Bush League Idiocy
State of the Union
It’s funny that on Tuesday, Judge Scalito was sworn in, Alan Greenspan retired, and Bush gave his State of the Union address, and the State of the Union was basically a non-news item. Sure, it was on all the networks, but from what I could see, and from people I talked to, they watched things they recorded earlier, or like me, turned it on after the Sabre’s game. It’s pretty sad when I don’t even watch it because of a hockey game.
On Wednesday, I was listening to On Point when I heard Tom Ashbrook ask a question relating to the Address, asking if it made listeners feel positive or negative. I have to say that it inspired in me a feeling of apathy.
Bush said nothing important, proposed nothing exceptional and spewed rhetoric. It didn’t take him more than a minute to get in a gratuitous 9/11 reference. He of course tried to tie bin Laden (which after 4-1/2 years STILL HASN”T BEEN CAUGHT) to Iraq. Of course, if we didn’t invade Iraq, we wouldn’t have to worry about him training terrorists there, now would we? Then he tried to insinuate that people who opposed the war were people who accept “the false comfort of isolationism”. I was thinking “Hunhh?” Most anti-war people that I know are more international in nature than those who supported it. I’m still trying to make the connect, but with most other things the Presidiot says, I’m sure it will never make sense. I tried reading his SoTU address before writing this, but really, it wasn’t that good, and even scanning it made me want to retch and upload my stomach contents.
Still, my initial thoughts were of apathy, because I knew he would say nothing new or unexpected. He certainly was going to shy away from saying anything that would hurt Republicans in congressional and senatorial races this fall. Some of them need all the help they can get, what wih all the scandals that are unfolding.
More Military Spending
Then on Thursday, the proposal came for an additional $120 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. Mind you, this is money that the government is spending, but is not included in the budget for reasons I can’t figure out. I don’t spend money on, say, shotgun ammunition, and not include it with my finances – I can’t. I have to account for every penny I spend. So why does this guy get away with spending a half-trillion dollars on a war against a noun, the so-called “War on Terrorism” without being held accountable for the amout of money it is costing you and me?
Education
Then there’s his talk about the US needing to put more weight into math and science education. There’s a laugher. In his proposal, he’s giving $4.6 billion to back tax credits for corporations engaged in R&D, but only $380 million for teachers. Now I might be stupid, but if we need to make people better in math and science in school, shouldn’t we be spending more money on EDUCATION? Wait a second, I forgot, this is the president who was confronted by a female college student about cuts to federal student loan programs:
During a question-and-answer session with students at Kansas State University, sophomore Tiffany Cooper asked, “Recently, $12.7 billion was cut from education, and I was just wondering, you know, how is that supposed to help our futures?”
“The education budget was cut?” Bush responded. “Say it again. What was cut? At the federal level?”
She repeated the question and clarified that she was referring to student loans.
“Actually,” Bush finally said, “I think what we did was reform the student-loan program.
“We’re not cutting money out of it. In other words, people aren’t going to be cut off the program. We’re just making sure it works better.”
While the cut is a way to reduce the deficit, it’s not doing anyone any good, and is taking money away from people who need it. So how is it helping? The people who need the assistance the most are getting jacked again. The anti-poverty assistance president.
