State of the Union

So, I've got C-Span on tonight, and I'm listening to the State of the Union address. I must say that my first impression of our Congress (I've never really watched before) is that they're no better behaved than the average high-schooler at a football game. I mean, all the hooting and hollering is crazy! Folks roll their eyes at that sort of behavior at high school and college graduations, but our Congress is just as bad.

One thing that I didn't really expect to find in a "State of the Union" is so many requests for stuff that President Bush would like to see happen in the future, and so little of what he thinks the actual STATE of the Union is right now. I suppose that an address like this would be easily shifted into that sort of thing. But it struck me as less of the progress report that the name of the address implies, and more of a wish list through much of the speech. Of course, I didn't get to listen to the whole thing: my toddler wanted to talk to his Grandma and Grandpa right in the middle. As he used words to say so, we stopped to call in the middle and tried to keep half an ear on the proceedings.

One thing that bothered me was how so many of the members of Congress were just plain rude to the President. I can understand not standing or even applauding if you disagree with the President, but several people seemed to think it was some sort of study-hall, designed for them to catch up on their paperwork. My own Senators are democrats, but I hope they were at least courteous. I didn't see them, so I don't know.

On a relatively random and unimportant (but fun) note, one of the military men that President Bush shook hands with on the way out of the room looks remarkably like General George Hammond, from Stargate SG-1. Only thinner.