(no subject)
Well, I listened to the State of the Union address. Wasn't terribly shocking. He basically said he wants to prohibit law suits (especially asbestos claims and malpractice suits), eliminate the majority of social programs, invade Iran (and possibly other to-be-determined enemies), tie the hands of the courts, privitise Social Security and continue attempting to establish Christianity as a state religion both through faith-based government programs and a Constitutional amendment defining marraige by Christian standards.
'We will pass along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief among them is freedom from fear'
Correct me if I'm wrong, but would our chief freedoms not be the ones guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?
It's rather interesting to hear him talk about freedom right now. I've been reading about the nature of freedom and free will lately. I tried to figure out what definition of freedom Mr Bush is using when he talks of it. It probably will not come as a shock that, as far as I can tell, he has none. It is a semantically empty buzzword. He couldn't even use it consistantly in this one speech.
Another really significant thing I noticed about his speech is how brazen he is getting in his rhetoric. He's not afraid to come right out and completely contradict himself, knowing that he will still recieve a standing ovation. The best example was when he spoke of ending tyranny around the globe and enforcing democracy, but then went right on to say that we are not overthrowing some types of governments and replacing them with our own. That's what 'the terrorists' are doing.
Here's the really interesting part. The conservatives are claiming that Mr Bush's reelection showed that the American people value conservative ideology. Yet the first half of Mr Bush's speech was an attempt to make him look good by all the liberal standards. He tried to show that his policies are benefitting the environment, that he supports education, that he's in favour of civil rights (except for gays). This is, of course, bullshit, but why would he even pay lip service to liberal ideals if America is truly conservative at heart?
'We will pass along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief among them is freedom from fear'
Correct me if I'm wrong, but would our chief freedoms not be the ones guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?
It's rather interesting to hear him talk about freedom right now. I've been reading about the nature of freedom and free will lately. I tried to figure out what definition of freedom Mr Bush is using when he talks of it. It probably will not come as a shock that, as far as I can tell, he has none. It is a semantically empty buzzword. He couldn't even use it consistantly in this one speech.
Another really significant thing I noticed about his speech is how brazen he is getting in his rhetoric. He's not afraid to come right out and completely contradict himself, knowing that he will still recieve a standing ovation. The best example was when he spoke of ending tyranny around the globe and enforcing democracy, but then went right on to say that we are not overthrowing some types of governments and replacing them with our own. That's what 'the terrorists' are doing.
Here's the really interesting part. The conservatives are claiming that Mr Bush's reelection showed that the American people value conservative ideology. Yet the first half of Mr Bush's speech was an attempt to make him look good by all the liberal standards. He tried to show that his policies are benefitting the environment, that he supports education, that he's in favour of civil rights (except for gays). This is, of course, bullshit, but why would he even pay lip service to liberal ideals if America is truly conservative at heart?