STATE OF THE YAWN-ION

Boy, was the State of the Union speech boring last night.  Even his own people couldn't stay awake.  Well, except for Nancy Pelosi, who was doing her annoying jack-in-the-box/seal clap routine. Granted, political speeches generally are boring, but this one was particularly so because it was just a rehash of every other speech he has given for the past year.

I guess you could say that speaks to his convictions.  Unfortunately, even his own party is starting to reject his agenda - after all, he may not be up for reelection this year, but they are. 

He has offered to listen to other ideas for health care reform.  Okay, how about the many options the Republicans have offered up that are languishing in committees in both Houses?  The problem with them is that they don't require a massive new bureaucracy and entitlement, so the democrat leadership aren't interested.

He blames Bush and the Republicans and literally in the next sentence calls for bipartisanship.  Nice.

He calls for spending freezes because of our faltering economy - to start next year.  What about this year, champ?  We're hurting now.

He mentions Cap and Trade, too.  Great....more billions spent on 'science' that is looking more and more dubious with every passing day.  He argues that green jobs will stimulate the economy.  I think Spain would argue with that - for every green job they created, they lost 2.2 regular jobs.  Yeah, that will help - help make us nostalgic for the good old days of 10% unemployment....

He barely mentioned foreign affairs or the two wars we are waging.  I suppose national security isn't important enough to rate more than 5 minutes.  Perhaps he didn't want to dwell on it and risk alienating our enemies.  Wouldn't want to offend the terrorists, now would we? 

All in all, it was the same old schtick.

He is going to continue to ram his agenda down our throats, he is going to continue to bankrupt the country and risk massive inflation by printing money to pay for his agenda, and he is going to continue to ignore the fact that there are people out there in the world who want to kill as many of us as possible.

The only new thing was his announcement to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell'.  As a free society, everyone has a right to be who they are, and if you are gay and want to fight and possibly die for your country, so be it.  No one should have to pretend to be something they're not, especially when you put your life on the line every day.  Our military fights for the freedom of all Americans, so all Americans should be able to join the ranks.

For those who are wary of the gayification of the military, rest assured - I'm pretty sure the more flamboyant characters won't be signing up and sashaying to the front lines wearing guyliner, platform boots and sparkly glamoflage.  There have been gays in the military throughout history, and there are gays in our military now.  As a free society, if they want their peers to know their orientation, they should be allowed to speak about it without fear of reprisal.  The stigma of homosexuality isn't what it was 20 years ago - most young people these days have known at least one gay person - and, as I said earlier, it's their country, too, and if they want to serve it, they should be allowed to do so.

So aside from 'don't ask, don't tell', the speech was pretty much the same old, same old.    Dear Leader is hell bent on bankrupting our children and forcing us all to be subservient to the Nanny State.

I have to say it's actually a little bit of a relief that he has decided not to 'pivot' and head back to the center.  That means the republicans are pretty much guaranteed to take the House come November, and possibly make the Senate a 50/50 split.

Now that's a state of the union I can get behind!

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STATE OF THE YAWN-ION

SPENDING GUILT

The other night, our esteemed Representatives scuttled from Washington like cockroaches when the light is turned on, heading for home, vacation or Copenhagen after a few last minute votes, including for the $174 billion jobs bill.  They also passed a $636 billion defense bill, $128 billion of which is going to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  There is no provision for the Afghan surge Obama has ordered, mind you, and a large portion of the money in the bill is going to short term extensions for unemployment benefits, health care subsidies for the jobless, doctor payments, the federal highway and transit system and the Patriot act.  But all $636 billion will be calculated as war debt, naturally.  If the wars aren't expensive enough to make people lose heart, they will make them so, it seems. 

Remember just a few years ago when they were squabbling over any bills costing more than $100 billion?  Now they are passing $1.1 trillion bills without a second thought (and barely a peep from the media) - and hurling insults at anyone who has the temerity to question the speed and size of the legislation.

The jobs bill, as usual, does very little for actually creating jobs.  There's plenty of unemployment relief and additional funding for teachers and firefighters, as well as 'new initiatives' for infrastructure issues like repairing roads and bridges.  Didn't the first stimulus, that is barely half spent, cover all of that?  Or was that just the bill of goods they sold us?

The bills today have officially put America over it's debt limit, so at least there's that....Oh, wait...never mind.  They just raised the debt ceiling by $280 billion.  Reminds me of the old joke 'we can't be broke - we still have checks!'

The insane spending has got to stop.  These bills are so full of earmarks - which both parties are guilty of indulging in - that it is getting harder and harder to determine what the original purpose was.  Not that it really matters anyway, since they can't be bothered to read them and we seem to only get them hours before a vote and barely have time.

With all of the tricks and sneaky closed door dealings going on, it's time we started using their own tactics against them.  One of their favorite ways to get public support for the bill is guilt - 'so you want people to die?!'   Or maybe, 'Oh, you must be one of those greedy selfish types who don't believe in fairness and social justice...'

Maybe it's time to use the power of guilt on them.  Let's remind them who the real victims are.  We need to start bringing our children to the Capitol.  Perhaps seeing those little faces in the gallery will remind them whose money they are spending. 

They seem to have forgotten.

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SPENDING GUILT