We Can't? Really?

(If you follow me on either Facebook or Twitter, you already read this, move along, nothing new. My 17" is out of the shop, so I have my MarsEdit back.)

I look at the GOP, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or whomever saying "we can't" insure more people, because it's "too hard" & "we can't" try KSM et al in NYC because it's "too dangerous", and I think: "When did the US become the home of the timid and the weak?" When did we become a nation of trembling scared old men? When did we let a price tag or a boogeyman make us hide under the bed like frightened children?

Not to get too jinogisitic, but this is the fucking USA! We do the fucking impossible. WE WALKED ON THE FUCKING MOON! Go outside for a minute, and look at the moon, and realize that there is exactly one country that put people on the moon: The USA. Us. We did that. Others may follow, but we did it first, and for now, that is all ours. When the Soviets closed off the roads into West Berlin, we fucking turned the sky into our highway, and kept a city alive. Yippie-ki-yi-yay motherfucker, no one stops us.

That's what pisses me off. This is the US, We.Do.Hard.Stuff, if nothing else, just to make everyone else feel stupid for saying it couldn't be done. We not only built the first nuclear reactors, we put them fuckers in submarines. Hyman Rickover, that was one bad-assed motherfucker. He may have been born in Poland, but he kicked ass in the US. How the hell can we say we can't do anything when we did this (from Wikipedia):

Rickover did not disappoint. The imagination, drive, creativity and engineering expertise demonstrated by Rickover and his team during that time-frame resulted in a highly reliable nuclear reactor in a form-factor that would fit into a submarine hull with no more than a 28-foot beam. These were substantial technical achievements:
In the early 1950s, a megawatt-scale nuclear reactor took up an area roughly the size of a city block.

The prototype for the Nautilus propulsion plant was the world's first high-temperature nuclear reactor.

The basic physics data needed for the reactor design were as yet unavailable.

The reactor design methods had yet to be developed.

There were no available engineering data on the performance of water-exposed metals that were simultaneously experiencing high temperatures, pressures and multi-spectral radiation levels.

No nuclear power plant of any kind had ever been designed to produce steam.

No steam propulsion plant had ever been designed for use in the widely varying sea temperatures and pressures experienced by the condenser during submarine operations.

Components from difficult, exotic materials such as zirconium and hafnium would have to be extracted and manufactured with precision via techniques that were as yet unknown.

Yippie-ki-yi-yay motherfucker, we built nuclear submarines.

There is nothing we can't do, from being brave enough and confident enough in the Constitution to put KSM et al on trial in the same city he tried to destroy, to making sure everyone in this country has access to affordable health care. We're even big and bad enough to stop discriminating against gay folks. Our marriages end for a lot of reasons, but this bullshit that they're so weak that the mere existence of a married gay couple will cause them to dissolve is even weaker, and it's bullshit. We can do anything, including marrying gay people, and hoping they do as well as any straight couple.

The GOP says we can't? Hey GOP! FUCK YOU! THIS IS THE US! WE CAN FUCKING DO IT AND NOT MISS LUNCH! The Democratic Party says we can't? Hey Democratic Party! FUCK YOU TOO! Same for the Libertarians. When I see Guliani or Boehner, or whoever talking about how it's too dangerous and risky to even think about allowing this to happen, because we're too fragile to let our poor defenseless legal system handle the eeeeeeevil of KSM et al, I want to kick his undescended testicles through his shittily made up bald skull. When he says "Oh, it will be too stressful and too expensive", my teeth literally grind. Too stressful? For the NYPD? What an insult to a group of people who work their asses off to maintain order in the biggest city in the country. They can do it, and their regular jobs. The only thing stopping them are assholes like Rudy. Too expensive? What is this, accounting? Do we now let costs determine right or wrong? Are our principles not only for sale, but shipped with an ROI? What kinda lame-assed spineless shit is that? Thank $DEITY Guliani wasn't in FDR's spot, we'd have never fought WWII, it would have been too stressful and expensive.

What a goddamned buncha fucking wussies crying for mommy. Go back home if you can't cowboy or cowgirl up and get the job done. I don't vote for scared children. I vote for grownups who do hard things, because that's the example we set for our children so they DON'T get scared. How the fuck do we dare set ourselves up as an example when we have mealymouthed bullshit artists telling us something can't be done because of how much it costs or because it's too harrrrrrrrd. Spare me. If we aren't going to stand up for our principles when it's a pain in the ass to do so, when do we? If we dump the Constitution because someone doesn't like us, well fuck, burn it now, because that's always the case. I didn't notice a convenience clause or a "only if people like us" clause in the oath I took on 31 Oct. 1986.

I did not freeze my ass off in North-Fucking-Dakota because we can't. I did not sign up to defend our right to cower behind mealy-mouthed excuses. I do not set reminders to call the families of my friends who are still in, just to talk to them when said friends are on deployment because we care more about balancing a fucking budget than getting shit done. We do not only do the right thing if it passes an ROI evaluation. Deficit my ass, if we gotta run up a debt to get shit done, we'll run it up, then we'll pay the fucker off, because that's what we do. We run up big fucking debts, then we pay the fuckers off. What the fuck, we should have a balanced budget in a country run by small, cowardly minds? Do we leave the big things to other countries, because the US is now the land of the cheap and the home of the conveniently brave?

That's why "Yes, We Can" resonates with me. Yeah, yeah, it was Obama's slogan, too fucking bad, because he's right. That's what this country is about. Even when we've fucked it all up, it was "Yes, We Can". The times this country has truly failed is when we forget that. When we forget that we can, and we settle for "maybe we will, when it's not so hard." Screw that, this is not a country full of the weak-spined, only interested in padding our own nests so we can have a comfortable retirement. What the fuck is that, a comfortable retirement. Screw that. If your goal in life is to sit around waiting for Beulah to peel you a fucking grape, get on the ice flow now, don't fuck shit up while we wait for you to be even more useless.

Whether it's Obama, or Cheney, or anyone else...the first time you say "Oh no, it's too big, too hard, too expensive", I say "Fuck off and get out of my fucking way. This is the US-of-fucking-A". The Declaration of Independence is "Yes, We Can". It was our first "Yippie-ki-yi-yay motherfucker" to the most powerful country in the world. Not only did we win that war, but we bailed them out of one, maybe two more. Can't my ass. When the Articles of Confederation were failing, we "Yes, We Can"'d them in the trash and came up with the Constitution. Rather than give up, WE CHANGED OUR GOVERNMENT. How bad-ass is that? Sure, it wasn't perfect, and there was some damned stupid shit in there, but we've tried to fix that. Well, we used to. Good thing Clinton wasn't in office in the 40s, it would have been "well, maybe we'll integrate the military, but only when they're ready for it." Fuck that, the goddamned military can handle the obvious better than most politicians can.

Forty-fifty years ago, we made atoms do our bidding, now half of us are a-skeered of that there Large Haydron thingy, because it may cause bad things to happen. We used to hold up intelligence, science, math, and a desire public service as our best qualities. Now we spit on "dirty intellectuals", scientists are somehow Satan's tools, and becoming a politician is only slightly more honorable than becoming a child molester. Is that what this country is about? Being stupid, and thinking that anyone who's willing to be elected to office should be shunned for it?

If that's what this country is about, then let's give it back to the Indians, and go back to Britain, Ireland and all the rest and admit that the US didn't fail because of ebul terrorists, or teh gayz, or liberuls or neocons. If we fail, it wasn't because of muslims, or atheists or fundamental christians.

If we fail, it was because we were too fucking scared to succeed.

Categories: Other

Posted by John C. Welch at 23:42 | Permalink

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(If you follow me on either Facebook or Twitter, you already read this, move along, nothing new. My 17\" is out of the shop, so I have my MarsEdit back.)\n\nI look at the GOP, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or whomever saying \"we can't\" insure more people, because it's \"too hard\" & \"we can't\" try KSM et al in NYC because it's \"too dangerous\", and I think: \"When did the US become the home of the timid and the weak?\" When did we become a nation of trembling scared old men? When did we let a price tag or a boogeyman make us hide under the bed like frightened children?\n\nNot to get too jinogisitic, but this is the fucking USA! We do the fucking impossible. WE WALKED ON THE FUCKING MOON! Go outside for a minute, and look at the moon, and realize that there is exactly one country that put people on the moon: The USA. Us. We did that. Others may follow, but we did it first, and for now, that is all ours. When the Soviets closed off the roads into West Berlin, we fucking turned the sky into our highway, and kept a city alive. Yippie-ki-yi-yay motherfucker, no one stops us.\n\nThat's what pisses me off. This is the US, We.Do.Hard.Stuff, if nothing else, just to make everyone else feel stupid for saying it couldn't be done. We not only built the first nuclear reactors, we put them fuckers in submarines. Hyman Rickover, that was one bad-assed motherfucker. He may have been born in Poland, but he kicked ass in the US. How the hell can we say we can't do anything when we did this (from Wikipedia):\n\n

Rickover did not disappoint. The imagination, drive, creativity and engineering expertise demonstrated by Rickover and his team during that time-frame resulted in a highly reliable nuclear reactor in a form-factor that would fit into a submarine hull with no more than a 28-foot beam. These were substantial technical achievements:\n
In the early 1950s, a megawatt-scale nuclear reactor took up an area roughly the size of a city block.
\n
The prototype for the Nautilus propulsion plant was the world's first high-temperature nuclear reactor.
\n
The basic physics data needed for the reactor design were as yet unavailable.
\n
The reactor design methods had yet to be developed.
\n
There were no available engineering data on the performance of water-exposed metals that were simultaneously experiencing high temperatures, pressures and multi-spectral radiation levels.
\n
No nuclear power plant of any kind had ever been designed to produce steam.
\n
No steam propulsion plant had ever been designed for use in the widely varying sea temperatures and pressures experienced by the condenser during submarine operations.
\n
Components from difficult, exotic materials such as zirconium and hafnium would have to be extracted and manufactured with precision via techniques that were as yet unknown.

\n\nYippie-ki-yi-yay motherfucker, we built nuclear submarines.\n\nThere is nothing we can't do, from being brave enough and confident enough in the Constitution to put KSM et al on trial in the same city he tried to destroy, to making sure everyone in this country has access to affordable health care. We're even big and bad enough to stop discriminating against gay folks. Our marriages end for a lot of reasons, but this bullshit that they're so weak that the mere existence of a married gay couple will cause them to dissolve is even weaker, and it's bullshit. We can do anything, including marrying gay people, and hoping they do as well as any straight couple.\n\nThe GOP says we can't? Hey GOP! FUCK YOU! THIS IS THE US! WE CAN FUCKING DO IT AND NOT MISS LUNCH! The Democratic Party says we can't? Hey Democratic Party! FUCK YOU TOO! Same for the Libertarians. When I see Guliani or Boehner, or whoever talking about how it's too dangerous and risky to even think about allowing this to happen, because we're too fragile to let our poor defenseless legal system handle the eeeeeeevil of KSM et al, I want to kick his undescended testicles through his shittily made up bald skull. When he says \"Oh, it will be too stressful and too expensive\", my teeth literally grind. Too stressful? For the NYPD? What an insult to a group of people who work their asses off to maintain order in the biggest city in the country. They can do it, and their regular jobs. The only thing stopping them are assholes like Rudy. Too expensive? What is this, accounting? Do we now let costs determine right or wrong? Are our principles not only for sale, but shipped with an ROI? What kinda lame-assed spineless shit is that? Thank \$DEITY Guliani wasn't in FDR's spot, we'd have never fought WWII, it would have been too stressful and expensive.\n\nWhat a goddamned buncha fucking wussies crying for mommy. Go back home if you can't cowboy or cowgirl up and get the job done. I don't vote for scared children. I vote for grownups who do hard things, because that's the example we set for our children so they DON'T get scared. How the fuck do we dare set ourselves up as an example when we have mealymouthed bullshit artists telling us something can't be done because of how much it costs or because it's too harrrrrrrrd. Spare me. If we aren't going to stand up for our principles when it's a pain in the ass to do so, when do we? If we dump the Constitution because someone doesn't like us, well fuck, burn it now, because that's always the case. I didn't notice a convenience clause or a \"only if people like us\" clause in the oath I took on 31 Oct. 1986.\n\nI did not freeze my ass off in North-Fucking-Dakota because we can't. I did not sign up to defend our right to cower behind mealy-mouthed excuses. I do not set reminders to call the families of my friends who are still in, just to talk to them when said friends are on deployment because we care more about balancing a fucking budget than getting shit done. We do not only do the right thing if it passes an ROI evaluation. Deficit my ass, if we gotta run up a debt to get shit done, we'll run it up, then we'll pay the fucker off, because that's what we do. We run up big fucking debts, then we pay the fuckers off. What the fuck, we should have a balanced budget in a country run by small, cowardly minds? Do we leave the big things to other countries, because the US is now the land of the cheap and the home of the conveniently brave? \n\nThat's why \"Yes, We Can\" resonates with me. Yeah, yeah, it was Obama's slogan, too fucking bad, because he's right. That's what this country is about. Even when we've fucked it all up, it was \"Yes, We Can\". The times this country has truly failed is when we forget that. When we forget that we can, and we settle for \"maybe we will, when it's not so hard.\" Screw that, this is not a country full of the weak-spined, only interested in padding our own nests so we can have a comfortable retirement. What the fuck is that, a comfortable retirement. Screw that. If your goal in life is to sit around waiting for Beulah to peel you a fucking grape, get on the ice flow now, don't fuck shit up while we wait for you to be even more useless.\n\nWhether it's Obama, or Cheney, or anyone else...the first time you say \"Oh no, it's too big, too hard, too expensive\", I say \"Fuck off and get out of my fucking way. This is the US-of-fucking-A\". The Declaration of Independence is \"Yes, We Can\". It was our first \"Yippie-ki-yi-yay motherfucker\" to the most powerful country in the world. Not only did we win that war, but we bailed them out of one, maybe two more. Can't my ass. When the Articles of Confederation were failing, we \"Yes, We Can\"'d them in the trash and came up with the Constitution. Rather than give up, WE CHANGED OUR GOVERNMENT. How bad-ass is that? Sure, it wasn't perfect, and there was some damned stupid shit in there, but we've tried to fix that. Well, we used to. Good thing Clinton wasn't in office in the 40s, it would have been \"well, maybe we'll integrate the military, but only when they're ready for it.\" Fuck that, the goddamned military can handle the obvious better than most politicians can. \n\nForty-fifty years ago, we made atoms do our bidding, now half of us are a-skeered of that there Large Haydron thingy, because it may cause bad things to happen. We used to hold up intelligence, science, math, and a desire public service as our best qualities. Now we spit on \"dirty intellectuals\", scientists are somehow Satan's tools, and becoming a politician is only slightly more honorable than becoming a child molester. Is that what this country is about? Being stupid, and thinking that anyone who's willing to be elected to office should be shunned for it? \n\nIf that's what this country is about, then let's give it back to the Indians, and go back to Britain, Ireland and all the rest and admit that the US didn't fail because of ebul terrorists, or teh gayz, or liberuls or neocons. If we fail, it wasn't because of muslims, or atheists or fundamental christians.\n\nIf we fail, it was because we were too fucking scared to succeed.