A presidency's end

I wrote this elsewhere earlier:

"While President Obama's second term ends in under 24 hours, his victory over 8 eight ago remains one of the happiest days of my life, as I was both relieved at his win and because I believed in the message of "Hope and Change". After everything, I still do; while President Obama has not been perfect and at times has carried out policies I've disagreed with, I have never given up on him and I have always believed that he is, at heart, a kind and caring person. I hope that in his post-presidential life, he will follow in the footsteps of President Jimmy Carter and go on to promote and defend causes that are beneficial to humanity, as well as remain a strong voice of positivity.

And somewhere around, I still have my Obama t-shirt; after election day 2008, Dad bought one for each of us."

I'm going miss President Obama being in the White House. He brought a rare type of respectability to the Office of President, which won't be seen there again any time soon. Thanks for everything positive you did, President Obama, and I genuinely mean that.

The victorious Bieber and Carter

I've written two posts on Facebook today:

"Justin Bieber has won a Grammy! In all fairness to the Bieber, he does perhaps deserve it: He is, after all, one of the few people who has made a song that Skrillex has had anything to do with actually sound like music and not a chaotic cacophony of commotion."

The Grammy was for the song "Where Are Ü Now", on which Justin Bieber collaborated with Skrillex and Diplo. I don't really know who Diplo is but Skrillex is someone who, in my estimation, makes music that utterly sucks. While "sucks" isn't language I usually utilize on my blog, "sucks" is the best word that I can use to describe any music I've heard by Skrillex.

In that same Facebook post, I then wrote:

"(And from what I understand, at the Grammys Lady Gaga gave another awesome high-profile performance!)"

Lady Gaga's tribute to David Bowie was well-received. The other "awesome high-profile performance" I was referring to was Gaga's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at the recent Super Bowl, which was also well-received.

My other post was:

"Turns out that President Jimmy Carter won a Grammy Award, too - his second Grammy, at that. His being 91 must also list him among the oldest people to have won a Grammy. His wins are impressive; more so, I think, than the "major" categories of awards at the ceremony."

President Jimmy Carter won his second Grammy, in the Best Spoken Word Album category. Carter continues to astound me; I think he's an amazing human being and is fully deserving of any positive awards he receives.

I'll wrap this post up by saying that I never expected to write about Justin Bieber and Jimmy Carter together in the same blog post. It's almost as bizarre as the time I wrote about Mary Landrieu and Pixie Lott.

Jimmy Carter victorious

Back in August, former US President Jimmy Carter announced that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and that the cancer had spread around his body. The prognosis for him appeared poor, given his age and the extent of the cancer.

Well, last month he said that his response to the treatment was going well and today he declared that the brain cancer is "gone". Carter has done it: he has defeated brain cancer. Even with the resources at his disposal being a former president, defeating cancer at 91-years-old is a tremendous feat.

Congratulations, Jimmy Carter; this is excellent news!

Jimmy Carter and cancer

Former US President Jimmy Carter revealed yesterday that he has cancer, which has spread around his body:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33898331

I am upset by this and not just because Jimmy Carter is someone for whom I hold great admiration and respect. Carter is a fundamentally good human being, who has performed an abundance of humanitarian work since he left office. For cancer to afflict such a kind and gentle person as him is deeply saddening and frustrating.

I have mentioned Carter in several of my other blog posts: (1), (2), (3), (4). In the case of that last post, it's hard to believe that less than a year has passed since I wrote about Carter's 90th birthday.

May President Carter defeat cancer and be allowed to continue his excellent work or enjoy a relaxing retirement.

Jimmy Carter's 90th birthday

Today is former President of the United States Jimmy Carter's 90th birthday. Of the current living former US presidents, Carter is by far my favorite; I deeply respect him.

Carter is frequently criticized and ridiculed for his service as president, as his record is viewed by some as poor on the economy and cowardly on foreign policy. While it's unfortunate that he wasn't able to achieve more while he held the office, I think that he has been highly productive and a positive influence since leaving it: his commitment to women's rights and to world peace are highly admirable and should be praised.

Carter has always struck me as a fundamentally good and honest human being. I was delighted to read today that he decided against bombing Iran as a response to the hostage crisis and to guarantee his re-election; such a war would have been catastrophic for both Iran and the United States. Carter also said that had he secured re-election, he would have continued to pursue peace in the Middle East.

I am amazed by how active Carter is, despite his advanced age. He is still involved with human rights and peace efforts, and has even engaged in recent volunteer work, such as when he went with his wife, Rosalynn, to Haiti in 2012 to help build houses for the inhabitants of that country, which was devastated by an earthquake in 2010.

Happy birthday, Jimmy Carter! May you have many more!

Walter Mondale's 50 state distinction

From 1977 to 1981, Walter Mondale served as the Vice President of the United States under President Jimmy Carter. In the 1980 United States presidential election, Carter and Mondale were defeated in a landslide, losing 44 of the 50 states; four years later, when Mondale ran for president against incumbent Ronald Reagan, Mondale lost 49 of the 50 states, barely carrying his home state of Minnesota while sweeping Washington D.C.

In 2002, Mondale ran for a Senate seat in Minnesota when the incumbent, Paul Wellstone, died; the seat that Wellstone occupied was the same one that Mondale held prior to becoming Carter's vice president. On election day, Norm Coleman narrowly defeated Mondale, achieving what Reagan had failed to do 22 years previous.

So, what's the 50 state distinction? Mondale's defeat in 2002 made him the first — and so far only — nominee of a major party to lose a statewide election in all 50 states. I doubt that it's a record that anyone would be proud of, but it's a small and notable piece of United States election trivia, nonetheless.

Interesting facts about the United States presidential election, 1976

The United States presidential election of 1976 saw Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter defeat incumbent President Gerald R. Ford. Ford's running mate was Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, and Carter's VP pick was Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota.

What's not widely known about this election is that it's the only one in United States history in which the two main candidates and their running mates would all go on to be defeated in runs for the presidency. Ford was, of course, defeated in 1976; Carter would lose re-election in 1980, Mondale lost in a landslide against President Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Dole was handily defeated by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Ford lost by the smallest margin of the four, winning 240 electoral votes to Carter's 297 (a faithless elector prevented Carter from reaching 298).

Due to the recent death of the former South Dakotan Senator George McGovern, the 1976 election is now the earliest election in which one of the two main candidates is still alive. Carter is 88 and Mondale is 84. George H. W. Bush is the oldest living ex-president (88, a few months older than Carter) and the most recent president to be voted out of office.

Finally, it's notable for being the last time a Democrat won the entire Deep South, the last time the South carried a Democratic candidate to victory (Carter won all but two Southern states), and the last time Nevada voted against the winner. Carter was also elected on the smallest amount of states carried by a winning candidate (23+DC).

I find these facts about the presidential races fascinating. They may seem trivial, but I think they're worth learning about!

Questions from "World Turn'd Upside Down"

A couple of days ago my friend Stephanie posted a list of questions on her blog, World Turn'd Upside Down, as a way for her readers to learn a bit about each other. I commented over there saying that I would be glad to do the list; here are my answers:

1. Websites, blogs and social media can skew our lives and make us look hyper-focused on one aspect of your life. What are some interests/hobbies/etc. that you have that you think your readers/friends might not know about?
I proofread/copyedit the writings of other people (I admit it is easier to proofread and copyedit the works of others than my own!), as that is what I am working on career-wise. I love following politics, mainly in the US and UK but sometimes in other countries, too; and while I am not a sports fan, I do not mind occasionally following Wimbledon (as I am at the moment) or the Olympics. I also love meeting with people in person!

2. What have blogs/the Internet introduced you to that you never knew about before?
I have spent my entire life in the United States and the United Kingdom, and have barely ventured beyond those two countries; as such, I have not really experienced what people are like in other places. However, from interacting with different people on the Internet I have learnt that people are similar the world over: the average American wants to live the best life possible, as does the average Brazilian and the average Chinese person (while I would have preferred to have met these people in person, at least I have some insight into them). Labeling people you have never met as "enemies" serves no good purpose whatsoever.

3. What are your top 10 most visited websites?
Google sites (while there are several, I am counting them as one), Yahoo! sites, Wikipedia, BBC News, various dictionary sites, Politico, and The Huffington Post (not ten examples, I know). Beyond them, there are probably dozens more that I use for research, although they are more spread out in how much I visit them and therefore do not qualify among my "most visited".

4. What is your favorite/most bizarre/interesting fact about something in history?
Apparently, when Richard Nixon was courting his future wife, Pat Ryan, he loved her so deeply that he would take her to her dates with other men (sources here and here) merely to spend some time with her. Disregarding his problems as president, I think this shows a little-known, positive side to the man. I consider this to be my favorite historical fact.

5. If you could wake up tomorrow and have acquired a new skill in your sleep, what would it be and why?
The ability to play the piano: I currently do not play any type of musical instrument, and I have heard that the piano is amongst the most difficult to master.

6. If you could spend 1 year in a different time period, which would you choose and why?
The United States in 1977, for no other reason than to experience living under one of my favorite US presidents, Jimmy Carter.

7. What are your Internet pet-peeves?
Harassment issues aside, I would say my biggest annoyances on the Internet are when some people post uninformed comments on news articles, post off-topic trolling comments to light-hearted pieces, or "debate" by insulting other people rather than coming up with a reasonable argument to support their view(s).

8.  What is your newest hobby/interest? Tell us a little about it.
Related to answer #1, exploring the website lang-8.com: it has been a worthwhile experience to increase my proofreading/copyediting skills by correcting the writings of people who are not native English speakers. It has also been something new to do while the weather has been incredibly wet recently!

9. If you could invite 3 deceased people to dinner who would it be and what would you talk to them about?
The aforementioned Nixon would be one and I would talk to him about his courting of and love for Pat. Another would be Aneurin Bevan, the Welsh politician who was the driving force behind the establishment of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom; I would be interested in his thoughts on the NHS when it was implemented and on its current state. The third would be my great-grandfather (the father of my Dad's mother), as he was the only one of my great-grandparents alive at the time of my birth and I hardly knew him.

10. If you had to play a character in a movie, who would you play and why?
This may not be very original, but I choose Marty McFly from all the Back to the Future films. I find time travel fascinating, and McFly did go on some exciting adventures! I have always loved the third part, where he went back in time to the Wild West.

This has been an interesting set of questions to answer. Thank you, Stephanie!