Live blogging the state of the union...

...from my living room couch. Watching MSNBC with Olbermann and Mathews hosting. Hillary Clinton put herself out there upstaging the president. Her campaign tactics so far are brilliant.

Everybody's commenting about how extraordinary it is that Bush must actually face a room full of opposition. Why did it take them 6 long years to see through him and his gang of looters?

Some one leaned over to say to Bush on his grand entrance, "I'm saying a prayer for your success." If we have to resort to prayer for success we are in deep trouble.

Bush sucks up to Nancy at the beginning. Now the speech begins with the camera shot at first showing more of Cheney's face in the back. The camera quickly shifts over and tries to seek an exact balance of Cheney on the left and Pelosi on the right.

Who writes the president's speeches, I'm wondering? The rhythm is growing obnoxious. Make a promise -- pause for applause. The surreality of the dark robed supreme court members down front giving off an air of some dark church ritual as they sit silently without clapping.

Meanwhile Cheney in the back looks like he is concentrating on whatever is passing along his digestive track. Meanwhile Pelosi's tongue and jaw seem to trace patterns of word trains that will be let out loud once the speech is finished. She does a good job of containing obvious emotional facial responses.

Bush has gone through a litany of fat-ass capitalist pig jargon. I'm struck by the idea that rampant capitalism is the ideology that has brought us to the brink of global disasters. To make more money, new markets must always open up. Opposition to birth control and abortion is all about shoving more and more hungry consumers on to more expensive plots of real estate, struggling in factories to produce cheap goods to sell sell sell.

Now the bogey men are trotted out and Bush the Commander in Chief tries to convince the unconvinceable. Who wrote this crap? Oh clever insert -- "I ask you to support our troops in the field and those on the way." His writers knew he needed an ego boost right about then.

Condi's hawkish scan from side to side to see who is cheering loudest for her boss and who is sitting on her/his hands. Meanwhile, all the upping and downing of the audience must be taking a toll on the elder statespersons in attendance.

Well thank dog for the NBA for providing us with a genuine celebrity to tower over Laura Bush and relieve the tedium. It's been on an hour now and I'd rather be doing other things. Sorry to not stick it out until the end, but it all seems such a waste. The speech, the war, the last 6 years of runaway republican greed.

No Iraq War

Bush gives us the one finger salute one more time. (For a look at the time he did it as governor of Texas, go here.)

At about 8:55 I turned the TV to mute and went upstairs for a long hot soak in the tub. I let go of the stresses and strains of the day and relaxed while a U$ president got on the air to tell us what everybody else knew he was going to say.

Just say No to "non-binding resolutions!" Stand up to the Big Bully!

Earlier tonight I was watching the House of Representatives on C-Span. It is an odd site to see the empty seats and just a few scattered reps there to get their on-camera moments to be inserted in the record. Wouldn't you love to see the rest of them? Why can't we? We pay them. They should be on-camera from the moment they clock in til the end of their congressional and senate days. It should be more like Big Brother -- that's it! Congressional Reality TV!

Nix on bathroom cams, however. Ewww. But a camera trained on the outside restroom door might get us some interesting footage. Who goes in there for an off-cam caucus and how long do they stay hidden! It would certainly highlight the gender gaps in both houses.

You see I'd rather think about anything tonight than what is going down in Washington, but I'm afraid I can't. The president is either mad or in complete and utter denial. What does the Constitution have to say about this situation?

Meanwhile as our duly elected representatives debate whether they have the nerve to stand up to this unintelligent and deluded person who is determined to see more deaths rather than face up to his mess.

What the hell are we doing anyway, blasting a country and people into bits? The planet is burning up and Bush wants to make it burn faster. Somebody -- please -- put on the brakes. Bring it to a halt.

No Iraq War.