Posted by
M. E. Ward on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 3:45:00 PM
In the 1986 movie Platoon, SSgt Bob Barnes (played by Tom Berenger) is hard charging veteran of the Vietnam battlefields. He is a no nonsense soldier who treats his platoon as a well oiled machine, meaning his way cannot be compromised. SSgt Barnes has a much varied way of fighting the enemy and treating his subordinates than his counterpart, Sgt Elias Grodin (played by Willem Dafoe) who is more of a dope smoking “chill out merchant” liberal.
In the scene where the above quote was taken, SSgt Barnes is telling a young recruit, who is lying in a pool of his own blood after a fire fight, to stop yelling, and die with dignity. (Of course we all knew the recruit was doomed when he showed a picture of his girlfriend to Charlie Sheen’s character, Pvt. Chris Taylor.)
This is the message I’m getting from our elected leaders when it comes to fixing what’s broken with our economy. Those who broke it are now in charge of fixing it, and like an economics professor once told me in college, it’s like taking a “hoola-hoop” into the restroom because you ran out of toilet tissue.
From the bailouts, to all the talk about “money for nothing and chicks for free” (Dire Straits: “Money for Nothing”) coming from the Obama Administration, I’m starting to get a bad feeling about all this. We may indeed be talking about a generation of bad economic times until we begin to see a return to the prosperity we enjoyed under President Clinton. Remember how President Clinton, who, by his own accord, created 2 million new jobs out of whole cloth? I only pray the Savior, President B. H. Obama, can do the same. Only thing is, if they’re all public sector jobs, we’ll be paying for them with “funny money” because the private sector won’t be around much longer to foot the bill.
In the scene where the quote below was taken, the Platoon is about to engage a heavily fortified enemy, and Sgt. Red O’Neill (played by Scrubs’ very own Dr. Perry Cox, the MTL Commissioner himself, John C. McGinley) expresses his concerns to SSgt Barnes that he’s “too short” for such an assignment.
Sgt. O'Neill: Bob, I got a bad feeling on this one, all right? I mean I got a bad feeling! I don't think I'm gonna make it outta here! D'ya understand what I'm sayin' to you?
Sgt. Barnes: Everybody gotta die some time, Red.
Dittos, Sgt. O’Neill. I feel your pain man. Now shut up, pay your taxes and take the economic misery like a man, just like the American taxpayers must do to keep the wheels of government turning, and line the pockets of Senators like Harry Reid.