The Weekly Rewind

The Weekly Rewind starts for the week ending May 19, 2006… right… now…

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I said right… now…

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Oops… forgot to plug it in…

Right now!

Applaud: to this quote. While it’s not related to politics, it’s a great quote that I think more people need to hear. It comes from David Feherty, a former PGA player and current CBS golf commentator who has battled depression: “Tom Cruise says there’s no such thing as depression, that you can get better with physical exercise. Well, maybe he’s right — beating the [bleep] out of Tom Cruise would be physical all right, and it would [bleeping] cheer me up, and a whole lot of other people.” Brilliant quote, Mr. Feherty… absolutely brilliant…

Heckle: to Pat “Overcompensation” Robertson. The “good” Reverand says God has told him that storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year. (Yeah, I can't top that... anyone??) (editors note: God told me that Pat Robertson is an idiot- Scott)

Applaud: to a former senior official in President Bush’s re-election campaign, James Tobin, getting sentenced to 10 months in prison earlier this week for his role in suppressing votes in a New Hampshire Senate race with U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe stating; “It was a direct assault on a free and fair electoral system. We’ll never know if the wrong people are sitting in government because of this effort.” (Be warned… people are starting to wake up… about fuc**** time…)

Heckle: to sitting on one’s laurels and thusly allowing a “big catch” to get away. Sure, after 16 months of doing absolutely nothing, the House ethics committee will finally start bribery investigations into Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and William Jefferson (D-LA), but Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) will escape unscathed because he’s leaving office next month. (Nice inaction there everyone… I’m sure this wasn’t done on purpose just to save DeLay… it’s so hard to express sarcasm in the written word…)

Applaud: to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (did I just write that???) for telling his fellow Conservatives to mind their own beeswax. Nicely put Mr. Justice… well done. (and I can almost guarantee this is the last time you’ll see him applauded on this blog… though you never know…)

Heckle: to the bad news coming from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Earlier this week he said, “[T]he risks to inflation are perhaps the most significant at the moment” with consumer prices rising by 0.6% in April. Higher prices are cutting into consumers’ purchasing power and diminishing the outlook for economic growth and has fueled concerns that the Fed might push interest rates up in order to push back inflation. (Yet again, another of the things that had been a strength of the Bush Administration is faltering. As I’ve said already in this post… people are starting to wake up… and Bush and his cronies better start paying attention.)

Applaud: to the Justice Department. They are accusing Abbott Laboratories of inflating prices of its drugs as “…part of a fraudulent billing scheme alleged to have cost government health programs more than $175 million over 10 years.” (Well, duh. About time they made that realization… maybe now some changes will be made… though I highly doubt it)

Heckle: to BellSouth. The telecommunications company is seeking a retraction to the USA Today story under pretenses that the paper gave “false and unsubstantiated statements” in their story about NSA phone logs and the phone companies, all but Quest. (Whatever…) THIS STORY on Think Progress gives a reason why the companies may be suggesting the story is falsified… (Makes one really wonder where this country is headed… doesn’t it?)

Applaud: to newly-minted Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi for acknowledging the real impact of the Iraq war and speaking his mind rather than fall into line with Bush and Tony Blair: “We consider the war and occupation in Iraq a grave error that hasn’t solved - but has complicated - the problem of security. … Terrorism has found a new base and new excuses for internal and external terrorist action.” (I couldn’t have said it better myself Mr. Prodi, grazie)

Heckle: to temper tantrums, Senate style. It was a pathetic display by both Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), earlier this week during debate on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. (Grow up guys, isn’t that a strategy that we all learned doesn’t work when we were like seven or eight?)

Applaud: to Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) who, earlier this week, demanded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launch an investigation into phone and telecommunications companies that provided millions of customers' phone records to the National Security Agency OR explain how the program is lawful. (Sounds good, but I have a feeling the “demand” was only made in order to appease others and that nothing will be done or investigated, making this entry a “Heckle”)

Heckle: to fencing… “President” Bush has suggested building a fence along the US border with Mexico in order to help keep illegal immigrants out, saying in a speech in Arizona; “It makes sense to use fencing along the border in key locations in order to do our job.” (I have to ask.. isnt this a concept that was pretty much declared useless by Steve McQueen in “The Great Escape”?) At the same time, the Senate passed immigration amendments that would require all native-born and immigrants workers to “submit their names to two huge federal databases to verify their legal status before taking any new job.” (Okay… that part makes sense…)

Applaud: to the House of Representative for voting in favor of repealing $7 billion in subsidies for oil companies that drill in publicly owned waters. The vote was approved 252 to 165, over the “surprising” objections of many Republican leaders.” It now goes to the Senate where it’s expected to also pass… again by a slim margin. The House also voted 279 to 141 to reject a provision that would have lifted a 25-year ban on oil drilling in coastal areas outside the western Gulf of Mexico.” (Wow, that had to really piss of the oil companies… kinda makes you feel warm inside, doesn’t it?)

Heckle: to the news that, in the past two days, as many as 105 people were reportedly killed in Afghanistan, in what can be described as the “deadliest violence since the Taliban was driven from power in late 2001.” (Do you get the feeling that the Bush administration has forgotten about Afghanistan? Sure seems like it. I haven’t seen such a pathetic and transparent attempt to find someone since OJ’s declaration that he wouldn’t rest until he found the “real killers.” How’s that goin’ Juice?) There was also “Heavy fighting involving several hundred Taliban fighters and Afghan and coalition forces in southern Afghanistan” that also resulted in a slew of deaths. Good thing we took care of Afghanistan before we got knee-deep in Ira—, wait, that’s right… we didn’t take care of Afghanistan… morons)

Applaud: to ever-falling approval numbers. Nothing new to report this week as Bush’s numbers are still falling faster than Tom Cruise’s popularity and don’t seem destined to rebound any time soon… did you just hear a collective belly-laugh coming from the left??

Heckle: to this (not really surprising or shocking) news from The Travel Industry Association of America. Earlier this week the group said that high gas prices will add “$30 and $50 to the gasoline cost of a typical trip this summer,” adding that prices “will limit travel growth this summer to less than 1%.” (Wow, tell me something that I, along with 98% of the population, didn’t already know…)

Applaud: to the news that the atrocious $2.7 trillion that passed in the House, will most likely falter when it reaches the Senate. (Good news indeed… if it comes to fruition)

Heckle: to talking out one’s ass. Remember a few months ago when all the talk was of a 30,000 troop drawdown coming in the months ahead? Well, turns out they were lying. Earlier this week Defense Secretary Donald “Generals love me” Rumsfeld stated that he “…cannot guarantee that there will be substantial withdrawals of U.S. troops from Iraq this year.” (Nice… get the hopes up of military families and U.S. citizens and then yank the rug out from under them all… what a tool)

That’s all I got… what are you applauding and heckling this week?