State Of The Union Address – 2013

You can also go here for full text of the speech.

What are your thoughts on Obama’s SOTU? I have to admit, I only caught the last half hour last night. However, I did get a chance to read the full text of his speech this morning. All in all, I thought it was a very moving address. Here are some points that caught my attention:

1. POTUS finished his speech with an extremely emotional bang. His call for tougher gun control regulations were punctuated with recognition of several victims of gun violence. After each name was called, he implored that each victim deserves a vote. Even John Boehner rose to his feet to applaud. However, I couldn’t help but feel that this was nothing more than emotional grandstanding. Obama never once mentioned an actual passing of a gun control bill, he merely called for some form of legislation to be voted upon. He knows full well that nothing will pass through the NRA controlled congress. His rhetoric did make me tear up a little though.

2. Climate change. Yes Mr. President, our climate has changed. You’re a little late, but welcome to the conversation. For the sake of every living thing on this planet. I implore you to lead the way in reducing our carbon footprint. Climate change is an issue that you should be talking about every single day until something is done.

3. Raising the minimum wage. This is also long overdue. There should be no such thing as the working poor. I like the idea of tying the minimum wage to the cost of living index. Make it happen.

4. Improving infrastructure. Again, long overdue. Want to put people back to work? Want to attract more jobs and boost interstate commerce? Improve our decaying infrastructure. It’s a no brainer.

5. Women do deserve equal pay: Twist some arms and make this happen.

6. Cyber security. This makes me little nervous. I can’t help but feel that more of our civil liberties are going to be stripped under the guise of national security and cyber security. It seemed as this part of his speech was pointed more toward hacktivists such as Anonymous, and less toward global terrorist.

7. Transparency of national security. Obama tells us that congress is informed of every program and action taken by our security and intelligence agencies. He also assured that the public would be kept in the know. This was a pants on fire moment for the president. I’m skeptical, as is a majority of the country. Let’s get a look at that kill list Mr. President!

8. Cut Spending, close tax loopholes. I agree, but why fuck with Medicare?

9. Obama seemed more bi-partisan. He worked very hard to remind everyone last night that we’re in this for the long haul. He seemed to throw a little something out to both parties.

10. What the hell is the deal with Joe Biden’s eyes? I love me some Joe Biden: However, he looked downright scary last night.

The whole time I was watching the speech, Biden’s lack of pupil visibility was freaking me and my partner out. It was very disturbing.
Bonus: Boehner seemed to be an even higher shade of orange.

Over all, I think it was one of the president’s best speeches. He was conciliatory, and he was passionate about issues that are in the fore front of the county’s collective mind. As with every SOTU, I can only hope there’s more action than lip service.

The Paul Ryan Effect.

My first impulse after writing the title to this post, was to leave it blank. As Romney’s running mate, Ryan contributed little to nothing to his campaign. At first glance, one would think he was a non-factor. However, after some further examination, I think he was a huge factor, a ginormous negative effect on a campaign that had a razor thin margin for error.

At the very least, a VP candidate is expected deliver his home region. Ryan couldn’t even deliver his home state. While he did manage to hold on to his congressional seat in Wisconsin (talk about hedging your bet), his Midwestern background meant little there. Romney lost Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio: All states that Ryan should have appealed to. What he and Romney got instead was an Obama sweep. Indiana came through for team Romney, but I can’t even remember the last time Indiana went blue in a Presidential election.

As the campaign trudged forward this year, Ryan’s presence grew smaller by the day. Sure, he did stop and wash some already clean pots and pans at a St. Vincent De Paul, and he did take some time to get schooled by Joe Biden on national TV, oh yeah, there was also the children of rape is God’s gift ( or some disgusting view point of the like) comment, and the ridiculous photo shoot with the dumbbells (which one was the dumbbells?), and the – you know? Never mind. The GOP, pretty much tried to hide him, rather than let him promote Romney.

He was making a fool out of himself and Romney from the outset, and Willard sure as hell didn’t need any help with that.

Willard my man, you should have went with Christie as your running mate: you have my heart felt gratitude for picking Ryan instead.

Dumb ass.

Can Paul Ryan Even Spell Malarkey?

Kudos to VP Joe Biden for taking Paul Ryan behind the wood shed in last night’s debate. Many of us were hoping to see an aggressive, challenging Biden last night, and he didn’t disapoint. Mr Ryan, you’ve just been Bidened. Take a deep breath, and have another drink of water Jr, you were in well over your head.

Who Is The Vice President of The United States?

Official portrait of Vice President of the United States . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So far, I’ve had 169 hits on my blog today, all generated by that search engine question. Our Vice President is Joe Biden. You may have heard of him. He’s the old white guy who stands next to Obama and smiles a lot. He’s been in the political arena for decades, and built his reputation as a feisty political bulldog for his skewering of Reagan Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, back in the 80′s. He’s debating Paul Ryan tonight, and I hope he delivers the same verbal spanking that he delivered to Bork. You might want to watch it.

Watch “Vice President Joe Biden’s Remarks at the 2012 Democratic National Convention – Full Speech” on YouTube

I love Joe Biden, his energetic, off the cuff, shoot from the lip style marries perfectly with Obama’s measured, well thought out style. He is Riggs to Obama’s Murtaugh. He relates well to the working man, and his funny, biting remarks toward Ryan and Romney through clenched teeth are classic.

Obama Comes Out In Favor of Marriage Equality.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Did I just see rainbow smoke coming from the White House chimney? In an interview with ABC News Robin Roberts today, President Obama echoed the sentiments of Joe Biden ( without the off the wall Will & Grace comments):

OBAMA:”I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about. members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point

I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

The interview is scheduled to air tonight.

I must say, this is a pretty bold statement, considering the fact that it’s an election year. Hopefully, he’ll get another 4 years to back that statement up. As I stated in a previous post, it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to get rid of DOMA, and finally bring about marriage equality on a federal level.

I hope Obama’s actions will be louder than his words.  

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Shame On You North Carolina

National Organization for Marriage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Equal rights for the LGBT community took a major hit yesterday. In North Carolina, same sex marriage, as well as legal benefits for same sex partners, was banned with the passage of Amendment One. The amendment, which declares that marriage is only to be recognized as a union between one man and one woman, was pushed through by some major players of the religious right, including NOM, which contributed nearly $500,000 to get the amendment passed. In spite of several please from many state wide christian leaders from the African American community, the amendment passed by a wide margin.

I have to say that not only am I surprised that such a prejudicial law was passed; I also feel shame. Even though 30 other states have such laws, it seemed as if the country was making huge strides toward LGBT equality. In fact, in the most recent polls taken, 47% of Americans asked are in favor of same sex marriage, which is the highest rate of approval so far. Many christian ministers have spoken out for LGBT equality, and recently many high ranking members of the Obama administration, including Joe Biden, have outright stated that they are in favor of same sex marriage as well. What the hell happened in North Carolina?

NOM, the National Organization for Marriage is what happened. This group of right wing, homophobic religious zealots has been sticking their bible thumping noses into both national and state legislatures for years. As I mentioned earlier, NOM swooped into the state, and poured nearly half a million dollars into making biblical law a secular law. They put political pressure on state legislators to create the amendment, then they proceeded to blitzkreig the public with an immense campaign of homophobic misinformation that was sure to make the most expert of propagandists proud. Hell, they even trotted out the 93 year old minister Billy Graham, who took out a full page ad in several North Carolina newspapers, in order to put his hateful rhetoric back into the public eye. Because of NOM, equal rights in the LGBT community never stood a chance in the Tar Heel state. Religious zealotry won over basic human rights, and that disgust’s me.

So what does this mean? For starters, the Obama administration needs to put forward a clearly defined policy concerning LGBT rights. Although it has made perhaps the biggest advancements toward equal rights in this arena, their policy toward same sex marriage is still vague. Sure, DADT is gone, and the Department of Justice has been instructed not to defend DOMA in court; there is no doubt that the administration is sympathetic to the cause. However, a major blow could be struck if DOMA were to be eliminated, it can be done. Several circuit courts have declared it unconstitutional; it needs to be challenged in the Supreme Court. If it can be stricken, then maybe legislation could possible be introduced to protect same sex marriage on a national level, state statutes be damned. It’s a hard, long fight, but it can be done, and Obama must lead the way. Otherwise, prejudiced hate groups like NOM just may continue to get their way.

The LGBT movement may have taken a big hit yesterday, but it was by no means a death blow. Grass roots support grows bigger by the day, and the voice for equality just grows louder. Not even NOM with their bibles and money can stop it. Love is universal, and knows not of sex or gender. You would think even the hardest core christian would recognize and accept that: Isn’t love what your god is all about?

Apparently not in North Carolina: For now.

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Related articles

• Seriously North Carolina? (doubledippolitics.com)
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Democrats Propose Stimulus Package For Flacid Job Market.

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The top two Democrats in the senate, Harry Reid and Richard Durbin, have proposed to VP Joe Biden that an economic stimulus package be included in any deficit reduction talks. Although Durbin acknowledged that deficit reduction was important, he stated that congress should “Get the recovery right before you get in this deficit spending mode… Get people back to work. Let’s start moving in that direction.”

The last stimulus package was in 2009, to the tune of $814 billion dollars, and was roundly criticized by Republicans as wasteful. The new package would include funds for new infrastructure spending, renewing payroll tax cuts, and support for clean energy jobs.

It’s a good thought, but it will never make it out of the House. There is no way in hell house Republicans are going to agree to include this in their deficit reduction bill. Then again, there is no way in hell the deficit bill is going to make through the Senate as is.

This proposed stimulus plan might be a way for Democrats to get what they want. Think about it: they could pull one out of the Republican play book and virtually hold the deficit reduction proposal hostage. The Republicans could either A) include the stimulus package, and remove only the cuts that affect core programs, or B) Not only remove cuts to core programs, but also remove tax cuts and subsidies for the Republican’s favorite charities such as big oil and the military. In return, stimulus talks are tabled for now. Either way it would be a huge win for the Democrats.

I’m betting none of the above happens. Even though the Republican Party is greatly tarnished and without competent leadership, the fact is that there are very few Democrats with enough balls to do what it takes. This stimulus proposal will quietly go away, the way a tiny mouse skitters along the baseboards toward it’s safe little home inside the wall.

http://m.yahoo.com/w/ynews/article/topstories/5?url=http%3A%2F%2Fxml.news.yahoo.com%2Fus%2Fnews%2Frss%2Frichstoryrss.html%3Fu%3D%2Fnm%2F20110622%2Fpl_nm%2Fus_usa_debt_stimulus&.ts=1308763984&.intl=us&.lang=en

The Best of Michele Bachmann (So Far).

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Not to be outdone by Rick Santorum, here is the best of fellow right wing nut Michele Bachmann, courtesy of Mother Jones. Bachmann hasn’t declared yet, but she will. As will expert American History revisionist Empress PalinPac. It scares the shit out of me when the GOP’s only palatable choice seems to be Mitt Romney. If any of these whack jobs get elected as POTUS, which I doubt, we’re all seriously fucked.

Although as socially conservative as these candidates are, one would think that fucking the country outside of marriage would be the antithesis of their family values platforms

The best of Michele Bachmann (so far).

2001: In a letter she co-wrote for the Minnesota-based Maple River Education Coalition, Bachmann warns that President Bush’s education policies are leading the nation down the path to communism: “Government is implementing policies that will lead to poverty, not prosperity, by adopting the failed ideas of a state-planned and managed economy similar to that of the former Soviet Union.”

2003: Bachmann, then a state senator, explains why she doesn’t agree with the theory of evolution: “Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There’s a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species. That’s where it’s difficult to prove.” Don’t even get her started on how a bill becomes a law.

2003: Bachmann sends out a Christmas Card advertising the availability of her youngest son, Lucas: “Chick magnate [sic] needs wife to put him through med school, clean house, pay bills and run his life. Must be willing to gamble against onslaught of socialized medicine diminishing return on investment.”

2004: With the country locked in a heated debate over gay marriage, Bachmann finds parallels in the Old Testament: “We’re in a state of crisis where our nation is literally ripping apart at the seams right now, and lawlessness is occurring from one ocean to the other. And we’re seeing the fulfillment of the Book of Judges here in our own time, where every man doing that which is right in his own eyes—in other words, anarchy.”

2004: Songwriter Melissa Etheridge has breast cancer. That’s bad news. But there’s good news too, Bachmann tells the conservative education group EdWatch: maybe the cancer will give her time to reflect on her sinful lifestyle: “Unfortunately she is now suffering from breast cancer, so keep her in your prayers. This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.” In the same speech, she alleges that “almost all, if not all, individuals who have gone into the lifestyle have been abused at one time in their life, either by a male or by a female.”

2005: Bachmann explains her opposition to the state’s minimum wage as a form of job creation: “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage—if conceivably it was gone—we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

2006: Campaigning for a seat in the House, Bachmann delivers a five-minute prayer for You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, an anti-gay heavy metal ministry that promotes the gospel to public school students: “I thank you for how you are going to advance them from 260 schools a year, Lord, to 2,600 schools a year. Lord, we ask by faith that you would expand this ministry beyond anything the originators of this ministry could begin to think or imagine.”

2007: In an interview with the St. Cloud Times, Bachmann drops a bombshell: Iran is planning on turning all of Northwest Iraq into a secret terrorist training camp: “Iran is the troublemaker trying to tip over apple carts all over Baghdad right now because they want America to pull out. And you know why? It’s because they’ve already decided, that they’re going to territory, they’re- they’re going to partition Iraq and half of Iraq, the western northern portion of Iraq is going to be called, the United, uh, the, the uh, -oh, I’m sorry, I can’t remember the actual name of it now, but it’s going to be called, um, uh, the, the, uh, uh the Iraq State of Islam, something like that.”

2008: Just two weeks before election day, Bachmann calls for an investigation into the anti-American ambitions of Barack Obama and congressional Democrats: “What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they are pro-America or anti-America.”

2008: Redundant Redundancies, vol. I: “The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax.”

2009: Explaining her opposition to a bill that expands the scope of AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps’ domestic equivalent, Bachmann warned Minnesota’s KTLK that it could be the gateway to a mandatory brainwashing program: “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums.”

2009: Picking up on Sarah Palin’s debunked warning abut “death panels” in the Affordable Care Act, Bachmann declares: “If you are a grandmother with Parkinson’s or a child with cerebral palsy, watch out.”

2009: Bachmann goes on Glenn Beck’s Fox program to discuss the specter of “One World currency” and delivers what historians may later dub her “I am not a kook!” speech. “Glenn, I have experienced that throughout my political career being labeled a kook. It just happened again in a big story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But all we have to do is point to the treasury secretary on tape, on camera. This is not Michele Bachmann being a kook. This is our treasury secretary on tape and on camera.” A visibly confused Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had told Bachmann he was not aware of any plan to replace the dollar.

2009: As the nation (aided, perhaps, by Vice President Joe Biden) freaks out over Swine Flu, Bachmann implies—while stressing that she isn’t—that this whole thing might have been Obama’s doing: “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

2009: Bachmann warns the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. health care reform) would include a loophole permitting grade-schoolers to go on abortion field trips: “Does that mean that someone’s 13-year old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser. They don’t know any different.”

2009: Bachmann frets that Democrats’ cap-and-trade legislation, which proposed using the powers of the free market to create carbon exchanges, posed an existential threat to all Americans: “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people—we the people—are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”

2009: With health care reform coming ever closer to becoming a reality, Bachmann sounds the Horn of Gondor: “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”

2009: In an interview on Fox News, Bachmann warns that the Obama administration could potentially use Census data to round up Americans and put them in camps: “Between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into internment camps. I’m not saying that that’s what the administration is planning to do. But I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against them to round them up in violation of their constitutional rights.”

2009: Bachmann argues that abnormally large emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide can’t be regulated because if we did, birds would lose their natural habitat—air: “Life on planet Earth can’t even exist without carbon dioxide. So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that’s on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that—that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental lifecycle of Earth.”

2010: After former President Bill Clinton tells reporters Bachmann’s “armed and dangerous” remarks could send the wrong message to fringe groups, Bachmann accuses Clinton of celebrating the Oklahoma City Bombings—by speaking at an event honoring those who died in the attack. “He gave a speech, and he called me out in his speech, and he was talking about the anniversary—now, only Democrats would do this. The anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing by Tim McVeigh. I mean, we don’t celebrate these things. This is not what we celebrate.”

2010: Bachmann warns that critics of the Affordable Care Act will be denied coverage, based on their political beliefs. As evidence, she cites a conversation with a Japanese man who told her that in Japan, health care reform opponents are afraid to speak up: “‘Well why is that,’ I asked. [He said], ‘Because they know that would get on a list and they wouldn’t get health care. They wouldn’t get in. They wouldn’t get seen. And so people are afraid. They’re afraid to speak back to government. They’re afraid to say anything.’ Is that what we want for our future? That takes us to gangster government at that point!”

2010: After House Democrats propose using a relatively standard parliamentary procedures to pass the Affordable Care Act, Bachmann calls for an investigation: “Well, yeah, and the other thing is treason media. Where is the mainstream media in all of this not telling this story? This is a compelling story. That the Speaker of the House would even consider having us pass a bill that no one votes on. That should laugh her out of the House and there should be people that are calling for impeachment off of something like this.”

2010: Ever vigilant of bureaucratic waste, Bachmann alleges that President Obama’s trip to India will be more expensive than the entire war in Afghanistan: “The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He’s taking 2,000 people with him. He will be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are five-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending.” An exasperated White House spokesman later said the charges, which stemmed from an anonymous official in the west Indian state of Maharashtra, had “no basis in reality.”

2010: Remember that whole bit about Obama being “anti-American” back in 2008? Yeah, forget that. Bachmann tells Bill O’Reilly: “Candidate Obama was a very reasonable fellow.”

2010: Redundant Redundancies, vol. II: “That’s what the Bill of Rights is all about—to secure our individual liberties from an overweening huge bureaucratic large big government.”

2011: In a speech to New Hampshire tea partiers, Bachmann crafts an alternative history of the American Revolution: “What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty. You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.”

2011: As the House GOP prepares to vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government, Bachmann urges her colleagues to hold the line: “This is our mice or men moment. We need to show whether we are mice or men.” The bill passes; we’re mice, apparently.

2011: Bachmann suggests an unlikely fix to the nation’s long-term deficit: “I think if we give Glenn Beck the numbers, he can solve this.”

2011: On Twitter, Bachmann says the President’s proposal to make government-subsidized lunches more nutritional violates the will of the Founders: “Where in the #Constitution does it say the fed. government should regulate potatoes in school lunches? It doesn’t.” Which is true. Technically.

2011: In an address to the group Iowans for Tax Relief, Bachmann praises the Founding Fathers for their commitment to…diversity: “It didn’t matter the color of their skin, it didn’t matter their language, it didn’t matter their economic status, it didn’t matter whether they descended from known royalty or whether they were of a higher class or a lower class, it made no difference. Once you got here [to the United States] you were all the same. Isn’t that remarkable?”

In the same interview, she praises the Founders for working so hard to abolish slavery: “We know there was slavery that was still tolerated when the nation began. We know that was an evil and it was scourge and a blot and a stain upon our history. But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.”

2011: Seizing on an administration directive to promote energy-efficient light bulbs, Bachmann accuses the administration of banning light bulbs altogether: “I think Thomas Edison did a pretty patriotic thing for this country by inventing the light bulb and I think darn well you New Hampshirites, if you want to want to buy Thomas Edison’s wonderful invention you should be able to!”

2011: Michele Obama promotes breast-feeding as a means of reducing child obesity. Bachmann senses more sinister motives: “This is very consistent with where the hard left is coming from. For them, government is the answer to every problem. I’ve given birth to five babies and I breast fed every single one of these babies. To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition.”

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/michele-bachmann-greatest-hits

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He Talks a Good Game: Thoughts on The State of The Union.

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I watched President Obama address key issues of the country last night the way a CEO of a corporation would address his stock holders; there was a lot of can do, tighten our belts and work together to be more efficient rhetoric. Watching the State of the Union last night was a lot like eating Taco Bell? It tasted a lot like beef, but it’s actually just some meat with a lot of filler. As he talked about his grand vision for the country moving forward, all I could think was “that’s great, but what’s the plan?” 

Here were some thoughts I had last night while Obama spoke: 

• Does anyone else think Joe Biden resembles Sam the Eagle from the Muppet Show?
• John Boehner looked as if he was suffering from painful gas the entire time Obama spoke.
• The seating arrangement of Democrats and Republicans was effective in that it curtailed a lot of unnecessary applause. However there were several moments when I felt like I was looking at the political version of Whack-a-mole.
• Obama made good use of human props to make his points extremely effective.
• The African American family that was there as guests of Boehner; All I could picture was Boehner screaming at one of his aids “I DON’T CARE WHERE YOU LOOK, FIND ME A TOKEN BLACK FAMILY TO SIT IN MY SEATS NOW!!!!!”
• Renewable energy is a good start, but more needs to be done. By the way, I know they are a major contributor to your campaign fund, but would you quit harping on clean coal? There is no such thing.
• In spite of what you say, we do not have clean water to drink, nor clean air to breathe. Stop bull shitting the public.
• He talked of leveling the playing field on tax cuts. Does that mean closing a few token loopholes while giving even more corporations tax breaks? Reaganomics has yet to work Mr. President.
• Repeal of DADT is wonderful, kudos to you sir for doing the right thing. But what about same sex marriage, or you know, an equal rights guarantee for my LGBT brothers and sisters?
• High Schools and universities have become nothing more than corporate diploma mills. I want to see a plan to turn that around.
• On health care reform. Here is what I heard “If you have a better idea on how to improve reform, great, I would love to hear it.” “Anything else, fuck off!”
• Obama really dislikes big oil. I hope he has the balls to take it to the oil industry.
• John McCain and John Kerry sitting together. Kerry had a complete look of disdain on his face, while McCain looked like he was going to puke snakes at any moment.
• A million electric cars by 2015. Are they going to be affordable? It really doesn’t mean anything if they aren’t.
• I was really moved when Obama spoke about the 53 year old woman who went back to school. It was particularly touching when the camera panned in on her as she was saying “that’s me, that’s me!” That was pretty cool.
• Obama took a shot at Bush while talking about the budget. Apparently he’s still pissed at him like many of us are.
• Was Obama throwing props at Boehner for working his way from sweeping his dad’s bar room floors to becoming the third most powerful man in America? Or was he reminding Agent Orange that he’s no better than the rest of us and to take that gigantic stick out of his ass?

Overall I thought it was a good speech and Obama has again displayed his massive charisma as a speaker and leader. I’m still skeptical though. Show me bipartisan cooperation in action. Get things done. Make good choices on the direction we need to go. Shrink the huge gaps between the social classes. Make equal rights for everyone a priority. Hire more teachers, give them more money. Recognize global warming and follow through with making it one of our top priorities.

What did you think?