The Weekly Rewind

Well it's the end of the week and you all know what that means, right? Yep, it's time for a look back at the happenings of the past week, it's a little thing we like to call 'The Weekly Rewind'.

(It's a holiday weekend and since I am recovering from a couple of days of sleep inducing turkey meals this may be a little more subdued than usual...)

HECKLE: to former FEMA chief Michael Brown. Announced he is starting his own disaster preparedness consulting firm. Why? According to him, officials need to "take inventory" of what's going on in a disaster so they can answer questions and avoid appearing unaware of how serious a situation is... insert your own smart-ass comment here.

APPLAUD: to Asian doors. Anything that can make the leader of the free world look like a schmuck, has to be applauded doesn't it?

HECKLE: to “President” Bush. As always, on general principles alone.

APPLAUD: to a nice guy. Pat (Mr. Miyagi) Morita who gave us the phrase “Wax on, Wax off” who died this week at the age of 73.

HECKLE: to Pat Robertson. For being a constant putz. Can someone tell this guy to just shut-up already?

HECKLE: to FEMA. After previously announcing that they would be ending the hotel housing program for hurricane victims at the beginning of December, the agency, under much public outcry has extended the deadline until January 7th. So why not an Applaud for the extension? Because while the extension is a temporary reprieve for thousands of families, the agency is still not addressing the housing needs of those who will be without a place to live after January 7th.

HECKLE: to new taxes. Hybrid vehicles not only save their owners money with increased gas mileage, but are costing states money as less fuel purchased equals less fuel taxes being collected. As a result many states are looking at adopting ‘road use’ taxes, or tolls, as a way to make up the difference. One way of tracking miles is equipping vehicles with a GPS type of device that would then report not only distances traveled but also times of travel. Does anyone else think big brother?

HECKLE: to Tom DeLay. In court earlier this week defense attorneys asked for charges against Delay to be dropped on technicalities. They also asked for a change of venue as they claim they cannot get a fair trial in the liberal-leaning city of Austin. (You know Tom, if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear….)

APPLAUD: to prudent thought. Senior Judge Pat Priest advised attorneys in the DeLay case that he would need at least two weeks to seriously consider the motions by both sides before rendering a decision on dropping charges or changing venue.

HECKLE: to U.S. Retailers. After all the hoopla surrounding ‘Black Friday’ including deeper discounts and earlier openings than previous years, sales came in 0.9 lower than last year. Next year give us all a break, let your employees sleep in, people will still be stupid enough to line up at 9 a.m. (Except me, I didn’t shop this year on Black Friday and I don’t plan to start next year either…)

HECKLE: to jumping on the bandwagon. Under political pressure to change the administrations stand on Iraq, the President, in his weekly radio address paid tribute to the more tan 2,100 U.S. Troops who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Note to the President- Thanks for joining the rest of us.

HECKLE: to Senator Joseph Lieberman for stating the obvious. On his fourth trip to Iraq, the senator commented that failure in Iraq would be “catastrophic” for the U.S. and the entire Middle East, and that the U.S. should not immediately withdraw from Iraq.

APPLAUD: to Senator Barack Obama. The junior Senator from Illinois this week called on the President to admit mistakes in the plan to go to war in Iraq. The Senator stated that while U.S. troops in Iraq should be reduced, the troops are necessary and would remain “part of a solution” in the war torn country for the near future.

HECKLE: to Tom DeLay part 2. A continuing investigation of the dealings of Jack Abramoff by the Justice Department has turned up the names of at least half a dozen members of Congress. More specifically the wives and aides of some of these lawmakers. Whose name is among the half-dozen….yep, our old friend Tom DeLay. When it rains it pours…..

APPLAUD/HECKLE: to the Congress. APPLAUD: In it’s massive budget cutting bill, the House has included a major restructuring of the nation’s welfare system. It would require those receiving assistance to increase the number of hours worked, hours receiving training and hours performing community service for the poor. Let’s face it, you shouldn’t get something for nothing. However (here is where the HECKLE comes in) these same changes do not increase assistance with child care. If you are going to require people to put in more hours away from the home where are they going to find the money to pay for more child care?

HECKLE: to putting both feet in your mouth. Freshman Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Oh) tossed the word ’Coward’ at Congressman John P. Murtha (D-Pa) for previously suggesting that the U.S. should immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq. Oh yeah, she used this word while on the House floor. In her defense she stated that she was passing on the words of a conversation she had with Colonel Danny Bubp, who is himself a GOP state legislator. (Col. Bubp stated that he had said no such thing.) Within minutes of her statement she chose to have her comments stricken from the official record. Maybe next time she wants to say something stupid she will think about it and chose not to say anything.

Ok, as if it was a total surprise, once again we notice more heckles than applauds. Remember, you are still living in George W. Bush's America.

Be good, stay informed.....Later.