February 16, 2007

Ruminating.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:24 pm

1. Anyone even remotely familiar with this place knows that I like to write funny things (at least I think they’re funny) about Nancy Pelosi. I confess that, at the moment, I cannot think of any way to write anything funny about this. It’s too easy to say that I’m outraged – I am, to be sure. More to the point, as an American and as a veteran, what happened today in the House of Representatives breaks my heart. What they (and a dozen so-called Republicans) did comes with consequences, which they will have to live with.

2. Speaking of Americans, I just watched a History Channel piece on Apollo 11. The documentary featured the flight controller and Buzz Aldrin discussing the mission accompanied by footage of the trip to and from the moon. Watching it, I was taken by the historic value of the program. It would be as if we had a video of Lewis and Clark’s expedition and narration by Lewis and Clark themselves.

I am old enough to have watched on television (albeit in a foreign country) in awe as the Apollo 11 mission unfolded. What the documentary cannot possibly convey is the pins and needles on which the nation sat wondering whether these brave men would return to Earth and, if so, would they return alive, and would they bring with them some sort of “Satan Virus” that would wipe out the population of the planet.

The documentary also reminded me that the decision to land on the moon or to abort the mission (a most difficult task) was still on the table at a time when the Apollo 11 capsule was spitting distance to the lunar surface. Land? Crash on the lunar surface? Crash while trying to abort? There was no time for non-binding resolutions. A decision had to be made then and there. The decision was made to land. Everyone at NASA and in the United States held their breath while Neil Armstrong (a test pilot) manually steered the capsule to the lunar surface with 17 seconds worth of fuel to spare.

Grit. I think America has lost it.

12 Comments »

  1. I remember the knot in my stomach while the world waited.

    Sadly, I agree… the grit is gone.

    Comment by Jean — February 16, 2007 @ 9:36 pm

  2. I wish I was born for that, the Lunar landing…same year that the Mets won the World Series (that was big, too, in these parts, here on earth).

    This whole post made me feel profoundly sad.

    (::shlumps away::)

    Comment by Erica — February 16, 2007 @ 10:22 pm

  3. It was incredible!

    Grit. Hmmmm. Whore pelosi and all of her annoying nazi feminist bitches (including the panty-waist male counterparts) have feminized our American culture for the past thirty or so years…and now we are paying the price. Time for the men and boys of this nation to hike up their nuts and do some strutting. But you aren’t going to see if from those nincompoops in DC!

    Comment by Lee — February 17, 2007 @ 12:04 am

  4. “Houston…”
    “Tranquility Base here.”
    “The Eagle has landed…”
    I’ll never forget hearing those words. We yelled, we cried, we laughed. Yes…that grit sadly is gone….

    Comment by Mick — February 17, 2007 @ 12:13 am

  5. Jimbo – As an American and a veteran, I feel the same way. Once again the Dimocrats and their friends in the media are setting us up for another defeat just like Viet Nam. We won all the battles but lost the war at home thanks to assholes like Walter Cronkite and the Dimocrat party. Sad days are ahead.

    Comment by Denny — February 17, 2007 @ 12:33 am

  6. Jim,
    America hasn’t lost it’s grit, it’s been swept under the carpet by the main stream media, the limousine left, the do-gooders, the politically correct crowd, the left over hippies and the flower children wanna-be’s, and the recently emasculated Republican Party. One day someone with a pair of balls will wonder what the lump under the carpet is and, if the illegal alien housemaid hasn’t already swept it up and thrown it away, and use it to take up the reins of the Republic once again. All it takes is telling an asshole that they’re an asshole and either get the job done or get out of the way and let someone else do it. They say all things move in cycles, I sure hope this is a quick one.

    Comment by gregor — February 17, 2007 @ 10:24 am

  7. Things have gotten so sluggishly complex and regulated and globally bullshitted and nanny-stated, I wonder with you, Jim, sometimes, is there any room for the Eagle to just friggin’ land?

    Comment by dogette — February 17, 2007 @ 11:22 am

  8. Yep – Gregor and Major Dad are right – the grit is still there… or you wouldn’t have anyone in the blogosphere who agreed with you. And our all volunteer military would have no volunteers. It’s just difficult to get those whimpy whiney annoying politicians to grow a spine. *sigh* Unfortunately, they’re the ones who get all the press.

    Now on a much more inspirational note… if you’ve never seen the movie “The Dish” – go rent it now! (actually I own it) It’s a wonderful movie that captures every bit of the drama of the first moon landing. The movie takes place in Australia which is where the “dish” that captured the first pictures of the moon walk was based. I can not begin to describe how excellent this movie is. Get it, watch it, it will inspire and lift your spirits! When things look to be their most bleak is when this type of message needs to be conveyed. We did it before, we can do it again!

    BTW – for those with young kids – it’s a great family movie and really gets across the intense focus of the world during the first moon landing – absolutely awe inspiring. I think I want to watch it again tonight. *grin*

    Comment by Teresa — February 17, 2007 @ 12:47 pm

  9. I was 9 years old in the summer of ’69, and I remember watching the Moon Landing on our old black-and-white television. It was a proud moment for America, and even the kids knew it. I saw some shameful times for America after that, when we abandoned allies in southeast Asia and left them to their fate, when a President resigned in shame, when one of his successors stood impotently by as a foreign country held our people hostage for 444 days. Dark days, indeed. At least we had Ronald Reagan come along to rekindle the lost morale of the American people.

    These days, with people like Murtha and Pelosi and Reid as the leaders of the congressional majority, it looks like we might be in for a replay of what happened when the Democrats cut the funding to our South Vietnamese allies in 1975. I predicted this last November after the election. Those Democrat leaders are motivated by political expediency and the pursuit of partisan political gain rather than what is good for our national security. If people like that had been in charge during World War II, we’d be speaking German or Japanese. They turn my stomach.

    Comment by Clyde — February 17, 2007 @ 1:38 pm

  10. Lee – “Time for the men and boys of this nation to hike up their nuts and do some strutting.”

    Gregor – “One day someone with a pair of balls will wonder what the lump under the carpet is and, if the illegal alien housemaid hasn’t already swept it up and thrown it away, and use it to take up the reins of the Republic once again.”

    You are both right. Those boys and men are out there right now, learning that if lawyers will just get the hell out of the way they can do pretty much anything. Eventually, they will learn that they have the ability to ignore the lawyers; once that happens, they will take up the reins, and finish winning this war.

    Comment by Ken Adams — February 17, 2007 @ 2:42 pm

  11. Perhaps this poll conducted Feb. 5-11 will pick up your spirits – 66 percent think winning the war in Iraq is important and 58 percent are hopeful about the U.S. winning.

    Comment by Enlighten-NewJersey — February 18, 2007 @ 1:05 pm

  12. “What they (and a dozen so-called Republicans) did comes with consequences, which they will have to live with.”

    I only wish that it were that simple. Unfortunately, we’re *all* going to have to live with the consequences. Heinlein’s “Future History” timeline referred to this period as “The Crazy Years.” Seems appropriate.

    Comment by zonker — February 22, 2007 @ 11:46 am

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