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The Fact Is That We Would Have Had Comprehensive Health Care Now Had It Not Been For Ted Kennedy's Deliberately Blocking The Legislation That I Proposed In 1978 Or '79.

-Jimmy Carter

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The Fact Is That

Jimmy Carter

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The Fact Is That We Would Have Had Comprehensive Health Care Now Had It Not Been For Ted Kennedy's Deliberately Blocking The Legislation That I Proposed In 1978 Or '79.

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My Opinion Of The Russians Has Changed Most Drastically In The Last Week Than Even (sic) The Two-and-a-half Years Before That. It's Only Now Dawning Upon The World The Magnitude Of The Action That The Soviets Undertook In Invading Afghanistan.

You Can Do What You Have To Do, And Sometimes You Can Do It Even Better Than You Think You Can.

"solid Wastes" Are The Discarded Leftovers Of Our Advanced Consumer Society. This Growing Mountain Of Garbage And Trash Represents Not Only An Attitude Of Indifference Toward Valuable Natural Resources, But Also A Serious Economic And Public Health Problem.

God Wisely Designed The Human Body So That We Can Neither Pat Our Own Backs Nor Kick Ourselves Too Easily.

The Importation And Sale Of Marijuana Is Condemned And Punished As A Serious Crime, But We Accept As Legitimate The Manufacture And Sale Of An Infinitely More Addictive And Deadly Drug: The Nicotine In Cigarettes That Cost The Lives Of 390,000 American Citizens Last Year.

Genocide, In My Opinion - Is An Attempt By A Powerful Group Completely To Eradicate From The Face Of The Earth The Existence Of People Because Of Their Ethnic Makeup Or Because Of Their Race Or Religion, And That Was The Case With Hitler Trying To Exterminate The Jews, And That Was The Case In Rwanda, When The Tutsis Were Attacked And Over 500,000 Were Killed In Two Or Three Days.

When I Was In The White House, I Was Confronted With The Challenge Of The Cold War. Both The Soviet Union And I Had 30,000 Nuclear Weapons That Could Destroy The Entire Earth And I Had To Maintain The Peace.

We Cannot Speak Of Human Rights In Other Countries Unless We Are Going To Do Our Utmost To Protect The Rights Of Our Own People Here At Home.

Carter Is Doing A High-wire Act Over A Cesspool, Preaching All The Way. Sinclair Lewis, Thou Shouldst Be Living In This Hour. We Have A Warren Harding Impersonating Elmer Gantry.

Elvis Presley's Death Deprives Our Country Of A Part Of Itself. He Was Unique, Irreplaceable. More Than Twenty Years Ago, He Burst Upon The Scene With An Impact That Was Unprecedented And Will Probably Never Be Equaled. His Music And His Personality, Fusing The Styles Of White Country And Black Rhythm And Blues, Permanently Changed The Face Of American Popular Culture. His Following Was Immense. And He Was A Symbol To People The World Over Of The Vitality, Rebelliousness And Good Humor Of This Country.

The Election Of Barack Obama Was A Very Wonderful Step Forward For America, Which Has Unfortunately Been Tainted By The Ugly Reaction Of Some Right Wing Activist Who Are Doing Their Best To Cast Aspersions On His Character And To Question His Religion And Citizenship.

I Thought Then And I Think Now That The Invasion Of Iraq Was Unnecessary And Unjust And I Think The Premises On Which It Was Launched Were False.

We Consider These Settlements To Be Contrary To The Geneva Convention, That Occupied Territory Should Not Be Changed By Establishment Of Permanent Settlements By The Occupying Power.

We Simply Must Have Faith In Each Other, Faith In Our Ability To Govern Ourselves, And Faith In The Future Of This Nation. Restoring That Faith And That Confidence To America Is Now The Most Important Task We Face.

Two Centuries Ago Our Nation's Birth Was A Milestone In The Long Quest For Freedom, But The Bold And Brilliant Dream Which Excited The Founders Of Our Nation Still Awaits Its Consummation. I Have No New Dream To Set Forth Today, But Rather Urge A Fresh Faith In The Old Dream.

Energy Will Be The Immediate Test Of Our Ability To Unite This Nation, And It Can Also Be The Standard Around Which We Rally. On The Battlefield Of Energy We Can Win For Our Nation A New Confidence, And We Can Seize Control Again Of Our Common Destiny.

I'm Going To Stay Active As Long As I Can Politically, And With The Carter Center Primarily, And If I'm Able Mentally And Physically, Will Continue To Be Quite Active.

People In The United States, Including Me, Are Naturally Inclined To Support Israel. I'm An Evangelical Christian Who Teaches The Bible Every Sunday At My Church. I Teach Half The Old Testament And Half The New Testament. We Americans Identify The Hebrews, The Israelites, With Ourselves.

The Bible And Studying The Bible Has Been An Important Part Of My Life.

Throughout My Life, I've Seen The Difference That Volunteering Efforts Can Make In People's Lives. I Know The Personal Value Of Service As A Local Volunteer.

God Always Answers Prayer, Sometimes With A Yes, Sometimes With A No And Sometimes With A 'you've Got To Be Kidding!'

I Can't Deny I'm A Better Ex-president Than I Was A President.

There Is No Other Even Moderately Equal Abuse Than The Murder Of Little Baby Girls - Nothing Else Compares With That, In Horror.

We Should Live Our Lives As Though Christ Were Coming This Afternoon.

When You Invade Grenada, Or When You Invade Panama To Capture A Disreputable Person, Or When You Bomb The Bosnia Area, You Can Always Find Justification For Those Military Actions, But It's Really Surprising How Many Times In Those 25 Years - That's A Long Time - The United States Has Interceded, I Wouldn't Say Most Of The Time Militarily, But A Lot Of Those Have Been Military Actions.

I Have A Very Real Political Awareness That At Least On A Transient Basis The More Drastic Action Taken By The President, The More Popular It Is.

I'm A Peanut Farmer At Heart, Still Grow Peanuts On My Farm In Georgia.

I Think There's An Awakening Now Of A Realization That We Too Early Congratulated Ourselves On The End Of Racial Prejudice And White Supremacy. And That Was A Feeling That We Had When I Was President, That We Had Pretty Much Overcome That Problem.

I Don't Think There's Going To Be Peace As Long As Israel Is Occupying Land That Belongs To The Palestinians, To Lebanon And To Syria.

In This Great Country Of Ours, It Is Inexcusable That So Many Children Grow Up In Poverty And Despair. The Well-being Of Our Children Must Be The National Priority And The Responsibility Of Every Individual.

What Are The Things That You Can't See That Are Important? I Would Say Justice, Truth, Humility, Service, Compassion, Love...they're The Guiding Lights Of A Life.

I'm 86, And Too Old To Be President.

Jesus Never Said A Word About Homosexuality. In All Of His Teachings About Multiple Things - He Never Said That Gay People Should Be Condemned. I Personally Think It Is Very Fine For Gay People To Be Married In Civil Ceremonies.

I Am Convinced That Ufos Exist Because I've Seen One.

We've Lost An Edge That We Used To Have In Scientific Innovation Applications To Goods To Be Sold. In Many Ways, That Is Also Changing In The Electronic Field. Almost All Of The Materials That We Use Now Are Of Advanced Technology, I Have An Ipad And Also An Ipod, Both Of Which Are Made In China. Although We Have Designed Them Here With Apple, For Instance, They Are Manufactured Overseas.

In A Nation That Was Proud Of Hard Work, Strong Families, Close-knit Communities, And Our Faith In God, Too Many Of Us Now Tend To Worship Self-indulgence And Consumption. Human Identity Is No Longer Defined By What One Does, But By What One Owns. But We've Discovered That Owning Things And Consuming Things Does Not Satisfy Our Longing For Meaning. We've Learned That Piling Up Material Goods Cannot Fill The Emptiness Of Lives Which Have No Confidence Or Purpose.

The Government And The Church Are Two Different Realms Of Service, And Those In Political Office Have To Face A Subtle But Important Difference Between The Implementation Of The High Ideals Of Religious Faith And Public Duty.

I Have Never Been Disappointed When I Asked In A Humble And Sincere Way For God's Help. I Pray Often. I Think I Pray More Often Since January 12th.

We All Know Grandparents Whose Values Transcend Passing Fads And Pressures, And Who Possess The Wisdom Of Distilled Pain And Joy.

One Of The Surprising Things That Brezhnev Said When We Were In Our Talks, Was - When I Proposed That We Make These Changes In Nuclear Weaponry, He Said, "god Will Never Forgive Us If We Don't Succeed." And, You Know, Coming From The Leader Of An Atheistic Communist Country, This Surprised Everyone.

We'll Never Know Whether Something New And Wonderful Is Possible Unless We Try. Let's Scratch Our Heads, Stretch Our Minds, Be Adventurous! Serve God With Boldness, And Who Knows What Wonders The Lord May Work?

I'd Like To Be Remembered As Someone Who Was A Champion Of Peace And Human Rights.

In The Great Depression In Which I Grew Up And Remember Vividly, Unemployment Was Over 25 Percent, And Over 35 Percent Where I Lived. A Grown Man Would Work All Day, 16 Hours, For A Dollar. I Remember Hundreds Of People Walking By, People Who Had Come Down From The North Just To Get Warm. They Would Come To Our House As Beggars Even Though They Might Have A College Education. People Didn't Have Money. They Bartered; They'd Trade Eggs Or Pigs. It Was Just Completely Different.

Habitat Has Opened Up Unprecedented Opportunities For Me To Cross The Chasm That Separates Those Of Us Who Are Free, Safe, Financially Secure, Well Fed And Housed, And Influential Enough To Shape Our Own Destiny From Our Neighbors Who Enjoy Few, If Any, Of These Advantages Of Life.

The Bond Of Our Common Humanity Is Stronger Than The Divisiveness Of Our Fears And Prejudices.

Common Humanity

The Respect For Human Rights Is One Of The Most Significant Advantages Of A Free And Democratic Nation In The Peaceful Struggle For Influence, And We Should Use This Good Weapon As Effectively As Possible.

In General The 53 Countries On The Continent Of Africa Have Made Great Progress Towards Freedom And Democracy, And In Terms Of Electing Good, Sound Administrations.

I Want To Make It Clear,if There Is Ever A Conflict [between Environmental Quality And Economic Growth], I Will Go For Beauty, Clean Air, Water, And Landscape.

Environmental Quality

We Have The Deepest Respect And Reverence For Islam And All Who Share The Faith Of Islam.

There's No Doubt That Usually A President's Public Image Is Enhanced By Going To War. That Never Did Appeal To Me.

The Best Way To Enhance Freedom In Other Lands Is To Demonstrate Here That Our Democratic System Is Worthy Of Emulation.

The Superfund Legislation Set Up A System Of Insurance Premiums Collected From The Chemical Industry To Clean Up Toxic Wastes. This New Program May Prove To Be As Far-reaching And Important As Any Accomplishment Of My Administration. The Reduction Of The Threat To America's Health And Safety From Thousands Of Toxic-waste Sites Will Continue To Be An Urgent But Bitterly Fought Issue-another Example For The Conflict Between The Public Welfare And The Profits Of A Few Private Despoilers Of Our Nation's Environment.

Christmas Has Been A Season Of Mixed Interests And Meanings, But The Very Foundation, Of Course, Is Its Religious Significance. No Matter What Other Personal Desires Or Crises We Have Faced, I've Never Forgotten That This Is The Time To Celebrate The Birth Of The Baby Jesus, And The Impact Of This Event On The History Of The World.

The Fact Is That We Would Have Had Comprehensive Health Care Now Had It Not Been For Ted Kennedy's Deliberately Blocking The Legislation That I Proposed In 1978 Or '79.

I Am A Nuclear Physicist By Training And A Deeply Committed Christian. I Don't Have Any Doubt In My Own Mind About God Who Created The Entire Universe. But I Don't Adhere To Passages That So And So Was Created 4,000 Years Before Christ, And Things Of That Kind.

If I Were President, I'd Be Very Glad To See The Palestinians Have A Nation Recognized By The United Nations. There's No Downside To It.

If Any Agreement Between Two Nations Is To Last, It Must Serve The Best Interests Of Both Nations.

I've Never Won An Argument With My Wife; And The Only Time I Thought I Had I Found Out The Argument Wasn't Over Yet.

I Hate To See Complacency Prevail In Our Lives When It's So Directly Contrary To The Teaching Of Christ.

The Government Ought To Stay Out Of The Prayer Business.

Some Major Churches Overemphasize The Importance Of Preaching As A Means To Increase Membership And Fail To Reach Out With Compassion To Their Neighbors In Need.

The President Publicly Apologized Today To All Those Offended By His Brother's Remark, There's More Arabs In This Country Than There Is Jews! Those Offended Include Arabs, Jews, And English Teachers.

You Can Already Download Any Of The Religious Texts Onto Electronic Mechanisms Like A Kindle. But I Think Many People Prefer To Hold A Book In Their Hands.

It's Politically Impossible For Any Member Of Congress To Make A Public Statement Condemning Or Criticizing The Policies Of Israel. It Would Be Political Suicidal For Them To Do So.

Billy Graham Is One Of My Great Lifetime Heroes. I Think He Epitomizes The Essence Of What A Christian Leader Should Be. I Have Participated In Some Of His Crusades A Couple Of Times In Atlanta. I've Seen The Profound Impact He's Had On Me Personally, And On Other People Who Were Not Christians And Accepted Christ As Savior.

Trust Is Very Much A Part Of Our Democracy.

Like Music And Art, Love Of Nature Is A Common Language That Can Transcend Political Or Social Boundaries.

I Officially Designated Every Us Ambassador On Earth To Be My Personal Human Rights Representative, And To Have The Embassy Be A Haven For People Who Suffered From Abuse By Their Own Government.

With Overwhelming Military Strength Now Deployed Against Him And With Intense Monitoring From Space Surveillance And The U.n. Inspection Team On The Ground, Any Belligerent Move By Saddam Against A Neighbor Would Be Suicidal....if Iraq Does Possess Such Concealed Weapons, As Is Quite Likely, Saddam Would Use Them Only In The Most Extreme Circumstances, In The Face Of An Invasion Of Iraq, When All Hope Of Avoiding The Destruction Of His Regime Is Lost.

I Will Never Lie To You.

I Guess My Biggest Failure Was Not Getting Re-elected. And I Learned Two Things; One Is That You Ought Not To Ever Let American Hostages Be Held For 444 Days In A Foreign Country Without Extracting Them. I Did The Best I Could, But I Failed.

Human Rights Is The Soul Of Our Foreign Policy, Because Human Rights Is The Very Soul Of Our Sense Of Nationhood.

It's Very Difficult For The American People To Believe That Our Government, One Of The Richest On Earth, Is Also One Of The Stingiest On Earth.

We Can't Equate Democracy With Christianity Because The Largest Democracy On Earth Is India, Which Is Primarily Hindu. The Third Largest Democracy Is Indonesia, Which Is Islamic. Democracy And Freedom Are Not Dependent On Christian Beliefs.

When Combined, The Small Individual Contributors Of Caring, Friendship, Forgiveness, And Love, Each Of Us Different From Our Next-door Neighbors, Can Form A Phalanx, An Army, With Great Capability.

We Believe That The First Time We're Born, As Children, It's Human Life Given To Us; And When We Accept Jesus As Our Savior, It's A New Life. That's What "born Again" Means.

I Am Confident That When The Facts And Policies Have Been Examined, When The Record Of Performances Have Been Reviewed, Barack Obama And Joe Biden Will Once Again Be Elected To Lead Our Beloved Country To A Better Future.

I Believed What My Father Taught Me About The Separation Of Church And State, So When I Was President I Never Invited Billy Graham To Have Services In The White House Because I Didn't Think That Was Appropriate. He Was Injured A Little Bit, Until I Explained It To Him.

I Think An Overwhelming Portion Of The Intensely Demonstrated Animosity Toward President Barack Obama Is Based On The Fact That He Is A Black Man, That He's African American.

African American

This Is The First National Administration We've Ever Seen Where The Housewife Couldn't Afford To Buy Groceries And The Farmer Couldn't Afford To Grow Them.

I've Used The Prestige And Influence Of Having Been A President Of The United States As Effectively As Possible. And Secondly, I've Still Been Able To Carry Out My Commitments To Peace And Human Rights And Environmental Quality And Freedom And Democracy And So Forth.

Sadat Was A Great And Good Man, And His Most Bitter And Dangerous Enemies Were People Who Were Obsessed With Hatred For His Peaceful Goals.

My Faith Has Helped Me To Adjust To Life Whether I Was A Small Farm Boy, A Submarine Officer, Governor, President Or An Ex-president. I've Tried To Remember The Teaching That We Have To Accommodate Change We Can't Control In Our Lives, Whether It's Disappointment, Sorrow, Loss Or Failure, While Simultaneously Clinging To Principles That Never Change.

Last Year I Was On Pat Robertson's Show, And We Discussed Our Basic Christian Faith - For Instance, Separation Of Church And State. It's Contrary To My Beliefs To Try To Exalt Christianity As Having Some Sort Of Preferential Status In The United States. That Violates The Constitution. I'm Not In Favor Of Mandatory Prayer In School Or Of Using Public Funds To Finance Religious Education.

I Would Say The Biggest Handicap We Have Right Now Is Some Nutcases In Our Country That Don't Believe In Global Warming. I Think They Are Going To Change Their Position Because Of Pressure From Individuals, Because The Evidence Of The Ravages Of Global Warming Is Already There.

There Are Some Discrepencies In The Writings Of Paul. Some Christians Chose Those Ones That Say That Women Should Be Restricted In Their Services. I Choose To Emphasize The Equality Of People In God's Eyes.

Testing Oneself Is Best When Done Alone.

America Did Not Invent Human Rights. In A Very Real Sense Human Rights Invented America.

A Lot Of The Things That We Passed In The Energy Policy Were Embedded In Law, And They Resulted In Tremendous Reductions In Waste Of Energy In All Kinds Of Things.

This View That Women Are Somehow Inferior To Men Is Not Restricted To One Religion Or Belief. It Is Widespread. Women Are Prevented From Playing A Full And Equal Role In Many Faiths.

I Think I Governed Effectively. I Don't Have Any Doubts About That. I Had The Benefit, When I Was In Office, Of Having An Excellent Relationship With The Republican Party. We Had Superb Bipartisan Support And We Had The Highest Batting Average Of Any President Since The Second World War, Except Lyndon Johnson. He Had A Little Better Average Than I Did.

If One Of Our Fellow Citizens Can Be Executed With So Much Doubt Surrounding His Guilt, Then The Death Penalty System In Our Country Is Unjust And Outdated.

According To Gandhi, The Seven Sins Are Wealth Without Works, Pleasure Without Conscience, Knowledge Without Character, Commerce Without Morality, Science Without Humanity, Worship Without Sacrifice, And Politics Without Principle. Well, Hubert Humphrey May Have Sinned In The Eyes Of God, As We All Do, But According To Those Definitions Of Gandhi's, It Was Hubert Humphrey Without Sin.

We Cannot Resort To Simplistic Or Extreme Solutions Which Substitute Myths For Common Sense.

A Fundamentalist Can't Bring Himself Or Herself To Negotiate With People Who Disagree With Them Because The Negotiating Process Itself Is An Indication Of Implied Equality.

In This Outward And Physical Ceremony We Attest Once Again To The Inner And Spiritual Strength Of Our Nation. As My High School Teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, Used To Say: 'we Must Adjust To Changing Times And Still Hold To Unchanging Principles.'

When I Was Elected President Nobody Asked Me To Negotiate Between Israel And Egypt. It Was Not Even A Question Raised In My Campaign. But I Felt That One Of The Reasons That I Was Elected President Was To Try To Bring Peace To The Holy Land.

In The Year 2000, The Solar Water Heater Behind Me, Which Is Being Dedicated Today, Will Still Be Here Supplying Cheap, Efficient Energy. A Generation From Now, This Solar Heater Can Either Be A Curiosity, A Museum Piece, An Example Of A Road Not Taken, Or It Can Be Just A Small Part Of One Of The Greatest And Most Exciting Adventures Ever Undertaken By The American People: Harnessing The Power Of The Sun To Enrich Our Lives As We Move Away From Our Crippling Dependence On Foreign Oil.

As Far As Being In Dangerous Situations Around The World Is Concerned, I Always Have A Secret Service Detail With Me As One Of The Privileges Of A Former President.

Dangerous Situations

Earlier In My Life I Thought The Things That Mattered Were The Things That You Could See, Like Your Car, Your House, Your Wealth, Your Property, Your Office. But As I've Grown Older I've Become Convinced That The Things That Matter Most Are The Things That You Can't See -- The Love You Share With Others, Your Inner Purpose, Your Comfort With Who You Are.

There Are Two Major Peace Agreements. One Is A Comprehensive Peace Agreement That Was Consummated By The Extremely Beneficial Intersession Of The George Bush Administration, Who Called On John Danforth, The Former Senator From Missouri, To Negotiate A Peace Agreement After Eight Years During Which President Clinton Did Not Want To Promote Peace In The Mideast - I Mean, In Sudan. And That's Holding So Far.

Ever Since Israel Has Been A Nation The United States Has Provided The Leadership. Every President Down To The Ages Has Done This In A Fairly Balanced Way, Including George Bush Senior, Gerald Ford, And Others Including Myself And Bill Clinton.

I Believe In The Separation Of Church And State And Would Not Use My Authority To Violate This Principle In Any Way.

You Have Given Me A Great Responsibility: To Stay Close To You, To Be Worthy Of You And To Exemplify What You Are.

One Of My Greatest Pleasures Is Being On The Farmland That's Been In The Family Since 1833.

Greatest Pleasures

I Believe There Is Complete Equality Between Men And Women. And I Believe Those Passages In The New Testament, Not By Jesus, But By Paul, That Say Women Should Not Adorn Themselves, They Should Always Wear Hats Or Color Their Hair In Church - Things Like That - I Think They Are Signs Of The Times And Should Not Apply To Modern-day Life.

Quite Often, The People Who Do Leave Their Own Nation And Come To An Unknown Destination, Like The United States, Are Inherently Adventurous, So We've Had That Adventurous Spirit That Has Embedded Itself Collectively In The American Consciousness.

We Will Not Learn How To Live Together In Peace By Killing Each Other's Children.

This Intolerable Dependence On Foreign Oil Threatens Our Economic Independence And The Very Security Of Our Nation. The Energy Crisis Is Real. It Is Worldwide. It Is A Clear And Present Danger To Our Nation. These Are Facts And We Simply Must Face Them.

Every Act Of Energy Conservation... Is More Than Just Common Sense: I Tell You It Is An Act Of Patriotism.

I Have A Great Deal Of Confidence In Myself And In My Faith.

Unless Both Sides Win, No Agreement Can Be Permanent.

Jerry Falwell Can Go Straight To Hell - And I Mean That In A Christian Way.

Nearly All Inmates Are Drawn From The Ranks Of The Powerless And The Poor. A Child Of Privilege Frequently Receives The Benefit Of The Doubt; A Child Of Poverty Seldom Does.

We Are Of Course A Nation Of Differences. Those Differences Don't Make Us Weak. They're The Source Of Our Strength.

Aggression Unopposed Becomes A Contagious Disease.

The Energy Crisis Has Not Yet Overwhelmed Us, But It Will If We Do Not Act Quickly. It's A Problem That We Will Not Be Able To Solve In The Next Few Years, And It's Likely To Get Progressively Worse Through The Rest Of This Century. We Must Not Be Selfish Or Timid If We Hope To Have A Decent World For Our Children And Grandchildren. We Simply Must Balance Our Demand For Energy With Our Rapidly Shrinking Resources. By Acting Now We Can Control Our Future Instead Of Letting The Future Control Us.

Under Lenin The Soviet Union Was Like A Religious Revival, Under Stalin Like A Prison, Under Khrushchev Like A Circus, And Under Brezhnev Like The U.s. Post Office.

Ours Is The Most Wasteful Nation On Earth. We Waste More Energy Than We Import. With About The Same Standard Of Living, We Use Twice As Much Energy Per Person As Do Other Countries Like Germany, Japan, And Sweden.

One Of Our Nation's Greatest Leaders Of All Time Was Hubert Horatio Hornblower.

There Should Be An Honest Attempt At The Reconciliation Of Differences Before Resorting To Combat.

We've Uncovered Some Embarrassing Ancestors In The Not-too-distant Past. Some Horse Thieves, And Some People Killed On Saturday Nights. One Of My Relatives, Unfortunately, Was Even In The Newspaper Business.

I Enjoyed Being President, But The Campaign Against Guinea Worm [horrible Disease] Has Opened Up A Completely New Career That Is Challenging And Unpredictable And Adventurous - And Very Gratifying.

I Can Get Up At 8am And Be Rested... Or I Can Get Up At 5am And Be President.

As A Christian, A Trained Engineer And Scientist, And A Professor At Emory University, I Am Embarrassed By Superintendent Kathy Cox's Attempt To Censor And Distort The Education Of Georgia's Students.... There Is No Need To Teach That Stars Can Fall Out Of The Sky And Land On A Flat Earth In Order To Defend Our Religious Faith.

I'm An Expert Cook When It Comes To Preparing The Quail, Ducks, Geese And Wild Turkeys That I Hunt On The Farm.

When I Speak At My Local Church, Which I Try To Do 35 To 40 Times A Year, I Try In Every Lesson To Take The Old Testament Text Or New Testament Text And Apply Them To What Is Happening To Me Or How That Applies To The Audience That I'm Teaching In A Modern, Fast-changing, Technological World. I Use Headlines, Interfaith And That Sort Of Thing.

Failure Is A Reality; We All Fail At Times, And It's Painful When We Do. But It's Better To Fail While Striving For Something Wonderful, Challenging, Adventurous, And Uncertain Than To Say, " I Don't Want To Try Because I May Not Succeed Completely.

The Decision To Attack The Entire Nation [of Yugoslavia] Has Been Counterproductive, And Our Destruction Of Civilian Life Has Now Become Senseless And Excessively Brutal. ... The United States' Insistence On The Use Of Cluster Bombs, Designed To Kill Or Maim Humans, Is Condemned Almost Universally And Brings Discredit On Our Nation (as Does Our Refusal To Support A Ban On Land Mines). Even For The World's Only Superpower, The Ends Don't Always Justify The Means.

America Has No Functioning Democracy At This Moment.

I Don't Think The Tea Party People Are Racist, Except Maybe A Tiny Portion Of Them. But There Has Been A Deliberate Effort - Again, Referring To Fox Broadcasting - To Inject The Race Issue Into It. They Have Actually Called Obama A Racist On Television.

I Think The Most Challenging Thing For Me In My Life And In The Bible Is That We Worship Jesus As The Prince Of Peace.

Any System Of Economics Is Bankrupt If It Sees Either Value Or Virtue In Unemployment.

I Believe We Accomplished A Lot Of Good Things While I Was In Office. We Maintained A Very Good Working Relationship With Both Republicans And Democrats During My Tenure. Consequently, We Had A Very High Batting Average In Dealing With Congress On Some Very Controversial Issues. Plus, We Kept Our Nation At Peace, We Obeyed The Law, And We Told The Truth.

Our American Values Are Not Luxuries But Necessities, Not The Salt In Our Bread, But The Bread Itself. Our Common Vision Of A Free And Just Society Is Our Greatest Source Of Cohesion At Home And Strength Abroad, Greater Than The Bounty Of Our Material Blessings.

Our Individual Fates Are Linked Our Futures Intertwined

I Want To Stress Again That Human Rights Are Not Peripheral To The Foreign Policy Of The United States. Our Pursuit Of Human Rights Is Part Of A Broad Effort To Use Our Great Power And Our Tremendous Influence In The Service Of Creating A Better World, A World In Which Human Beings Can Live In Peace, In Freedom, And With Their Basic Needs Adequately Met.

All My Playmates Were Black. I Lived In A Little Community Called Archery (ph) In A Rural Area. And I Didn't Have Any White Neighbors At All. So All My Kids With Whom I Fought And Wrestled And Went Fishing And Worked In The Field And So Forth Were African-americans. And That Was My Life. So When I Got To Be School Age, We Had To Separate During The Daytime, But I Always Felt Like I Was In An Alien Environment When I Was In Plains, Georgia With White Kids. I Was Eager To Get Back Where I Belonged With My Black Playmates.

When I Feel Something Very Intensely Or Deeply Or Personally, I Can Go To Extremes Of Self-expression Or Self-analysis By Writing A Poem - More Than I Can Just Talking To Somebody Or Writing Prose.

We Know Definitively That Al-qaida Isn't All Over Afghanistan Anymore. According To Cia Estimates, There Are Less Than A Hundred Al-qaida Members In The Entire Country. Most Of Them Are In Pakistan. So, It's Hard For Me To Understand Why We're Still Fighting There And Sending In More And More Troops. I Would Get Out Of Afghanistan As Quickly As Possible.

In A Nuclear Age, Each Of Us Is Threatened When Peace Is Not Secured Everywhere.

I Believe That Anyone Can Be Successful In Life, Regardless Of Natural Talent Or The Environment Within Which We Live. This Is Not Based On Measuring Success By Human Competitiveness For Wealth, Possessions, Influence, And Fame, But Adhering To God's Standards Of Truth, Justice, Humility, Service, Compassion, Forgiveness, And Love.

I Can't Really Criticize The Tea Party People, Because I Came Into The White House Pretty Much On The Same Basis That They Have Become Popular. That Is Dissatisfaction With The Way Things Are Going In Washington And Disillusionment And Disencouragement About The Government.

The Relationship Between Government And Art Must Necessarily Be A Delicate One. It Would Not Be Appropriate For The Government To Try To Define What Is Good Or What Is True Or What Is Beautiful. But Government Can Provide Nourishment To The Ground Within Which These Ideas Spring Forth From The Seeds Of Inspiration Within The Human Mind.

The Most Important Bible Teaching That I Remembered When I Was In The Navy And When I Was Commander-in-chief, Was That We Worshipped The Prince Of Peace. Jesus Christ Is The Prince Of Peace. So, I Considered Myself, As A Submarine Officer, As Helping To Preserve The Peace. And I Felt The Same Way When I Was President.

Although Military, Economic And Political Strength Certainly Favors The More Powerful Side, The Matter Of Simple Justice Is A Counterbalancing Factor.

I Think The Only Way That Political System Can Be Corrected Is For The American People To See Very Vividly That It Needs Repair. If Things Are Going To Worse In The Future, The American People, In Every Congressional District In The Land, Might Demand That Reforms Take Place In The Political System.

In The Final Analysis, True Justice Is Not A Matter Of Courts And Law Books, But Of A Commitment In Each Of Us To Liberty And Mutual Respect.

We Have Been Involved In More Wars, On A Bilateral Basis, Since The United Nations Was Formed Than Any Other Country By Far.

Go Out On A Limb. That's Where The Fruit Is.

I Think That The Best Approach Would Be If The American People Ever Insist That We Cut Down On The Massive Amounts Of Money That Moves Into The Campaigns From Special Interest Groups, And If We Resist Publicly By Saying "no More Negative Advertisements That Destroy The Reputations Of One's Opponents." In The Meantime, Just Don't Pay Any Attention To Negative Ads, If You Can Avoid Them, And Try To Focus On The Issues.

There's Always An Element Of Self Delusion Among People Who Believe They Ought To Be President. There's An Underestimation Of Your Opponent And An Overestimation Of Your Own Abilities. This Is Compatible With Being Rich And Powerful, The Idea That We Were Blessed By God Because We Deserve To Be Blessed.

On Balance, My Life Has Been A Constant Stream Of Blessings Rather Than Disappointments And Failures And Tragedies. I Wish I Had Been Re-elected. I Think I Could Have Kept Our Country At Peace. I Think I Could Have Consolidated What We Achieved At Camp David With A Treaty Between Israel And The Palestinians.

I Think It Was Fully Justified After 9/11 To Initiate A Military Action Against Afghanistan, Because We Hoped To Create A Democracy, And Have A Flourishing Economy, And To Do Away With Al-qaida, And To Capture Osama Bin Laden.

Southerners, Whose Ancestors A Hundred Years Ago Knew The Horrors Of A Homeland Devastated By War, Are Particularly Determined That War Shall Never Come To Us Again. All Americans Understand The Basic Lessons Of History: That We Need To Be Resolute And Able To Protect Ourselves, To Prevent Threats And Domination By Others.

My Mother's Influence To Take On New Challenges And Do What I Though Was Right Even Though Sometimes The Consequences Politically Speaking Were Not Good. My Mother Was Vivacious, She Was Full Of Life, She Got Up Every Morning Looking Forward To The Day, Trying To Figure Out What She Could Do That Was Innovative And Unprecedented And Maybe Controversial.

We Can Drift Along As Though There Were Still A Cold War, Wasting Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars On Weapons That Will Never Be Used, Ignoring The Problems Of People In This Country And Around The World, Being One Of The Worst Environmental Violators On Earth, Standing Against Any Sort Of Viable Programs To Protect The World's Forests Or To Cut Down On Acid Rain Or The Global Warming Or Ozone Depletion. We Can Ignore Human Rights Violations In Other Countries, Or We Can Take These Things On As True Leaders Ought To And Accept The Inspiring Challenge Of America For The Future.

It's Abominable, And It's A Disgrace To A Great Democracy To See What's Happened In Our Country. The Main Reason For That Has Been The Enormous Infusion Of High Quantities Of Money To Campaigns - Governors, Congress, President And The U.s. Senate.

I'm Still, Except For Making Overseas Trips, I'm Staying Just About As Busy As I Ever Did.

The Love Of Liberty Is A Common Blood That Flows In Our American Veins.

I Don’t Claim To Be Knowledgeable About Theology. Most Of My Knowledge Comes Out Of My Experience And The Lessons In The Bible. Every Sunday I’m Home I Teach 45 Minutes And We Boiled Them Down To One Page For The New Book, “through The Year With Jimmy Carter.”

When I Was President, I Announced And I Still Maintain That I Can Live With Roe V. Wade. I Did Everything I Possibly Could As President Under That Ruling, Which I Don't Think Ought To Be Changed, To Minimize The Need For Abortions. I Think Every Abortion Is A Result Of A Horrible Series Of Errors On The Part Of People Involved.

Our Values Are Not Luxuries, But Necessities. They Are Not The Salt In Our Bread, But The Bread Itself.

There Was Never Any Question About The Morality Of Hunting, But Neither Was There Any Acceptance Of Killing For The Sake Of A Trophy.

Elvis Was A Symbol Of The Country's Vitality, Rebelliousness, And Good Humor.

I Believe In The Separation Of Church And State. The Government Has The Right To Say What Happens In A Civil Case, Like In A Court House. And Religious People Have A Right To Say What Happens In A Church Congregation. They Are Two Completely Separate Things.

I Think All Americans Believe In Human Rights. And Health Is An Often Overlooked Aspect Of Basic Human Rights. And It's One That's Easily Corrected. The Reason I Say That Is That Many Of The Diseases That We Treat Around The World, I Knew When I Was A Child. My Mother Was A Registered Nurse. And They No Longer Exist In Our Country.

I Believe That The Boycott That We Have Against Cuba Is Counterproductive, And It Also Makes The Twelve Million Or So Cuban People Suffer Unnecessarily Just Because Of A Foolish Policy Of The United States.

If I Become President, I'll Make Every Piece Of Information This Country Has About Ufo Sightings Available To The Public, And The Scientists. I Am Convinced That Ufos Exist Because I've Seen One.

We Will Have An Unchallenged, Open, Panoramic Opportunity On A Global Scale To Demonstrate The Finest Aspects Of What We Know In This Country: Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, Benevolent Sharing, Love, The Easing Of Human Suffering. Is That Going To Be Our List Of Priorities Or Not?

The Awareness That Health Is Dependent Upon Habits That We Control Makes Us The First Generation In History That To A Large Extent Determines Its Own Destiny.

It Is Clear That Global Challenges Must Be Met With An Emphasis On Peace, In Harmony With Others, With Strong Alliances And International Consensus. Imperfect As It May Be, There Is No Doubt That This Can Best Be Done Through The United Nations, Not Merely To Preserve Peace But Also To Make Change, Even Radical Change, Without Violence.

Two Problems Of Our Country - Energy And Malaise.

I Am Not Here As A Public Official, But As A Citizen Of A Troubled World Who Finds Hope In A Growing Consensus That The Generally Accepted Goals Of Society Are Peace, Freedom, Human Rights, Environmental Quality, The Alleviation Of Suffering, And The Rule Of Law.

Well, You Know, I Had Been A Peanut Farmer. I Had - You Know Who Was The First President - Democratic President I Ever Met? Bill Clinton.

Human Identity Is No Longer Defined By What One Does But Rather By What One Owns.

When I Ran, I Didn't Have Any Money. Now, It Requires Raising Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Just To Get The Nomination, And I Don't Care To Be Involved In That Process.

Except During My Childhood, When I Was Probably Influenced By Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Depiction Of God With A Flowing White Beard, I Have Never Tried To Project The Creator In Any Kind Of Human Likeness. The Vociferous Debates About Whether God Is Male Or Female Seem Ridiculous To Me. I Think Of God As An Omnipotent And Omniscient Presence, A Spirit That Permeates The Universe, The Essence Of Truth, Nature, Being, And Life. To Me, These Are Profound And Indescribable Concepts That Seem To Be Trivialized When Expressed In Words.

We've Got To Stop Crying And Start Sweating, Stop Talking And Start Walking, Stop Cursing And Start Praying. The Strength We Need Will Not Come From The White House, But From Every House In America.

The Truth Is That Male Religious Leaders Have Had - And Still Have - An Option To Interpret Holy Teachings Either To Exalt Or Subjugate Women. They Have, For Their Own Selfish Ends, Overwhelmingly Chosen The Latter.

The Oil Lobby, Perhaps The Most Powerful Lobby On Earth, Is Almost Matched By Hospital Owners And Doctors.

There Is A Strong Religious Commitment To The Sanctity Of Human Life, But, Paradoxically, Some Of The Most Fervent Protectors Of Microscopic Stem Cells Are The Most Ardent Proponents Of The Death Penalty.

For Me Personally And For Most Other Americans, This Commitment To Peace And Diplomacy Does Not Imply A Blind Or Total Pacifism. There Are Times When War Is Justified, And For Many Centuries The Moral Criteria For Violence Have Been Carefully Delineated.

The Carter Center Has The Only Existing International Taskforce On Disease Eradication. Which Means A Total Elimination Of A Disease On The Face Of The Earth. In The History Of The World, There's Only Been One Disease Eradicated: Smallpox. The Second Disease, I Think, Is Gonna Be Guinea Worm.

The United States Is Squandering International Prestige And Goodwill And Intensifying Global Anti-american Terrorism By Unofficially Condoning Or Abetting The Israeli Confiscation And Colonization Of Palestinian Territories.

One Of The Greatest Concerns That I Had When I Became President Was The Vast Array Of Nuclear Weapons In The Arsenals Of The United States And The Soviet Union And A Few Other Countries, And Also The Great Proliferation Of Conventional Weapons, Non-nuclear Weapons, Particularly As A Tremendous Burden On The Economies Of Developing Or Very Poor Countries.

One Of The Most Basic Principles For Making And Keeping Peace Within And Between Nations. . . Is That In Political, Military, Moral, And Spiritual Confrontations, There Should Be An Honest Attempt At The Reconciliation Of Differences Before Resorting To Combat

For This Generation, Ours, Life Is Nuclear Survival, Liberty Is Human Rights, The Pursuit Of Happiness Is A Planet Whose Resources Are Devoted To The Physical And Spiritual Nourishment Of Its Inhabitants.

If I Should Ever Decide In The Future To Discuss My Deep Christian Beliefs And Condemnation And Sinfulness, I Would Use Another Forum Besides Playboy.

I Don't Have Any Complaints About Homosexuals Being Married In A Civil Ceremony. But I Don't Think That The Government Ought To Require Religious Organizations, Churches, Should Perform Marriages Between Homosexuals If A Local Congregation Decides Otherwise. I Believe In The Autonomy Of Individual Churches.

The Special Relationship Between The United States And Israel Still Stands. Our Total Committments To Israel's Security And Our Hope For Peace Is Still Preeminent Among All The Other Considerations That Our Nation Has In The Middle East ... But There Need Be No Concern Among The Israeli People Nor Among Jews In This Country That Our Nation Has Changed Or Turned Away From Israel.

Our Laws Were Not Designed To Accommodate Three Or Four Thousand Refugees Coming Here Per Day. Our Laws Were Designed For People To Be Screened In A Foreign Country, Carefully Catalogued, And Brought Here A Few At A Time. This Just Didn't Happen.

War May Sometimes Be A Necessary Evil. But No Matter How Necessary, It Is Always An Evil, Never A Good. We Will Not Learn How To Live Together In Peace By Killing Each Other's Children.

Some Devout Christians Are Among The Most Fervent Advocates Of The Death Penalty, Contradicting Jesus Christ And Justifying Their Belief On An Erroneous Interpretation Of Hebrew Scriptures. "an Eye For An Eye, And A Tooth For A Tooth," Their Most Likely Response, Overlooks The Fact That This Was Promulgated By Moses As A Limitation- A Prohibition Against Taking Both Eyes Or All Of An Offender's Teeth In Retribution.

In An All-out Nuclear War, More Destructive Power Than In All Of World War Ii Would Be Unleashed Every Second During The Long Afternoon It Would Take For All The Missiles And Bombs To Fall. A World War Ii Every Second-more People Killed In The First Few Hours Than All The Wars Of History Put Together. The Survivors, If Any, Would Live In Despair Amid The Poisoned Ruins Of A Civilization That Had Committed Suicide.

I Just Look At Death As Not A Threat. It's Inevitable, And I Have An Assurance Of Eternal Life.

We Know That A Peaceful World Cannot Long Exist, One-third Rich And Two-thirds Hungry.

I Think It Will Take Years Before We Can Repair The Damage Done By That Statement.

Faith Implies A Continuing Search, Not Necessarily A Final Answer.

America Is Constantly Involved In Unnecessary Wars.

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