State of the Union
First, my impressions as the speech went on:
1> Wow...
Didn't take Bush long to lie again, tying the 9/11 terrorists to Iraq.
Tigers really can't change their stripes, can they?
2> For more fun,
Substitutute radical fundamentalIslam Christianity.
And actually, the Russians were the first to liberate the death camps....
3>"hindsight is not wisdom"????
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
4>Ummmm, re: Hamas- don't people elect governments who they feel will best reflect their views??
Hmmmm, and now we have Bush threatening Iran much the same way he threatened Iraq. Can we roll the tape from the State of the Union 3 years ago?? Harboring and encouraging terrorists, nuclear ambitions......
5> re: wiretapping. Hillary's smirk and headshake said it all.
6> and how big would the deficit be if he didn't lie us into a war in Iraq? $250+ billion down the toilet there...
7> I bet Bush really sucks at playing poker.
He's probably more of a "go fish" guy/
8> DIS!!!!! The Dems stand and applaud when Bush said Congress didn't approve his social security reform.
9> Ok, Mr President, let's try this again: "Rubber baby buggy bumpers". Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
10> Ok, our children need love, but what about gays??
Or, wait, 2nd class citizens. Carry on....
And once I listened to the whole thing, here are my thoughts:
I watched the State of the Union and only partially listened to the Democratic response- dinner to cook and all that.
Here's my impressions.
First off, I give him props for noting the passing of Coretta Scott King. In the space of a few months two of the vanguard of the modern civil rights movement have passed.
It was then with absolutely no idea of the irony of the fucking hypocrisy of it all that the president slammed "activist judges who legislate from the bench."
Yeah, goddamn those activist judges like, oh...say...those who decided Brown v Board of Education and let all those uppity niggers have a shot at the full American dream and not a "separate but equal" American dream. They should have been happy with their own damn waterfountains while they waited for Congress.
And as he spoke of an America of liberty, opportunity and equality for all, those who are gay must have been truly mystified since Bush and the GOP have relegated them to the metaphorical plantation. Again, gosh darn those activist judges and their uppity notions of equality and protection of the law for all and not just those who, to cop an elegant phrase from the late Dr Hunter S Thompson, have sex in the missionary position for the purpose of procreation only.
Which makes his whole compassion approach on those afflicted with AIDS a bit confusing.... No, I don't for a moment think the President wants those with AIDS- gays included- to die. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed but I don't think he's a beady-eyed psychopath.
Then there was Iraq. Goddamn if he didn't AGAIN try to link the 9/11 terrorists to Hussein and Iraq. Oh he didn't mention them by name but he certainly got his point across. Oh my head, would somebody please- maybe one of those teachers he talks of hiring- make that poor silly delusional fool stay after school and write 1000 times "Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11".
And was I the only one twitching when he started describing Iran in very much the same terms he used to describe Iraq? We had WMDs, we had them supporting terrorists, and we had them painted as wild-eyed fundamentalists.
However, I will say this- today the UN announced that the documentation shows the Iran's nuclear program is geared toward nuclear weapons.
Now will the President smarten the fuck up and learn his lesson- go through the UN and do not play cowboy? Or will he fuck up the same way and we'll have even more US bodies shipped home under the cover of darkness as a result of another ill-considered war?
Next, national security and the NSA wiretapping and the Patriot Act. As they are saying on CNN, Bush mentioned Osama by name twice, which he hasn't done before. He has tried to paint his actions as necessary for our national security but did not address civil liberties. He has again painted the wiretapping as restricted to those chatting up Al Qaeda, which we know is not true. The program is far more sweeping than he publically acknowledges. And he pushed hard for a renewal of the Patriot Act, ignoring the bipartisan sentiment that the Patriot Act is in need of serious revision.
He also strongly made the point that the Constitution authorizes him to order the wiretaps without congressional oversite or permission. Which is curious since he constantly rails against "activist judges" yet this stance that he's authorized to do this by the Constitution sounds a lot more Extra Crispy rather than Originalist.
His whole "America is addicted to oil" thing was also peculiar given his stance as a former oilman, waterboy for Halliburton, and his general obstructism in conducting hearings about pricegouging by Big Oil and refusing to revisit the CAFE standards that govern the fuel efficiency of vehicles.
But just to show the Flat-Worlders in his own party he hasn't gone all tree-hugger baby killer on them, he renewed his call to restrict human genome research to existing stem cell lines. And oh yeah, he said that abstinance programs are a wonderful thing. Anyone who either has a teenager or, as in my case, still thinks like a teenager knows that the surest way to get a teen to do something is to tell them they can't do it.
Oh yeah, and then there was the whole thing about the welfare rolls being whittled down. It's not because more people are working- it's because the government has been steadily kicking people off welfare. And yes, I full well know this was a Clinton initiative, a fact that Dems don't want to admit out of embarrassment and Reps don't want to give credit where credit is due.
Then we have social security. We saw some serious anger from Bush when he said that Congress voted down his social security reform and the Democrats stood and cheered. Bush tried to bite back saying the program is doomed unless it's reformed- implied that it's reformed as he proposes, privatizing social security. Never mind that a plan was put together years ago by a bipartisan panel that included then- Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey. Instead, he wants us to put our trust in the same system that resulted in the savings and loan debacle of the 80s when people lost tens of billions of their hard-earned dollars or in companies like Enron who supposedly were acting in the public's interest.
Now, a few other things happened today. Today Judge Alito was confirmed and sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court. This is going to have a huge impact but for reasons generally not mentioned.
Right now the Far Right is giving Dubya the old stink-eye. Roberts seemed too damn... reasonable for their liking, yet another centrist willing to be fair-minded. They gave old George a bit of a pass on Roberts, knowing another vacancy would be coming up.
2nd time around, he first nominated Harriet Miers but withdrew her name when the Far Right flipped out. Apparently she wasn't ummmmm 'religious' enough for them. So then he nominated Alito.
This is where it gets interesting. Now there is at least nominally a conservative majority on the Court. It is reasonable to expect that sometime before the 2008 primaries the Supreme Court will decide a case involving abortion.
If Alito goes as expected, I think there will be a backlash from the squishy middle in this country appalled that the Court revoked a right it had previously affirmed. Which isn't unprecedented- Brown is case (ha ha) in point.
But if Alito turns out to be a centrist like Souter and follows the principle of stare decisis (sp??) and votes to uphold abortion rights, all hell will break lose in the GOP, with John McCain being the big loser. The Far Right, which hated Bush Sr and has become noticeably disenchanted with Bush Jr, will pull out all the stops in making sure that the next nominee of the party is someone so Far Right that it'll make the Bush Administration seem like a tea dance on Provincetown during gay pride weekend. McCain, who has some genuinely decent humanitarian instincts and a rather personal interest in human rights issues, will be cast aside by a party feeling betrayed.
So all in all, the State of the Union didn't hold many surprises outside of the "oil addiction". I now order you all to join Oil Anonymous and with the help of God and Toyota, we can kick this shameful addiction.
Good night.
Tags: Bush State of the Union Iraq national security social security oil addiction speech impediment Alito Supreme Court 2008 conservatives Originalist Extra Crispy
1> Wow...
Didn't take Bush long to lie again, tying the 9/11 terrorists to Iraq.
Tigers really can't change their stripes, can they?
2> For more fun,
Substitutute radical fundamental
And actually, the Russians were the first to liberate the death camps....
3>"hindsight is not wisdom"????
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
4>Ummmm, re: Hamas- don't people elect governments who they feel will best reflect their views??
Hmmmm, and now we have Bush threatening Iran much the same way he threatened Iraq. Can we roll the tape from the State of the Union 3 years ago?? Harboring and encouraging terrorists, nuclear ambitions......
5> re: wiretapping. Hillary's smirk and headshake said it all.
6> and how big would the deficit be if he didn't lie us into a war in Iraq? $250+ billion down the toilet there...
7> I bet Bush really sucks at playing poker.
He's probably more of a "go fish" guy/
8> DIS!!!!! The Dems stand and applaud when Bush said Congress didn't approve his social security reform.
9> Ok, Mr President, let's try this again: "Rubber baby buggy bumpers". Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
10> Ok, our children need love, but what about gays??
Or, wait, 2nd class citizens. Carry on....
And once I listened to the whole thing, here are my thoughts:
I watched the State of the Union and only partially listened to the Democratic response- dinner to cook and all that.
Here's my impressions.
First off, I give him props for noting the passing of Coretta Scott King. In the space of a few months two of the vanguard of the modern civil rights movement have passed.
It was then with absolutely no idea of the irony of the fucking hypocrisy of it all that the president slammed "activist judges who legislate from the bench."
Yeah, goddamn those activist judges like, oh...say...those who decided Brown v Board of Education and let all those uppity niggers have a shot at the full American dream and not a "separate but equal" American dream. They should have been happy with their own damn waterfountains while they waited for Congress.
And as he spoke of an America of liberty, opportunity and equality for all, those who are gay must have been truly mystified since Bush and the GOP have relegated them to the metaphorical plantation. Again, gosh darn those activist judges and their uppity notions of equality and protection of the law for all and not just those who, to cop an elegant phrase from the late Dr Hunter S Thompson, have sex in the missionary position for the purpose of procreation only.
Which makes his whole compassion approach on those afflicted with AIDS a bit confusing.... No, I don't for a moment think the President wants those with AIDS- gays included- to die. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed but I don't think he's a beady-eyed psychopath.
Then there was Iraq. Goddamn if he didn't AGAIN try to link the 9/11 terrorists to Hussein and Iraq. Oh he didn't mention them by name but he certainly got his point across. Oh my head, would somebody please- maybe one of those teachers he talks of hiring- make that poor silly delusional fool stay after school and write 1000 times "Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11".
And was I the only one twitching when he started describing Iran in very much the same terms he used to describe Iraq? We had WMDs, we had them supporting terrorists, and we had them painted as wild-eyed fundamentalists.
However, I will say this- today the UN announced that the documentation shows the Iran's nuclear program is geared toward nuclear weapons.
Now will the President smarten the fuck up and learn his lesson- go through the UN and do not play cowboy? Or will he fuck up the same way and we'll have even more US bodies shipped home under the cover of darkness as a result of another ill-considered war?
Next, national security and the NSA wiretapping and the Patriot Act. As they are saying on CNN, Bush mentioned Osama by name twice, which he hasn't done before. He has tried to paint his actions as necessary for our national security but did not address civil liberties. He has again painted the wiretapping as restricted to those chatting up Al Qaeda, which we know is not true. The program is far more sweeping than he publically acknowledges. And he pushed hard for a renewal of the Patriot Act, ignoring the bipartisan sentiment that the Patriot Act is in need of serious revision.
He also strongly made the point that the Constitution authorizes him to order the wiretaps without congressional oversite or permission. Which is curious since he constantly rails against "activist judges" yet this stance that he's authorized to do this by the Constitution sounds a lot more Extra Crispy rather than Originalist.
His whole "America is addicted to oil" thing was also peculiar given his stance as a former oilman, waterboy for Halliburton, and his general obstructism in conducting hearings about pricegouging by Big Oil and refusing to revisit the CAFE standards that govern the fuel efficiency of vehicles.
But just to show the Flat-Worlders in his own party he hasn't gone all tree-hugger baby killer on them, he renewed his call to restrict human genome research to existing stem cell lines. And oh yeah, he said that abstinance programs are a wonderful thing. Anyone who either has a teenager or, as in my case, still thinks like a teenager knows that the surest way to get a teen to do something is to tell them they can't do it.
Oh yeah, and then there was the whole thing about the welfare rolls being whittled down. It's not because more people are working- it's because the government has been steadily kicking people off welfare. And yes, I full well know this was a Clinton initiative, a fact that Dems don't want to admit out of embarrassment and Reps don't want to give credit where credit is due.
Then we have social security. We saw some serious anger from Bush when he said that Congress voted down his social security reform and the Democrats stood and cheered. Bush tried to bite back saying the program is doomed unless it's reformed- implied that it's reformed as he proposes, privatizing social security. Never mind that a plan was put together years ago by a bipartisan panel that included then- Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey. Instead, he wants us to put our trust in the same system that resulted in the savings and loan debacle of the 80s when people lost tens of billions of their hard-earned dollars or in companies like Enron who supposedly were acting in the public's interest.
Now, a few other things happened today. Today Judge Alito was confirmed and sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court. This is going to have a huge impact but for reasons generally not mentioned.
Right now the Far Right is giving Dubya the old stink-eye. Roberts seemed too damn... reasonable for their liking, yet another centrist willing to be fair-minded. They gave old George a bit of a pass on Roberts, knowing another vacancy would be coming up.
2nd time around, he first nominated Harriet Miers but withdrew her name when the Far Right flipped out. Apparently she wasn't ummmmm 'religious' enough for them. So then he nominated Alito.
This is where it gets interesting. Now there is at least nominally a conservative majority on the Court. It is reasonable to expect that sometime before the 2008 primaries the Supreme Court will decide a case involving abortion.
If Alito goes as expected, I think there will be a backlash from the squishy middle in this country appalled that the Court revoked a right it had previously affirmed. Which isn't unprecedented- Brown is case (ha ha) in point.
But if Alito turns out to be a centrist like Souter and follows the principle of stare decisis (sp??) and votes to uphold abortion rights, all hell will break lose in the GOP, with John McCain being the big loser. The Far Right, which hated Bush Sr and has become noticeably disenchanted with Bush Jr, will pull out all the stops in making sure that the next nominee of the party is someone so Far Right that it'll make the Bush Administration seem like a tea dance on Provincetown during gay pride weekend. McCain, who has some genuinely decent humanitarian instincts and a rather personal interest in human rights issues, will be cast aside by a party feeling betrayed.
So all in all, the State of the Union didn't hold many surprises outside of the "oil addiction". I now order you all to join Oil Anonymous and with the help of God and Toyota, we can kick this shameful addiction.
Good night.
Tags: Bush State of the Union Iraq national security social security oil addiction speech impediment Alito Supreme Court 2008 conservatives Originalist Extra Crispy
posted by Stevie Z at 11:38 PM
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