State of the Union Analysis

Just to get it out of the way, NBC had 62 applauses. I came up with about 59. They're probably right though.

I saw our crappy little Congressman Patrick McHenry in the aisle shaking Bush's hand. Please can we get someone to run against him. I won't be old enough in 2008, but I'm open to suggestions.

The President started by saying we needed to balance the budget and cut earmarks by 50%. The Republicans have mostly been in power in Congress since 1994. Why the hell is this just being mentioned now? He did say that entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security need to be addressed. He's right, but there's not a chance in hell meaningful changes will be passed now that Democrats are in power.

Strengthen No Child Left Behind. It's been a rousing success. Blah Blah Bullshit. It should be abolished ASAP. Along with the Dept of Education.

Bush advocates giving tax breaks to help families afford health insurance. And then proposes giving federal money to states to help them with their health care plans. Cut taxes. Spend money. Didn't we say we wanted to balance the budget?

Immigration reform. That will be a dicey issue. Wants a temp worker program. Which is amnesty. And doesn't go far enough. Wants to hold employers accountable for legality of their workers and secure the borders. Probably needs to be done but it's gonna be tricky.

Proposal to develop alternative energies such as ethanol. You know how I feel about subsidies. Does want to decrease gas usage 20% in 10 years which is laudable but I don't have much faith. Wants to strengthen CAFE standards. Not a big fan of that. I agree with my former professor Dr. Whitehead. Read his blog
Also wants to double the strategic petroleum reserve. Wouldn't hurt.

In a plea to Democrats, urges to allow an up or down vote on judges. They'll probably give him one now since they're in control. Haha.

Iraq Iraq Iraq. I had a big post on that recently. Read it.

Fighting HIV/AIDS. My brother says "Yeah let's beat the shit out of AIDS!"

Heroes section: We have Dikembe Mutombo (with 3,154 blocked shots to his name), the creator of Baby Einsteins (every parent in America wants her dead), the Subway Hero, and a soldier or two. He doesn't weave in the heroes as gracefully as Clinton. It's kind of an afterthought at the end.

The State of the Nation is strong. Thank God!

We have the Democratic response coming from new Senator Jim Webb. The one who beat George Allen, he who ran the worst campaign in my lifetime. He's an interesting guy. Navy graduate. Served in the Reagan administration, novelist, screenwriter, etc. He's concerned about disparities in pay to workers and managers, and in globalization. I have concerns as well, but I think he's more of a populist (like that miserable John Edwards....how I enjoy bashing Edwards!). Not a real rebuttal. Just expressing concerns and hopes. He is criticizing the Iraq situation. But really, that's a popular dead horse to beat. He's namedropped Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. Impressive.

And I'm spent.