A portion of the IC ISD campus that is scheduled for demolition.
As 2024 comes to a close today, December 31, I think it timely to post some photos of what the IC ISD campus looks like before the 2024 bond money is spent in 2025. At the same time, our country this week is mourning the passing of President Jimmy Carter. My impressionable years in learning about government and politics included President Carter as President while I was in high school at IC ISD. He occupied the Whitehouse post Watergate and at a time when a President’s character mattered. Putting aside party affiliation for a moment, I think most agree that Carter's post presidency has had a positive and lasting impact on our country. So, in that vein, I am including some of Carter's quotes among the photos. His quotes in one way or another touch on points that I wish to make, or have made, in this blog.
The photos are not in any particular order, and the quotes are randomly associated with the photos. I anticipate referring to them by number in posts in 2025 and beyond. The photos were all taken on December 30 and 31, 2024.
"Increasingly, developed and developing nations are recognizing that a free flow of information is fundamental for democracy. Whether it's government or private companies that provide public services, access to their records increases accountability and allows citizens to participate more fully in public life. It is a critical tool in fighting corruption, and people can use it to improve their own lives in the areas of health care, education, housing and other public services. Perhaps most important, access to information advances citizens' trust in their government, allowing people to understand policy decisions and monitor their implementation." From We Need Fewer Secrets, his 2006 op-ed.
“The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself - always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.”
“It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.”
"If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement."
"The evidence shows that investing in women and girls delivers major benefits for society. An educated woman has healthier children. She is more likely to send them to school. She earns more and invests what she earns in her family."
"The abuse of women and girls is the most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation on Earth."
"My first public office was as a county school board member. As a state senator and governor I devoted much of my time to education issues. I remain convinced that education is one of the noblest enterprises a person or a society can undertake." (At the signing of the federal bill that created the Department of Education.)
“Thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny of all government officials by the press and the public are an important part of our democratic society. Now, as in the past, only the understanding and involvement of the people through full and open debate can help to avoid serious mistakes and assure the continued dignity and safety of the Nation.”
“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.”
“When people are intimidated about having their own opinions, oppression is at hand.”
“But we know that democracy is always an unfinished creation. Each generation must renew its foundations. Each generation must rediscover the meaning of this hallowed vision in the light of its own modern challenges. 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.”
“I’m not in favor of the government mandating a prayer in school because our country was founded on the fact that no particular religious faith would have ascendance over or preferential treatment over any other.”
Copyright 2024 G Noelke