The State of the Union Address

Lies Lies Lies. And I haven't even read the thing. Last night, instead of watching the Not Neceessarily the State of My Union, Moon drank. And drank. And drank some more. Which, Moon feels, resulted in the most agreeable State of the Union evening since the Clinton era, when a talented orator delivered a plausible speech based on verifiable premises and presented sensible policy ideas with panache. I can't, or won't, get too caught up in this, but everything I heard this morning said what we already know:

Social security is not in crisis -- and even if it were, privatization is no solution.

A balky, functional election, even one that exceeded expectations, does not amount to a flourishing, or even a promising, democracy in Iraq.

Iran, not an ally, is not nearly as scary as a number of our allies, Pakistan in particular. And banging the drum against Iran and Syria accomplishes nothing except to alienate important middle-eastern sovereignties (insofar as we even recognize such a thing) and to reveal the unaccountable hawkishness of the Bush administration.

Which, by the way, it'd be best if we just overlooked, what with all the credible and independent commentators who assure us that Bush's plans make sense.

Moon is really fairly moderate, having once comfortably thought of himself as a Clinton Democrat, but every day, as the GOP spirals deeper and deeper into its little lockstep routine these guys make more and more sense.

(I'd like to track down and add a bunch more links, but increasingly I feel as though it's a waste of my time.)