SOTU

What I've gathered, without bothering to actually read it yet:

1) The preznit respects dissent, and Cindy Sheehan was arrested for wearing a t-shirt with the number of U.S. war dead printed on it.

Digby:

When I saw that Cindy Sheehan had been arrested I was sort of disappointed that she'd decided to do any kind of stunt. My feeling was that she didn't need to because she is a living symbol of anti-war sentiment all by herself and would have made a statement just by being there. This government is always so protective of their King and his pageants that I didn't find it all that surprising that she would be removed for wearing a t-shirt.

This morning, while listening to president Bush spit the words freedom and democracy as applause lines, I read Glenn Greenwald's latest piece, which reminded me that I'm beginning to lose my awareness of being a frog slowly being brought to a boil. Sheehan did not break the law, she has a perfect right to wear a t-shirt in the capital and her arrest was an outrage. These things matter beyond politics or strategy.

Sheehan was wearing a shirt that had the number of American deaths written on it. It was not vulgar or disrespectful in any way. It is as much an expression of support for the troops as the one for which Mrs Young was ejected (and for which she was not arrested, despite the fact that unlike Sheehan she resisted and called the police "idiots.")

2) We're addicted to oil, and our solution is to build nuclear power plants, make gas out of corn (um, except we actually make corn out of oil...) and send more diplomats to oil-producing countries in Africa.


Times Editorial:

President Bush devoted two minutes and 15 seconds of his State of the Union speech to energy independence. It was hardly the bold signal we've been waiting for through years of global warming and deadly struggles in the Middle East, where everything takes place in the context of what Mr. Bush rightly called our "addiction" to imported oil.

Last night's remarks were woefully insufficient. The country's future economic and national security will depend on whether Americans can control their enormous appetite for fossil fuels. This is not a matter to be lumped in a laundry list of other initiatives during a once-a-year speech to Congress. It is the key to everything else.

If Mr. Bush wants his final years in office to mean more than a struggle to re-spin failed policies and cement bad initiatives into permanent law, this is the place where he needs to take his stand. And he must do it with far more force and passion than he did last night.

I suppose The Editors have to add disclaimers like that at the end of their eds, but really. As if.

3) Clapping loudly at something the President says is considered "assertiveness" when Dems do it:

Times SOTU article:

In a vivid display of increasing assertiveness against the president, the Democratic side of the House rose to its feet in applause when Mr. Bush made what he intended to be a conciliatory reference to the defeat of his Social Security proposal last year. Mr. Bush appeared taken aback before finally wagging his finger at them and saying, "The rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away."

4) Something about HSAs. Can we stop fiddling and get single-payer health, already? Oh wait: No, we can not.

Max is working on his own parody, I think I'll read his and skip the source.