SotU

I didn't see it because I was at work, but I've been reading the reation to it and Think Progress has by far the best breakdown of what Bush said and what is actually going on in this country.

John is right, why didn't Cindy wait until Bush was out and talking before she took off her shirt? Chances are she would have been thrown out either way, but in that case, Bush would have had to stop talking while she is removed.

Quick Points after reading the speech:
Far from being a hopeless dream, the advance of freedom is the great storyof our time. In 1945, there were about two dozen lonely democracies on Earth.

What.. the martians have democracies too?

Today, there are 122. And we are writing a new chapter in thestory of self-government – with women lining up to vote in Afghanistan …and millions of Iraqis marking their liberty with purple ink … and men and women from Lebanon to Egypt debating the rights of individuals and the necessity of freedom.

First- How many of those are true democracitic?
Second- Debating the necessity of freedom? if freedom is a NEED and vital component of democracies, than why is there a debate? Or is he saying that freedom may not be necessary for democracy which is a scary tentament and probably not far off from the truth.

No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it

Like George Bush! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

And we are on the offensive in Iraq, with a clear plan for victory

There's a PLAN? Where? I'm betting it looks like this-
Phase 1: Invade
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Democracy!

The same is true of Iran, a nation now held hostage by a small clericalelite that is isolating and repressing its people.

*ring*
"Hello?"
"Pot?"
"Yes?"
"This is Kettle, Guess what?"
"What?"
"You're black."
>click< In recent years, you and I have taken unprecedented action to fight AIDSand malaria, expand the education of girls, and reward developing nations that are moving forward with economic and political reform.

Unprecendented in how ineffectual in the fight against AIDS. And what about the education of the males in those countries?

It is said that prior to the attacks of September 11th, our governmentfailed to connect the dots of the conspiracy. We now know that two of thehijackers in the United States placed telephone calls to al-Qaidaoperatives overseas. But we did not know about their plans until it wastoo late. So to prevent another attack – based on authority given to meby the Constitution and by statute – I have authorized a terroristsurveillance program to aggressively pursue the internationalcommunications of suspected al-Qaida operatives and affiliates to and fromAmerica. Previous presidents have used the same constitutional authorityI have – and Federal courts have approved the use of that authority.Appropriate Members of Congress have been kept informed. This terroristsurveillance program has helped prevent terrorist attacks. It remainsessential to the security of America. If there are people inside ourcountry who are talking with al-Qaida, we want to know about it – becausewe will not sit back and wait to be hit again.

This Entire paragraph is bullshit. They aurthorized the ILLEGAL wire tappings before 9/11. And it didn't seem to do much to help us catch the highjackers did it? Max Blumenthal has more on how Bush's so-called "terrorist surveillance program" wouldn't have helped either way.

Our economy is healthy, and vigorous, and growing faster than other majorindustrialized nations. In the last two-and-a-half years, America hascreated 4.6 million new jobs – more than Japan and the European Unioncombined. Even in the face of higher energy prices and natural disasters,the American people have turned in an economic performance that is theenvy of the world.

At first I wondered if this was true and then I re-parsed the sentence and saw what was causing me problems. He says "growing faster than other major industrialized nations," without stating the nations in question. Clever.

I'm not even going to post any of the stuff on the tax cuts. Blahblahliesliesblah. We all know they didn't help the economy nor did any of the money go to the poor.

This year my budget will cut it again, and reduce oreliminate more than 140 programs that are performing poorly or notfulfilling essential priorities. By passing these reforms, we will savethe American taxpayer another 14 billion dollars next year – and stay ontrack to cut the deficit in half by 2009.

Like education!
And by save 14 billion, you mean spend it all in iraq.

By 2030, spending forSocial Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone will be almost 60 percent ofthe entire Federal budget. And that will present future Congresses withimpossible choices – staggering tax increases, immense deficits, or deepcuts in every category of spending.

Or they could eliminate the caps on social security and medicare/medicaid taxation. For those who don't know. If you make more than 89k a year, you only pay social security taxes as though you make that amount (I'm not sure of the current medicare/medicaid cap) meaning all those movie stars who make 10+ million a year pay as though they made 89k. Wonderful eh?

Blahkblah stufff about dependence on oi, lies about funding education and money for alternative energy blah blah and then we get to the juicy stuff. Stem Cells.

A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cutethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life.Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregiousabuses of medical research – human cloning in all its forms … creating orimplanting embryos for experiments

Does this include IVF? Or are we not supposed to link those two things?

… creating human-animal hybrids …

What?!? Where the hell did that come from?

and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift fromour Creator – and that gift should never be discarded, devalued, or put up for sale.

Insert your own joke here

A hopeful society expects elected officials to uphold the public trust.Honorable people in both parties are working on reforms to strengthen theethical standards of Washington – and I support your efforts. Each of ushas made a pledge to be worthy of public responsibility – and that is a pledge we must never forget, never dismiss, and never betray.

But ignoring it is A-okay!

blah blah more stuff not even worth mentioning.

Besides the whole animal-human hybrid thing, this speech was pretty much the same as every other SotU he has done since taking office. Full of half truths and False promises about vaguely named intiatives. I give it a F.