With an approval rating below 30 percent, and an I.Q that I’m convinced is half that, I’m not surprised that President Bush’ State of the Union address was utterly disconnected from reality. What the nation heard in the State of the Union ad-dress was a sales pitch and an inaccurate assessment of the current state of national and international affairs. George would have us believe that the economy is great, health care is phenom-enal and more domestic oil drilling, and war will solve all our problems. Bush has been preaching the same sermon since 2002 (no wonder Senator McCain can’t stay awake). Every year Bush prom-ises the development of alter-native energy, and every year our country becomes more and more dependent on oil. Bush has been paying lip service to the energy crisis since his inauguration, yet has passed no substantial energy policies during his tenure (though he has virtual control over the House and Senate). Bush has requested $2.7 billion F.Y. 2008 in his budget for the development of alter-native energy (an increase of 27 percent). That may seem like a lot of money, but just remember that the Defense Department alone is operat-ing with a budget F.Y. 2007 of $427 billion. It appears that Bush’s pri-orities are to set up friendly regimes in oil-rich countries rather then taking the appro-priate steps to stop our de-pendency on foreign oil and ending America’s reign as the number one contributor to climate change. Bush spent well over half of his State of the Union ad-dress discussing the threat of the al-Qaida terrorist net-work, yet their has never been any evidence that al-Qaida operated or was fund-ed by Iraq prior to 911. Not one hijacker was from Iraq. Yet, we are still supposed to believe that Iraq is the piv-otal battleground in the war against the al-Qaida terror network. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 911 were from Saudi Arabia and members of the House of Saud are known members of al-Qaida. Why does the Bush admin-istration remain so friendly with the House of Saud? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that it has something to do with the Bush family’s considerable economic ties to the ruling family. Bush can preach his ser-mon all that he wants, but it is quite clear that he has little interest in anything but advancing his stock options. If you don’t believe me, pick up a copy of Craig Unger’s book House of Bush, House of Saud. Unger found that before 911, the House of Saud contracted $1.5 billion worth of business in oil and defense contracts from the Carlyle Group and Halliburton (com-panies whose principle share-holders happened to be Bush and Chaney, respectively). Bush is trying to sell the crisis in Iraq as a necessary step in the fight against al-Qaida and Islamic fundamen-talism. But I don’t buy it, and nor should you. al-Qaida was not in Iraq before our invasion, just like there were no weapons of mass destruction. If jihad fighters are there now, it’s only because we are there now. Don’t be fooled by the spin of this administration’s sales pitch, because they are just like any shady used car sales-men: They’ll say anything to turn a buck.