George W. Bush in Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter
On Energy & Oil:
No mandatory greenhouse gas reductions
Both Pres. George H.W. Bush and Pres. Bill Clinton helped to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol, designed to establish a worldwide commitment to control atmospheric pollution and reduce the buildup of gases that are the cause of global warming.In 1992, the
largest group of world leaders in history met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in what became known as the Earth Summit. Pres. George H.W. Bush and others called on the world to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions by 2000 at the 1990 level, especially CO2.
The US and other nations ratified this convention. Importantly, Bush negotiated an agreement to allow developing nations to be excluded from the restriction, since industrialized countries are the overwhelming contributors to the troubling emissions.
[In 2001], newly inaugurated Pres. George W. Bush announced that the Kyoto agreement's mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases and short timetable would be too expensive and unwise when the US was facing energy problems.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.171-172
Sep 26, 2006
On Foreign Policy:
OpEd: obsessed with subverting ICC international authority
The Bush administration's obsession with the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an additional irritant. For several years, The Carter Center worked with Washington officials and leaders from many other nations to evolve the ICC,
designed to prevent and punish acts of genocide and horrendous war crimes.
The ICC charter, signed in 2002 by 139 nations, was carefully drafted to prevent punishment of Americans for genocidal acts overseas, provided US courts will address any such crimes.
However, the US is now attempting to force subservient nations to guarantee blanket immunity for American military personnel, contractor employees, and tourists.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.106
Sep 26, 2006
On Foreign Policy:
Opposed expanding Israeli settlements in West Bank
American opposition to settlement activity prevailed during the previous 4 decades, beginning when Dwight Eisenhower was president and extending through the terms of his successors, until 1993, when
President Bill Clinton gave almost blanket approval to settlement expansion.
President George H.W. Bush had been especially forceful in opposing specific Israeli settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, even threatening to cut off financial assistance to Israel.Israeli plans to retain far-reaching
West Bank settlements will likely spell the death knell for prospects for the "road map for peace," the keystone of President George W. Bush's Middle East policy.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.114-115
Sep 26, 2006
On Foreign Policy:
$1.2B for 5-year campaign against malaria in Africa
President Bush announced in June 2005 a plan to furnish $1.2 billion for a 5-year campaign against malaria in 15 African countries where 175 million people are at risk. This would be a major contribution--if the promise is fulfilled. The claims of
generosity are quite popular both at home and abroad, but most previous commitments have been abandoned by the White House, slashed by the Congress, or so bogged down in administrative complexities that little support actually reaches the people in need.
The annual US foreign aid budget for fighting malaria, for instance, has been $90 million, but 95% of the money is being spent on consultants and less than 5% on mosquito nets, drugs, and insecticide spraying to fight the disease.
Senator Sam Brownback complained about this policy, and received only "vague descriptions and math that doesn't add up," and demanded an audit by the government accountability office.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter,p.188-189
Sep 26, 2006
On Homeland Security:
OpEd: permanent Patriot Act legalizes abuse of civil liberty
Following the attacks of 9/11, the US government overreacted by detaining more than 1,200 innocent men throughout America. Almost all of them were Arabs or Muslims.To legalize such abuses of civil liberties, the Patriot Act was hurriedly enacted, with
a number of temporary provisions scheduled to expire in 2005. The president has called for the law to be expanded and made permanent, but even the conservative "patriots" have deplored such provisions as authorization for federal agents to search
people's homes and businesses secretly, to confiscate property without any deadline or without giving notice that the intrusion has taken place, and to collect without notice personal information on American citizens, including their medical histories,
books checked out of libraries, and goods they purchase. The government can now seize an entire database--all the medical records of a hospital or all the files of an immigration group--when it is investigating a single person.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.118-119
Sep 26, 2006
On Homeland Security:
No nuclear restrictions on India, even though NPT rejected
In rejecting or evading almost all nuclear arms control agreements negotiated during the past 50 years, the US has now become the prime culprit in global nuclear proliferation. Former secretary of defense Robert McNamara summed up his concerns in the
May/June 2005 issue of "Foreign Policy" magazine: "I would characterize current US nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary and dreadfully dangerous."India conducted nuclear test explosions in 1998.
The key inducement for NPT membership is that those in compliance will have exclusive access to highly sensitive nuclear technology. As a further move that weakened the non-proliferation effort,
President Bush has announced plans to lift these restrictions and grant this privilege to India, which has rejected the NPT. This is a clear incitement for other nations to violate the treaty's restraints.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.136-138
Sep 26, 2006
On Tax Reform:
OpEd: Middle class get $54 from tax cut; top 1% get $191
Under the tax cuts pushed through Congress since 2000, for every dollar in reductions for a middle-class family, the top 1% of households will receive $54, and those with $1 million of more in income will benefit by $191!
During the first 3 years, the number of Americans living in poverty increased by 3.5 million, while the income for the 400 wealthiest Americans jumped by 10% just in the year 2002.
Another indication of the growing division between rich and poor in recent years is that the salaries of corporate chief executive officers have gone from 40 times to 400 times the average worker's pay.
Even though there was strong growth in corporate profits, wages for the average worker fell in 2004, after adjusting for inflation--the 1st such drop in many years.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.192-193
Sep 26, 2006
Page last updated: Aug 09, 2015