"WHEN FASCISM COMES TO AMERICA IT WILL BE WRAPPED IN THE FLAG
AND CARRYING A CROSS." -SINCLAIR LEWIS

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A Real American Hero

If you haven't heard about Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger by now you really need to read the news a lot more often:

Mayor Newell Arnerich of Danville, California hosted a welcoming ceremony for Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger on the Town Green. Sullenberger is the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 which made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York on January 15, 2009. A double bird strike rendered both engines on the aircraft powerless.

Sullenberger, an experienced Air Force and commercial pilot, brought the plane into a safe crash landing, saving the lives of all passengers and crew aboard.

Chesley Sullenberger and his wife Lorrie were on hand to accept numerous honors and presentations at the Danville ceremony. The honored pilot, dubbed the "Hero on the Hudson," received a Key to the Town, Badge #1 from the Danville Police Department, and a framed U.S. flag (one which had flown over the Capitol) from Rep. Jerry McNerney.

That's my former boss and current congressman Jerry McNerney with Sully in the photo above. I live in Danville (Mayor Arnerich is a really nice guy) and I wasn't able to make it to the ceremony but I'm definitely going to shake Sully's hand if I run into him around town (Danville's a pretty small place).

This happened several weeks ago but the reason I'm posting about it now is because I can no longer stand to keep hearing the phrase "Miracle on the Hudson". Stop saying this! Sully's a hero, no doubt and what he did was technically impressive as well as scarily dangerous but it was neither miraculous nor magical and I'm sick of being told by everyone in the media that it was. That's all.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa, I did not know he was from Danville. You should totally shake his hand if you see him around town.

Doug"e" said...

C'mon JBW, everybody knows that the only "One" that can perform miracles is the "Messiah Obama".

Doug"e" said...

As I'm posting this Capt. Sullenberger is on Letterman. Man this guy is getting more facetime than Joe the Plumber.

JBW said...

Yeah, although he seems to possess considerably more dignity and class than ol' Joe, Doug"e" but if the Democrats make him a consultant I'm gonna shit a brick.