Week-Walter Mondale

Today, we are continuing our series of quotes from American vice presidents, or veeps, with a quip from Walter Mondale who served under President Jimmy Carter. Mondale, 84, also ran for president against Ronald Reagan in 1984, but he was only able to win his home state of Minnesota. I was only 14 years old at the time, but I wanted to vote for Mondale. But, my home state of Virginia did not become a swing state until 2008, and by that time, I had moved to North Carolina.

Here is Mondale's quote:

"If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused."

Another one of Minnesota's favorite sons Bob Dylan is celebrating his birthday today.

Quote of the Day/Week-Jimmy Carter

We continue our posts of the last eight American presidents with a quip from the 39th president and the first one from the state of Georgia, Jimmy Carter.

In addition to being a former president, Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

After his presidency, Carter founded the Carter Center, a non-profit group dedicated to human rights. He was also a key figure in the development of Habitat for Humanity.

Carter is also a fan of music, and his favorite singers include Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

Dan Aykroyd played Carter on "Saturday Night Live" as did Joe Piscopo, who was the only "SNL" player to perform as Ronald Reagan and Carter.

Carter is the same age as former president George H.W. Bush, who is slightly older than Carter. Both former American presidents were born in 1924.

Here is Carter's quote:


"Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political social boundaries."http://www.cartercenter.orghttp://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org

Quote of the Day/Week-George H.W. Bush

We continue quoting the last eight presidents of the United States this month with a quip from George H.W. Bush, last week, we quoted his son George W. Bush.

Even though I voted against Bush twice and his son twice again, one has to admire someone who has lived an active life and is still striving at age 87. By a mere two months, Bush 41 is the oldest living president of America. While he was born in June of 1924, Jimmy Carter, who was the 39th president, was born in October of that year.

Here is Bush's quote:

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."

Quote of the Day/Week- George McGovern

Hmmm...for some reason, we are seemingly popular in Iraq and Slovenia these days.

Today, we start our series on quotes of men who couldn't quite become king as we profile and quip men who lost the presidency of the United States.

On our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," we quoted Bob Dole, 88, the Republican nominee who lost the presidency in 1996 to Bill Clinton.

Here, we quote George McGovern, 89, the Democratic nominee who lost the presidency to Richard Nixon in 1972. McGovern is the oldest man to have either run for or become president. He edges out Dole as well presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, who are both 86.

McGovern is also considered to be the most progressive candidate to have run for president in the modern era, though some may argue that Al Gore, known for his environmental politics, is more liberal. Ironically, McGovern represented South Dakota, a conservative state in the U.S. Senate.

This quote reflects McGovern's strong opposition to the Vietnam War:

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."

CLARIFICATION: Apparently, the Harvard men's basketball team is not on their way to the NCAAs quite yet. Apparently, the Penn Quakers can tie for first place with a win over Princeton tonight and force a one-game playoff. The Ivy League is the one remaining conference in NCAA Division-I basketball without a conference tournament.

Yesterday, Virginia Commonwealth, Loyola (Md.) and Davidson were among the teams to win their respective tourneys.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Kutaisi is Georgia's Second City

In case you are wondering, the image above is of Kazbegi Beer (well we ran into a tech glitch so the image is of Georgian folk dancing instead, but all beer bottles look similar, don't they?!), which is the most popular brew in Georgia, as in Tblisi not Atlanta.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia is now an independent nation though it has been dealing with ethnic unrest as Abhazia and South Ossetia, two states within Georgia, want independent nationhood status for themselves, much as Chechnya wants a divorce from Russia. If all of this is confusing, then just ask Condi Rice to clarify it for you (not that we are Republicans here).

Kutaisi has a population of 186,000, and it has Georgia's second highest population behind the capital Tblisi. Kutaisi, which is some 150 miles west of Tblisi, is relatively close to the geographic center of Georgia.

The city also sits along both banks of the Rioni River (yes, we got all this info from Wikipedia), and it is bounded by the northern Imereti foothills. Much like neighboring Azerbaijan, Georgia has hot summers and cold winters.

FC Torpedo Kutaisi is the local soccer team, and the landmark attraction in Kutaisi is the Bagrati Cathedral, which is now in ruins.

As for the Georgia where former president Jimmy Carter grew up and still resides, Augusta is the state's second largest city. We wrongly assumed it was Savannah, which is actually the Peach State's fourth largest city.

THE WHOOPS DEPARTMENT: In Saturday's entry, I did not spell liberal reporter Suzy Khimm's name correctly; we did in fact spell it as Suzy Khim. She has an excellent Twitter page, which I highly recommend, even if the person reading this happens to be Condi Rice. Khimm wrote an excellent article in the December 2010 issue of "Mother Jones," which is actually to the left of me, about Virginia's militant far right wing Republican attorney general whose name I can't spell any way.

PS_ The answer to our "Rabbit Ears Quiz" from last week was c) 31. "Star Trek" had 79episodes whereas "Space 1999" had 48 episodes. Thus, 31 is the mathematical difference between them. Aysegul Denizli* of Izmir, Turkey, won our grand prize for guessing the correct answer. Our grand prize is indeed an 8-track tape from the
'70s of American honky tonk truck-driving songs.

*- Fake name, though there might very well be a woman somewhere in the world with that name! And, there were no prizes for guessing correctly.....

Today We Celebrate Five Years of Blogging

As of today, this blog (which originally ran on AOL; they have since ended their blogging features) is five years old!

And, as usual, it has put me slightly behind my schedule as I have pertinent things to do today like read email, go to a comic book store and watch a Criterion version of some obscure early Ingmar Bergman film.

They are actually kicking people off computers here at the Pyongyang Public Library in Pyongyang, North Korea (that is a joke, so don't call Jimmy Carter!).

So, let me go ahead and congratulate the Ragsdale High School football team who won their home game in Jamestown, NC (a suburb of Greensboro and High Point) by a whopping 52-7 margin over Person County High School which had to make what must have been an awful hour and a half trip back to Roxboro last night. Though we feel for the folks from Person County HS, I gather Ragsdale fans follow my blog more closely so we are ultimately happier for the home team!

Finally, anyone looking a new home for a cat or dog (of course, cats are the better pet), in the Triad might want to go to the Forsyth County Animal Shelter in Winston-Salem where a tuxedo kitten named Rebel is looking for a new home.

Well, the North Korean soldiers are pointing towards me, so we better run while we have the chance....!

Nostalgia Monday (late edition) - Presidential Trivia

Today we are asking the age of "The Man from Plains" Jimmy Carter.


How old is the 39th president.

Is he?:


A. 81

B. 82

C. 84

D. 85


We ask the age of Bush 41 (who looks good by comparison to his offspring!) at our other blog "The Daily Vampire."