State of the Union Results
The following are excerpts from the State of the Union address by President Bush:
"The state of our union is confident and strong," the president told Congress, diplomats, military officials. “One of America’s most important institutions — a symbol of the trust between generations — is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security … on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. And so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security," Bush said.
“Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options … I will work with members of Congress to find the most effective combination of reforms. I recognize that 2018 and 2042 may seem like a long way off. But those dates are not so distant, as any parent will tell you. If you have a 5-year-old, you’re already concerned about how you’ll pay for college tuition 13 years down the road. If you’ve got children in their 20s, as some of us do, the idea of Social Security collapsing before they retire does not seem like a small matter. And it should not be a small matter to the United States Congress," he said, offering to hear any serious proposal that is suggested.
President Bush also said that he would support a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage"Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be re-defined by activist judges.
"To build a culture of life, we must also ensure that scientific advances always serve human dignity, not take advantage of some lives for the benefit of others ... I will work with Congress to ensure that human embryos are not created for experimentation or grown for body parts, and that human life is never bought and sold as a commodity."
The U.S. economy finished 2004 with its best performance in five years despite slowing in the final stretch. Economic growth clocked a 4.4 percent increase for all of last year.
It seems to me that he has his head in the right place. I like this president. I like him alot. I think he's the best thing this country has had going in many years.
posted by Banj @ 11:30 AM
17 Comments
17 Comments:
I like this guy a lot too, Banj. I get nervous these days though...things are either more complicated in the world, or they just seem like it (due to information spreading so fast). Either way, I gotta take my hat off to W., in my opinion, he's had one of the most difficult presidencies in a long time (which I don't believe is his fault). I think most of the decisions he's made were better than what any of us could have done under pressure.
W. has put our country in more danger than any other president ever has with his cowboy foreign policy. Not only that, but we have a huge debt and record trade deficit because of him. I dont know what you could like about a guy who doesnt have the balls to admit he lied to all of us and many of our finest are dead because of it.
well "ann." looks to me like you don't have the "balls" to leave any information about yourself! ha ha! that's typical of your type. The President didn't lie about anything. Do you ever think that Iraq could have been the next to supply the fesses of this world with the ability to kill our civilians and disrupt our way of life (like communicating like we are now)? It's all very fragile. And because people like you are so very spoiled, we have people like John Kerry running for president and you supporting him. What do you think that we would have to incure in THAT situation? Costs are higher than ever before. Wages are higher than ever before! The price of keeping your spoiled way of life is higher than ever before! Of course the deficit is high! He's not the answer to everything, but HE'S SAVING YOUR ASS, LIKE IT OR NOT!!!
2 typos. i know. hurried posts...
You think i have no balls, huh...but if you think this war protects your friends, family and country, what are you doing typing on a computer and not picking up a rifle? unless you dont have the courage of your convictions...it takes alot of guts to support a war when you arent being shot at...The army is struggling to find new recruits, go ahead, now's your chance to show your balls and your patriotism, tough guy...
Bush didnt lie? So there are WMD's in Iraq? Thats news to me. when did they get there? In case you forgot, that was why Bush said we were going to war. So either he was unbelievably wrong or he lied. Either way, it doesnt look good.
Oh wait, Iraq didnt have WMD's. So how could Iraq have spread something they didnt have?
Iraq could have killed our way of life? Exactly how many Americans did Saddam Hussein kill? its a big number, exactly ZERO.
Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Not a single bomber that day had any conection to Iraq.
How many terrorists were in Iraq pre-invasion? a few (see the 9/11 report), how many are there now? 15,000 (according to foxnews and cnn last week). Im confused, more terrorists makes me safer? how? I know that I am bad at math, but...
so there were no WMD's, Iraq was not a threat pre-war, but is now. (not to mention all the new terrorists being created in other countries because of it) And you still think this war was a good thing?
on top of all of this, while Bush fought in Iraq with no WMD's, he ignored Iran and North Korea. Both of them have WMD's. Iran supports terror groups. He also ignored Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two countires where the 9/11 bombers actually came from. But now, we are in no position to do anything about them.
Ill give you a free history lesson. Do you know who supplied Iraq with weapons in the first place? In the 80's when Husayn was at war with Iran, the Reagan administration did (you can see lovely pictures of Donald Rumsfeld smiling meeting a happy Saddam Husayn). we were so afraid of Iran's revolution that we sold him alot of weapons.
And who trained and armed Usama bin Laden and al-Qaida in the 80's when they were fighting in Afghanistan? Ron Reagan and the republicans. Many of the same people who are in the government now advised Reagan and Bush Sr. on these brilliant moves.
so i dont understand how some of the people who gave weapons to the very groups we are now fighting have suddenly smartened up and are protecting us.
does it make me spoiled to think that war does not always equal security? Or that Bush's economic policies make no sense? How can one increase spending by hundreds of billions of dollars (for the war) and cut taxes at the same time? its simple math.
I lost friends on 9/11, and I have friends now being shot at in Afghanistan and Iraq. So if they might be giving their lives I wanna be damn well sure it is actually for real security and not so that the price of oil will go down a few cents.
rob
uh ummm. ok, where do i start...."robert". let's see. i'm not over in iraq because i'm in my mid 40's? by the way, i was the FIRST age group to register with selective service when President Jimmy Carter put it back into effect...no one called...no war....I didn't go. But "robbie" I was ready. And....why aren't you there?
Next piece of crap to answer....
Uhhh there were signs of big weapons (WMD's) all over the place. We even had our troops exposed to seren gas explosions back in the summer. But ostridges like yourself, along with CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC refused to make too much of it, so you freaks can get your way. The obvious was there birdneck, pull your head out of your ass. It's also been documented that there were many vehicles found (bomb propulsion vehicles) found that made it all possible. Why would Iraq have such things?
3rd response to the sick....
You don't have a clue as to who was involved in 911. It's just your very shallow mentality as to you THINK might have been a part. Were you in Bagdad at the table? Where you in Saudi during the meeting? Where you friends with some Jordanian who you admired and were visiting for the weekend? Wake freaking up! And while you are at it, SHUT UP.
The 911 report is a total dog and pony show. How much money did WE spend to say that we got attacked? Nothing was proved, nothing has been done since. It's a perfect example of liberals spending money to make themselves satisfied..again.
No one ignored Iran and Korea. Have you listened to the news lately? Just forget it....but you can't because you never knew in the first place.
I know who supplied the mideast with weapons. You're no professor....
I lost friends in 911 too. They were Americans. I care. Don't you discount that from anyone that is a part of this country. If you do, it just makes you fodder (it's not too late).
And yes, I have people I know personally in Iraq. Many of them. I pray for their safety. And hope you wake freakin' up!
I can't believe I just spent 10 minutes of responding to such idotic thinking. Think I'll salute the flag!
By that way sweetheart...you still didn't post your email. Night night.
The 911 report was a liberal thing? OHH, Wasn't congress (both houses) run by republicans? Those damn liberal republicans...
so YOU were at the table in Iraq and Saudi Arabia? So YOU know what they were planning? YOU know better than all the republicans in congress and the FBI and CIA. YOU say Iraq was involved so they must have been...
oops, the only problem is you have zero evidence. Even the republican party disagrees with you (hardly a bunch of liberals). no one has ever produced a single shred of evidence linking Husayn to 9/11. No money trail, no contacts, nothing. Just because you want it to be true, doesnt make it so. Most people learn this lesson when they are children.
another quick history lesson: Saddam Husayn was a Ba'thist socialist. Socialists are athiests. Osama and 9/11 bombers were religious fanatics. Religious fanatics and socialists hate each other, and wont work together. Even against the US.
Saddam often oppressed the religious in his country, so Osama and al-Qaeda hated him. Osama, when Iraq invaded Kuwait before gulf war I, told the Saudi king that he would get his fighters to battle Saddam instead of the americans. Thats how much they hated each other. But you say Iraq and al-Qaeda worked together, so it must be true...
and when I say we ignored Iran and North Korea, we did absolutely nothing towards them for the last 4 years. Bush waited until AFTER they had nuclear programs to do something about this because he was busy wasting lives, money, time and goodwill in Iraq.
We've known for certain that NK exports nuclear goods, but we havent done anything about it. It may be too late now since they just announced they have nukes.
We know that Iran sends arms to groups like hizbollah, and now has a nuclear program, but we sat on our hands because Bush had to go to Iraq...we could have nipped this in the bud long ago, but bush ignored them...
what do you need my email for if you can communicate with me here? Isnt that the point of a blog?
rob
its also kinda funny that when the evidence doesnt support your views, it is either a conspiracy of the entire US and world news media (as you claim with WMD's), or a liberal "dog and pony show" (on Iraq having nothing to do with 9/11).
The Bush administration should be commended for looking into the intellegence failures that led to 9/11, it was the right thing to do. But they've had a long time now to fix things, and if they've done nothing, as you say, you cant blame liberals. If nothing has been done about our security failures, the blame is on the republican controlled congress (which liberals have very little power in).
Robert,
No one insinuated that any civilian knew what was and wasn't with 911. The point was that you don't either. Nor did I suggest that Al quada and Hussein were related. You just seem to make unsolicited reference to things that were never posted. Maybe you just don't understand....I'll not pursue this conversation further, for it is becoming boring trying to decipher your allegations. Please check back anytime....oh the the email? It was just humorous to see someone with so much opinion whose name is "anonymous."
So why did we sacrifice so much for Iraq, if we didnt know whether they had anything to do with 9/11 (as you claim), and they had no WMD's (as every weapons inspector from Scott Ritter to Hans Blix told us pre-war)? Why are my friends being shot at? Ill never stop bothering those who support the war until I get real answers to these questions. I think our troops deserve it.
the best you can say for the war is that we lost 100,000 Iraqi lives, 1500 American lives and $200 billion dollars on something that no one could know (about 9/11)? Maybe its just me, but I dont want my friends dying for something so vague. If we are going to sacrifice our finest men and women, we'd better be certain about the cause. We'd better have proof. How can you look into a mother's eyes and tell her that her son is dead, but we dont even have proof that the people he (or she)fought were a threat to the US?
Actually, we can know some things. To do an operation of 9/11 scale takes money. Money can be traced. Since we know who the bombers were, we can trace the money they recieved. Some of them were already known by American intellegence pre-9/11, so we have an idea of where some of them went and who they talked to. The fact that none of these investigations turned up anything on Iraq means something. It means Saddam Hussein, though he is an awful person, wasn't involved.
Thats how I know. It doesnt take a genious, all of this information is public. No connection to 9/11, nor WMD's. Iraq was no threat to America. I still dont get it, why are we there...
If I had voted for Bush I would apoligize to every soldier who went over there for putting in office an administration that was willing to sacrifice their lives without proof (or worse, that they may have invented the proof of WMD's for political reasons)
You dont want to keep discussing these issues. Thats sad. Our soldiers are dying, and you cant even be bothered to continue discussing why. sad.
This is Banj's daughter.
Wanna know what's sad?What's sad is your close-minded, anti-war, anti-troop, Anti-American opinions.
What's sad is that you would be able to look a soldier in the eye, a soldier who's over in the sandbox getting shot at so that you can continue to sit in the comfort and safety of your home, and say, "I do not support what you're doing."
My best friend's brother is over in Iraq as we speak. And you know what he said? He said that soldiers don't want to hear how bad the anti-war sentiment is over here. He said it destroys them to know that they're fighting for a cause no one believes in.
My friends are over in the Middle East giving their lives for YOUR safety, and you don't have the decency to support them. That, to me, is sad.
Dubya's our president. Support him or not, he's working to better our country. He's making decisions with you and I in mind so that we can live our lives to the fullest. America would be twice as strong if we would rally behind Bush and SUPPORT him and our troops, even if not everyone agrees with the cause.
Just a few thoughts.
Oh, and yeah, it sure does seem easy to spout off liberal propaganda when you're anonymous. And you're the one sitting here accusing people of not having balls. Ironic.
again, instead of discussing issues, you just call people names. Pointing out the faults of our leaders and their policies is not anti-American, especially when their policies lead to so many needless deaths. Thats not liberal or conservative. In fact, thats one of the bedrocks of our society. Its sad that this has to be explained to you. Since you want everyone to simply obey what our leader says to silence criticism, that makes YOU anti-American.
How is it anti-troop when I want them to come home safely and soon? but you want them to stay in harms way longer. That makes you anti-troop, your policies will mean more dead troops.
Why is your friend (and friends of mine)in Iraq? Was Iraq a threat to the US? No. Our army wiped them out in just 3 weeks they were so weak. Did they have WMD's, like Bush told us they did? Nope. Did they have a connection to al-Qaeda and 9/11? Again, a big, fat no. Were there any terrorists in Iraq before the war? Not really. So why are our friends there being shot at? Instead of calling me names, try answering that question. This is not "liberal propoganda", these are facts.
How can you tell a soldier to give up his life when all the reasons he or she was given to go over to Iraq turned out to be untrue?Doesnt it make YOU anti-troop when you wont even give them a solid explanation of what they are dying for? Apparently, you'll send them to fight and die for no reason...that seems about as anti-troop as you can get.
Many soldiers are very unhappy with this war. They werent given enough armor or manpower. They have also been forced to extend their tours of duty. Imagine being in a warzone for over a year. Soldiers didnt even do that during Vietnam.
Just yesterday, the CIA reported that the Iraq war has CREATED thousands of new terrorists. It has also been a place where they could get live urban combat training against the US. So this phase of the war on terror has backfired on us and made the US more vulnerable. But you think bush's policies are "best". You'll have to explain how creating and training more terrorists is in our best interests, cause I cant figure it out...
Ill give you another reason why W.'s policies are not "in our best interests". W. plans on keeping several permanent military bases in Iraq after we pull out. If you look at Bin Laden's "decleration of war", one of his biggest reasons for jihad against us was US military bases in his country. And now we are going to do it again? Not only that, from the 1920's to the 1940's, the British had bases in Iraq, and the Iraqis themselves fought the British to get those bases out. Repeating this mistake a 3rd time is not only dumb, but it puts our soldiers needlessly in harms way.
Im very open minded. When I hear a good explanation of why W's policies are in our best interest, Ill support him. So far, all I get from you and people like you is name-calling (which i guess makes you open minded, somehow).
sure its easy for me to sit here and write this, but it is just as easy for you. Why aren't you signing up. They take soldiers in their 40's. Or your daughter. There are many heroic female soldiers. But no, you can send people to their deaths from the comfort of your couch. How brave of you...
Ill give you a hint on how to convince people like me: try using some facts once in a while, it helps...
rob
Here's a thought.
How about you don't insult my bravery and my patriotism. I'm a seventeen year old girl, a junior in high school. Not exactly soldier material, now am I?
I'd like to make a longer response, but I can't, because I have to get back to class. Thanks.
See baby girl? That's just the way those big liberals are. They belch and don't even say "excuse me." Ha..ha!
oh, so when you call me anti-american, anti-troop, and your father calls me spoiled or other names it is ok. But when someone calls you a name you dont like it...
those names you call me are just as insulting, you and your father have questioned my patriotism several times. It is only fair that I question yours as well.
Hey, you turn 18 in less than a year, you can join the army then. They are desperate for new recruits to send to Iraq. If you believe in the justice of this war so much, put on a uniform and protect your family and country. Are you willing to die in this war for the cause? Are you willing to give up your hopes, dreams and youth in order to go to Iraq and defend our freedom?
If you are not, then I definitely question your patriotism, because you are willing send soldiers to their deaths in Iraq and not go yourself.
If Bush was in your place, he'd do the same for you...oops, he didn't. He got daddy to set him up in the Alabama Nat'l Guard so he didnt have to go to Vietnam...What a patriot! His daughters are of age, was he willing to send one of them off to Iraq and possible death to defend you?
And what about all those patriotic republican senators who voted for war, sending 1500 Amricans off to their deaths, Ill bet their sons and daughters are also doing their duty for our country in Iraq and Afghanistan...oh yeah, not a single member of congress or any other branch of government was willing to send their own kids to fight for such a "just cause". Real patriotism...its tear-jerking...
but you call me un-patriotic because I dont think we should have sent anyone to die there in the first place...I dont think this war has protected us one bit, in fact, it has made the situation worse. There are more terrorists today than there were pre-war (the CIA just said so)...
It's not that I don't like it when you call me names, of COURSE I like it. /sarcasm. It's just that you're sitting here questioning why I'm not out defending you when you don't even know anything about me. I'm not out defending you for a lot of reasons, a big one being that it's not LEGAL!
And I'm not the only name caller here. I believe you accused my dad AND our president of "not having any balls."
But guess what? When I turn 18 in September, I don't plan on joining up. Contrary to what you're going to accuse me of, it's not because I'm unpatriotic. If I were ever put into a position that I had to go I would gladly do so, but for the time being, I think there are better ways for me to use my talents to help humanity. I can do a lot more good for the world by going to med school and delivering your babies and your babies' babies. Yeah, they're desperate for doctors too.
Apparently this puts my patriotism in question. If that's the case, you claim to be patriotic --where's YOUR rifle? I'm pretty sure that you're older than seventeen. If you're so pro-troop and pro-America, why don't I see you joining up?
You're acting like just because I support out troops that I want them to die. News flash: I have friends over there. I want them to come home safely just as bad as you do. But while there there, I give them my full support and love, and I'm so very proud of them.
I just recently said goodbye to two very good friends of mine who are joined the army and air force, knowing what they could possibly get into. It's not easy, it's not fun. But these boys believed in the cause and they wanted to go....
Anyways...
I guess the rats butt went away?
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home