During his State of the Union address (which I know is a week old now, but something that only comes once a year should have a longer shelf life, like Girl Scout cookies) President Bush called for several things to happen this year. But just how does it all apply to our lives?
By now we’ve all dreamed up a funny human-animal hybrid and gone to bed with the comfort knowing our president is firmly against its creation. It would be nice to go to bed with the knowledge that all the genetically modified vegetables and hormone-injected meat will not do us anylong-term damage, but baby steps are good.
We know now that when Bush said we would “replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025,” he didn’t mean it literally. Turns out he thinks we can reduce worldwide oil imports by the equivalent of 75 percent of what we import from the Middle East.
According to a Feb. 2 Knight Ridder article, one administration official said Bush said “Middle East” when he meant “all other countries” because he wanted to “dramatize the issue in a way that ‘every American sitting out there listening to the speech understands.’” Well I guess because “The West Wing” got canceled we have to have drama in the real White House.
Another goal he pledged to accomplish was to “reduce or eliminate more than 140 programs that are performing poorly or not fulfilling essential priorities.” I’m not sure what programs are on the chopping block. However, I do have an idea for a program to add to list.
How about the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program!
It is performing poorly. The Washington Post recently reported that intelligence officers have dismissed nearly all of the thousands of Americans that have been eavesdropped upon. Bush claims that if Americans are talking to Al Qaeda he wants to know why. But officials told The Washington Post that usually the question is whether the person on the other end is a terrorist, and the answer is usually no. Perhaps the reason is that the thousands of Americans who are unknowingly sharing their communication with the government are not terrorists.
The eavesdropping program is not fulfilling essential priorities. The most obvious example of this is that the program does not fulfill the requirement to get a warrant. FISA allows for a tap to begin up to 72 hours before a warrant is obtained. Why the program does not take advantage of this leeway is unknown becausethis question has never really been answered.
It is not a popular program. When the New York Times broke the story, which it held for a year at the White House’s request, it influenced that day’s vote on the extension of the
Patriot Act. The Patriot Act didn’t get the votes it needed. Bush’s secret program ended up working against him. Also, many of his fellow Republicans are split on the issue. Arlen Specter, (R-PA) came out against the program during Monday’s hearing with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Other Republicans worry that if President Bush has such broad power, what would it be like if Hillary Clinton were President and had the same power.
Defenders of the surveillance program say that if they can catch one terrorist, the program is worth it. Programs like National School Lunch, and the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund are rated as “not performing,” even though their descriptions by the White House tout progress. I wonder how ExpectMore.gov would rate Bush’s “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” I couldn’t find it, but I did find out that the Science and Technology: Emerging Homeland Security Threat Detection program was only rated moderately effective. FEMA Disaster Response and Disaster Recovery are both rated adequate. The National Strategic Stockpile, which “ensures the availability and rapid deployment of medical assets and countermeasures to the site of a terrorist attack or other national public health emergency,” is rated moderately effective as well. All these programs seem vitally important to the safety of Americans and I would like to see them improved. The eavesdropping, though, I think we could do without.
Improve the bone structure, cut the fat.

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