The State of the Onion

Government is like an onion; peel away one layer and you`ll find another and another. President Bush, like Presidents before him, gave us the usual State of the Union address; he peeled away a layer or two of the onion, but added new layers. In the end we`ll probably end up with more government than we started with (which, I suppose, is very un-onion like and ruins my analogy.)


My impression of the SOTU speech was YAAAWWWWHHHHNNNN! The President rehashed his old themes,suggested eliminating some governmental boondoggles but proposed massive new spending programs. I really didn`t hear any new or innovative ideas; the Bush Presidency really has gotten into a rut.

He did get a nice dig at the Democrats when he said, ``second guessing is not a strategy`` and he did a nice job of rehashing his classic war speech. I wasn`t so pleased with his assertion that radical Islam is a perversion of a noble faith; it is the core of that noble faith and a passive Islam would be the perversion. If we refuse to face that, we are destined to lose this war. I don`t know if the President is saying these things for political reasons or if he really believes them.

By the way, did anybody catch the camera shots of John McCain? The man should have been smoking a corn-cob pipe and preparing to down a can of spinach; he looked like the twin brother of Popeye. I expected him to burst out with, ``that`s all I can stands, I can`t stands no more!``

Also last night, I realized that Hillary Clinton missed her calling; she would have made a dandy old-school nun! I`m talking about the really mean knuckle-rapping, fire-and-brimstone, I`m-coming-and-hell`s-coming-with-me type who would wack a poor child with her yardstick for not being able to afford to buy books. I`m talking a ``pray to the Lord for mercy, child, cause you ain`t getting it from me`` type of nun. I`m talking abusive orphanage nun. She would have been a natural!

Actually, I was struck by how Dickinsonian our government looks in general. It`s as if Fagin, Mr. Bumble, Jacob Marley, etc. had all gotten together in the same party. It`s no wonder radical Islam has no respect for us!

Getting back to the speech, the President really proposed nothing new-just more of it. His ``America is addicted to gasoline`` rehashed his alternative energy proposals of the past (which haven`t given us alternative energy)and he seems naive enough to believe that throwing money at a physics/chemistry problem will solve it. (Why hasn`t ethanol caught on? Because it produces less energy than gasoline. Why hasn`t hydrogen caught on for cars? Because it takes considerable energy to split hydrogen from oxygen. These are fundamentals. Gasoline is too convenient and relatively cheap.) His call for more wind and solar power was ludicrous (how long are we going to keep playing with these toys?). I liked his nuclear energy proposal.

Once again, our President has called for his guest-worker program. This guy just can`t get it through his thick skull; America, and his base in particular, are vehemently opposed to this hair-brained scheme. The President seems ``stuck on stupid`` in regards to immigration policy, and his unwillingness to come to grips with a growing crisis may well wreck his party. I`ve said it before and I`ll say it again-THERE IS NO REAL ECONOMIC BENEFIT FROM ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. The illegals stand to gain, as do some crooked employers who offer serf-like, third world wages, but the rest of the country pays. Those Americans who would take these jobs find themselves unemployed and living off government largesse. The illegals send what money they make to Mexico, thus it leaves the economy. They use emergency room services (at our expense) when sick, they use (or cause to be used) police, firefighters, social workers, truancy officers, schools. They are not paying into the system. If they can manage to have a child born here, the whole family has a guaranteed ticket to permanent residency. They`ll then be eligible for social security and other goodies, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. A guest-worker program simply takes the heat off of would-be illegals, and makes coming to America more inviting. It is a monument to stupidity, and the President is determined to wreck his own party on the shoals of this reef of ignorance.

In general, I think this speech was like yesterdays coffee rewarmed.

Perhaps it`s time to end this pony show. Many Presidents never personally presented the State of the Onion speech, electing instead to send a written statement. The Onion is merely an exercise in partisan backslapping, and serves no real purpose. We generally know what is coming, and rarely learn anything useful. The spectacle of half the audience standing in applause while the other half sits grudgingly on their hands is amusing, but hardly worth the time devoted to watching it. I think it`s time to end this silly charade.

I love the Democrats response, too! As if we didn`t hear enough, we are treated to the opposition party whining about how mean and unfair the President is, and how they have a better way (if they had a better way, why haven`t they given us any particulars?) Tim Kain did a better job than Pelosi or Reid would have done, but it was still the same old Kerryesque ``we have a secret plan`` type thing. If there is ``a better way`` then tell us what it is, for crying out loud! They didn`t even have the sense to hammer Bush on immigration, moving on to discuss ENVIRONMENTALISM (as if anyone in the country gives a rats-rear-end.) His ending with a prayer was the heighth of hypocrisy.

I give the State of the Onion a C+. President Bush needs to find his focus.