State of the Union

I know its a little late, but I thought I would respond to the State of the Union Address. I wrote down some notes as I watched it, but this is the first time I have had the opportunity to actually organize and present those notes.

The whole address was pretty upsetting, but the think that bothered my most was Bush's plan to subsidize "faith based" educational opportunities to help "save" children who are "trapped in failing public school(s)". So instead of making our public schools a good learning environment, we'll just give scholarships so kids can go to the Christian Academy or the Catholic School. Suggesting that the only thing we need to do to fix education is to ship our kids to private bible schools is very representative of Bush's personal politics, if you can privatize it and inject it with Jesus, it must be better.

I was raised in public schools, I even went to a public preschool, and I am currently in a public college, so I have a bit of a soft spot for public schools to start with. The real problem I have with this is watching what is happening where I live. In my hometown, they are currently building a MASSIVE Christian Academy. They are doing this even though the 2 public schools in town are not overcrowded, not educationally inferior, and have state championship caliber athletic programs. So why do they need a new place for their children to learn? Because, according to these parents they want their children to be taught "in an environment consistent with their faith and beliefs". Yeah, your god forbid that your children learn differing viewpoints or REAL SCIENCE at a public school. QUICK GET THEM ALL UNDER THE SHELTER! The umbrella of Religion will only keep out the "bad" people for a while, eventually we all have to deal with them. Fortunately for me, I was raised in public schools, I know how to deal with them.

Other things I found mildly amusing about the Address were:

1) The theme of the speech was "Trust", but he made a huge push to extend the Government's already atrocious wire-tapping and surveillance powers.

2) Called for Congress to remove ear-marks and promote honesty and transparency, all while he corrupts the executive branch by extending its power and secrecy.

3) Balanced budget by 2012. Our projected deficit for next year is $400 billion, before tax breaks and stimulus packages. I'd like to see the math on how its all going to even out in the next 4 years.