State Of The Union

Alright, who watched it last night? Personally, it is very difficult to watch Bush make any speeches as if he actually has this country's best interests in mind, and not the task of lining his own (and his friends') pockets. However, I feel it is important to listen so that you're aware of what is going on at the White House and, if you disagree, decide how you are going to take action. Obviously, this being a non-election year there's not much we, as citizens can do, but it's valuable to understand what issues are important to our society right now and how they're being addressed so that when there is an election we can make informed choices.

Obviously defending his policy regarding the war in Iraq was the key component to yesterday's speech. I'm going to refrain from making any comments on that portion. Instead I'll focus on some of the topics the president only touched on: Education, Health Care and Energy.

Education

Now the task is to build on this success, without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose something better. We must increase funds for students who struggle -- and make sure these children get the special help they need. And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs of the future, and our country is more competitive, by strengthening math and science skills. The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children -- and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law.

Sorry - but I refuse to allow my tax dollars to fund any type of religion-based school. Instead of handing out school "vouchers" we need to commit to improving the schools that do exist and that are already a part of the community. Also, all of the teachers I know do NOT support the No Child Left Behind Act. There is no support for children or schools that are struggling; there are only tests to pass. If a school has no money to buy books how can students be expected to pass their exams? The majority of funding comes from property taxes, therefore, inevitably, schools in high-income communities will have significantly more funding than schools in the inner city. If our government would commit to restructuring our education system (higher wages for teachers, increased funding) the way they've done so for the war, we wouldn't need an act so that all of the children in our country have an equal opportunity to learn

Health Care

I propose a standard tax deduction for health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for dependents. Families with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills.

At the same time, this reform will level the playing field for those who do not get health insurance through their job. For Americans who now purchase health insurance on their own, my proposal would mean a substantial tax savings -- $4,500 for a family of four making $60,000 a year. And for the millions of other Americans who have no health insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic private health insurance plan within their reach. Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans.

What Bush doesn't say is that the funding for this tax code comes from the closing of smaller medical facilities and other medical clinics that are currently available to those that don't have insurance. His "solution" is to take money away from low-income health options and put that money into the hands of giant health and insurance corporations. His plan is so transparent!

Energy

To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017 -- this is nearly five times the current target. At the same time, we need to reform and modernize fuel economy standards for cars the way we did for light trucks -- and conserve up to eight and a half billion more gallons of gasoline by 2017.

The President is well aware that there are cars available RIGHT NOW that more than double our fuel efficiency. We have ridiculously low standards (the lowest of all developed countries) for fuel emissions and if Bush would, for once, think about the global impact this has on everyone, not just Americans, he would realize that instead of lining the oil and motor companies' pockets with even more money (uh, is a profit of $500billion enough for one quarter Mr. Exxon???) he could just require that all cars sold in the US have a higher fuel efficiency and lower carbon emissions. It's a very easy fix. It's not like we have to develope new technology - it exists and is being used in the modern world right this second.

Alright, if you actually read through all my rantings, I thank you. PLEASE read up on the issues at hand so that you're prepared to VOTE for a new president in 2008.

To read a transcript of last night's State of the Union please click here.