Happy Birthday to Phillip Glass and my grandma Lucille.

A thoughtful, mature response to the President's State of the Union address will follow shortly, taking in both good and not so good points and giving credit where credit is due. However, here are my notes from last night, in all their snide and prez-bashing glory.

Complete text of GWB's speech

The last time we met in this chamber, the mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were captives in their own homes, forbidden from working or going to school. Today women are free, and are part of Afghanistan's new government, and we welcome the new Minister of Women's Affairs, Dr. Sima Samar.

Today women are "free". Afghanistan is "liberated". Here's our token chick. Note the lack of burqua. Aren't we great? Have we seen this before? Will Dr. Samar be giving a follow-up address on the state of Afghani politics? Has anyone thought about whether Afghanistan wants or needs democracy, or whether it will be good for the country to have the USofA running a puppet government, or whether the USofA should be involved at all except as a trading partner and loaner of aid?

My hope is that all nations will heed our call and eliminate the terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own. Many nations are acting forcefully. Pakistan is now cracking down on terror, and I admire the leadership of President Musharraf. But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake: If they do not act, America will.

Nonspecific threats are the backbone of any good foreign policy.

Our first priority must always be the security of our nation, and that will be reflected in the budget I send to Congress. My budget supports three great goals for America: We will win this war, we will protect our homeland, and we will revive our economy... My budget nearly doubles funding for a sustained strategy of homeland security, focused on four key areas: bioterrorism, emergency response, airport and border security and improved intelligence.

We will now go forth and improve intelligence by cutting funding for education. =P I'm an unrepentant capitalist, but as long as this country is as dependent as it is on its mixed-market economic structure and its public education system, do educational budget cuts combined with tax cuts really make sense?

There is more to do. We need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs. We must upgrade our teacher colleges and teacher training and launch a major recruiting drive with a great goal for America: a quality teacher in every classroom.

Ah, here it is. Not included in the budget, but we must do it anyway. Somehow. Being that restructuring the way the education system is administered is out of the question, apparently.

A good job should lead to security in retirement. I ask Congress to enact new safeguards for 401(k) and pension plans, because employees who have worked hard and saved all their lives should not have to risk losing everything if their company fails. Through stricter accounting standards and tougher disclosure requirements, corporate America must be made more accountable to employees and shareholders and held to the highest standards of conduct.

Must... not... mention... Enron...

For too long our culture has said, ``If it feels good, do it.'' Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: ``Let's roll.'' In the sacrifice of soldiers, the fierce brotherhood of firefighters and the bravery and generosity of ordinary citizens, we have glimpsed what a new culture of responsibility could look like. We want to be a nation that serves goals larger than self. We have been offered a unique opportunity and we must not let this moment pass.

Imagine Let's Roll as an ethic and a creed. Does it offer more reflection and thought than If It Feels Good, Do It? Does it distinguish individual rights, responsibilities, and freedoms?

We've come to know truths that we will never question: Evil is real, and it must be opposed.

Philosophers everywhere rejoice! You don't have to debate the question any longer. That cuts some conferences pretty short, though.

Our enemies send other people's children on missions of suicide and murder. They embrace tyranny and death as a cause and a creed. We stand for a different choice, made long ago, on the day of our founding. We affirm it again today. We choose freedom and the dignity of every life.

...which covers GW's position on euthanasia, assisted suicide, abortion, and foreign policy, all without saying any of these things specifically. His speechwriter deserves a raise.

fascist or Jeffersonian anarchist?
I happen to like this man.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert Heinlein