President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address tonight, beginning in about 45 minutes. C-span will be streaming the speech.

UPDATE: Wow. Let me add some quick takes - I'm skipping over education and national security.

Federalism:
Economy is going strong; let's keep it that way: not with more government, but with private enterprise. Right on. Proposes to introduce a plan to eliminate the Federal Deficit in 5 years. Yikes. Without raising taxes. Sounds difficult.

With all the talk of budget-cutting, Bush plays the federal spending card a surprising number of times during the speech, asking congress to approve funding for health care, education, alternative energy, immigration reform, and, of course, national security. Going to be tough to tie these two ends together.

Health Care:
By and large, health care remains privatized. Tax reforms are proposed to enable lower income households to afford insurance.

Immigration:
Double the border patrol, and increase funding in order to improve the infrastructure. Create a temporary worker's program to take the pressure off and allow the patrol to concentrate on "the drug smugglers and criminals." This is key. Things on the line have got to loosen up.

Deal with resident illegals, but handle them carefully: "without animosity, and without amnesty." Good. Maintain America's legacy as a "melting pot." This is important: there is altogether too much prejudice and snobbery, racial and otherwise, in the country today.

Environmentalism:
Decrease gasoline consumption by 20% within 10 years. This would allow us to cut our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by 75%. Bush acknowledged global warming, and expressed specific interest in Ethanol, hybrid vehicles, and new electricity-generation strategies.

Toward the end, Bush spent some time congratulating the American character. Some of it may have been a bit overdone, but his commendation of Wesley Autrey was thoroughly appropriate and rather moving.

It disturbs me that the President currently commands so little respect. Let's debate the issues - absolutely - while not forgetting our duty to honor. It will be disappointing if all that Americans think about for the next two years is who the next executive will be.

UPDATE: Wikipedia summary, and video/transcript.

Issues like global warming beg the question: just how politicized has science become? Science has no special immunity to ethical erosion: at least no more than economics, or religion. You can do anything with statistics, and it is becoming harder to know what to believe. Snarls like the Korean clone scandal aren't helping matters.

We must work to bridge this gap from both sides: the layman, by paying attention and asking the right questions, and the scientists, by refusing to succumb to biased partisan agendas or peddle inflated or otherwise distorted facts. Here's one article I read that tackles - or begins to tackle - the problem. (Hat Tip: Pajamas Media)

The delights of scam-busting, with David St. Lawrence.

Some stunning photography from a Russian Pilot. (PJM)

MercatorNet reflects on 34 years of Roe. There are the passionate pro-lifer's, fighting more urgently than ever; the equally passionate pro-choicer's, stubbornly defensive; and a few of us in the middle who feel the whole question largely misses the point.

WSJ interview with Milton Friedman, 4 months before his death.

We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our hearers but by their real religion. Speak about beauty, truth, and goodness, or about a God who is simply the indwelling principle of these three, speak about a great spiritual force pervading all things, a common mind of which we are all parts, a pool of generalized spirituality to which we can all flow, and you will command friendly interest. But the temperature drops as soon as you mention a God who has purposes and performs particular actions, who does one thing and not another, a concrete choosing, commanding, prohibiting God with a determinate character. People become embarrassed or angry. Such a conception seems to them primitive and crude and even irreverent. The popular 'religion' excludes miracles because it excludes the 'living God' of Christianity and believes instead in a kind of God who obviously would not do miracles, or indeed anything else.

Another iPhone contender. I don't know: at $275 above Apple's base model, it's going to be difficult to compete. Besides, there's no mention of an OS or even a browser.

A California assemblywoman plans to submit a bill making the spanking of children under 3 years old a misdemeanor.

'I have to question why our society holds so tightly to physical discipline among the very young,' said Ms. Lieber, who does not have children. 'We’re very addicted to violence.'

(Emphasis added.)

It's official: Hillary Rodham Clinton has launched her campaign site and declared her candidacy for the Presidency. (Instapundit)


Hmmmm.

Superb interview in this month's National Geographic with Scientist/Christian Francis Collins.

Horgan: What do you think about the field of neurotheology, which attempts to identify the neural basis of religious experiences?

Collins: I think it's fascinating but not particularly surprising. We humans are flesh and blood. So it wouldn't trouble me—if I were to have some mystical experience myself—to discover that my temporal lobe was lit up. That doesn't mean that this doesn't have genuine spiritual significance. Those who come at this issue with the presumption that there is nothing outside the natural world will look at this data and say, "Ya see?" Whereas those who come with the presumption that we are spiritual creatures will go, "Cool! There is a natural correlate to this mystical experience! How about that!"

Read the whole thing.

MercatorNet discusses the deterioration of The New York Times and takes the opportunity to explore the ethics of journalism.

New York Times veteran reporter John McCandish Phillips gives a particularly poignant talk to budding writers he calls "Media Ethics According to Deuteronomy". He recounts tales of the noble profession. "More than a few times I scooped other reporters in covering events, but there were occasions when my stories lacked fascinating content that showed up in other papers, usually in the highly competitive tabloids," Phillips recalls. "These were lacking in my stories on account of their failure to have occurred. You cannot top a liar."

He tells the aspiring journalists that he is asked most about "reportorial ethics." But what he tells them is surprising. "God gave us the core ethic in the words ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ Some reporters lamentably do just that, with facts, with quotations, with subtle or grievous shifts in emphasis…You will not lie. You will not distort. You will not make things up… If you get into investigative reporting, never let your suspicions run one-eighth of an inch ahead of your facts…

More on evangelism from The Northern Gleaner: part 3, part 4, and part 5; and he's not through yet.

Despite the Agape Love I have for these people at this fellowship we have fights. We argue. We don't LIKE each other sometimes. Agape isn't about liking someone. I can have an agape love toward you and not like you. Look back at the description. That was true in the early church. The Apostles fought like cats and dogs and even didn't really like each other all that much sometimes. But they loved each other in the Love of Christ. Agape.

Hmmmmm.

Continuing to walk the line with Michael Yon.

A preliminary autopsy on college degrees: Did he say "carpenter"?

I'm looking forward to society adopting a more meritocratic system for employment and enterprise.

Practical, accessible, privatized small-town health-care. Great concept, and superb execution: kudos to Dr. Berry! (WorldMag)

The cold is taking a heavy toll on California citrus, ruining nearly $1 billion worth of produce.

Schwarzenegger visited Fresno to see the damage firsthand.

VOM, Sudan:

Sudanese police have denied attacking 800 Christians at a New Year's Eve service in Khartoum's Anglican cathedral. Six members of the congregation were injured after the police fired tear gas into the church. As a result of the attack, the sound system, pews, chairs and windows were damaged. Pray God will heal believers injured in the attack. Pray for protection and that publicity from the attack will cause Christians worldwide to lift the country of Sudan before God's throne.

Gene Redlin: A clown by any other name is still a clown. Hit 'em again, Gene.

You wanted to be in. You wanted to be hip. Being out of sync with the latest jokester was a place that no hopeful up and coming preppie wanted to be. SO, you laughed. You didn't always think it funny when they made fun of the little blind girl, or the kid that walked kinda funny from polio; that was funny wasn't it, when the class clown imitated her limp.

So, you went along. You laughed on cue. You were "IN".

The unraveling continues: marriage is now minority. (New York Times)

Michael Yon: podcasting from Iraq on the state of the war.

Smart, subversive journalism: derailing cliché caravans. What fun!

(Instapundit)

Gene Redlin of The Northern Gleaner with some thoughts on evangelism. (Part 1 posted yesterday.) Interesting, if inconclusive, perspective.

Evangelizing takes place only after inquiry. If a person isn't asking the question your answer is useless. The questions usually come on the heels of a personal crisis of some kind. Much of what we think of as evangelism is answering questions people aren't asking.

Happy Birthday Susanna!