oh! thanks for the Stossel link OA

Listening to him speak is worse than water boarding but not as bad as public flogging. I was amazed at the fact check by USA Today - pretty much slammed him. He makes Jimmy Carter look like patron saint. 720 days left and counting of his administration. Will we survive?

Wow, there is no way I could watch it. The last state of the Union Address that was any good was Ronald Reagan's one on Federalism.

Yes there is an ample supply of pontificators.

We will survive but it will take a generation to correct the ship. There are too many variables to know for sure we can go in the right direction. Our future is riding on what the republican controlled congress Will do between now and the 2016 elections.

i tried reading stossel's article and when i got to his SOTU part i stopped reading. he is living in a "i wish world" just like 0. the economony of the usa is not rebounding and unemployment is probably 20 percent. the only reason the price of oil has decreased is because there is less being sold; ever hear of supply and demand; well the demand is down and the supply is way way way up. the longer it stays low and i expect it to go lower yet the more violence we can expect from the arab world. who is the finacier of the violence the suadis. they are losing the most at this time.
O.A."I" think you could have done something much more enjoyable than subject yourself to an hour and one half of stupidity.
IF things get better in the next 2 years because the congress is republican I will be very surprised.

My condolences, ObjectiveAnalyst, for sitting all the through that parade of blatant lies.
I presume you did it for the sake of the above appreciated analysis.
Still, you're a better (person) than me, Gunga Din.
(I've learned not to assume a writer's gender in the Gulch--unless a moniker gives a clue).

Same old, same old, same old.
All I need to do is make a paste up of his past speeches and comments and I would have this one. Did anyone actually believe he would say anything new or change his attitude? I'm glad I didn't waste my time by listening to his speech. I just read the pundits, and then, only one or two.

How do you compromise with a thief who arrives at your house with a gun? He wants what you have and you are supposed to negotiate as to HOW MUCH of it you give him? I say the Republicans should stand firm and give Obama nothing.

OA I will op for the Stossel SOTU...........thanks!

Unfortunately you may be right. True conservatives are rare.

It is torturous to hear the man speak. Why would I subject myself to an hour and a half of senseless torture?

"It was difficult to sit through over an hour of self righteous, arrogant, contradictions, non sequiturs, and sophistry." I know exactly what you mean.

Obama your sins will find you out. And,
Your cheatin' heart, will tell on you.

Thanks for those links!

I suggest that for the next two SOTU addresses you watch with the sound turned off. You can play music, satirical or otherwise; you can write your own script. It might help to ease the pain:-)

I only saw pieces of it and heard more on talk radio today. I think you summed it up well O.A. and Stossel's piece is great too.

I'm not in favor of free college... don't attack me.

However, at like $30 / credit or whatever we charge for it here in California... and the relatively small size of the student population and small class loads of each student (1/4 time, 1/2 time, etc.)... its entirely possible that the overhead of figuring out grant awards, scholarships, student loan applications & disbursements, reporting on progress to those programs, etc... may very well cost the state/college more in net than it ever gets from actually collecting the tuition.. Especially since the vast majority of students qualify for Pell (Federal) & CalGrants (here). If you look at how much actually comes out of our pocket, and the fact that its pretty much continued learning for high school grads that want to achieve but went to a sucky high school and just can't keep up in a 4 year college yet... I'm not really opposed to the concept. I don't think it would really cost us anything, and may even save money.

4 year college is definitely something that needs to be paid for.

My suggestion though is that it simply not include "art", underwater basket weaving, environmental studies, non-teaching history, etc.. have it coupled with a follow-on career. The Caterpillar ThinkBIG program is an excellent example. The student pays for tuition, but its 50% in-class, and 50% paid internship @ $13.00 hour at the local Caterpillar dealership as a diesel service tech. They go to school for 8 weeks at a time, then work for 8 weeks and apply what they learned, over 2 years, and its 100% placement starting at around $70,000 a year. Obviously, the tax revenue comes back in about a year from that investment...

If they are talking about publicly funding the non-paid part of technical programs like that to put people into jobs and get them earning... I'm completely fine with it. Unfortunately, it won't, it will include all the bullsh!t that will lead to perpetual food stamp & welfare recipients.

My son presently goes to Butte College - (Aaron Rodgers alma mater)... and its really easier for me to just pay the bill every semester than to mess with anything else.. it's like $650 for tuition & fees and maybe $150 for books (per semester) if we leverage Kindle rentals when available. If we're talking $800... when most of his classmates are already getting $3000 (per semester) in grants.. who cares?

If anything, this helps the "producers" because those of us that blow through the upward income limits for grant applications, the kids just kind of suffer. He has acquaintances that are welfare babies and easily rake in enough on benefits & grants to cover tuition & living expenses without having to work, get crappy grades, and will never owe a penny back to taxpayers... while his friends and roommates have to work, borrow from parents, take out student loans, etc.. In our case, at 10% for student loan private interest, versus just giving him the money... I'm happy to just pay his bill as long as he keeps himself employed somewhat and keeps his grades up.