State of the Union 2006

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

And here we go. We’re watching on NBC. Here is…Brian Williams.

9:01: Here come members of the Supreme Court. I think it’d be cooler if they all entered in one shoulder to shoulder line in slo-mo, like in “The Right Stuff.” Or “Monsters Inc.”

9:02: NBC commentators are talking about everything that’s wrong. I wonder if Fox is talking about everything that’s right.

9:03: Wow. Even Fox is talking about divisiveness. That can’t be good.

9:05: NBC speculates that Bush has changed the face of the SC for at least the next twenty years. Entirely possible, and too depressing to contemplate.

9:06: Bush is said to be in a small holding room. Makes him sound like a rodeo bull. I wonder if his testicles will be tied tightly to get a better show.

9:07: And now, in advance, the Democratic response: “Pbbbbbthhhh!”

9:08: The Sergeant at arms is “Bill Livingood.” Gotta love that name.

9:09: Caroline has offered her commentary in advance: The moment Bush was introduced, she farted and dropped a load in her diaper.

9:11: Four minutes of applause and counting.

9:11: And they applaud AGAIN? Just for being introduced? Bet the SC high-fived each other.

9:12: Okay, who had twenty-five words into the speech before he invoked King?

9:13: “Differences can’t harden into anger.” Sorry. That ship sailed in the year 2000.

9:15: Who had three minutes into the speech for 9/11?

9:16: Yes, Democracy has replaced terrorism with hope. In Israel, the hope is that the Democratically elected terrorists won’t destroy them.

9:17: Oh. Bin Laden is serious about mass murder. Funny. A few years ago, he said he wasn’t thinking about bin Laden much.

9:18: Terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror

9:19: Terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror

9:20 Yes. We liberated death camps…so we can open our own torture camps. It’s like Walmart liberating neighborhoods of mom and pop stores.

9:21: If he believes in freedom, in democracy, and in Iraq…why is he against the concept of Iraqis holding an election to determine whether we should leave or not?

9:22: We have a coalition? I thought we had our troops and three guys named Nigel.

9:23: Oh, NOW he’s going to listen to military commanders? The same ones who said that invading Iraq was a bad idea?

9:24: And here, before I could say that he was curtailing opinions he’d respond to to “Responsible opinion,” he goes and basically admits that anyone who doesn’t fit that–namely, those he doesn’t like–are being ignored.

9:25: “Second guessing isn’t a strategy.” Considering the lack of strategy going into Iraq in the first place…

9:27: All right. Who had eighteen minutes until he singled out one soldier and his family to hold up as a symbol of his wonderful war. The wife, trapped on camera, looked like an incredibly pìššëd øff deer in the headlights.

9:28: Welcome to the state of the terror address.

9:29: Accountable institutions? The head of a government that tries to block any bid at accountability is talking about being held accountable?

9:30: Oh…my God…he’s talking about attacking Iran.

9:31: No one is talking about isolationism. People are talking about freaking invading other countries.

9:32: By all means, let’s not shortchange the efforts of a compassionate America. We should…oops. More terrorism talk.

9:33: Does he understand it’s possible to support the military, law enforcement…and not the President?

9:34: AND NOW WE’VE GOT A GAME. Half of them sit while the other half stands in supporting the patriot act. “We didn’t know about their plans until it was too late.” This is the point where Jon Stewart would cut to a clip of Condi Rice saying, “I believe the title was ‘Bin laden intends to attack US”

9:35: Hillary is shaking her head thinking “You áššhølë.”

9:35: The Master of Accountability insists that he must have an eavesdropping program that doesn’t require accountability.

9:37: He has the gall to invoke FDR and JFK?

9:38: Whenever Bush speaks of “Natural disasters” I keep thinking I’m looking at the biggest one to hit the US in years.

9:39; No one is saying immigrants are bad for the economy. They’re saying illegal immigrants are bad for the economy.

9:39: He’s gonna try for more tax cuts.

9:40: There it is.

9:41: Symbolic, really. The Democrats are expressing distaste by sitting on their áššëš. When are they gonna realize they have to GET OFF THEIR ÃSSÊS TO MAKE THINGS BETTER?

9:42: Right, right. Line item veto. Notice the hypocrisy of the GOP applauding when they screamed over Clinton trying the same thing.

9:43: YES! YES! YES! THEY GOT OFF THEIR ÃSSÊS!

9:44: I have NEVER seen a president look THAT PÍSSÊÐ ØFF during the SOTU!

9:45: No one can outproduce the American worker. Except, y’know, maybe Japan.

9:45: And China. And Korea. And…

9:46: No you’re not meeting the responsibility of health care for the poor and elderly. You cut it.

9:47: Okay, that’s a good point. The medical liability thing is, if nothing else, driving OBGYNs out of the baby delivery business.

9:48: “Clean safe nuclear energy.” There’s a contradiction in terms.

9:49: I’m all for making dependence on ME oil a thing of the past. Certainly invading them to try and take it by force isn’t working.

9:51: A firm grounding in math and science? Here’s a fast way to start: Make it illegal for kids to have pocket calculators with them during math tests. What the hëll is up with that?

9:52: We don’t need more advanced math courses. We need more remedial courses. We’ve got a population that can’t do the most basic functions.

9:53: Yes, we’ve become a more hopeful nation: And yet, no matter how much we hope, Bush is still there.

9:54: BUSH is talking about personal responsbility? That’s like Hannibal Lecter talking about becoming a vegetarian.

9:55: The pessimists predicted Bush would be elected and re-elected. They were right about that.

9:58: I’m sorry. I don’t see where a guy who endorses torture, spying on citizens, capital punishment, and cutting off medical research that could cure Altzheimers gets to talk about being compassionate.

10:01: By all means, let’s do whatever we can to eliminate AIDS. So how’s that condom in schools program working out?

10:02: And now he obliquely compares himself to Lincoln and MLK. How does he find trousers that hang right with balls that big?

10:03: Interesting that of the four major political/historical figures he compared himself to, three of them were assassinated.

10:03: Fifty one minutes. Hunh. I have to think that Caroline’s commentary at the beginning was the most succinct.

283 comments on “State of the Union 2006”

  1. “We will encourage more young people to stay in school”

    Why do I have a bad feeling that this plan will involve the draft and student deferrals?

  2. Luigi: “What we need is to totally change the education system, because it’s not working as it should.”
    Right f***ing on!

  3. Instead of a waiting list for AIDs medicine, he’s going to instate a do-not-give-medicine list. It will include prostitues, gays, and drug users.

  5. Peter David: 10:02: And now he obliquely compares himself to Lincoln and MLK. How does he find trousers that hang right with balls that big?
    Luigi Novi: I don’t think he was “comparing” himself to them, just using them as a metaphor to explain why he should “not stop.”

  9. IT’S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!! the state of the union drinking game…..I got drunk quickly

    Hey, did he say anything??

  10. No one can outproduce the American worker. Except, y’know, maybe Japan.

    And China. And Korea. And…

    From The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
    http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Productivity.html

    Now the United States faces two productivity problems. First, its productivity growth has slowed sharply since 1973, part of a puzzling worldwide productivity slow-down. Second, although U.S. productivity is still the highest in the world by a wide margin—$45,918 of GNP per worker in 1990, 25 percent ahead of Japan and 35 percent ahead of Germany—its productivity growth trailed that of other nations in most years since World War II.

    Another statistic I ran across said that “they (american workers) will produce 30% of global output this year with only 5% of the world’s labor force.”

    So yeah, I think he was on pretty safe ground there. With all the easy targets to pick why go after a statistic you aren’t sure about?

  11. And what the hëll is up with Bush mentioning BOOKS near the end of this speech? BUSH mentioning BOOKS? That’s like Pat Robertson mentioning pørņ. Hasn’t Bush stated that he’s not much of a reader?

  12. Luigi Novi: What we need is to totally change the education system, because it’s not working as it should. It’s not just a matter of remedialism. We have to implement teaching methods that are successful, and the system should be privatized.

    What we need is for politicians to say what they won’t dare say. It doesn’t matter what schools do; until parents start acting like parents taking an active part in their children’s education. We’re going to continue to slide. Privatization will not help, throwing more money at it will not help, and, God help us, more standardized testing will not help until that is widespread, and right now it most certainly is NOT.

  13. Oh btw, during his war against terrorism speech, I kept expecting him to say: “In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the United States will be reorganized into the first American Empire…for a safe and secure society!”

  14. Math and science classes?! Tell me he didn’t say that. The guy who thinks Intelligent Design should be taught in Biology classes wants more science taught? I don’t believe it.

  16. I noticed that Bush referenced Reagan’s “Evil Empire” bit early on in the speech. I’m surprised that they dragged that hoary old chestnut out. It’s a bit worn, to my mind.

  17. 9:01: Here come members of the Supreme Court. I think it’d be cooler if they all entered in one shoulder to shoulder line in slo-mo, like in “The Right Stuff.” Or “Monsters Inc.”
    Or like the original opening to Justice League…oh, wait, Harvey Birdman did that already…

    9:09: Caroline has offered her commentary in advance: The moment Bush was introduced, she farted and dropped a load in her diaper.
    10:03: Fifty one minutes. Hunh. I have to think that Caroline’s commentary at the beginning was the most succinct.
    Good call. That’s about an hour of my life I’ll never get back.
    Last night I got real drunk, tonight I watched the State of the Union address. Ironically, I felt more like throwing up tonight.

  18. Sorry, the last half of my post should’ve read like this:

    9:09: Caroline has offered her commentary in advance: The moment Bush was introduced, she farted and dropped a load in her diaper.
    10:03: Fifty one minutes. Hunh. I have to think that Caroline’s commentary at the beginning was the most succinct.
    Good call. That’s about an hour of my life I’ll never get back.
    Last night I got real drunk, tonight I watched the State of the Union address. Ironically, I felt more like throwing up tonight.

  19. Luigi is 100% right about education. And although NCLB is pretty much a clusterf***, if it’s done right it would be a start. The tragedy is, the biggest obstacle to changing anything fundamental about education is the teachers’ unions themselves (and, for what it’s worth, I am a member of the NEA). As long as the education establishment does its level best to stand in the way of any form of progress (charter schools, vouchers, accountability), ain’t nothing gonna help out.

  21. Lee: Definitely. Am I the only one who thinks it’d be interesting to see PAD’s commentary on the Democratic response, too?

  22. “Out of curiosity–does the president hand out copies to his speech to the opposition so they can actually fashion a response or do they just guess what he will say?”

    My understanding is, yes, it’s passed out ahead of time, to the Dems and GOP, to the press, etc.

    PAD

  23. Just got here, will try to catch up.
    ===================

    When did the Democrats (or any Americans for that matter) claim that we should be “Isolationist”?

    Back in the 1930’s & early 40’s, until Pearl Harbor was attacked. But not since then.

    But, hey, when has truth honesty, or accuracy ever been a part of the bush administration?

    ================

    Cindy Sheehan news here, about 2/3 down the page:
    http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/31/bush.sotu/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
    ============

    Out of curiosity–does the president hand out copies to his speech to the opposition so they can actually fashion a response or do they just guess what he will say?

    With bush, it’s easy to know what he’s going to say. He just keeps repeating the same thing over & over. You know, “Pushing the propaganda” I think was the term bush used.

    it was the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional. Not quite sure how W intends to get around that little hurdle

    Same way he does everything else. He’s just going to do what he wants because he knows that no one will even try to stop him.

    9:09: Caroline has offered her commentary in advance: The moment Bush was introduced, she farted and dropped a load in her diaper

    Funniest thing I heard today.

    And although NCLB is pretty much a clusterf***,

    That’s because the only part of it that’s supported is the part that gives the military full almost unrestricted access to student records.

  24. Hey, Peter
    I just wanted to thank you for this forum. It made this crappy hour of television a lot easier to handle. Well, that and I led in with “The Gilmore Girls” and that made me happy too.

    GHERU

    PS: you also make me happy with some of the best comic writing out there today and I can’t wait to buy your how-to book…

  25. Posted by arizonateach–As long as the education establishment does its level best to stand in the way of any form of progress (charter schools, vouchers, accountability), ain’t nothing gonna help out.

    Vouchers would be the final nail in the notion that education should be freely available to every child in the country. Why should you or I have to subsidize the tuition for sending a student to a school that may tell us that our children aren’t eligible to go to for religious or other reasons? And that’s what would happen, unless the private schools became accountable to the same regulations that they foist on the public schools.

    I know of dozens of people who send their kids to private Catholic schools around here that do NOT want vouchers because they are afraid that that will mean an influx of students they will not be allowed to turn away. And when a private school cannot pick and choose its students, you’ll find that the differences between their output and that of the public schools more or less on a equal footing.

  26. Anybody watching the Dem response?

    I’m liking this Kaine guy, but his eyebrows remind me of Eugene Levy.

  27. Oh, and for what it’s worth, I’m in the NEA as well, and I’ve been a registered Republican since I turned eighteen in 1982.

  28. 9:15: Who had three minutes into the speech for 9/11?

    What took him so long?

    9:27: All right. Who had eighteen minutes until he singled out one soldier and his family to hold up as a symbol of his wonderful war

    Between this & the above, bush must be slowing down in his old age.

    9:30: Oh…my God…he’s talking about attacking Iran

    Hate to break it to you, but he’s been doing so for a couple of months now. Using most of the same lies he used to get us into Iraq, too.

    9:38: Whenever Bush speaks of “Natural disasters” I keep thinking I’m looking at the biggest one to hit the US in years.

    http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/bush_disaster.jpg

  29. Having George Bush lecture the American people about their addiction to oil is like a crack dealer lecturing his customers about their dependence on opium-based narcotics.

    Thanks for the play-by-play, Peter. Faced with the prospect of seeing Bush on all the major networks tonight, I did the only sensible thing: I taped Supernatural and went out for a late dinner with a friend. But thanks to Caroline, I’m pretty sure I got the gist of what President Smirky Smirkeson had to say,

  30. Joe: “…I’m pretty sure I got the gist of what President Smirky Smirkeson had to say…”
    Sorry, but I just got the image of Christopher Walken coming at Bush with a tire iron, saying something about how he hates Smirky Smirkersons. I know it’s a hoax, but the whole “Walken For President” idea gets better and better the more I think about it. Maybe I need to lay off the SNL Best Of collections.

  31. Yahoo has a fact check article up right now for Bush’s propoganda speech.

    This is a fun quote from Bush:

    “…every year of my presidency, we have reduced the growth of non-security discretionary spending.”

    In laymans terms, it means everything but defense/military spending is being gutted, while we spill our blood for Iraq and guarantee that future generations are completely fûçkëd.

  32. 9:17: Oh. Bin Laden is serious about mass murder. Funny. A few years ago, he said he wasn’t thinking about bin Laden much.

    I glad he mentioned Bin Laden. WE HAVE ONLY BEEN LOOKING FOR HIM FOR 4 YEARS. How is it we can find Saddam, who had more duplicates than Madrox, in a little spider hole in the middle of a desert, but we cannot find a 6’6″ Arab on dialysis?

    9:30: Oh…my God…he’s talking about attacking Iran.

    We are going to reduce the size of our reserves, who have been picking up the slack in Afghanistan and Iraq, while at the same time, we are going to pick a fight with Iran.

    9:49: I’m all for making dependence on ME oil a thing of the past. Certainly invading them to try and take it by force isn’t working.

    Are you implying that we would invade a country to take their oil? That would never happen again.

    10:01: By all means, let’s do whatever we can to eliminate AIDS. So how’s that condom in schools program working out?

    I’m all for curing AIDS, but can we not cure things that already kill more people, you know cancer, flu, etc.. Why does AIDS get the most money and attention?

    10:03: Interesting that of the four major political/historical figures he compared himself to, three of them were assassinated.

    Watch out for the NSA for that comment, PAD.

  33. Oh let’s endorse a technology that won’t be ready till 2020! Shrub isn’t interested in reducing our dependency on oil, he just wants to deflect the argument until he can run for cover and hide in retirement. Flex engines already exist, Shrub! Polution neutral engines that run on renewable resources…

    Peter thanks for the commentary, if I had had to watch this travesty of hypocrisy I would probably have put my fist thru the tv screen.

  34. Did I hear Bush say he was against human/animal hybrids? Since when has this been going on? Is this a threat large enough to mention in a SOTU address? Did I miss something? First we fight terrorists and now we have to stare down The Island of Dr. Moreau?

  35. WE HAVE ONLY BEEN LOOKING FOR HIM FOR 4 YEARS.

    130,000 troops in Iraq

    vs

    25,000 troops in Afghanistan. Quotes from the Chimp in Chief saying bin Laden was “no longer important”.

    Yeah, we’re really working our áššëš off trying to get bin Laden. Maybe if, you know, we’d put 150,000 troops in Afghanistan to get bin Laden first, actually caught him, then went after Saddam, Bush’s desired legacy would have actually come true.

    We are going to reduce the size of our reserves, who have been picking up the slack in Afghanistan and Iraq, while at the same time, we are going to pick a fight with Iran.

    While Bush avoids every bit of evidence that says our forces are extended too thin. I mean, why not? He already ignored every bit of evidence & intelligence regarding Iraq. What harm will that cause us with Iran?

    That would never happen again.

    I suppose after we’d had our way with the Native Americans, people said we’d never put people on reservations or in camps again either. Unfortunately, the Japanese learned otherwise. And Gitmo should qualify, just the same.

    Why does AIDS get the most money and attention?

    I don’t know about the most money, but it gets attention because it deserves attention. That, and the fact that AIDS is more or less 100% preventable, yet too many morons in this country won’t let us use the methods at our disposal to increase prevention (such as condoms).

    Watch out for the NSA for that comment, PAD.

    Meh. We’ve probably all been flagged already. The government obviously doesn’t have any better things to do than spy on ordinary Americans.

  36. First we fight terrorists and now we have to stare down The Island of Dr. Moreau?

    Human/animal hybrid? We’ve been staring at the primate example for 5 years now.

  37. rrlane: What we need is for politicians to say what they won’t dare say. It doesn’t matter what schools do; until parents start acting like parents taking an active part in their children’s education. We’re going to continue to slide. Privatization will not help…
    Luigi Novi: OF COURSE it’ll help. Companies that have to compete for your dollar find newer and better ways of doing things, which is why private industry almost always does things better than government agencies, which are a monopoly, and accountable to no one.

  38. “…every year of my presidency, we have reduced the growth of non-security discretionary spending.”

    In laymans terms, it means everything but defense/military spending is being gutted, while we spill our blood for Iraq and guarantee that future generations are completely fûçkëd.

    Only in Washington DC could reducing the growth of a program be something to brag about. Or be considered “gutting”. Geeze, what would you call it if they actualy REDUCED the amount of money being spent?

    In truth, Bush has spent money like a drunken sailor. A drunken Democratic sailor. Ted Kennedy in a sailor suit.

  39. I watched this thing at the gym on the treadmill reading CNN’s pour attempt at closed captioning. The thing was, I couldn’t be sure if the occaisonal typo was the fault of the transcriber or the speaker. Sigh.

  40. which is why private industry almost always does things better than government agencies, which are a monopoly, and accountable to no one.

    *chuckle* And corporations have been accountable to who lately?

    Halliburton anyone?

  41. Let’s see, here are a few points I caught that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:

    -Bush says that half the world’s population lives in totalitarian regimes and goes on to single out places like Sirya and Burma but strangely leaves out China which has over 1.2 billion people; could this be because we’re so financially indebted to them? I guess he’s ready to overlook some peccadilloes so long as we’re getting something from them.

    -When Bush mentioned “clean, safe nuclear energy” was I the only one who immediately flashed to the West Wing debate where Alan Alda’s character said the same, only to have it come back to bite him in the latest episode when a meltdown was narrowly averted? I know that West Wing is fiction, but nuclear energy has a huge risk associated to it (as evidenced by Chernobyl) and it certainly isn’t clean; tons of new nuclear waste have to be dealt with each year, at great cost both financially and potentially environmentally.

    -Bush claims that he wants to make Ethanol practical and competitive, but makes no mention of emulating Brazil’s model, which has had a highly viable Sugar Cane Ethanol program for over 20 years. If he’s serious, then why not go with what works already? I remember reading a NY Times Op-Ed by Thomas L. Friedman from August 5 2005, about the then new energy bill, that touched on this point; here’s the most relevant paragraph:

    “The new energy bill includes support for corn-based ethanol, but, bowing to the dictates of the U.S. corn and sugar lobbies (which oppose sugar imports), it ignores Brazilian-style sugar-based ethanol, even though it takes much less energy to make and produces more energy than corn-based ethanol. We are ready to import oil from Saudi Arabia but not sugar from Brazil.”

    The Times will charge you to view the full piece but I found a PDF of it at the following link: http://www.setamericafree.org/nyt080505.pdf

    -And not a single word regarding the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Can’t say I’m surprised but I sure am disappointed, thought it might at least warrant a throwaway line, since he claims he’s so dedicated to protecting the innocents on the World.

    Corgi, regarding your question as to what got the Democrats of their áššëš, it was their cheering to the following line: “Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security.” If you ask me, that was the high point of the night.

    Raphy

  42. Craig J. Ries: *chuckle* And corporations have been accountable to who lately? Halliburton anyone?
    Luigi Novi: Please read for context, Craig. Vis a vis what Peter, rrlane and myself were discussing, it’s the CONSUMER we’re talking about. Companies, when they have to compete for your dollar, are accountable to the consumer insofar as who buys their product. I’m not talking about accountability regarding their illegal activities. If schools are privatized, they will each compete to make themselves look more attractive than the other, which they do by finding newer, better, and/or cheaper means of accomplishing the task you want them too. The way it is now, you have to send your kid to whatever school your kid lives in, or else pay for private school with money OTHER than the taxes you’re already paying to the government anyway.

  43. Companies, when they have to compete for your dollar, are accountable to the consumer insofar as who buys their product.

    Yes, and did that stop Enron, WorldCom, or Qwest from cheating consumers (buying stock is pretty equal to buying a phone line these days)?

    No, it didn’t.

    Privitization of schools doesn’t do anything but guarantee that only those with money get the best education. Some would say that’s the case now, but I don’t entirely agree.

    Everybody should be able to have at least an equal education, and privitization wouldn’t do that.

    In the end, the consumer really doesn’t matter, only the bottom line does.

  44. Its there so that the President can veto just a part of a bill he doesn’t like, instead of the whole bill.

    Why bother when we have president who just declares that he’s going to ignore the entire bill anyway?

    When did the Democrats (or any Americans for that matter) claim that we should be “Isolationist”?

    Back in the 1930’s & early 40’s, until Pearl Harbor was attacked. But not since then.

    And oddly enough, it was the GOP that was the strongly isolationist party during that time period.

  45. -Bush claims that he wants to make Ethanol practical and competitive, but makes no mention of emulating Brazil’s model, which has had a highly viable Sugar Cane Ethanol program for over 20 years. If he’s serious, then why not go with what works already?
    —————————————-

    That’s the Flex Engine! History channel ran a very interesting special on Brazil and their reliance on Flex Engines and Sugar Ethanol about 4 months ago. Until very recently the big 3 American motors companies had pìššëd away the market. They refused to produce a car with a flex engine and lost the Brazil market. They finally capitulated and recently started building cars for the Brazilian market.

    Follow the Money…
    The big three do not want to invest in sugar fuel because it just won’t generate the revenues that they want from the pie in the sky hydrogen solution. Over the next 15 years they can generate millions in research grants and government subsidies to research Hydrogen fuel cells. Sugar cane is established and sensible and there is no money in the research, plus you would be shifting a large chunk of money into farmers’ pockets, away from the normal receivers. In the mean time they can along with the sisters make a fortune in oil based cars and the selling of that oil.

    If the reasons thgey don’t do something makes no sense, then look at the cash and where it’s coming/going from.

  46. Craig: Yes, and did that stop Enron, WorldCom, or Qwest from cheating consumers (buying stock is pretty equal to buying a phone line these days)?
    Luigi Novi: One more time: We aren’t talking about breaking the law. We’re talking about the PRODUCT that consumers CHOOSE. When you go to the supermarket, you can buy whichever brand of soup, peanut butter, or whatever you want. Would you prefer that all such products came from the government, which would only offer one brand, and being a monopoly, give you no choice? Consumers get to choose which brand they prefer. Mentioning Enron or Worldcom ignores the fact that those companies make the news precisely because they’re the exception.

    When a company that makes a consumer product that is found to substandard, like say, Goodyear tires, then the customers go elsewhere, and the company suffers, which is why companies compete to make their product better. Governments are monopolies, and don’t have to do this, and thus, customers can’t go “elsewhere” if it’s a government monopoly, which U.S. education is, except for those who can afford private schools.

    Are you honestly saying that you think that government does things better than private industry?

    Craig: Privitization of schools doesn’t do anything but guarantee that only those with money get the best education.
    Luigi Novi: EVERYONE has money. They’re called taxes. And most everyone pays their taxes. With privatization, you should be able to take your money where you want, and spend it on the school of your choice. Right now, you can only do that if you’re well-to-do.

    Craig: In the end, the consumer really doesn’t matter, only the bottom line does.
    Luigi Novi: LOL! And what do you think the bottom line is made of? Money given to the company by…………consumers! If the company makes a lousy product, and a competitor makes a better one or a cheaper one, then those customers will go there, and that lousy company’s bottom line suffers as a result.

  47. Ted Kennedy in a sailor suit.

    Who told you, who did you tell, and do you still have the photographs?

    Seriously, though… Right, wrong, left, right, up, down… No doubt about it Peter: you’re definitely a solid member of the liberal Democratic party: you didn’t post a single thing you liked about the speech.

    I heard a few things I’d place in the “good idea, let’s do it” department.. but Dems just sat there with a “That sucks. You’re an idiot.” look on their face. (Not a totally unfamiliar look from their everyday face that they put on.)

    I’m all for sitting down if you disagree. But I think the Dems came off as more embarrasing than anything else. Then again, a leapord and it’s spots are rarely seperated. I think we’re seeing Dems as they truly are: mad that they lost power, are only now truly realizing just how much they’ve lost (i.e. Alito confirmation).

    And as for Cindy Sheehan. God bless her heart. Just wanting to give her two cents, and they won’t let her in the door. If only she’d dressed up for the occasion, as dress code dictates, as opposed to just wearing anti-war t-shirt.

    Oh well. There’s always her new best friend, that buddy of ol’ U S of A, Hugo Chavez.

    RLR

  49. Can someone please clarify what caused this:

    “9:44: I have NEVER seen a president look THAT PÍSSÊÐ ØFF during the SOTU!”

    If I look at full coverage of the speech to find out I think the stupidity of it all will make my brain ooze out my nose and ears.

    c.s.

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