Hope everything is OK with your dog!
Thanks to those of you who sent best wishes about the dog. Without meaning to burden you all with a lot of detail, the dog I took yesterday is not my beloved 15-yr-old, but a tiny mixed terrier I found abandoned in 1998. He has many problems due to the poor condition he was in back then. But this was just a routine visit, so all is as well as can be expected with the little guy.
Darlin', you are so very welcome regarding the links to Sgt. Smith's story. I had hoped the fact that he will be receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor would get wider attention on FR than it did. But we on the Dose will be sure to post photos when the ceremony does take place. On the Saturday Dose, we're now reporting on the President's schedule for the week ahead. So we "Dosers" will have at least a few days advance notice when the ceremony will take place -- probably sometime in March.
Everyone: Regarding the SOTU speech, which I recorded and watched several hours after the President gave it, what can I say that probably hasn't already been said.
I have the new Time-Warner cable digital system which allows you to record two programs at a time. So I recorded the speech on both FOX and C-SPAN to get the broadest possible perspective. The speech started out as most of these speeches do, but it began to build in power and drama about the time the President referred to several DEMOCRATS who had said Social Security is facing fiscal meltdown.
GWB: "Former Congressman Tim Penny has raised the possibility of indexing benefits to prices rather than wages. During the 1990s, my predecessor, President Clinton, spoke of increasing the retirement age. Former Senator John Breaux suggested discouraging early collection of Social Security benefits. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan recommended changing the way benefits are calculated. All these ideas are on the table."
Notice the President didn't specifically say that each of the men he cited are Dems. Most people who don't pay much attention to politics wouldn't know who the heck these guys are, let alone what their political party is. But politically knowledgeable Americans knew exactly who these men are -- and understood this passage as the President playing very hard ball with both the Dems and the more liberal members of the Republicans in Congress.
Of course, some Dem back-benchers walked out of the House chamber about the time we heard those moans and groans coming from the Dem side. So the message was lost on them -- for now.
I also greatly enjoyed the President's discussion of activist judges and judges who legislate from the bench. He even got Supreme Court Justice Steven Bryer to smile and nod slightly at that. GWB: "Because courts must always deliver impartial justice, judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench."
Like many people who watched the speech, I had several "wow" moments. The first was this:
GWB: "One of Iraq's leading democracy and human rights advocates is Safia Taleb al-Suhail. She says of her country, 'We were occupied for 35 years by Saddam Hussein. That was the real occupation. Thank you to the American people who paid the cost, but most of all, to the soldiers.' Eleven years ago, Safia's father was assassinated by Saddam's intelligence service. Three days ago in Baghdad, Safia was finally able to vote for the leaders of her country -- and we are honored that she is with us tonight."
Then she stood up and showed her ink-stained finger and gave the victory salute, and many Republicans did the same in solidarity with the Iraqi people. And most Dems, although they applauded, seemed to do so grudgingly, because they were obliged to, rather than anything they felt in their hearts. Of course, the Dems who had left the chamber earlier missed this moment -- and the even more powerful one to come.
In his quiet, confident, commanding way, the President continued to build toward the conclusion of the speech. He fired a direct salvo at Kennedy, Kerry, Pelosi, and the whole sorry bunch of Leftists who infest our Congress these days by saying:
GWB: "Recently an Iraqi interpreter said to a reporter, 'Tell America not to abandon us.' He and all Iraqis can be certain: While our military strategy is adapting to circumstances, our commitment remains firm and unchanging. We are standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends, and freedom in Iraq will make America safer for generations to come. We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out. We are in Iraq to achieve a result: A country that is democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its neighbors, and able to defend itself. And when that result is achieved, our men and women serving in Iraq will return home with the honor they have earned."
That was another "wow" moment for me. As he began this passage, I thought for sure he'd say, "This will not happen on my watch." He did say that, just in different words that laid it out in the clearest of terms.
The last "wow" moment was, of course, when the President introduced the parents of Sgt. Byron Norwood.
GWB: "One name we honor is Marine Corps Sergeant Byron Norwood of Pflugerville, Texas, who was killed during the assault on Fallujah. His mom, Janet, sent me a letter and told me how much Byron loved being a Marine, and how proud he was to be on the front line against terror. She wrote, 'When Byron was home the last time, I said that I wanted to protect him like I had since he was born. He just hugged me and said, 'You've done your job, Mom. Now it is my turn to protect you.'' Ladies and gentlemen, with grateful hearts, we honor freedom's defenders, and our military families, represented here this evening by Sergeant Norwood's mom and dad, Janet and Bill Norwood."
Mr. Norwood, stoic, supportive, heartbroken, yet very proud, stood with his wife, who was clutching her son's dogtags. After a few moments, she reached out and embraced Safia Taleb. Then, almost as though Byron's spirit reached out to embrace Safia, his dogtags caught on her sleeve.
I have to tell you, my online friends -- this American's heart, battered and bruised by a lifetime scarred due to my mother abandoning me -- both soared and broke at the same time. I am not easily moved to tears anymore, but even I was moved to tears at that moment.
What can anyone say about a President such as we have? Words simply don't work. His towering courage and presence leaves his enemies looking puny and silly by comparison. Even his supporters must struggle to gaze at the future with his vision -- to see what he sees in that magnificent soul of his.
It took two ordinary women, both of whom have known immense tragedy and loss, to show us what George W. Bush means to us, as Americans, to the world and to history.
Luvya Dubya!!!