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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 01/31/2006 : 20:10:57
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I thought I'd start this, to encourage comment.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 20:22:28 [Permalink]
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I didn't catch it -- that oily, ignorant buffoon makes my ulcer bleed. I'll read the transcript when it comes on line. I suspect that it'll be pretty much the same hogwash, almost verbatum, that he's been spewing for 5+ years.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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trogdor
Skeptic Friend
198 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 20:35:35 [Permalink]
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I was watching a National Geographic special based on Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs and Steel it was excellent. It sought to answer the question "why did Europe conquer the rest of the world instead of some other area?" great book everyone should read it in history class.
I saw the very end. Bush referenced slavery and MLK then made a slew of empty promises and ended. hope to read the transcript soon. |
all eyes were on Ford Prefect. some of them were on stalks.
-Douglas Adams |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 20:38:46 [Permalink]
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My own observation is that I was nearly stunned by the aggressive stances Bush took, not only against terror groups and pariah states, but against his domestic opposition. He showed no regrets for having spied upon his fellow citizens without warrant for several years, in fact, he aggressively defended his "right" to do so.
He even threw in a slightly "stealthed" but essentially bigoted anti-gay comment, when he railed against "activist judges redefining marriage." Considering the timing, this also expresses his expectations for the future decisions of his new, right-wing Supreme Court Justices.
One thing I liked: When Bush hypocritically called for cleaning up corruption, someone in the House Chamber took the opportunity to loudly shout something like "Yeah!" in an ironic affirmative. Bush is sticking to the story that he didn't even know the crooked bribing Abramoff, and he has still not allowed documents such as appointment schedules and meeting notes regarding the convicted criminal to be released.
The speech was so full of outright lies, distortions, and non sequiturs that it would take hours to analyze fully.
Overall, the continuing aggressive tone is frightening.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 20:56:33 [Permalink]
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quote:
The speech was so full of outright lies, distortions, and non sequiturs that it would take hours to analyze fully.
W was his usual full-of-shit self, yeah.
He did have some encouraging things to say about alternate energy, including nuclear power and increased research funding for ethanol production, solar and wind. He did not, however, call for increased fuel efficiency, reduced consumption, or talk about reducing the billions in subsidies we are giving the oil companies. (no industry that has a single company who could qualify to the world-bank as one of the top 60 nations should be getting welfare from our government)
He called for better education in math and science (we all see how well his LAST plan in this area is working....).
Of course, he threw in the obligatory 9/11 comments (first one was in 3minutes, 40 seconds of the start).
Then he made the usual noise about gays and activist judges ruining the institution of marriage.
Then he made some comments about Iran and their nuke program, not as harsh as I was expecting him to be... not as harsh as he needs to be to stop the insane Iranian fundies from making an atomic bomb.
All in all fairly unimpressive.
I should note that the ONLY comments he made about the actual "State of the Union" was this single line: "The state of the union is strong."
All the rest was the usual theatre we have come to expect over the last 25 years.
Gov. Whatzisnuts (can't remember the name... heheh) who did the Dem response aferwards didn't really have much of interest (or much real content) to say either. He was a fairly good speaker though.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 20:58:07 [Permalink]
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In case you're one of the blissfully ignorant, living in a vacuum, hoping George W. Bush's contempt for the American people was just an ugly rumor, it's time to wake up. You no longer have the freedom to express your opinion in the United States. Toe the party line or go to jail. Here's how the State of the Union address began...quote:
Sheehan Arrested in House Gallery...
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday in the House gallery after refusing to cover up a T-shirt bearing an anti-war slogan before President Bush's State of the Union address.
"She was asked to cover it up. She did not," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman, adding that Sheehan was arrested for unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor.
Sieg heil!
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 21:43:02 [Permalink]
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| Land of the free...? |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 22:24:09 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude...
Then he made some comments about Iran and their nuke program, not as harsh as I was expecting him to be... not as harsh as he needs to be to stop the insane Iranian fundies from making an atomic bomb.
And you'd better believe it whenever George W. Bush says someone's going to get us with some WMDs. He's a pretty honest guy. And as bad a we're kicking Iraq's ass, with their population of 24,000,000, imagine what a cake walk it'll be kicking Iran's ass with 68,000,000 people. After all, we have all those spare military personnel just sitting around with nothing to do. It'll only take a month, maybe two, then "mission accomplished". Nothin' to it.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 22:47:18 [Permalink]
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Just found at CNN.com, an unscientific poll where people have rated Bush's SotU speech like a report card. At this point, he's getting D's in all four categories (Social issues, Economy, National security, and Foreign affairs):
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/state.union/results.html |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/01/2006 01:26:08 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 00:44:15 [Permalink]
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Read the transcript at AmericaBlog. I found it "Filled with words and music, and signifying nothing," when you take his track record into account. I noticed that he continued his anti-science nonsense concerning stem cells. I saw no mention of global warming or what he might propose to do about it.
I seem to recall that he said pretty much the same thing about oil dependance, back in '01, I believe it was. Not much action on that front except for the Japanese beginning to sodomize Detroit again with hybrids like they did with compacts in the '70s.
Bush is frightening in that he will never admit a mistake; will never back down from a premise no matter how misguided and even disasterous it turns out to be. And the really scary part of it is that in the dark recess' of his heart, he believes that he is right and that it is impossible for him to be not-right.
The man's a sociopath.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 02/01/2006 00:48:20 |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 06:06:33 [Permalink]
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When liberals act like hypocritical morons: http://www.worldcantwait.net/
Has anyone heard of World Can't Wait? I hadn't. But any group that thinks that making noise to literally drown out the words of a leader they don't like - even symbolically - seems to be to be promoting oppression more than freedom. Not to mention it comes off like the activist's version of a little kid covering their ears, saying, "I'm not listening!" As a staunch liberal, I am truly embarassed by these idiots.
Anyway, about the speech: I haven't analyzed it yet either. I couldn't even listen to it last night 'cause I had 7 hours of homework to do after coming home at 7PM. But I prefer to read the transcript later anyway, partially because that allowed better analysis, and partially because listening to Bush's voice makes me grind my teeth. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 06:30:40 [Permalink]
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Think Progress has posted their take on it: quote:
SOTU: Poverty Has Worsened Under Bush
Bush said: “In New Orleans and in other places, many of our fellow citizens have felt excluded from the promise of our country.”
FACT — POVERTY RATES HAVE INCREAED UNDER BUSH: The poverty rate has risen each year since 2001, with 12.7 percent of the population now living in poverty. African-American poverty has risen from 22.7 percent in 2001 to 24.7 percent in 2004, and child poverty has gone from 16.3 percent in 2001 to 17.8 percent (1.3 million children under the age of 18). [U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2005, Tables B-1 and B-2]
FACT — BUSH TAX CUTS TARGETED AT HIGH-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS: The tax bills enacted since 2001 “have helped high-income households far more than other households,” according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Households with incomes exceeding $1 million have received average tax cuts of $103,000, “an increase of 5.4 percent in their after-tax income.” But in 2005, the bottom fifth of households “will receive an average combined tax cut of $18 from these bills, raising their after-tax income by 0.3 percent.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 10/17/05]
And it continues on to pick this piece of classic mendacy apart.
It's quite an indictment....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 06:55:16 [Permalink]
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Well boys and girls, I watched this pretty much all the way through. I missed some of it because nature was screaming at me. It should have been labled SOTU: The Best of Bush.
There was nothing original in the speech. It didn't hit home until one of the commentators made a very apt observation. It appeared that he merely cut and pasted talking points from past speeches.
Let's begin the analysis.
Bush is announced (to which I admit yelling "dead man walking")
To his left is Tom Delay. Yes, that Tom Delay the evil exterminator.
He begins appropriately enough with a few statements concerning the passing of Coretta Scott King. The phrase that jumped out during this was "we are grateful for her life". Nothing about her civil rights work.
Then were off to the races with known applause getters. Nods to military families and fights against terrorism.
During a segment about lobbyist reform, John McCain yells "Yeah!" Applause erupts. During this he tries to downplay the focus on the Republican party ethics.
The applause for the call for renewing the Patriot Act is far more subdued than the 2005 SOTU. Bush seems a little worried at that. Unexpected applause erupts when he mentions that his social security reforms failed. Standing O from the Democrats. He seems a little pissed.
He again tries to blur the lines between Iraq, Al Queda, and 9/11.
He greets the two new justices to SCOTUS and has a line thanking O'Connor for her service.
He makes it clear in no uncertain terms that he believes that by the Constitution and statute that he has the permission to run around the FISA court. Very subdued applause at that one. The message ain't playing well for the rank and file of his own party. Even gets a bit of contempt from Sen. Clinton.
He rails against "activist judges" that have the temerity to actually insist that the 14th amendment be adhered to.
He also rails against all forms of cloning and stem cell research. He also is railing against xenotransplantation and genetic engineering of human-animal hybrids.
For the Democratic response, they choose the Democratic governor of Virginia. I expect him to be a front runner for the Democratic ticket in 2008. He is articulate, respectful, and diginifed. Whomever the Republicans put up will be hard pressed against someone who has shown that he can not only work with the opposite party, but can build concensus for his own ideas. Unlike the divider we have in the office of the President now.
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Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
| Edited by - Valiant Dancer on 02/01/2006 06:57:47 |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 07:34:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Valiant Dancer
There was nothing original in the speech. It didn't hit home until one of the commentators made a very apt observation. It appeared that he merely cut and pasted talking points from past speeches.
And
quote:
Originally posted by filthy
I found it "Filled with words and music, and signifying nothing," ...
I have a hard time watching applause for sound bites, and haven't been able to for several years. I prefer filthy's approach, read the transcript.
Yesterday, prior to the speech, NPR was interviewing somebody from JerkWater, Kansas. After stating their complete support for Bush, she was asked "What do you expected to hear or hoped to hear in tonights State of the Union address." After an uncomfortable pause she stammered through a couple of sound bites. I wonder how many think that repeating sound bites makes you well informed. |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 09:24:56 [Permalink]
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quote:
Posted by GeeMack:
In case you're one of the blissfully ignorant, living in a vacuum, hoping George W. Bush's contempt for the American people was just an ugly rumor, it's time to wake up. You no longer have the freedom to express your opinion in the United States. Toe the party line or go to jail. Here's how the State of the Union address began...
She violated the dress code knowing that she would be removed and arrested. So what? She accomplished what she set out to do.
Reactionary nonsense like "you no longer have the freedom to express your opinion in the US" and "toe the party line or go to jail" only demonstrates the same type of emotional reasoning used by the republicans.
You actually lessen the effect and value of Mrs Shehan's protest when you respond with inflamatory nonsense like that. And you certainly sacrifice your credibility as a skeptic when you do it.
quote:
Poested by [b]GeeMack[/b:
And you'd better believe it whenever George W. Bush says someone's going to get us with some WMDs. He's a pretty honest guy. And as bad a we're kicking Iraq's ass, with their population of 24,000,000, imagine what a cake walk it'll be kicking Iran's ass with 68,000,000 people. After all, we have all those spare military personnel just sitting around with nothing to do. It'll only take a month, maybe two, then "mission accomplished". Nothin' to it.
I don't "believe" much of anything that W has to say. But on the point of not letting Iran have nukes... I have to say I agree with the sentiment.
Iran, with its current government, should not be allowed to build nuclear weapons. If you have paid the first bit of attention to comments by the Iranian president you'd agree.
I fully support their right to have access to nuclear power facilities, and there are several ways in which they can have them without having weapons grade plutonium at the same time.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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