I really should have been sleeping, but I got sucked into watching US President Bush's 2006 State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Bush's manner of speech really irritates the hell out of me; he speaks in, short burst sentences, not always making it clear, where the sentence is going, to end. Listening to the State of the Union makes me think of a Powerpoint presentation, replete with bullet points and cheesy applause sound effects.

It was pleasing to hear Bush characterise American dependence on oil as an "addiction", particularly since it was coming from a dyed-in-the-wool oil family man, but as usual he touched on right-wing bullet points: hawkish comments about keeping troops in Iraq, pro-life, "activist" courts redefining marriage, Iran is evil, yadda yadda. However, it was also pleasing to see the left staying seated and not applauding during these expected moments.

To please me further, I'd love to see Tony Blair do something like this annually in front of the Houses of Parliament and Lords — stand up and lay out your plan for the year. It'll never happen though.

CNN has the full transcript of the speech for those interested, although Wonkette's running commentary is much funnier.