THE STATE OF OUR CORRUPT CORPORATE UNION

The things that stood out most in Bush's last (thank god) State of the Union speech last night were the ties he and Cheney were wearing. One was red and the other blue. Someone gets paid to coordinate their wardrobe.

Nancy Pelosi had on a faded purple dress and alternated from jumping up and clapping for various Bush statements, particularly the ones about we are going to kick terrorists behinds, to then slumping down in her seat looking bored and half asleep.

After the speech it was very interesting to see Bush work the line of Republicans and Democrats asking for his autograph on the booklet containing his speech. "Look honey, I got the autograph of the worst president in the history of the country! How much do you think it will be worth on e-Bay?"

For those of you who didn't watch here is what you missed:

Bush promised the nation he would "stay on offense" which of course means more war.

The economy is entering a period of "uncertainty." Thus Congress should make "tax relief" permanent for the rich.

He threatened Iran again.

He pointed out our "hero troops' in the audience.

We are "spreading the hope of freedom" around the world. This of course means we are using our military to bust the chops of countries not submitting to the authority of corporate globalization.

Then he smiled his way through a mind numbing list of his old standards:

• "No child left behind" is the greatest thing in the world.
• We need privatization of education so our kids can learn to read.
• More free trade agreements signed (he nodded his thanks to the Democrats).
• Faith based volunteerism, or as he called them "Armies of Compassion", will solve our social problems. Everything gets militarized these days, including our compassion. Be sure to snap to attention and salute before you hug anyone or hand them food at the local soup kitchen. And don't forget to say, "Sir Yes Sir" instead of "you are very welcome."
• Our poor Pentagon needs more money because all their toys are broken from the noble war in Iraq.
• More stuff like that but I ran out of room on my note pad.

Watching the speech with me was a former Navy officer who was assigned to Aegis destroyers during Bush's "shock and awe" invasion of Iraq in 2003. This particular person, now thankfully out of the Navy, was the officer on the deck when her ship launched the first cruise missile used in the attack. She told me it was routine to drive the Navy ships (always in a convoy) through the Straits of Hormouz and when they did it was "standard operating procedure" for Iran or the United Arab Emirates to scramble little boats that would watch the U.S. Navy ships. She became quite animated talking about how Bush "blew out of proportion" the recent incident as a way to demonize Iran.

It is always very interesting to see a person, who has had a personal experience otherwise, recognize how a politician is misleading the nation. This young former Lieutenant will be forever changed by that experience.

So all in all the whole Bush speech was a bore and another sad moment for America.

Why don't we ever see one Democrat stand up and say, "Bush you are full of shit!" That would be the real state of the union.