Paq

Sorry, i thought for certain that someone would post an SOTU thread and i haven't found it yet...


Soo, any thoughts?
my personal:

1. Bush calls for the tax cuts to stay permanent..right after talking about how taxes will be raised and how it will be unexpected to the people...Now...consider. His spending policies combined with his lowering of taxes...can we say, "Gee...either someoen has to become responsible about spending money..or else someone else (US) will be paying out the arse for them"
I just don't see how anyone can imagine the cuts will become permanent when we are simply driving the gov't so far into the red. I just don't see it. Or, is he talking about his tax cuts for the rich..

I just don't get it

2. did anyone else feel it a bit hypocritical for this president and this administration to tell the american people that we are addicted to foreign oil......AND on the day or day after exxon posted its largest profits EVER

3. 9/11...9/11....9/11 terrorists...terrorists...terrorists...and that was just in one sentence ...sorry, intermission and piss break, didn't hear much about that

4. how many jobs created? on the eve of ford, gm, etc laying off thousands...

5. bush seems totally intent on "renewable/alternative energy resources" for hte past few SOTU's, yet his new budget cuts funding in those areas as well.....

6. line item veto...how long have presidents been wanting this..seriously? It actually sounds like a great idea to me, but i'm curious as to why it's never been passed..

7. ban on stem cell research and human/animal cloning....pushing for abortion restrictions, oh yea, btw, the abstinence teaching has really reduced teenage pregancy. Don't teach sex, teach abstinence bc teenagers respond to you saying, "Don't do this"...

Seriously, i'm upset at the continuing ban on stem cell research. far too many people suffer from alzheimers and i hope we, as a country, wake up one day to this research.

"A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life. Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator -- and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale"

human-animal hybrids....patenting human embryos... as i said to ustwo earlier...Dude..what are you smokin'...

"Yet many Americans, especially parents, still have deep concerns about the direction of our culture, and the health of our most basic institutions. They're concerned about unethical conduct by public officials, and discouraged by activist courts that try to redefine marriage. "

do parents really worry about the redefinition of marriage, or do they worry that they or their children don't have health insurance? I didn't know people honestly worried about judges 'legislating from the bench' and that parents worried especially more than most..

"These gains are evidence of a quiet transformation -- a revolution of conscience, in which a rising generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment. Government has played a role. Wise policies, such as welfare reform and drug education and support for abstinence and adoption have made a difference in the character of our country. And everyone here tonight, Democrat and Republican, has a right to be proud of this record. "

....is he really saying we are more 'moral' than before adn that his admin has played a role in that?

"We must also confront the larger challenge of mandatory spending, or entitlements. This year, the first of about 78 million baby boomers turn 60, including two of my Dad's favorite people -- me and President Clinton. (Laughter.) This milestone is more than a personal crisis -- (laughter) -- it is a national challenge. The retirement of the baby boom generation will put unprecedented strains on the federal government. By 2030, spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone will be almost 60 percent of the entire federal budget. And that will present future Congresses with impossible choices -- staggering tax increases, immense deficits, or deep cuts in every category of spending.

Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security -- (applause) -- yet the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away. (Applause.) And every year we fail to act, the situation gets worse."

now..seriously. he's calling for deep cuts in every category of spending...i can understand this..but what does he do? again, pretty much the exact opposite. Also note the "entitlements" nomenclature, such negative connotations. Nevermind that million pay into social security every year and that it is simply used for anything except social security...

"Abroad, our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal -- we seek the end of tyranny in our world. Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future security of America depends on it. On September the 11th, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country. "

IIRC...a failed and oppressive state did not cause 20+ individuals to board planes and crash them into areas in the US. I don't think you could blame that on a state, but it makes for good rhetoric, i guess.. never let facts get in the way of a good soundbite.

i really think this is about all i can say w/out my head truly exploding

Thank you, and may god bless america

__________________
Live.

Chris

tecoyah

Honestly....I was hoping for....well..more. I felt I was watching a rerun of the last State of the Union.

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

Paq

that's what everyone's been saying when i can get them to say anything at all. This was probably the most apathetic response i've heard of from a SOTU address..

__________________
Live.

Chris

tecoyah

And I ask you....what can be expected other than Apathy. We are in a state of terminal pain as a country. The president goes on the air to give a Fucking Pep Rally, and regardless of the incredible amounts of information pointing to this administrations failures, he addresses NOTHING of importance. I ask you....should I instead be pissed...and work for change? The State of the Union address had very little to do with the State of our Union....but instead was used to try to justify the policies of the president....which more and more...I disagree with. There was no meat to anything he said, but instead a repeat of what has been spewed by this administration for years....I am disgusted by the lack of progress, or even understanding our Government has shown under his leadership, and feel my country is failiing in many respects.
Apathy...yes....I am Apathetic, as we seem powerless to change direction with the current power structure, and I feel the direction leads backwards. The SOTU address was a farce....and a waste of time, as I have heard it all before.

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

SecretMethod70

Regarding line item veto, it DID pass in 1996. And then it was declared unconstitutional. Line item veto is a great idea...in theory. However, it has just as much potential for abuse as it does good use. Without the line item veto, the executive has to work with the legislature in creating the law. With the line item veto, the executive's power begins to dwarf the legislature. Without it, the legislature passes a bill that has parts the president doesn't agree with, then the president either chooses to sign into law what the majority of 535 elected representatives voted in favor of, or decides to veto the bill and send it back to the legislature with notes about his objections. If the elected representatives REALLY want this bill to become law, they can override the veto. This is often not the case and, instead, they must work with the executive for compromise. This helps to maintain the balance of power. Now, with the line item veto, the legislature passes a bill and sends it to the president - let's say it's a health care reform bill that is generally a good thing - and then the president gets to decide "you know what? I don't like this stuff about federal funding for abortions, and I don't like this stuff about scientific research that can help fight things like diabetes because it involves the injection of a human chromosome into mice" so he line item vetoes those important sections and signs the rest of the bill into law, giving the legislature no realistic opportunity to fight for those parts of the bill.

Yes, pork is a big problem, but the line item veto is not the answer. An executive that doesn't feel above working with the legislature and a more attentive and demanding public is. Bush wants a line item veto because he sees the real possibility that the Republicans may lose control of the legislature in 2006, and he wants a more powerful executive to fight that. Ask yourself: do you really want Bush to have even MORE power than he already has? Even if you're for Bush, picture the situation reversed. The line item veto upsets the delicate balance of power between the two branches.

As for the genetic research issue, there's an interesting (and admittedly quite biased) blog entry regarding that here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2..._antimanim.php

__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Elphaba

I chose not to watch the SOTU address, so I certainly couldn't start a thread on it and express a personal opinion. I've read various analyses of the speech today, and learned that it was light on details and big on positive spin/rhetoric. My husband watched it, and I was seriously concerned about the glazed-eyes, chemo-brain look about him. It passed with a change of topic.

roachboy

i read a transcript the next morning--it was not really worth the time...

what i did wonder though was the "america is addicted to oil" thing...i figured that, if bush was serious, and given his belief in teh magic of tax cuts, that maybe he would offer proposals on the order of tax breaks for folk who do not own a car, who use other modes of transportation---you know, tax incentives to not use or buy cars, breaks not directed at the wealthy, but rather at the rest of us....
or maybe a redirecting of money away from the hopelessly bloated defense budget toward development of a more extensive public transportation system.

but in the main, the speech did not seem to me to be worth taking seriously. so that is all i have to say about it.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

pan6467

All you had to do was wait till the next day (Wed) and see how much of his speech he meant.

Gee, cuts to medicaid and education right off the bat, talking about no help for the prices of fuel going up, and so on.

I played a wait and see, because in all honesty as much as I hate to admit it, he made some good points and promised some good things...... but as always with him it was pure 100% lip service and the very next day there he was making the cuts.

I do question exactly how is he going to make these tax cuts permanent? Especially when we are heavily indebted and eventually the taxes will be going up.

All well, as I said Tues. he was making me a true convert to some of his ideas, Wed. he proved to be the lying piece of shit I knew him to be. And the more I read his press statements and see how he has acted since..... I feel foolish for almost believing him.

What an election year ass.

BTW had to love not 1 f'ing word about New Orleans until 55 minutes into the speech. And then it was nothing new, it was the same BS he has been promising but never delivering on. Just like everything else in his speech.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Hardknock

Somebody please tell me why people voted for this ass twice??

Etarip

Round 1: It turns out that you _can_ bribe the american people with their own money
Round 2: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 9/11 Terror! It turns out that you _can_ terrify the american people with the deaths of %0.001.