The week in review...no wait, it's The Weekly Rewind !

Alright folks, it’s once again that time. Yes, you know it, you love it….it’s the weekly rewind.

We are two weeks away from Christmas with shopping to do, so this week may be a little more brief than usual. But, not to disappoint any of our dedicated readers, without further ado we present ….The Weekly Rewind…

APPLAUD: to Eugene McCarthy for changing the politics were done in this country.

HECKLE: to another "We can and will win in Iraq" speech from Clueless George (or as kemp likes to call him, 'Commander Cuckoo-Bananas') this past week. Give it a rest Dubya, we ain't buying it.

HECKLE: to the short-sightedness of the U.S. Navy. In an interesting article by Robert Novak (wow, who would have ever thought you would hear us say that!) there is a quiet debate among the armed services, specifically the Navy and the Marines, regarding the last 2 battleships in the Navy. Independent of the Novak article, it is known that the Navy wants to turn the Iowa and Wisconsin into museums, currently they are berthed but remain listed in Reserve and could be recommissioned in less than a year. The Navy wants to remove the 'Reserve' requirement and for firepower they are instead anticipating a new (10 years in the future) destroyer to takeover the main fire support function. The Marines of the other hand are eager to keep the battleships available. They cite the firepower of these behemoths and the capability of hitting land based targets in supporting Marines as recently as the Gulf War. The Marines also state that the anticipated destroyers will not have the same capabilities as the battleships they will be replacing. (The cost of keeping these ships in Reserve readiness status is about $250,000 a year, hmmm...I think Tom DeLay might know a few ways to come up with that paultry sum.)

APPLAUD: to Bill Clinton. The former President was invited to speak at the U.N. Climate Conference in Montreal. He was invited by the City of Montreal. This was obviously a surprise to the Bush Administration representatives at the conference who were said to be ‘displeased’ by the last minute surprise speech. In his speech to (a majority of) conference delegates, Mr. Clinton stated that George W. Bush was “flat wrong” in his arguments that the Kyoto Protocol would harm the U.S. economy. (The only damage would be that it might take a little of the obscene level of profits out of some companies pockets. I remember when creditors were still making money with a much higher ‘prime‘ rate and charging their customers 18% and 20% rates on credit….hmmm aren’t they paying a much lower prime rate and still charging customers the same high interest rates on credit? Where does the extra money go?? Profit margins!!..)

HECKLE: to George W. Bush. Normally on principles alone, however this week we can add an additional reason. His administrations representatives to the U.N. Climate Conference were the only ‘hold-outs’ standing alone against renewed talks on new ways to curb/combat global climate change. Even as other countries were exploring how to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

APPLAUD: to Patrick Fitzgerald. The special prosecutor was once again presenting information to a grand jury. The continuing investigation is said to be focusing on Senior White House advisor Karl Rove. It is already known that Rove failed for months to tell investigators that he had provided information about Valerie Plume to Matt Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine, back in July 2003. The only reason that Rove did finally admit to having the conversation is that Mat Cooper was subpoenaed to testify about their discussions.

HECKLE: to Senator Joseph Lieberman. You seem like a nice enough guy, but shut-up, would you please ?!

APPLAUD: to Democratic Senators for calling on SCOTUS nominee Samuel Alito to answer additional questions and requesting additional papers to be submitted prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. An APPLAUD also must go out to Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa) . The Senator stated that the committee will demand that Judge Alito answer more questions than did now, Chief Justice John Roberts.

HECKLE: to the Bush Administration (what a surprise) for reporting that the jobs report shows a strong/strengthening economy. Anyone who looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers saw that while the unemployment percentage may have stayed the same between October and November, the actual reported number of persons that were unemployed actually increased during the same period. (what song is that coming from the White House press office….’You spin me right round baby, right round like a record baby…” )

APPLAUD: to the 9/11 Panel. This bi-partisan panel sidestepped partisan politics and issued a report stating that the Bush Administration has not done enough to protect the country against another possible terror attack similar to the attacks of 9/11/2001. (If my son came home with a report card that had similar grades, we would be having a serious discussion on a loss of privileges and how the grades would be improved in a very short period of time !)

HECKLE: to Bill O‘Reilly. We can‘t help but laugh at this guy for trying to turn a small issue into a big one. We are speaking of course about the so-called debate over ‘Merry Christmas’ vs. ‘Happy Holidays’. We guess that he must not have enough real issues to report on.

APPLAUD: to Senior District Judge Pat Priest. On Monday, Judge Priest let stand the felony indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tx) on charges of money laundering in connection with the 2002 Texas elections.

HECKLE: to Doughnut Holes. (mmm.....doughnuts....) Specifically the huge ‘doughnut-hole’ in the pending Medicare Prescription Drug Plan(s). I have worked in the Insurance industry for over 15 years and have read through even more information on the available plans and I am still confused. I still don’t understand how the elderly are going to make heads or tails of this. The only thing I do know is that no matter which plan someone chooses, their overall out-of-pocket costs (premium, deductible and co-insurance) will basically total to the same amount. (Nice..isn't that the American way, in 'Bush's America'.....let's screw the little guy...)

Well, that's it for this week. Notice more of a balance this week in the Applaud's vs. Heckle's? It's not that I couldn't come up with a lot more Heckle's, but it the holiday season and I am feeling generous.

Be good, stay informed....later.