State of the Union Address

We can go forward with confidence and resolve, or we can turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat to us.

So, we can go wipe out all the pockets of evil around the world or stop.

We've not come all this way -- through tragedy, and trial and war -- only to falter and leave our work unfinished. Americans are rising to the tasks of history, and they expect the same from us.

Look how far we've come, but we still have lots of evil to eradicate.

And it is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting -- and false. The killing has continued in Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Mombasa, Jerusalem, Istanbul, and Baghdad. The terrorists continue to plot against America and the civilized world. And by our will and courage, this danger will be defeated.

I love how he refers to everything he doesn't like as terrorist. What exactly is a terrorist, anyway? Anymore, it seems like "terrorist" is just a catchy new word for "person America doesn't like". At any rate, we're going to wipe these people off the planet, because we're right.

we must continue to give our homeland security and law enforcement personnel every tool they need to defend us. And one of those essential tools is the Patriot Act,

Oh, yes, the Patriot Act. Why is this so essential?

If these methods are good for hunting criminals, they are even more important for hunting terrorists.... Our law enforcement needs this vital legislation to protect our citizens. You need to renew the Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act was passed for the explicit purpose of preventing terrorism, and in its brief period of existence, it has already been used to prosecute Americans for non-terror-related crimes, such as embezzlement and running meth labs. How does holding people, Americans, even, prisoner without formally charging them protect America? How does prohibiting a person from having legal representation protect America? How does denying people due process protect America? The Patriot Act has given the government powers that the Founding Fathers and framers of the Constitution never intended it to have, that they, in fact, intended the government not to have. To allow this abomination to stand is in its very nature unamerican.

Thousands of very skilled and determined military personnel are on the manhunt, going after the remaining killers who hide in cities and caves, and one by one, we will bring these terrorists to justice.

Suppose the use of the Patriot Act was justified when used against Americans, that would mean that embezzlers and tweekers running meth labs are terrorists. So, what doesn't fall under the blanket of terrorism, these days?

As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The United States and our allies are determined: We refuse to live in the shadow of this ultimate danger.

So, even if your country sympathizes with a group of people we call terrorists, you need to be stopped. Let me ask you this: What's the difference between a freedom fighter, say the American militias in the Revolutionary war, and a terrorist, say a scrappy group of political idealists out in the desert, striking out against people occupying their country, oppressing them, or forcing a new way of life onto them?

Our forces are on the offensive, leading over 1,600 patrols a day and conducting an average of 180 raids a week. We are dealing with these thugs in Iraq, just as surely as we dealt with Saddam Hussein's evil regime.

So, we're traveling around the world sweeping out the undesirables.

As democracy takes hold in Iraq, the enemies of freedom will do all in their power to spread violence and fear. They are trying to shake the will of our country and our friends, but the United States of America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins.

The enemies of freedom? What constitutes an enemy of freedom, anyway? Certainly not people who would strip us of our rights to defend our liberty.

Colonel Qadhafi correctly judged that his country would be better off and far more secure without weapons of mass murder.

Because you strongarmed him into it. The war on Iraq was a vulgar display of power used by the president to get his way. He's intimidating sovereign nations to relinquish their defense systems, supposedly so that we can feel safer.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible, and no one can now doubt the word of America.

Because now they all know if they don't drop and start sucking, you'll take them out and impose a new regime.

Along with nations in the region, we're insisting that North Korea eliminate its nuclear program.... America is committed to keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous regimes.

Except, of course, ours.

I gave to you and to all Americans my complete commitment to securing our country and defeating our enemies.

Who are these enemies? Osama and who else? Who has wronged us and killed our civilians unjustly?

The terrorists were still training and plotting in other nations, and drawing up more ambitious plans.... The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got.

He says it like all the terrorists are soldiers for some nation out there, as if it's a cohesive group of people in a massive hierarchical government that he can't find. He's also made it clear that anyone he doesn't like counts as a terrorist.

Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day.

To reiterate what Jon Stewart said: the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities! No actual weapons. None of the "over 25,000 liters of anthrax" has been discovered. We haven't found the "38,000 liters of botulinum toxin" the president made reference to. We still can't locate the "500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." There's still no word on the "30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents." If, as Bush said last year, "Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction", where are they? Wouldn't he have at least tried to use them when we invaded?

I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.

Yes. This is all a religious crusade. He said so before, and he's implying it now. He believes he's doing God's work.

the Voice of America and other broadcast services are expanding their programming in Arabic and Persian -- and soon, a new television service will begin providing reliable news and information across the region.

Who was it who said that he who controls the media controls the people?

We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire.

This is the disclaimer.

yet we understand our special calling: This great republic will lead the cause of freedom.

This scares me. It seems to me that what he calls freedom, the rest of us call the Bush Utopia.

I propose a new temporary worker program to match willing foreign workers with willing employers when no Americans can be found to fill the job.

There's no possible way this could ever backfire and bring in terrorists.

So tonight I proposed an additional $23 million for schools that want to use drug testing as a tool to save children's lives. The aim here is not to punish children, but to send them this message: We love you, and we don't want to lose you.

You'll just be taken to our government-funded death cam- er, drug rehabilitation center.

We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases.

Because kids are gonna be all over this abstinence trend. Yep. I can see it now.

On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage.... The same moral tradition that defines marriage also teaches that each individual has dignity and value in God's sight.

So, a president concerned with preserving freedom is wants a Constitutional amendment that restricts rights based on sanctity? What moral tradition is he referring to, anyway? The one set up by the Bible? But the Bible is a Judeo-Christian document that only Jews and Christians are required to follow. Doesn't the First Amendment say that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"?

By executive order, I have opened billions of dollars in grant money to competition that includes faith-based charities. Tonight I ask you to codify this into law, so people of faith can know that the law will never discriminate against them again.

Yes. Let's support religious institutions with our taxes. I read somewhere that that was illegal, but I must be mistaken.

Tonight, Ashley, your message to our troops has just been conveyed. And, yes, you have some duties yourself. Study hard in school, listen to your mom or dad, help someone in need, and when you and your friends see a man or woman in uniform, say, "thank you."

Why am I reminded of the Hitlerjügend saluting the brave German soldiers as they head out to protect their ideological world?

We can trust in that greater power who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that is to come, we can know that His purposes are just and true.

So, he's doing what he believes is God's will, not necessarily what is right.

For the love of all that is good and right in the world, we have to take this man out of power. Cast your vote in November.