So is it possible to write safe software in a native/unsafe/unmanaged language if you know what you're doing? Wow, that's exactly what I tell people, but it is

So is it possible to write safe software in a native/unsafe/unmanaged language if you know what you're doing? Wow, that's exactly what I tell people, but it isn't what you read on the first page of any number of Java programming books (of course, those books tell you that you must do manual resource management in C or C++ which is not, in fact, true ( e.g., http://www.apachetutor.org/dev/pools http://www.apachetutor.org/dev/pools and http://www.artima.com/intv/modern3.html http://www.artima.com/intv/modern3.html )). And, really, who wants to use a language designed for people who don't know what they're doing? I'm not saying that it's impossible to write a JVM in a managed language. Just that it's funny to hear people talk about native languages with a hint of fear, and then run their "safe" programs on a VM that is implemented with a half million lines of C and C++.