We HAVE to get shed of this man...

Bleah! The Bush administration has done it again. It seems that according to this New York Times article (free registration required) Bush appointees have been messing with the science coming out of NASA. As a sop to the conservative Christian right-wing fundamentalists who provide sooo much of his support, one Bush appointee had the word “Theory” inserted after every mention of the Big Bang. Then there is the insistence that virtually all research findings coming out of NASA must be pertinent to the new Bush “vision” of returning to the moon and then moving on to Mars. (Now, don’t get me wrong…I fully support going back to the moon and then moving on to Mars. However, making this the sole rationale for the existence of NASA is just plain dumb.)

And, speaking of the President, it has taken from Tuesday until now for my blood pressure to return to its normal, slightly elevated, state after trying to watch the State of the Union address. I have to confess that, against my desire to bring some civility and rationality to the political stage, I find it impossible to listen to that man. The sound of his voice is enough to affect me like fingernail scraping down a blackboard. Perhaps it is because I know that most of what comes out of his mouth are either lies, platitudes or empty promises that amount to the same thing as lies. I am willing to bet, and bet heavy, that most of the things mentioned in his speech that I think are steps in the right direction will never come to pass. They are empty words whose major purpose is to disarm, at least temporarily, the increasing array of critics.

Of course, the Democrats have pretty much conceded the political stage to Bush and his handlers. Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia did a pretty good job answering Bush; I pretty much agreed with everything he said, but nothing he said really moved me at a gut level. There were no “Ask not…” lines in his reply. And that is what the Democrats and this nation needs: somebody who can deliver a vision of this country, both now and in the future, that gets us up off our fat butts cheering, and then gets us moving out the door to actually contribute to the vision. For Bush to get me off my butt (other than to throw things at the tube), he will have to stop giving away all the “goodies” to his cronies and their already rich buddies. We need to level the playing field again rather than tilt it further and further in favor of the rich.