Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Bad for their knees, not to speak of sore palms
The State of The Union, 6:00 PM (PST)
Those who are going to watch the president deliver his fifth State of the Union message will again see something that has become familiar...the Republican members of the House bobbing up and down like marionettes to applaud the president at every second sentence. They would be better off staying up on their feet but they enjoy much more comprehensive medical insurance coverage than the rest of us. And they will burn some calories.
I can think of other things to do than watching the charade on TV. We know what he is going to talk about.
First the Iraqi election. The president will claim it was a great success. There was less violence than was anticipated; that was the good part. Final numbers are yet to be announced but according to initial reports more than 50% of Iraqis, mostly Shias participated. The Kurds, too, voted in large numbers. Sunni Arabs stayed away. That portends ill about the future. Grand Ayatollah Sistani, religious leader of the Shias, has already indicated his desire for Islamic laws to replace civil laws. That would be a drastic shift. Iraq, under the Baathists, was a secular nation. There are many doubts and questions about the future. Could be a long time before things fall in place and peace prevails between the different factions. Iraq ruled by conservative Islamic legislators would not be the democratic country that we wanted to see.
He will laud the great sacrifice made by members of the armed forces but stay away from the costs of the war.
Restructuring Social Security, the lynch pin in the president's agenda for the second term. He will try to sell it to the American people without giving details of the costs and risks. He will just accentuate the "pie in the sky" scenario.
He would probably touch upon the health care issue, again without stating that Medicare recipients had their largest ever increase in premium while facing cuts in coverage in the form of higher deductibles, and lower limits on availability of prescription drugs.
He will boast of the success of his tax cuts without mentioning the widening gap between incomes at the upper and lower ends.
He will talk about his forthcoming visit to Europe and his goal for increased cooperation. A recent global poll reflected that only two countries---Poland and India---were supportive of the president and his policies.
*****************
"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do, " Alice hastily replied; "at least I mean what I say, that's the same thing, you know."
"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see!"
----Lewis Carroll ( Alice in Wonderland)
Those who are going to watch the president deliver his fifth State of the Union message will again see something that has become familiar...the Republican members of the House bobbing up and down like marionettes to applaud the president at every second sentence. They would be better off staying up on their feet but they enjoy much more comprehensive medical insurance coverage than the rest of us. And they will burn some calories.
I can think of other things to do than watching the charade on TV. We know what he is going to talk about.
First the Iraqi election. The president will claim it was a great success. There was less violence than was anticipated; that was the good part. Final numbers are yet to be announced but according to initial reports more than 50% of Iraqis, mostly Shias participated. The Kurds, too, voted in large numbers. Sunni Arabs stayed away. That portends ill about the future. Grand Ayatollah Sistani, religious leader of the Shias, has already indicated his desire for Islamic laws to replace civil laws. That would be a drastic shift. Iraq, under the Baathists, was a secular nation. There are many doubts and questions about the future. Could be a long time before things fall in place and peace prevails between the different factions. Iraq ruled by conservative Islamic legislators would not be the democratic country that we wanted to see.
He will laud the great sacrifice made by members of the armed forces but stay away from the costs of the war.
Restructuring Social Security, the lynch pin in the president's agenda for the second term. He will try to sell it to the American people without giving details of the costs and risks. He will just accentuate the "pie in the sky" scenario.
He would probably touch upon the health care issue, again without stating that Medicare recipients had their largest ever increase in premium while facing cuts in coverage in the form of higher deductibles, and lower limits on availability of prescription drugs.
He will boast of the success of his tax cuts without mentioning the widening gap between incomes at the upper and lower ends.
He will talk about his forthcoming visit to Europe and his goal for increased cooperation. A recent global poll reflected that only two countries---Poland and India---were supportive of the president and his policies.
"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do, " Alice hastily replied; "at least I mean what I say, that's the same thing, you know."
"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see!"
----Lewis Carroll ( Alice in Wonderland)
