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."