POLITICS - State of the Intersection

Time to get ready for the State of the Union address tonight. What should we expect? Here's a brief run-down. In addition, here's a link to the SOTU Drinking Game

War and Terror will comprise the first half. BushCo will put their best spin on these topics:

The war on terror has not been very successful. Taliban are regrouping in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda 3.0 are proliferating in remote Asia.

The Iraq Invasion has been a disaster. Notice that the US is now begging for the UN to come clean up our mess.

Moammar Kadafi has told us that he disarmed. Of course, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt and believe him without invading his country.

North Korea has told us that they will give up their nuclear ambitions. Of course, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe Kim Jong without invading his country.

Domestic Agenda - Bushco will be setting the stage for their second term. This should be the fun part.

Bush's Space Program - Is this a serious proposal from Bush, or is it a smokescreen to divert NASA's resources to the military? If Bush doesn't mention the new space proposal, then we'll know it's smokescreen. I hope I'm wrong, and that he spends a lot of time discussing space and a renewed dedication to the sciences. We'll find out tonight.

Health care - Expect to hear a lot of hot air about America's uninsured. Unlike the Dems, who actually care about providing health care to America's 40+Million uninsured, Bush is expected blame spiraling health care costs on medical malpractice suits. The Wall Street kids should be happy, but what about ordinary Americans?

Those Silly Gays - Bush will stop short of discussing a Constitutional amendment to declare marriage a union of man and woman. (Y'know. Like Ben and J-Lo, or Britney and Jason, or Neil and Sharon Bush. Strong, faith-based marriages...I'm kidding, of course. Bush knows that the strongest public marriage in America is Bill and Hillary Clinton. I'm sure he'll use them as an example real soon.)

Expect Bush to announce his $1.5 Billion proposal to strengthen marriage, and beg to make his tax cuts permanent.

But here's the big question? How many times will Bush rape (did I say rape, I mean invoke), how many times will Bush invoke the memory of September 11, 2001? Off the top of my head (which means this is probably wrong), I think that there were eleven explicit 9/11 references in the 2002 SOTU, but only three in 2002. Bush knows that his approval ratings are in trouble, so I expect between three to six explicit references to 9/11 tonight. You know... Just a little slap in the face every couple minutes to keep our attention from wandering.