Bush Delivers Sixth State of The Union

President Bush touched on a range of topics including what he called the nation’s addiction to foreign oil, skyrocketing health care costs, Hurricane Katrina, troubled U.S. schools, and ballooning budget deficits.

The President offered only small-scale initiatives in his speech, including a commission to examine the impact of baby boomers on social security, a new emphasis on math and science education in schools, and more money for research into alternative energy sources. He did not offer any new plans for rebuilding New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Nor any new ideas on how to control lobbying abuses in Congress – an issue that has recently received national attention with the investigation of powerful lobbyist and major Bush fundraiser, Jack Abramoff.

The President also urged Congress to renew the Patriot Act. He vigorously defended his domestic spying program, and called for making permanent the temporary tax cuts that were passed in the first two years of his administration.

President Bush spent the first part of his State of the Union speech on global issues. He dismissed calls to pull the troops out of Iraq and insisted that the U.S. was wining the so-called war on terror. He also defended his vision of the U.S. as leading the fight to defend freedom and promote democracy around the world. Here is an excerpt from President Bush’s speech last night. The President also defended the war in Iraq, calling it the "central front" on the War on Terror. With the war entering it’s fourth year and more than 2,240 American troops dead and countless number of Iraqis killed- the President rejected any timetable for bringing the troops back from Iraq. Minutes before Bush began his address, Cindy Sheehan - anti-war activist and mother of a fallen solider - was arrested by Capitol police for wearing an anti-war shirt in the gallery. Cindy had been invited to hear the President’s speech by California representative Lynn Woolsey, who has called for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/01/1459239


International Roundtable On State of The Union, State of The World

A roundtable of top international journalists reacts to Bush’s State of the Union address, and gives us their take on the state of affairs in their respective countries and around the world. We’re joined by Andres Izarra, President of the newly-launched Latin American television network TeleSUR; Alain Gresh, Chief Editor of France"s Le Monde Diplomatique; and Abdul Bari Atwan, Editor in Chief at Al-Quds Al Arabi - a leading, London-based newspaper on the Middle East.

* Andres Izarra, President of TeleSUR, a two-month old multinational satellite network launched by Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. Prior to that, he was Venezuala’s Minister of Communications and Information under President Chavez.
* Alain Gresh, Chief Editor of France’s Le Monde Diplomatique. He is president of the Association of French Journalists specializing in Morroco and the Middle East and is author of several books on the Middle East.
* Abdul Bari Atwan, Editor in Chief at Al-Quds Al Arabi - a leading newspaper in the Middle East - since 1989. He is also author of the new book Secret History of al Qa’ida.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/01/1459244