Continuing with the useless political discussion. I promise I won't mention this State of the Union address again after today. Or I at least won't dedicate any more posts to it. I will try and make this short. That is very difficult for me.
To help the process, I will provide two quotes and let others speak for me. Afterwards, there will be a list of questions/issues I had with the State of the Union address (with excerpts). We will then call it a day.
The first is brought to you from a link which was provided via Fireland:
I can just see them all slapping one another's asses.
The second comes from a previously mentioned parodic site of the address. A pop up of the original excerpt can be found here for a handy comparison.
The curious can continue on to read my list of disturing or alarming remarks on the State of the Union address...For the impatient, at least read the last paragraph, where the much lighter topic of congressional fashion is questioned.
Here I propose to take excerpts from the speech - highlight, if you will - the oddities that began at 21.01 EST on January 29 on probably every national network in the States. Each excerpt will be followed by a single question, in an attempt to shut myself up.
Doesn't war usually hurt the young - aka the upcoming Congresses, presidents, and generations - the most?
Who did George Bush wink at when he said this, and why?
When looking up the "faith-based initiative" - already a suspicious name - I found that it is based on the "the same belief that every person in need is a worthy child of God." That is its foundation. Does this bother anyone?
Haven't several people pointed out that some "terrorists" learned to wreak havoc thanks to high-end American training? Perhaps this sentence is true in more ways than one?
Did someone say oil...er...vital region?
Did Bush really have to repeat this charming and oh-so-well-written conclusion to each paragraph FIVE times? Which speech writer's idea was that?
Since when is medicines a word? (He was paraphrasing so don't even tell me that it has anything to do with the South African dialect or what not...)
Seperation of church and state, anyone? (I realize this was already brought up previously, but it still gets my goat)
Now that that is finished, I would like to say that, in fact, some of the measures he introduced are in fact rather impressive. Nevertheless, I also know that these speeches are occasionally about spreading false promises at a key time. However, if Congress does go through with the $15 billion in AIDS relief, I will officially rethink my opinion of Republicans.
Does anybody else know that Winston Churchill quote? I am paraphrasing here, but it is something along the lines of "Any man who is under 30 and is not a liberal has not a heart. Any man who is over thirty and is not a conservative has not a brain." I can't find it anywhere besides the half-memory I have of it in my head. It sounds like "The Wizard of Oz" to me.
Lastly - click the image above. Is there some sort of rule that if you don't wear black, you have to wear that hideous red? Are those all women in that awful color? Do they have State of the Union uniforms or something?
The ass slapping, perfect visual...I can so see it
just play the game and have fun:
http://www.severin.ch/nmd
Hey, I played your little game and only got 13! I never was good at video games. But it was satisfying to see Bush's head fly like that.
I've heard that quote before - you aren't imagining it, I promise.
"This book [speaking of the bible] is the secret of
England's greatness." Queen, Victoria Windsor
"My daily advisor and comfort is the impregnable rock
of the Holy Scriptures." Gladstone, architech of
American law
"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of
life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.
These will make you a greater and happier people than
you are. Congress will do every thing they can to
assist you in this intention." a message to the
Native American Indians, May, 12th, 1779 by, George
Washington, 1st US President
"Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not
only of republicanism and of all free government, but
of social felicity under all governments and in all
the combinations of human society." John Adams, 2nd
US President
"I have always said, and will always say, that the
studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us
better citizens, better husbands, and better fathers."
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President, 1st Washington
D.C. school board president
"Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil
Society, he must be considered as a subject of the
Governor of the Universe... Religion... is the basis
and foundation of government." James Madison, 4th US
President, chief architect of the Constitution
"The Declaration of Independence first organized the
social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's
mission upon earth and laid the corner stone of human
government upon the first precepts of Christianity."
John Quincy Adams, 6th US President
"The bible is the rock on which our Republic rest."
Andrew Jackson, 7th US President
"I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take
all of this upon reason that you can, and balance on
faith, and you will live and die a better man."
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
"I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible
daily. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the
strength and the pleasure. I should be afraid to go
forward if I did not believe that there lay at the
foundation of all schooling and all our thought this
imcomparable and unimpeachable Word of God." Woodrow
Wilson, 28th US President
"Almost every man who has by his life work added to
the sum of human achievements of which the race is
proud - has based his life work largely upon the
teachings of the Bible." Theodore Roosevelt, 32nd US
President
"Religion is the only solid basis of good morals;
therefore, education should teach the precepts of
religion, and the duties of man towards God."
Gouveneur Morris, scribe / handwriter of the
Constitution
"Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scuple not to
call him an enemy to this country." John
Whitherspoon, Continental Congress, Declaration of
Independence
"Providence has given to our people the choice of
their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the
privelege and interest of our Christian Nation to
select and prefer Christians for their rulers." John
Jay, 1st Supreme Court Justice
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often
that this great nation was founded, not by
religionist, but by Christians, not on religions but
on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this reason
peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum,
prosperity and freedom of worship here." Patrick
Henry, Continental Congress
"...convincing proofs I see... that God governs in the
affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the
ground without His notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without His aid?" Benjamin Franklin,
Constitutional Convention,
"Of all the dipositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports... . Reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can
prevail in exclusion of religious principles."
Alexander Hamiltion, 1st Secretary of Treasurer
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the
Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil
constitutions and laws... . All the miseries and
evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition,
injustice, opppression, slavery, and war, proceed from
their despising or neglecting the precepts contained
in the Bible." Noah Webster, American Revolutionist,
Constitutional Convention, Dictionary
"There is not a community which cannot be purified,
redeemed and improved by a better knowledge and larger
application of the Bible to daily life." W.J. Bryan,
Democratic Orator and statesman, ran three times for
presidency and failed, nicknamed the Commoner
"I suspect that the future progress of the human race
will be determined by the circulation of the Bible."
Dr. R.A. Millikan, 1923 Nobel prize winner in physics
"Our ways; through a Christian President, finally
outlawed slavery in America with the world soon
following its lead. The great freedoms we enjoy are
the direct result of the Christian faith of our
predecessors. No great civilization or religion from
the world did it; it was our Christian Forefathers and
Foremothers and their open faith in God through the
Jesus Christ that did." William M.
Cooper, coopr2000@yahoo.com