The Kama S.O.T.U.

I know, I know. I should just let it rest. But Bush#43 wedges his foot in his mouth all the time, and tonight, he did it whilst standing up....what a foot feat!! (or is that foot fault?!?)

The State of the Union is pure political theater, and despite Josh Marshall's lack of desire to watch it, I'm continually amazed by the pomp and circumstance.
And like every senator/congressman in sight, I've got some commentary:

1) Where was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg? And did anybody ask Sandra Day O'Connor if she might like to come? I mean, she's been retired for less than 12 hours, and it seemed rather uncivilized to swear Alito in all in a rush just so he could swipe her front row seat. I don't know, maybe she was glad she didn't have to come and be all smiles, but I'd have at least asked, ya know? [Update: CNN reported today that she didn't show at Alito's swearing in, either. Anybody know why?]

2) The Democratic ovation to the line about Congress not passing social security reform was a classic blindside. Bob Schieffer lobbed a softball in his after speech comments by saying that Bush#43 lured them into a trap by pointing out the problems left behind without reform, but it was funnier than that. Bush knew he'd been tagged.

3) The POTUS' defense of his domestic surveillance program left me seething. How on earth can we accept warrantless wiretaps? If it's okay for Uncle Sam to listen into phone calls placed by Americans, whether international or across the street, then we've lost the freedoms that make this America. It's right there in the Constitution. See U.S. CONST. amends. I, IV.

George Bush is totally, completely wrong on this. Congress established and funded a specialized FISA court to deal with the sensitive issues and grant warrants without notifying the suspect/victim...Bush#43 ignored the process laid out in the federal law and is squashing civil liberties.

Someone needs to ratchet him down a notch on wiretaps, and I hope it's Arlen Specter, who has scheduled hearings on the subject in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The land of the free cannot be a land where the government listens in. There are big, bad violations of freedoms of speech and assembly here, and fearmongering simply cannot justify the impact of such actions on the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens.