Sotu '06

[mousepod]

I know it's good science, but I'll bet this old photo gives Georgie nightmares:

[mousepod]

I can't believe I missed such an obvious straight line:

prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids

[Gemini Cricket]

Why does Bush hate Mickey, Goofy, Minnie and a lab mouse with really good hearing?

[SacTown Chronic]

http://www.bushorchimp.com/

[Stan4dSteph]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I don't understand why. There is a wide disparity of opinion as to how much oil is there. Some artificially low, some artificially high.

When the Alaskan oil pipeline was built, there were environmental outcries about risks, damage, etc. None of that has developed. In fact, the warmth generated by the pipeline has led to dramatic increases in caribou populations.

600 acres of development in a 2 million acre preserve. Not unreasonable.

I would tend to believe the 506 scientists who signed a letter to the president opposing the drilling. It's not about the amount of land, it's about which land is being drilled. Animals are disturbed by the presence of the pipeline and drilling equipment. Female caribou stay away from the current pipeline, particularly when they are calving. Disruptions in the size and movement of herds could lead to reductions in populations. The Porcupine caribou population has been declining since 1989.

Some species of birds do not nest near structures like oil wells. If these are placed near to traditional nesting grounds, populations will suffer. It doesn't matter that it's only a small percentage of the total area.

http://www.ucsusa.org/ssi/archive/an...on-update.html

[Prudence]

The thought of patenting human embryos gave me a chuckle. That's how many years of prior art?

(Yes, I know there's probably lots of wonderful science behind this that would make it completely rational, but let me have my momentary chuckle, okay?)

[innerSpaceman]

And Anwar drilling all for enough oil to power Los Angeles for three weeks! Wow!

Did anyone miss the incremental health care bandaid proposals that will make patient worse? Health savings accounts with tax deductions that only make sense for a wealthy taxpayer and deductables ($5K for individuals, $10K for a family of 4) that only wealthy taxpayers can afford ... resulting in separate insurance pools for rich and poor, with premiums skyrocketing for all us poor shmoes stuck in the poor pool.


But enough of the healthcare crisis. Did I miss anything about the energy crisis other than the 20 year timetable for complete inaction by an administration that's a virtual arm of the oil industry? Did I miss anything about the entitlement crisis other than chiding the Congress for not swallowing whole the bogus private account system that was laughed off by 100% of everyone?

Did I miss anything about the environmental crisis or the poverty crisis or the liberty crisis? I didn't watch the whole speech. I sure caught the important parts about animal-human Dr. Moreau hybrids and gay marriage by judicial fiat. But did Bush actually take time in his S.o.t.U. to claim that warrantless searches were ok for friends of terrorists because he couldn't be bothered to make the phone call that would get him unquestioned warrants?

(I can't believe that most people seem to be buying Bush's line that the warrantless eavesdropping is necessary, when warrantful eavesdropping would have the same results. If the American people are this dumb, they have just the government they deserve. Ladies and Gentlemen, the state of the union is Hopeless.)

[scaeagles]

Everyone has their issues, I suppose.

Environmental crisis? Are we talking about global warming? Even Kyoto is only supposed to have extremely minimal effects on warming. Climate change happens. Always has. I don't think man caused the ice age or the thaw thereafter. Polution? Problems with the air over big cities, certainly, but I wouldn't call it a crisis. In China, yeah polution is a crisis.

Poverty crisis? I'm sorry, but most in America have no clue as to what true poverty is, and very few suffer from true poverty.

Liberty crisis? Again, I see it differently. I find it funny that Harry Belafonte goes to Venezuela to call Bush a terrorist and compare him to Nazis, when the same language in Venezuela about Chevez would cause him to be thrown into prison.

Perhaps I am just one of the mindless sheep who sees no liberty crisis. I don't see it. But I guess we all have blind spots. I guess I'm missing the whole thing with privatization of social security. I think I could do better than the approximately 2% I can expect on my social security. So...I'm not one of the almost 100% that laughed it off. I like the idea. But I probably just don't get it. I see differing reports on the amount of oil in ANWR, so I probably just don't get that either.

I guess I'll just be included with the dumb Americans and will get what I deserve.

[innerSpaceman]

Guess so. It's funny how most of the people who aren't living below the poverty line in this country don't see the poverty crisis, and those unaffected by the draconian laws such as the Patriot Act don't see the liberty crisis. I notice you didn't insist there was no health care crisis, since you are experiencing such fun with your insurance company. Funny how we only see what's right in front of our eyes, but it's a disservice to the rest of the world to deny the existence of that which we cannot see directly.

[Ghoulish Delight]

As long as there are dictatorships in the world, it's okay to chip away at the civil liberties of US citizens?