One of many deceptive items Bush tried to sneak by in his SOTU speech was this $2 billion dedicated to clean energy technologies. $2 billion? This sum is equivalent to a fly on an elephant's rear-end. Even China spends $100 billion a year on environmental efforts. Oh, and this $2 billion is not per year but over three years -- woefully meager at best!

To further put this amount in perspective, lately Bush has worked himself into a tizzy about pork or earmarks. In the last seven years, Congress has included over 55,000 earmarks in spending bills which Bush readily signed and passed. Nearly all of those earmarks were under a GOP-controlled Congress. Only now, during this period of Dem-control, does GW have the sudden problem with pork. Hilarious. But as for that $2 billion for clean energy, note that the 55,000 pork projects amounted to over $100 billion, or 50x as much as what Bush is willing to dedicate to this environment fund (over three years, no less).

By the way, just as Bush is tossing out this paltry sum to the green crowd, his administration released a plan yesterday to open up Alaska's largest national forest for logging. Yes, 2.4 million pristine acres will be exposed to cutting. The plan will not net any revenues to the U.S. government, AND we taxpayers will foot the bill for paying for the creation of roads for the timber companies to access the forest. Thus, a plan is hatched to wreck the environment and it's a corporate subsidy to timber interests. Sounds about right.

But hey, how bout that $2 billion? What a guy!

Another example of a deceptive item: Bush said he's doubling the federal funding for AIDS overseas to $30 billion over the next five years. Uh, but as Dan Froomkin made clear, the existing funding is already at $6 billion a year, so over five years equals the proposed $30 billion -- no doubling. Also, the Dem-controlled Congress had an original amount of $50 billion proposed which Bush cut back to the $30 billion, or status quo.

Until 1/20/09, we have to put up with this BS....