More SOTU...

Items in italics are lifted directly from the transcript of the State of the Union Address.

"Productivity is high. And jobs are on the rise. "
1,000 new jobs in a month, in an economy that requires several dozen times that number just to keep up with the growth of the workforce, still, technically qualifies as a "rise."

"For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be permanent."
First of all, thanks for going on the ultimate record saying what opponents of these taxes suspected was the plan all along: give an expiration date to lower the apparent cost, then pressure congress into removing the expiration dates. Second, see previous excerpt.

"So tonight I propose a series of measures called Jobs for the 21st Century. This program will...invite math and science professionals from the private sector to teach part-time in our high schools."
I'll be convinced when he finds some "math and science professionals" willing to use their Ph.D.'s to get paid what a high school teacher gets paid.

"We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases."
I sure hope that education program is taught by one of the abovementioned science professionals, so kids have all the facts. I also hope the curriculum treats abstinence like it does every other method of contraception and STD prevention: make sure students know that it can fail, and there are consequences when it does. True that when used consistently and correctly, abstinence is more effective than safe sex, but--as happens out there in the real world--methods are not always applied consistently and correctly.

Also on the agenda: funding for drug testing in schools, essentially requiring students to pee in a cup in order to take standardized tests. The only difference is the peeing in a cup has a budget; the educational imperatives do not.