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USS Ronald Reagan Commissioning Tomorrow
wessman writes "Being an employee at Northrop Grumman's Newport News shipyard, I cannot help but be proud to see one of our products commissioned by the U.S. Navy, especially considering how long it takes to build a $5 billion Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. And I'm sure the other 18,000 workers here feel the same way. The ship is being commissioned Saturday, July 12 at the Norfolk naval base. It is obviously the most technically advanced carrier in the fleet, taking the term "hardware" to new levels. Pick a local story. From the Hampton Roads Daily Press: Anchors Aweigh, Changes Abound Aboard Carrier, Some Wanted CVN-76 Named after Daredevil Flier, 20,000 Expected for Reagan's Rite, USS Constellation Retiring Too Soon?. From the Virginia Pilot: The Carrier Reagan - Ahead of Its Class, Carrier Construction is All in the Family, Former President's Son Michael Reagan Excited about Commissioning."
Still upset about that defeat of Communism? Time to move on.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Don;t you find it apropos to build the most expensive aircraft carrier ever, and name it after the man who drove us the furthest into the hole? Although Bush may try and top that.
Ever more expensive ways of
a) Killing people
b) Rewarding the military-industrial complex for their campaign donations.
News for nerds, stuff that matters? I hope not.
Cripes, my grandchildren will still be paying interest on the man's wastefull stupidity, and probably be wondering why that damn missile defense thing still doesn't work.
First of all, he didn't end the Cold War. Russia defeated themselves with their crappy domestic programs and lacking infastructure. The people had no food, no water, and no heat. It was only a matter of time before they collapsed. All Reagan did was kill MORE civilians by not allowed the Russian government to drop all the military posturing, thus taking even more the little money they had away from the people and putting it into the military (gee, sound a little familiar?). He the the chance to end the war YEARS earlier, without the massive loss of the life that occured because of starvation of freezing, but he had to have his Star Wars program, which the Russian government viewed as a threat (and rightly so). So, in the end, Reagan just prolonged the conflict, caused more civilians to die, and increased our debt. This is why I agree with the parent that he was one of the worst presidents ever. But I'm one of the few INFORMED citizens it seems, so I'm in the minority on that view. Sad this is is that Bush had learned from Reagan, and his daddy, and is trying very hard to repeat the dog and poney show. So far, it's been working since the population doesn't want to be informed for fear of learning that they are wrong.
Space for rent, inquire within
And who exactly gives a fuck?
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Democrat stupidity is no excuse for Republicans.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
The submitter certainly will feel proud of their achievement, and we've all been at the point where we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.
Honestly, don't people think about the things they work on? Is life just a paycheck and fuck whatever someone does with my work? I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that potentially hundreds of thousands of people will die using a machine I proudly built and put into the hands of one of the most prolific users of war machinery in the world.
One popular way to rationalize the enablement of murder is by turning things into blacks and whites. This will only be used on the "bad guys", the "evil men" who want to do terrible things to us. These are word games. A vital prerequisite to committing murder is reducing issues to black and white.
Maybe you wash your hands of the moral responsibility by saying "I just built it, it's not my fault if the buyer does something horrible with it". Hey, if that's what it takes to sleep at night, I can't fault you. I'd probably say that too.
To the victims of this machine, however, all of these rationalizations are irrelevant. You worked to cause this effect, whether you supported it, cared about it, whatever. Your name is on it.
Being proud of it speaks volumes about your character.
bankrupted?
how's that national debt of YOURS doing these days?
That was classic intercourse!
Do you really need a leader (which translates to Führer in German btw), can't you think for yourself?
Think? I think you give them too much credit. :)
Listen. I've been seeing a lot of posts to the tone of "Why is the government spending $5 billion when we have a shitty economy" or "$5 billion could have been used to end poverty". These are just not thought out comments listen.
/. article) and those 18,000 families had food on the table and contributed large portions of that $5 billion back into our economy, thus helping it greatly. Do you really think that even half of the $5 billion was on materials as opposed to labor? Labor is nearly _ALWAYS_ the most expensive cost in any production.
A $5 billion aircraft carrier probably took nearly 5 years to build. During that 5 years, 18,000 jobs were created (from the
FIrst of all I am not sure why the parent to your post got modded as a Troll. Just because you don't agree with something it shouldn't be modded down. I will hopefully take care of that in meta-mod.
Second, the US is far, far, far away from bankrupt. Do you even understand what national debt is? Even if you don't - I have am in debt up to my ears but I am not bankrupt.
I have long read your posts and I don't think there is anybody on slashdot that makes more stupid, inane comments (except maybe Physics Genius). I truly loathe you.
We are millions of people not understanding the object of your pride. You are devoting your professional lives to design and build war-supporting machines. What are you proud of?
I'm amazed to see that people are working day after day on such project. I'm unable to imagine how you can justify yourself.
what? You don't work on the bullets? ah... well in this case: you're clean!
It's sure is a headline but surely not in the happy-happy-joy-joy category. I'd like to see this 5-billion monster sinking.
All humans are mortal. Socrates is a human. Socrates is dead.
Damn! I thought this was /. Crap! It is slashdot, unless my browser is lying to me.
It sure looks like a Yahoo! message board to me, though.
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
>> its sole purpose is to threaten or attack other countries that get in America's way
> No asshole. Its sole purpose is to defend US interests.
What's the difference?
We are witnessing a revival of fascism in the United States.
When living individuals are "worshiped" as Reagan and George (the First) are by GOP legislators through the renaming of existing airports ("Houston Intercontinental" became "Bush International," and "Washington National" became "Reagan National") that is fascism. GOP legislators are saying (and we are allowing them to use our money and voices to say) that Reagan and Bush are more important than the previous namesakes, George Washington and Sam Houston.
The Republicans are going for name recognition, whitewashing the memories of mediocre (Bush) or even corrupt and anti-American (Reagan: Iran-Contra) administrations, in the hopes of drawing more support from soft-headed fools, who will see these names displayed in prominent places (and printed upon millions of airline tickets) and vote Republican because they want to be on the "winning team."
This aircraft carrier and its sister ship under construction, the "George H.W. Bush," are just two more examples of this.
...great, another $5Billion baby-killing machine.
How appropriate. Another productivity-sapping waste of money that adds to the mountain of debt being built up named after the guy who (nevertheless cluelessly) started this type of thing.
One can only hope it doesn't end up like it's namesake: a mindless blubbering dangerous puppet aimlessly serving the evil or ill-conceived agendas of a violent wannabe plutocracy.
Yeah, its a great thing we have a huge military so we aren't constantly being invaded like Australia and New Zealand have been.
You call the missle crisis an accomplishment? We gave up strategic advantage in Turkey because the soviets bluffed in Cuba. We could have hit those targets strategicly or done a multitude of other things. That was in no way putting your foot down, that was compromise. We have nothing to gain from compromising with evil empires. You need a dose of morality and intelligence. You keep voting for the rapists and moral degenerates and we'll keep taking election after election.
"Alright, lets compare that to Reagans feats. When did he ever get on national television and draw a line in the sand, saying that if the USSR didn't stop what they were doing right now, it would amount to "an act of war?""
"Mr. Gorbachev TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" You're obviously to young to remember the evil empire speech and Reagans very public support of Polands Solidarity group. Like I said, you need some real history lessons. It's pathetic you couldn't even recall this.
"Sure buddy, keep smokin that cheap crack. Addicts can vote, too."
And if you haven't noticed they all vote Democrat thanks to you're free hand outs and welfare programs.