State of The Union

[FOTD]

Looking at the pre-speech press releases there is no mention of any discussion of national security.  That's troubling.  Especially after the recient attempt.

Give me a break....he gave a lengthy address on Afghanistan not to long ago.... From the polls, it does not appear the highest priority with Americans. Hawks? Yes. looks like Feb. 1st to me.... http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/u-s-missile-shield-system-deployments-larger-sooner-broader/

Unlimited military spending: the third rail of American politics. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2010/01/26/defense/index.html
We're spending more than $1 TRILLION a year on bloated, immoral, predatory military adventurism. Not just wrong, it's DUMB. Bush III?

Here Gassie, load on up.... http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp87.pdf ..... The Republican Spending Explosion  Republicans are actually the worst culprits when it comes to out-of-control spending.

Now, let's see what you have to say Thursday after you watch and read the directives handed down by the Reich.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Military adventurism is just so passe'.

Imperialistic voyeurism is much more interesting and MUCH more accurate!

[nathanm]

Looking at the pre-speech press releases there is no mention of any discussion of national security.  That's troubling.  Especially after the recient attempt.

This is a good thing. Don't let the bastards see us flinch.

[Conan71]

Give me a break....he gave a lengthy address on Afghanistan not to long ago.... From the polls, it does not appear the highest priority with Americans. Hawks? Yes. looks like Feb. 1st to me.... http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/u-s-missile-shield-system-deployments-larger-sooner-broader/

Unlimited military spending: the third rail of American politics. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2010/01/26/defense/index.html
We're spending more than $1 TRILLION a year on bloated, immoral, predatory military adventurism. Not just wrong, it's DUMB. Bush III?

Here Gassie, load on up.... http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp87.pdf ..... The Republican Spending Explosion  Republicans are actually the worst culprits when it comes to out-of-control spending.

Now, let's see what you have to say Thursday after you watch and read the directives handed down by the Reich.

Without saying right, wrong or otherwise on the WOT-

Obviously $1 Trillion a year toward military spending is fueling spending in the private sector and providiing jobs for millions of people all over the globe in virtually every single industry imagineable even including innocuous-sounding (in a military context) things such agriculture, automotive, construction materials, and textiles.  Just curious how you would deal with additional unemployment and ostensibly more people without health care if military spending were slashed to nothing.  Quite a bit of stimulus spending is finding its way into VA hospitals, and the military employs a lot of private contractors for construction projects (way more than Haliburton).

This kind of spending is simply unsustainable and is easily the simplest for peaceniks to see as "discretionary".  Just curious what kind of proposal anyone has as far as how to deal with the sudden burst to 15 or 20% of unemployment if military spending were cut in half over night.

All purely hypothetical, but I'm curious how many of you have given thought to what kind of deep sh!t the economy would be in if you drastically cut back one of the major fuelers of our economy.

[Gaspar]

Interesting. . .

The President is going to propose a Freeze on Federal funding!   
The media is playing this up like it's a huge deal.  Cuts in everything except military spending.

For those of us who are bad at math this sounds like the president is really taking action to halt massive deficit spending.  I'm glad.  But after looking at the reports on the numbers, I had to laugh.

It comes out to be a cut of 15 billion a year.  It will not touch any of the stimulus, or entitlement budget.  Nor will it affect any of the President's new programs.

It is estimated to shave around 0.4% off of spending every year. Less than half of a percent!

What an insult.  What an outright insult to the intelligence of the people.  He's going to make a big deal of this and you know that Speaker Pelosi and her cabal will never pass it anyway.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Well, at least we are getting lip service discussion about it.

Light years beyond what the Reagan/Bush/Bush cabal EVER did!

Maybe something will actually come of it one of these decades.

[Gaspar]

Well, at least we are getting lip service discussion about it.

Light years beyond what the Reagan/Bush/Bush cabal EVER did!

Maybe something will actually come of it one of these decades.

You're right!  Thank God President Obama is tackling tough issues, like giving the American people lip service.

[Gaspar]

Nope!  Their already gearing up for the fight.  Congress is not going to accept his proposal.

Hilarious quote of the day:

"I'm just concerned that in a recessionary time, you don't pull back government," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). "What does that mean for job growth?"

Second hilarious quote of the day (not really sure which is funnier):

"The president made these decisions like a family would sitting around the dinner table, It can't spend more money than it has ... it has to make some decisions about what is vital." Robert Gibbs

Oh wait here's another:

"No more tricks," Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said. "The American people want responsible federal government."

And as for the eye-rolling crowd:

"To me it's totally meaningless," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). "But it's obvious why he's doing it. The idea is smart: He's going to try to make people think he's concerned about spending."

[guido911]

Well, at least we are getting lip service discussion about it.

"Lip service"? Must. Resist. Urge.

Conan, a little help here?

[FOTD]

Enjoy: State of the Union drinking game....

" Choose any three.

Every time Obama:

says "Let me be clear": 1 drink

says "make no mistake": 1 drink

says "this will not be easy": 1 drink

suggests there's a consensus among experts about a proposal when there isn't: 1 drink

claims to be aligned with the populist backlash he created: 1 drink

suggests that History with a capital H demands that we do whatever it is he's talking about: 1 drink

says that he's being "pragmatic" or "bipartisan" when he's actually being wildly ideological or partisan: 1 drink

every time he says something that will obviously cost you money: 1 drink (this one could cause alcohol poisoning)

when something will cost you money and make the economy worse at the same time: 1 drink (safer version of above).



The good news is that if you do this, you won't remember watching the speech when you wake up tomorrow.
If we all had bongs, the devil would suggest substituting substance.....

[heironymouspasparagus]

And in spite of it all, as much as I dislike Obama, he is still light years better than the Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush regimes that have brought us to this point.
Mainly because he hasn't been able to do anything to hurt us yet.

And he did bring us out of that dark, dank basement of the previous 8 years.

[guido911]

And he did bring us out of that dark, dank basement of the previous 8 years.

By doing what specifically?

[heironymouspasparagus]

And while I really don't like Obama at all, there is a certain amount of credit that must acrue to the last year.  Hmmm... imagine what he "hasn't" done since he has been in office.  At least according to Cheney/Rove/Limbaugh/Hannity...

We stopped the blatant breaking of our law (which, by definition IS also international treaty law) by stopping torture and rendition.

Gitmo is being emptied and the people who deserve it are going to be tried and quite likely convicted.  And hopefully executed.  

We have actually had a major tax cut for the vast majority of American's who earn a paycheck.  (Sorry you didn't get one if you make over $250,000 per year.  But you got your huge tax break 8 years ago...)  You would think talk radio would be happy about any tax cut, but I guess since it was the lower 95% of income, it just isn't good enough.

Actually got Pakistan into this thing in a very real way instead of just lip service.  (Oh, there's that pesky lip service thing again.)  

Our massive recession has actually been brought to a stop even if it is slow to recover.  The previous 1 1/2 year was continuous free fall.

We are finally back to paying attention to the right war.  (We will see if it is handled any better, but so far just this year there has been more done in Afghanistan than in all the previous 6 years combined to head that way.)  This is the biggest good thing to happen in a LONG time.  Maybe they can find Bin Laden now that his family protector is no longer in office.

Our troops in Afghanistan are finally getting the support they deserve and have been asking for.  The average was around 30,000 for 6 years while Bush fiddled on - despite repeated requests for more help.  Now, since the inauguration of 2009, that has increased to almost 100,000 now and another 30,000 or so on the way.

And all this that "hasn't" happened while the nattering nabobs of negativity continue their lies, distortions and spew their bile and specifically say they hope America fails.

How do the right wing radio-ites reconcile their faith in a philosophy led by a draft-dodging drug addict who cannot even go through his 18 month probation without breaking more Federal drug laws??  (Limbaugh - was caught with another man's prescription for Viagra before his 18 month probation was over.)  Oh, wait... he is a Federal drug felon - shouldn't he really have gotten some jail time for distribution of Oxycontin??  1,000 pills in possesion would definitely be with intent to distribute if he was anyone else.  Well, at least according to his long term rants about the subject.  (Do what I say, not what I do...)  Well, he IS rich, so I guess that makes it all ok.

See what was missed while worrying about liars yapping about birth certificates?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Would be nice if there were more, but that ain't all bad for an amateur still trying to learn the job.  Of course, it will never be enough for the Cheney/Rove/Hannity world...

[heironymouspasparagus]

And if anyone looks honestly at their own track record; can you say you have done proportionally better in your first year of any new job??