You’re No JFK

I was enjoying a few moments with a friend of mine, a mechanic who happens to be of Asian lineage; perhaps I should include that he is here legally and is a citizen. Somehow the conversation turned toward space exploration and I mentioned that I had a neat laser disc copy of “For All Mankind”. For those not familiar, that’s the one with John F. Kennedy standing at the podium at Rice University on September 12, 1962 explaining to the nation that he intended to jump start our space program efforts and to take over the lead from our only competition, the Russians.

There is one of the most exhilarating pieces of recorded audio video footage ever taken as a Saturn 5 rocket takes off, cameras at every conceivable angle with the sounds of raw power being pulsed through every speaker of my sound system. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to being thrust into space, the walls bending and the floor shaking as I watch our nation’s hopes rise with that rocket.

There are several locations on the internet where you can listen to that particular speech, a most inspiring and riveting start to our journey to the moon. I’ve linked to one of them in the title bar. Here is a small sample, one which I would hope you are familiar with:

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. . .”

{…}

“Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”

I’m only guessing that JFK is literally rolling over in his grave after listening to Ted’s victory speech after the Senate agreed to support the updated and improved immigration bill. I’ve got news for you Teddy, you’re no JFK. Here’s what might have been spoken from the pulpit were it to have been done yesterday:

“We choose to open our borders. We choose to let anyone vote in this decade and to do the other things, not because they are legal, but because they are convenient, because their votes will serve to promote progressive socialism regardless of our best energies and skills, because we are willing to redistribute income to pay for the challenges to our Social Security and Medicare, one that could have been avoided had we built a wall, one which we never intended to build to begin with, and those others, too.”

{…}

“Well, there is no wall, and we’re going to let them come in, and the hills and the valleys are there, and new hopes for social assistance and other hand outs too. And, therefore, as we swim across that river, we ask Gomez as he starts on that most hazardous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked, remember to always vote the straight Democratic ticket.”