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Thoughts on John Wayne’s Birthday and Jimmy Carter Values
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by BMCWrites | May 27, 2008 at 08:48 am
834 views | 36 Recommendations | 10 comments
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“If we want to keep these freedoms, we may have to fight again. God forbid, but if we do, let’s always fight to win…Face the flag, son…and thank God it’s still there.” – John Wayne
I take the opportunity presented by this day, the 101st anniversary of the late actor’s birth, to highlight the dichotomy that exists between words of praise handed out by Jimmy Carter nearly three decades ago and values the former president seems to hold today.
Carter appeared to have been cut from the same cloth as Marion Michael Morrison — the Oscar-winning actor better known to Americans as John Wayne (a.k.a., “The Duke”) — when he spoke the following words May 26, 1979:
“For nearly half a century, the Duke has symbolized the American ideals of integrity, courage, patriotism, and strength and has represented to the world many of the deepest values that this nation respects.” – President Jimmy Carter, May 26, 1979
During a recent visit to the U.K., however, the 40th president of the United States showed where his true values lie.
According to Israel Today, Carter disclosed to an audience at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in Wales the number of nuclear weapons possessed by Israel. In doing so, he appears to have compromised closely-guarded state secrets of one of this nation’s closest allies.
While the content of the secret disclosed by Carter should not drastically change the landscape on the battlefield that is world politics today, I fear the attention-seeking former president with too much time on his hands might divulge other secrets that will.
If, God forbid, Carter reveals other, more-damaging secrets, I hope that whomever is president a the time will employ someone like Rooster Cogburn, one of the characters played by John Wayne and pictured above, to dispense justice to the former peanut farmer from Plains, Ga. That would make this pilgrim smile.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (10)
at 08:56 on May 27th, 2008
BMCWrites, I like this story. Interesting comparison.
at 09:56 on May 27th, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUKE!!!!
And a great comparison Bob.
at 10:05 on May 27th, 2008
BMCWrites, I like this story. It's good stuff.
I understand that Carter broke the rules but I do not understand what that information really reveals. We all know that Israel has nukes. And any thinking person is going to know that they have enough to cause regional annihilation. So what does knowing the exact number (and I am not sure carter would have updated figures anyway) really do? I am not a fan of Carter and I agree that if he let one thing slip he may let others but on this specific issue please explain why this information is so dangerous today.
at 10:33 on May 27th, 2008
eastvanray -- When you receive a security clearance as Jimmy Carter had to do when he became president of the United States, you become obligated to keep certain information to yourself, only to be shared with others in possession of an equal or higher security clearance on a need-to-know basis. It's called operational security. As I stated in the piece above, the exact number of weapons Israel may or may not have in its possession is not as important as the issue of the breach of trust committed by a former president -- and prior to that, naval officer. I worry more about the future "beans" he might spill more than I fret over the one he just splattered on the world stage. In the words of Indiana Jones, Carter's recent revelation constitutes a "big scorpion." As president, unfortunately, he became privy to many more small and more dangerous scorpions.
at 10:37 on May 27th, 2008
I am aware of these security issues as I was a political consultant some years ago. And I agree with you that the concern is about future disclosures and the level of info he is privy to.
at 13:22 on May 27th, 2008
Does Carter still have access to current information? Is the number he cited an actual mark, or is it his beust guestimation based upon what he knew from about 25 years ago?
I wonder if Carter is speaking from what he sees as a new paradigm of human political organization - seeing that national boundaries need to be obliterated if humanity as a species is to survive its own worst organizations (which many see as being the governments themselves).
at 13:27 on May 27th, 2008
BMCWrites, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Submitted it to Digg.
at 13:34 on May 27th, 2008
BMCWrites, interesting comparison and opinion!
at 15:08 on May 27th, 2008
BMCWrites, I like this story. It's good stuff. Damn Straight, great story BMC, boy 101 years old, crap, thats old, and I must be getting older for remembering him when I was kid home from school at lunch and a John Wayne Western had just started, I immediately went into feigning sick mode, so Mom would let me stay home, good times.
at 20:58 on May 27th, 2008
BMCWrites, I like this story. It's good stuff.