State of the Union Reaction...

Some important quotes from the President's State of the Union address last night:

"I will send you a budget that holds the growth of

discretionary spending below inflation, makes tax

relief permanent and stays on track to cut the

deficit in half by 2009...."

Translation: I'm going to cut funding to the areas of the government where I'm not forced to increase spending by previous laws (i.e. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid). Because, yes, Virginia, if you don't increase funding as much as inflation goes up, that's a CUT.

"Because marriage is a sacred institution and

the foundation of society, it should not be

redefined by activist judges. For the good of

families, children and society, I support a

constitutional amendment to protect the

institution of marriage."

Translation: The president shouldn't have shown his obvious contempt for the conservative wingnuts on this issue so obviously a few weeks ago, so now he will throw them a bone again.

"Because HIV/AIDS brings suffering and

fear into so many lives, I ask you to

reauthorize the Ryan White Act to encourage

prevention and provide care and treatment to

the victims of that disease."

Translation: Didn't the use of "AIDS victim" go out in the 80's? Reagan deja-vu all over again. I believe the name of the actual legislation is the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act and it is important that he mentioned it in his speech. Umm, what about that 15 billion dollar commitment to fight global AIDS he made at the 2003 State of the Union? Not a PEEP about "PEPFAR" this year!

"And as we update this important law, we must

focus our efforts on fellow citizens with the

highest rates of new cases: African-American

men and women."

Translation: We're serious about Karl Rove's initiative to have African-Americans move towards the Republican party. As I commented before, even though some people think this idea is a joke, it actually is an ongoing project of Republican strategists to deprive Democrats of their most reliable voting constituency. Today's Los Angeles Times has a response by two Black ministers to the Republican's "Black Initiative."