Wednesday, January 24, 2007

the state of the union


The thumped little prince took the stage to give us his laundry list of repeated promises from energy independence to health care. Once again, he connected terrorism to Iraq, which his foreign policy has now made true. And now a "plan", which Wesley Clark has called "stay the course", Presidential hopeful John Edwards has dubbed the "McCain Doctrine", and what one presidential hopeful who is tied to bush's war in Iraq and "surge" more than any other , senator john mccain, calls "our last chance".

A few more candidates have entered the 2008 Presidential race or at least have formed exploratory committees (the primaries are over a year away). The big one, of course, is Senator Hillary Clinton, but personally I was more interested in Governor Bill Richardson's hat getting thrown into the ring. Now I'm not one to be racialist, but you tell me which party is more inclusive. The Democrats have a White woman, an African-American guy, a Latino guy, and 5 White guys. The republicans have 7 White guys, to be fair one is the first Mormon to run for President. That's a minority, right.

So as Speaker Pelosi, who along with her Democratic House passed their "First 100 Hour" agenda with 30+ hours to spare, smiled behind lil' bush as he talked to a country that likes him as much as they liked Nixon after Watergate, I thought about what this man and his minions have already done to Our country and it's reputation. Try to remember how many different reasons he has given us for going into his unnecessary war in Iraq. A war that claimed 27 American Soldiers last weekend as well as 100 Iraq people and how many of those reasons have turned out false. Remember that he has touted a new energy policy and conservation in every State of the Union and has done nothing.

The New Democratic House has already passed legislation that stops big oil tax breaks, cuts the interest on student loans, raises the minimum wage. The Democratic Senate has passed massive ETHICS reform, even after the Republicans tried to stop it. It's nice to see the failure-in-chief flip flop on his domestic spying program, which now has to go through the FISA court, again. It's nice that his administration is finally checking and editing the no fly list. But with all due respect (to your office) Mr. president, it is too little, too late, as is the 21,500 soldiers you've already started to send. Even though high ranking members of your own party havee submitted a resolution to the Senate against it. You chose this war. It is your legacy. It is your Presidency, that and maybe your pathetic and anemic response to the worst natural disaster in our nation's history (which you neglected to mention in your State of the Union).

We can't change the past. It is Our mess to clean up. But your "new " plan disregards the opinion of the American public, the United States Congress, The James Baker/Lee Hamilton Iraq Study Group, General Abizaid, General Casey, and on and on and on. It has to stop and you and all those connected to you have got to go. Maybe the I. Scooter Libby trial will bring the latter starting with vice president d!ck cheney. Seeing Gonzales squirm under oath was a start, as well.

Next time Global Warming (or as bush calls it Global Climate Change), China shoots down a satellite, and the irony of bush and the religious right's "National sanctity of human life" day.

"Six years ago, we held off [saying anything negative about the administration]. But considering what's happened, I think we're owed an apology. Anyone with a rational mind and a sense of decency is being positioned as a lefty by the extreme right. I believe in the tenets of democracy, and when they get pushed, it pisses me off."
- Robert Redford, at the opening of the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday

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