Greatest Hit

Oh yeah, I forgot to post my favorite sentence from this speech:

Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research – human cloning in all its forms … creating or implanting embryos for experiments … creating human-animal hybrids … and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos.

This means that you better go out and buy that chimera now before it's too late.

2005 SOTU

Transcript of the 2005 SOTU is now online.

This speech was a bit of a dud. He had a great Lifetime TV moment when he read a letter from a dead soldier whose family was in attendance. I'm guessing next year he's just going to point to a pile of kittens and puppies for moral support.

I don't have a lot to say, because Bush really said nothing. He's creating a commission to look into the retiring baby boomer problem. Yawn. Shouldn't he have done this five years ago? And has any of his commissions come up with any substantial policy? Hell, aren't we still waiting for his commission to figure out if global warming exists?

Well, I guess our State of the Union is basically the same. Fear, tax cuts, and faith-based programs. We've heard this record before...

But He Really Means it This Time

This is the 5th straight SOTU address where Bush has mentioned reducing our dependency on foreign oil. Maybe he means it this time, because he seems to have ripped most of the good ideas directly out of Gore's mouth. More thoughts later.


Four years of debate is enough: I urge Congress to pass legislation that makes America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy. (Applause.)
2005 SOTU

Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy to make our economy run -- so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)
2004 SOTU

Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)
2003 SOTU

This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil. (Applause.)

2002 SOTU

Our energy demand outstrips our supply. We can produce more energy at home while protecting our environment, and we must. We can produce more electricity to meet demand, and we must. We can promote alternative energy sources and conservation, and we must. America must become more energy-independent, and we will.

2001 SOTU

My SOTU Preview

My prediction: Bush won't mention his "vision" for exploration of the Moon and Mars. To be fair, he's never mentioned moon, Mars, space, or NASA in any of his SOTU addresses. (Clinton mentioned the space program in three addresses, but one of them is hardly worth counting.)

His announced vision in 2004 went over like a lead ballon with Conservatives, and there was no reason for him to mention it again because it didn't earn him any political brownie points. However, I'm sure that some of DeLay's fans here in TX-22 would appreciate some type of reassurance that DeLay is actually representing the space industry (like he claimed he would). If Rove feels like throwing DeLay a bone, we'll see a mention of Bush's space "Vision".

This, however, is a different matter than space defense. That's possibly his new "vision". (Political junkies can place bets on the number of times Bush will mention "space terrorism" in his 2006 SOTU.) I certainly think that's one of the reason why Mike Griffin is the new NASA Administrator, but I'm hesitant to think Bush will be bold enough to declare war on Iran AND weaponize space in one speech. But I wouldn't put it past him...

Above the Influence, Below My IQ Level

I don't watch a lot of television, but I have been watching the Winter X Games lately. I guess this is a youth-oriented sports event, and the advertising is dominated by Mountain Bell, Taco Bell, etc. In addition, the newest generation of government anti-drug ads are playing ad nauseum. I'm speaking of the Above the Influence ads.

I'll admit that I think most television advertisements are exceedingly stupid, but these ads are beyond the pale. If you are stupid enough to be influenced by these advertisements, then you really shouldn't be doing drugs. Actually, if you are influenced by these ads I wouldn't even trust you to wash my car. And if you aren't one of the bottom feeders that take cues from television, you will find the idiocy of these advertisements to be quite offensive.

One of these ads features a kid with his hand stuck in his mouth, while some stupid bitch tells us that his friends told him to smoke weed and then to stick his hand in his mouth. Now he can't get it out...

First of all, there is a somewhat simple law of biology that states: If you can put it in your mouth, you can take it out of your mouth. Are we supposed to believe that his mouth shrunk after he stuck his hand in it? Is that due to weed or something else? (Of course, somebody could argue that there is a "higher" level to this ad. His hand represents a marijuana cigarette, and once he puts it in his mouth it will never come out. But I probably wasted more brain cells making that connection than I would have smoking a joint. And I'd be a lot less pissed off right now.)

And then there's another ad where a girl has been smashed flat in order to show the literal effects of pressure. Peer pressure, that is. So, a conceptual idea has physically deformed her. Ummm, OK. Whatever. So, you shouldn't do drugs because the very concept of "peer pressure" will turn you into a midget, and you will probably end up putting something in your mouth that you can't take out.

Now, you may be wondering how much taxpayer money has been WASTED on these MORONIC advertisements. AdWeek says it is $120 Million. This is just a drop in the bucket when you look at the cost of the failed War on Drugs. We've already spent $4 Billion this year according to the WOD Clock. (An estimated $600 per second.)


I don't often agree with the House Republicans, but I certainly agree with one of their proposed budget cuts (to help offset the cost of Hurricane Katrina Recovery).

Eliminate the Federal Anti-Drug Advertising
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) runs a program to test print and broadcast advertising, purchase media time, and evaluate the effects of national media campaigns to discourage the use of illegal drugs among young people. The agency is required to solicit donations from nonfederal sources to pay part of the costs of the program. There is no solid evidence that media campaigns are effective in either preventing or reducing the use of illegal drugs. Savings: $1.3 billion over ten years ($631 million over five years)

I agree. It's time to abort all anti-drug advertisement. And it's time to decriminalize marijuana and focus on the dangerous drugs in this country: Heroin and Methamphetamine. And it's time to be honest and admit that most people who experiment with drugs do not become addicted and do not experience long term side effects. Of course, don't take my word for it. Just go ask Emperor Bush if his long-term abuse of cocaine and alcohol ruined his life...

FIGHT!

Fight the fascism of blue skies! Join the Cloud Appreciation Society.

Happy Significant Number Event!

Well, I just missed my One Year Anniversary... One year without posting to this blog that is. In addition, this is post #250! It's such a special occasion.

So, does this mean regular blog updates in the future? Yeah. It does. But I'm a little torn on what I'll be commented about. Basically, I don't have enough time to create well-researched posts that delve into the specifics of issues. I don't even have enough time to do that on issues about the space industry even though that's my main occupation. So, this may become a blog where I complain about the stuff I know very little about, and I will link to specific posts from bloggers that I read daily.

I think the site design will remain basically the same. However, Blogger has changed a lot since I posted last and I need to make some tweaks to the template. That means the hard link and comments link may change over the next few months. And this blog may get rolled up into my main website that I am working on.

Let me explain what I've been doing during my absence. I've been working very hard. That's it. I also gained 20 fucking pounds, and my cholesterol is somewhere around 340! So, basically I'm working toward my first heart attack which should happen soon around my 30th birthday.

I should have a new techno mix to share in about a month, and I am working on a new website that will contain some of my best mixes. I learned to beat-match ten years ago this Fall. The first two records I matched were Fatboy Slim's Everybody Loves a 303 (sample here) and Josh Wink's Higher State of Conciousness. Ahh, times were so much simpler back then.

So, please forgive my absence. I needed to do some soul searching. But after a year I remembered that I don't believe in souls, and then I came back pretty quick. Expect lots of updates over the year, because I'm totally pissed about everything.

Cheers, Happy New Year, blah, blah, blah.