Homer Hickam/October Sky

Homer Hickam made an interesting comment on TV this morning. In case you don't know who he is, Homer was a poor West Va miner's son who worked his way up to being an employee/scientist for NASA. He wrote a book called "Rocket Boy" which was later made into a great movie called "October Sky."

This morning he was interviewed and said this, about the one-shot shoot down of the crippled satellite: "If this country's head was on straight, they would be holding a ticker tape parade for the Crew of the Cruiser, USS Lake Erie ..."

"This one rocket firing boosted our National defense 100 fold N Korea, Iran, China, Russia, all know now that we have a safety net that can accurately stop their incoming missiles even if they are out of the earth's atmosphere."

"Of course, that was the plan all along, and it was a dandy plan. I just hope that the next person in the White House doesn't scrap the system and begin baking cookies for the enemy."

If the wrong person wins they may do just that, and that makes me a little nervous."

"At any rate, Kudos to the Officers & Crew of the USS Lake Erie .
WELL DONE, BLUE JACKETS!!"

Funny, just last week Obama reiterated how when he's president he will stop all missile technology and push for nuclear disarmament. If he were president now, we wouldn't even have been able to shoot that satellite down AND show the world that we CAN protect ourselves and will do so if the need arises.

Obama doesn't want the rest of the world threatened by the creepy US of A. Something to run through the think-0-matic before you vote.

Jack S. Shipley, USN

Comment:

Oh brother! Not another subtle, hatchet job by innuendo, piece done by some pimply faced kid that reads 'dirty tricks, crimes and other fun things' by Lee Atwater, with a forward by Waffen SS officer Herr Goebbels, AKA Karl Rove. Don't kids read about Jack Armstrong, The All American Boy, any more?

On which TV station, program, date, time did Homer purportedly make these statements? Sesame Street, Bill Maher, O'Reilly or other Fox Noise Republican Party House Organ outlets, CNN? How can these claims be verified or documented? Given the seriousness of the material and who is involved, specious and ludicrous though it be, would not any reasonable person want to see some shred of authenticity other than "Joe Blow, USN (sub-liminally this means 'patriot')"? Incidentally, this Shipley character must be retired, which he fails to indicate, as an active military would never own up to such a political piece.

"...Homer was a poor West Va miner's son..." Yea, right! I know its difficult...due to our conditioning...and seeing 'Grapes of Wrath' umpteenth times..farmers miners, what's the difference...but do try try to erase the image of an undernourished kid slowly tramping out of the ugly mouth of a wee mountain, in blackface, miner's helmet lamp, hand-me-down Osh Kosh B'Goshes and carrying his lunch bucket. Somehow you intuitively know he is not going to twirl into a soft shoe and do a few bars of Dixie. Homer Hickam was considerably better off than the miners' kids in town, his father was superintendent of the gd mine! As Goebbels drummed into HIS pimply faced minions, and duly noted by smug, fat assed Karl, with the Germanic K, Rove: "when the facts do not support you, change the facts."

I am not impugning Homer Hickam. His story is the stuff of Horatio Alger. Particularly, like Alger, his success came by dint of his writing, but Homer is not the Lone Ranger. There are thousands, nay millions, of Americans that have overcome beginnings much more humble than Homer's and achieved middle/upper class security, success in their fields and contributed to society in ways both notable and subtle. Barack Obama, for one, comes to mind. (hooah!)

Frankly, I think Homer is probably such a decent, thoughtful and thinking individual that I strongly doubt he said the things ascribed to him in this piece. I can't imagine him, for example, inferring that this country's head is not screwed on right. It is simply not Homer Hickam, perhaps Jack was thinking of Homer Simpson.

Does any half-assed intelligent person in this country NOT think that Russia and China are perfectly aware of the United States' defense capabilities? Where was Jack Shipley, USN, based, landlocked Chad? The USS Lake Erie is the 24th ship equipped with the Aegis missile defense systems and conducted successful tests of its capability to destroy exo-atmospheric missiles in 2001. And you can bet that Russia and China, among other countries, learned of these tests within minutes, if not seconds.

"...baking cookies for them..." Jesus Christ, how churlish and sophomoric can you get? Is this supposed to allude to appeasement? Is it supposed to allude to Obama's willingness to talk to Iran? I believe Republican Nixon, aside from being something of a neurotic, if not a full blown psychotic, historically will be admired for his foreign policy/diplomatic skills.. rightfully so. Was it not Nixon himself that wrote if he could accomplish detente with the USSR and effect a rapprochement with China, "worthy ends on their own", that he hoped he could get them to stop aid to VietNam and end the war? Who instituted SALT 1? Who instituted the Anti Ballistic missile Treaty? REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT NIXON! Did Nixon actually TALK to Breznev, a guy who's country had several thousand live nuclear warheads pointed at our crooked head? Did our president, a Republican and acknowledged master at foreign policy (when his plenipotentiary, Kissinger, wasn't bombing Cambodia), actually set foot in a COMMUNISTIC country? And oat meal brains are now worried about Obama talking to some pinhead spokesperson of Iran? You've GOT to be kidding me! And tell me, how does anyone know WHAT Obama would say to the Iranians? Is there a Chicagoan that ever lived that would be surprised if Obama said something to the effect of: "listen, Ahmajinejab or whatever your bros calls you, you little prick MFer, we've got the trump man and we is gonna take over your turf..got it? if you don't got it bro..we be sic..sicking our jew bros on ya an yuall be hiss-stor-ee!! Here, have some cookies....they be Famous Amos..he done em up hisself jus fer yuall.... later bro."

"Funny, just last week Obama reiterated how when he's president he will stop all missile technology and push for nuclear disarmament." Its not funny that this SOB Jack is a liar... unless, of course, you think that bastards that lie are funny...then its a flat out riot. Why has Obama stated that he wants to build up our defenses, add 65,000 Army soldiers and 27,000 Marines...this is easily verifiable. Jack S. Shipley, USN is a liar...my name and number are in the White Pages Jack...where are yours? If memory serves, we are signatories to the non-proliferation treaty. SIGNED IN 1968, along with 180 other countries...excepting India, Israel, Pakistan and N. Korea...and why wouldn't our president want to strengthen it? Why wouldn't any sane person want to see the elimination of all nuclear weapons?

Jack, you ain't nimble and you ain't quick.

Martin A. Scanlan
Arcadia, CA