I think the best place to start is to congratulate Congress Woman Nancy D'Alesandro as the first woman to reside as speaker of the House of Representatives. It was a momentous occasion for all women working for growth and equality among the sexes.
The second thing to address would be the statement Bush made about our growing economy.
" A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy -- and that is what we have. We're now in the 41st month of uninterrupted job growth, in a recovery that has created 7.2 million new jobs -- so far. Unemployment is low, inflation is low, and wages are rising. This economy is on the move, and our job is to keep it that way, not with more government, but with more enterprise."
I wonder if they have any plan for Michigan to reap the benefits of this growing economy. Just a day before this speech some 2,100 people became jobless in Ann Arbor as Pfizer closed their doors. Not only the people working at that specific location lost their jobs, but also 250 people in Kalamazoo and 60 others in Plymouth Township. Is Michigan simply being overlooked to keep a positive perspective on our growing economy? If so then we better watch this confidence... it may just be what will cause yet another depression in our country.
I would like to applaud President Bush for his continued efforts at decreasing the federal deficit. He has done a good job as making a situation that looked helpless into a workable situation with possible light at the end of the tunnel. He was aware of the amount of absurd things that government officials find to spend money on. Kudos to you on that one Mr. President. He even challenged the current congress men and women to find solutions to the growing social security issue, now, not save it for the future generations (my generation!) to deal with later. Even though social security is not anything to base your retirement traveling (or even living) on, money is money to many people.
Next on the agenda, health care. I am not entirely sure I understand fully what Bush is proposing. I know that it means allowing more of a tax cut for many citizens, but I do not understand exactly how and who would qualify. I know my parents worked (and are still working) hard to be able to afford the best health care and I have certainly reaped the befits of this time and time again in my short years. Now as their employee I am still able to reap these befits. But something in there about having the more expensive insurance plans means you will NOT get the tax break. I am not sure how this benefits the country, or for entrepreneurs like my parents.
Recently I have heard commercials for the need of more people to become border patrol employees here in Michigan. If you are not familiar with Michigan, we have two main points where people are allowed to cross the border. They have a law now were you have to have a passport in order to be let back into the states. Getting in to Canada has never been an issue, and still is not an issue. President Bush released his plan to beef up the border patrol along all borders, perfect timing to be having these commercials if you ask me... I will leave this issue alone with these last words from the President himself, "To secure our border, we're doubling the size of the Border Patrol, and funding new infrastructure and technology. Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border -- and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won't have to try to sneak in, and that will leave Border Agents free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists."
Now lets move on to the oil consumption issue. It is on everyone's mind daily as gas prices skyrocket then plummet, skyrocket, the plummet. Since my brain seems to be dead I will let Bush tell you himself, "It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply -- the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol -- using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes." I'll let you think on that one. The one point I did like, "Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. When we do that we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East."
Now the most awaited topic is touched upon, the war on Iraq. President Bush wants to send over 21,000 more soldiers to Iraq. He asked the people of the United States of America and Congress to give this new plan a chance. I have mixed feelings on this. Seeing as how I looking to join the military it is slightly scary since they need more people to send over there. But seeing as how I am looking into the journalism, photography, or reporter type jobs I don't know how much of a need I would be over in the midst of everything. Yet it might be sorely needed. It makes me nervous and yet determined more than ever to pursue my dream. Was this part highly supported? NOT AT ALL. What my concern is, yeah the war sucks... but could it be that we are stopping another Hitler type situation from erupting? Also, ever since the rumors of Bush sending more troops over came out into the media there was an immediate response from one of the terrorist groups. He basically laughed at our president saying they will still persevere and not even more troops will stop them. I saw this mentioned on ONE news channel only ONCE. Why isn't this being shown more? Letting the American people know more of why certain decisions are being made. I high doubt Bush would send more troops over to Iraq just for the fun of it. It makes me mad that BOTH sides are not being shown ever. Whatever happened to those reporters who play devils advocate? Whatever happened to simple reporting on both sides and not playing into whatever sponsors hands they are held firmly in? I know a lot of people are against war, I am against violence and yet it is part of our world. I look forward to a day when it is not, but until all the domestic abuse, child abuse, hate crimes, gang wars and every part of violence is gone, we can not ignore the presence of terrorists trying to undermined our country. Therefore, this war has become a necessary thing we must follow through with. I do agree with people on the fact that it was presented to the American people in a poor manner and it was not started in a manner that had clear cut goals in mind. It was perhaps rash in the beginning, but we started and now we must finish.
And THAT people are all my thoughts for today on the State of the Union Address!!!
I would like to applaud President Bush for his continued efforts at decreasing the federal deficit. He has done a good job as making a situation that looked helpless into a workable situation with possible light at the end of the tunnel. He was aware of the amount of absurd things that government officials find to spend money on. Kudos to you on that one Mr. President. He even challenged the current congress men and women to find solutions to the growing social security issue, now, not save it for the future generations (my generation!) to deal with later. Even though social security is not anything to base your retirement traveling (or even living) on, money is money to many people.
Next on the agenda, health care. I am not entirely sure I understand fully what Bush is proposing. I know that it means allowing more of a tax cut for many citizens, but I do not understand exactly how and who would qualify. I know my parents worked (and are still working) hard to be able to afford the best health care and I have certainly reaped the befits of this time and time again in my short years. Now as their employee I am still able to reap these befits. But something in there about having the more expensive insurance plans means you will NOT get the tax break. I am not sure how this benefits the country, or for entrepreneurs like my parents.
Recently I have heard commercials for the need of more people to become border patrol employees here in Michigan. If you are not familiar with Michigan, we have two main points where people are allowed to cross the border. They have a law now were you have to have a passport in order to be let back into the states. Getting in to Canada has never been an issue, and still is not an issue. President Bush released his plan to beef up the border patrol along all borders, perfect timing to be having these commercials if you ask me... I will leave this issue alone with these last words from the President himself, "To secure our border, we're doubling the size of the Border Patrol, and funding new infrastructure and technology. Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border -- and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won't have to try to sneak in, and that will leave Border Agents free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists."
Now lets move on to the oil consumption issue. It is on everyone's mind daily as gas prices skyrocket then plummet, skyrocket, the plummet. Since my brain seems to be dead I will let Bush tell you himself, "It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply -- the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol -- using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes." I'll let you think on that one. The one point I did like, "Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. When we do that we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East."
Now the most awaited topic is touched upon, the war on Iraq. President Bush wants to send over 21,000 more soldiers to Iraq. He asked the people of the United States of America and Congress to give this new plan a chance. I have mixed feelings on this. Seeing as how I looking to join the military it is slightly scary since they need more people to send over there. But seeing as how I am looking into the journalism, photography, or reporter type jobs I don't know how much of a need I would be over in the midst of everything. Yet it might be sorely needed. It makes me nervous and yet determined more than ever to pursue my dream. Was this part highly supported? NOT AT ALL. What my concern is, yeah the war sucks... but could it be that we are stopping another Hitler type situation from erupting? Also, ever since the rumors of Bush sending more troops over came out into the media there was an immediate response from one of the terrorist groups. He basically laughed at our president saying they will still persevere and not even more troops will stop them. I saw this mentioned on ONE news channel only ONCE. Why isn't this being shown more? Letting the American people know more of why certain decisions are being made. I high doubt Bush would send more troops over to Iraq just for the fun of it. It makes me mad that BOTH sides are not being shown ever. Whatever happened to those reporters who play devils advocate? Whatever happened to simple reporting on both sides and not playing into whatever sponsors hands they are held firmly in? I know a lot of people are against war, I am against violence and yet it is part of our world. I look forward to a day when it is not, but until all the domestic abuse, child abuse, hate crimes, gang wars and every part of violence is gone, we can not ignore the presence of terrorists trying to undermined our country. Therefore, this war has become a necessary thing we must follow through with. I do agree with people on the fact that it was presented to the American people in a poor manner and it was not started in a manner that had clear cut goals in mind. It was perhaps rash in the beginning, but we started and now we must finish.
And THAT people are all my thoughts for today on the State of the Union Address!!!
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