The State of the Union is Soporific

Elie Wiesel once said that the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference, and in today's case, that might be a good thing. Though I'm loathe to admit that the Object and I do anything so domestically mundane, a few weeks ago we were shopping for a new calendar to hang in our kitchen. The Object pointed to a Count-Down-the-Days-'Til-Bush-Is-Outta-Office calendar, and to his surprise, I pooh-poohed the choice. "Bah! That whole administration is just so passé; I just don't even recognize it as legit anymore."

And thusly, I did not watch the State of the Union Address last night. Just let me have my vote for Barack and gimme my check to make my feel better about your taking only 8 years to put the country's economy through a bigger downward moodswing than Britney Spears after a post-child custody hearing coke binge. The only thing that could have excited me about this year's SOTU would have been Bush's urging the Congress to pass legislation requiring a Charlie Brown-parental womp-womp sound effect whenever the legacy of Bush's economic policies were mentioned in historical terms.

Much more heartening - and interesting - is the State of other Unions/Nations:

• The state of Japan appears to be quite well, now that rape whistles for kids are on the market and robots are teaching traditional dance. That would have made that scene in Memoirs of a Geisha much more interesting. (Tip o' the Goo to Lionel)
• Say what you will about China, but the state of their union is soooooper strong. Economists believe this is because of the rise in popularity of BengBeng, the superstar duck. "If you ask him to sing, he quacks rhythmically while shaking his head and body. He quite enjoys it."
• In England, the state of affairs is spotty as the Queen's English turns into the Canine's German.
  
• In Israel, the state of the nation is one of forgiveness, since, "After accomplishing the mission of rehabilitating Israel's problematic image in the world, the Foreign Ministry has now found the time to deal with the real important issue: Extending an official apology to The Beatles, 43 years after the British band was banned from performing in the Jewish state." I'm just gonna let that hang in the air for a minute...
• The state of Estonia is decidedly bleaker, where you have to travel to the Ikea in Helsinki to get a decent bed. Even then, you have to strap the bed on your back to get it on the bus and ferry back to Tallinn: "I have a really strange question for you.. so.. ah.. Do you have anything around here which would help me to carry this [bed] onto a bus and back to Tallinn?'" (Tip o' the Goo to Kimberly)
• The state of the European Union, where nations get screwed every day, involves a sense of coming together.
  
• And finally, in the land down under they're seeing red over the state of affairs in Tasmania.