From Bush’s recent radio address on the federal marriage amendment:

In our free society, people have the right to choose how they live their lives. And in a free society, decisions about such a fundamental social institution as marriage should be made by the people

…we’re in a free society?

Another portion:

These court decisions could have an impact on our whole Nation. The Defense of Marriage Act declares that no state is required to accept another state’s definition of marriage. If that act is overturned by activist courts, then marriages recognized in one city or state might have to be recognized as marriages everywhere else.

Perhaps not.  There’s no legal statute that requires states to recognize traditional marriages made in another state.  They just simply do it.  To the best of my knowledge (and I did a few searches to double-check), there exists NO law requiring that one state recognize a man and woman’s marriage that was made in another state.  They simply do. *shrug*

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Guest writer, Dr. Walter Brasch joins us today with a column about Bush, Foreign Energy, American workers, Outsourcing, Illegal immigration, low wages, and more…  As always, the guests views do not necessarily represent the views of MindSpeak, or its primary author.  If you would like to be a guest writer for MindSpeak, please contact.

The Not-so-Secret Foreign Energy Source

by Walter Brasch

President Bush, several years after most Americans, has decided the nation can’t be dependent upon foreign energy sources.

For much of his life, when he wasn’t stoned or wasted, and especially when he was running what came to be a series of failed corporations, Bush worshipped the power of oil, while denouncing global warming as junk science. But now, as an enlightened president who is prevented by his own incompetence and inability to deal with the insurgency and unable to drill for oil in Iraq, Bush has decided that alternative energy is necessary. He has a plan—ethanol. It’s cheap, he says. It’s available from American corn crops, he claims. It’s primarily provided by Archer Daniels Midland, which has consistently been a large donor to political campaigns, primarily Republican. But, just in case ethanol isn’t as reliable as Bush believes it could be, there’s still the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Our oil-slicked President believes killing animals and disrupting the ecological balance in the ANWR to drill for oil beneath the frozen tundra is also part of the solution to the oil crisis. By 2025, according to government projections, and assuming a ten year development during which no oil is pumped, oil produced in ANWR will represent only about 1 to 2 percent of the Americans’ daily needs; if all the oil in ANWR were successfully mined, it would represent less than a one year supply.

But, while Bush says we shouldn’t depend upon foreign energy, he really means we should depend upon foreign energy, not in the form of natural resources but in a human form.

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Headlines across many major news sources today vary from “White House Says Some Leaks are Good” (ABC News), to “White House: Bush did not Flip-Flop on Leaks” (CNN).  All major releases are stating that the White House claims that Bush did not change his stance on the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson, in July of 2003.

Let’s look at the facts, first, before diving into speculation.  First off, on July 8th, 2003, a story - leaked by Scooter Libby - showed up in the press, exposing Wilson as a CIA Operative.  Ten days later, on July 18th, 2003, White House Spokeman Scott McClellan told reporters “this information was just, as of today, officially declassified.” (emphasis, mine).  Ten days had passed from the time the information showed up in the press, until the documents were officially declassified.

Secondly, documents released this week (by prosecution, no less) contained an assertion by “Scotter” Libby that Bush had approved the release of information pertaining to Valerie Wilson.  According to Libby, he was told by Vice President Cheney that the President had authorized the release of classified information.  Libby stated he was given the go ahead to release that information.  Again, the information was not “officially declassified” until ten days later.

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The following came to me by way of a mailing list:

As expected, President George W. Bush yesterday signed budget-reconciliation legislation that includes a firm date for TV broadcasters to clear 700 MHz spectrum and $1.2 billion in funding earmarked for public-safety communications.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 216-214 to approve the budget package, which requires broadcasters to clear the 700 MHz airwaves on Feb. 17, 2009, after which 24 MHz of frequencies will be allocated nationwide to public safety. Other airwaves in the band will be auctioned to commercial operators in a bidding process expected to generate $10 billion in additional revenue for the government. Under previous law, broadcasters tentatively were targeted to clear the 700 MHz band by the end of this year, but they were not required to do so until 85% of all U.S. television sets could receive digital signals—a threshold that could take decades to reach, according to many analysts.

This has been a long time in coming.  Many had hoped that the legislature would wait until technology had caught up to current demand, but unfortunately there was no such luck.  Fortunately, the bill gives three years for technology to catch up, and become affordable.  Unfortunately, we all know that won’t necessarily happen.

I can tell you this.  Cable companies will be rejoicing, as it is currently cheaper to sign up for digital cable (which converts to be viewable on analog televisions), than it is to purchase a digital-capable television - or even converter.  Cable companies are much more capable of changing their reception frequency for broadcast television.  For those unfamiliar with how this works, cable companies receive television broadcasts via either satellite, or large antenna arrays.  Then, the signal is either converted for analog distribution immediately, or it is sent down the wires to digital converters at the customers’ homes, where the signal is converted into analog for display.

The e-mail goes on to say:

Some public-safety officials previously had expressed hope that first responders might receive more than the 24 MHz of airwave earmarked, but enacting the budget measure effectively ends such discussion, said Harlin McEwen, chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police communications and technology committee. “All the spectrum that is not going to public safety is ready to be auctioned, so it is highly unlikely [that more frequencies would be dedicated to public safety],” McEwen said. In addition to allocating spectrum to public safety, the law creates a $1 billion grant program to pay for public-safety interoperable communications systems, $156 million for national alert and tsunami warning systems and $43.5 million to help fund E-911 upgrades as called for in the Enhance 911 Act passed in 2004. Most of the $10 billion in expected auction proceeds will be used to reduce budget deficits and to fund a program designed to provide people with analog TV sets low-cost converters that will let them receive digital broadcasts.

I have to chuckle at the last line.  I have my doubts that we will ever see widespread distribution of those “low-cost converters.”

Was this a good move by the Bush administration?  That depends on who you ask.  Television companies would likely say that they knew such an event was coming, but expected the date to be further in the future.  Public safety organizations - particularly first-response organizations - will agree that this is a very, very good thing.  The general public - especially when forced to purchase a digital television, subscribe to digital cable, or purchase a supposedly “low-priced” converter - will likely disagree.  Personally?  This has been a long time in coming.  It is a good move, as we do need some frequency rebanding to support first responders and public safety; but it will cause a lot of friction and issue in the coming years.  Look for late 2008 and early 2009 to be the time period that sees sudden leaps in “affordable” television technology.  Look for March 2009, indefinitely forward, to be the time period for gross price elevation of television technology.

Technorati Tags: Bush, television, 700mhz, Bush Administration

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I know you’re probably tired of hearing comment about the State of the Union address. Well, too bad, I want my say. heh.

President Bush made some strong comments during his address. Some I agree with, some I disagree with. I want to take a few minutes and break down portions of his speech, and give me comments and thoughts. Let’s get started:

On September the 11th, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country.

The President does not mention to which country he was referring. It is possible he could have been referring to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, even Saudi Arabi. I’ll give you three guesses which of those immediately popped into my head when I heard his statement. Yes, Iraq. I’d wager that the vast majority of the people listening to (or reading the transcript of) his speech thought the same thing. I find it amusing, especially since Iraq’s involvement in the attacks on September 11th has never been concretely proven. For that matter, it hasn’t even been limply proven. It’s much like the penis of a bodybuilder… Supposedly it’s there, and supposedly it’s quite concrete… but what if that body builder has been on steroids? I would have much preferred he picked a specific country - or even the general area - to point out, instead of leaving us to guess and make penis jokes.

In fact, I’m seeing a running theme in that sentence… Let’s check the past years, shall we?
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