another loss mourned and someone tell congress down in front...

in another sign of the coming of the end...coretta scott king passed away. times like this make me mourn not only the loss of strong leaders...but the loss of strong leadership in this country. maybe it is inevitable to believe that leaders of your time cannot hold a candle to those of past generations, maybe the magnitude of causes has just diminished...although we continue to fight for the things our past great leaders strove for and gave their lives for...and with the way leadership in this country is going, it doesn't look like there is an end in sight for those struggles against poverty, racism, bigotry, tyranny, genocide, hunger, disease...it's going to be a long century, for us and the rest of the world.

speaking of leadership in this country, the state of the union and the response were painful...as usual. for starters, i am really not sure why bush's people felt that they needed to come out firing against isolationism...or maybe i am just out of the loop. maybe it's 6 years in office...but is this the same president that was reelected? the speech had moments where i thought "maybe this is it, maybe this will be the call that awakes this country and brings labor and brainpower to accomplish the impossible"...unfortunately everything i thought maybe he had an idea with...i don't buy that there will be any real effort for it. energy independence, renewable energy sources, getting the oil monkey of our collective back, education...i don't think we have anyone strong enough to make it happen.

the response, much like the state of the union, was just too token for me. both focused too much on why they are wrong and not why i am right.

the whole spectacle, as it does every year, makes me wish we could go back to the days before television and radio...when we could just read the state of the union...or people actually would know it without having to be told by the president (what a novel idea...an informed citizenry). things that particularly annoyed me...amid the ridiculous number of standing ovations i noticed one thing early on...tons of cheers for comments about our military actions...spattered applause when humanitarian needs were mentioned. that says it all about how messed up our priorities can be.and as for the ludicrous standing ovations...sit your ass down and listen to the damn speech. yes, we know you want to show off for the cameras and show your constituents you support the troops and you love/hate george w. bush...but you annoy the piss out of all of us when you do it. and another thing...why can't we make them sit spread out more so it isn't republicans on one side and democrats on the other? can't these people act like adults? i suppose that is asking too much.

here is my brief state of the union:

the manufacturing infrastructure in this country is collapsing and it will mean the end of our economic superiority. there is too much emphasis on capital, and we have forgotten the words of lincoln by placing it above labor. we are too entangled in the wrong places for the wrong reasons overseas. the wealth gap is out of control. the culture of lobbyists has destroyed our federal government. we have no real leaders. our education system is hurting. the american sense of entitlement has gotten disgusting.all that being said, there is hope, there is so much that this country could do for it's citizens and the world. thus, i challenge my fellow citizens to rise up and meet the challenges of today...in 10 years i want energy independence, and not on domestic oil, but on renewable forms of energy. i suggest federal standards requiring all vehicles sold in the u.s. to get no less than 40 mpg...we have the technology, it won't cost much...get it done. instead of cutting programs that are necessary to form the safety net to catch the folks losing their jobs overseas and claiming all they need is education, we will tax those people that can afford it to pay for health care, education, and welfare. there is no reason that in this country, someone is not able to go to college for financial reasons...we can afford it, and we should pay for it. instead of capping malpractice claims, we will cap ceo salaries at 20 times the average assembly line worker, we will regulate health insurance, we will tax the shit out of exxon and other oil companies when their profits are out of whack with their claims.

this country is on the decline, it was inevitable, and it was hastened by technological advances. we must accept it and work to avoid the pitfalls that previous world economic superpowers fell into. it is almost too late...this is our generation's d-day.

i'm a reasonable man, get off my case...