My reaction to the State of the Union address.

Last night I watched the State of the Union address that was spoken by president Barack Obama. Much of the speech was about the economy, and his plan to recover it, and I'll admit, for a moment I was convinced that maybe he would have his act together. But, I'm going to remain skeptical until I actually see some results. Here's some parts of the speech that I thought were really intersting:

1. Obama said that torture has been condemned by the military, and that he plans to end the war by August. I'll be watching the news, and if there's still war in Afghanistan after August of this year, then I will think Obama to be a liar. As for the torture thing, if he truly has said no to torturing interrogation victims, then I wonder why those photos exist. You know, the ones that were said to be like the torture photos in the Bush administration?
2. He wants to cut tax breaks that only benefit big businesses. I've read about this issue in a Sociology course I took, and I'll admit it sounds like a good idea. The money is actually better spent on welfare programs for the people, not the corporations. Plus, he proposed tax incentives for small and big businesses alike to invest. This would lead me to believe that he's thinking of the people. But, we shall soon see...
3. He actually came out and revoked the "don't ask, don't tell" policies that the military has adopted. That's pretty brave, no doubt he's going to receive flak from some people about that statement. John McCain apparently thought it was a mistake, but I disagree, civil rights issues need to be tackled immediately. Speaking of which,
4. He also stated that he would work harder to enforce equal pay laws so that a woman gets paid as much as a man for the same amount and type of work. As an egalitarian, I think that's great, but I think he should also stand for equal pay for minority ethnic groups as well. It's only right.
5. He says he wants to invest in green energy, and that by doing so it will create new jobs in America. I consider myself somewhat of a hippie, and being ecologically-minded I personally think it would be a great idea, not because it would create jobs, which is something I'm not really sure of, but because the air would be cleaner to breathe here.
6. He stated that America needs to be first place in the global economy. But, to be honest, I don't care about the global economy. I think it's a bad idea, and that a society based around money can only end in disaster. So, personally, I disagree with this statement, why not step out of the global economy and restructure it so that it doesn't revolve around money, but instead revolve around an entirely different idea of worth that is actually practical?
7. Lastly, and I think this is interesting, he talked about the partisan Democrats and Republicans, and urged them to work together, instead of arguing all the time, despite their philosophical differences. And I agree, the partisanship is what turns me off to the Democratic and Republican parties and made me want to vote for either Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party or Ralph Nader of the Constitution Party. (I voted for the latter.)

I may have missed some things, so if I did, feel free to bring them back to my attention. Now, after the State of the Union address, there was a response on the behalf of the governer of Virginia, Robert McDonnell. In his response, he stated a few things that were in direct contrast with what Obama spoke about in his address. Here's the parts that I caught:

1. What he said about drilling offshore for oil really bugged me a lot. He said that we must use all the resources that this land has. Really? Even though they're non-renewable and potentially unsafe? I don't like that way of thinking...
2. He stated that we mustn't protect terror suspects. His case in point was the case of the terror suspect who was tried for the failed Christmas bombing. Apparently they interrogated him and the Obama administration let him go, and he apparently didn't leak any information to Al Queda. Perhaps he did, but if he didn't, I think that showing him mercy was the right way to go. Times like these, we don't need to react to violence with violence. We should fight violence with peace.

Those were the only 2 things that I could catch from him, seeing as I had to get up early tomorrow and deliver papers. I have to get up at 4:30 for that job, and already I got less than 8 hours of sleep, which is less than is recommended by physicians. I'll watch the news and try to see if I can catch any of the parts that I missed from his reaction speech, but from what I heard so far, I really don't like what's on his mind, not because he's a Republican (although I disagree with many of the things that Republicans believe in), but because I think that he isn't thinking about what's best for the planet. But I'm equally skeptical at what Obama has said, too. I'll give him this, he's a great orator. But, sometimes I think he's extremely dishonest. He's paid for vacations with our tax money, and while he was in office the auto industry bellyflopped. It could be in part due to the "Cash for Clunkers" program which he endorsed to try to improve the economy. Maybe the guy just doesn't know what he's doing. I certainly hope that's not the case. Actually, now that I mention that, one of the things that the news stations have been saying is that Obama was too inexperienced to run for president of the United States. Perhaps they were right...