State of the Union

Tonight, our president will focus on the positive. And, sure, some things are going well enough that he should do that. .

I'm really not sure about the whole "man-to-Mars" thing, though. Space stations on the moon. Lots and lots of billions (or is it trillions?) of dollars.

Maybe it's a risk that will be worthwhile because of the "side" benefits of the space race were in the 1960's. You know, velcro and Tang and computer upgrades...the whole deal.

But it just seems like a lot of money right now.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's because I don't like Star Wars. Maybe I'm getting older. Maybe I'm not old enough. Maybe it's because of the repeated successes of NASA that I can really believe they can and will do it so it hardly seems heroic to do so.

To me, the good old political standards of education, jobs and health care would seem to be higher priorities than spending a bajillion dollars trying to put a flag on the Red Planet.

And, any event in which commentators will have a count on how many times the president will be interrupted by applause makes me suspicious. For that matter, any time a politician talks it makes me suspicious. But this time, even more so.