The Weekly Rewind

It’s the end of yet another week. The mid-terms are fast approaching, Iraq is falling into further chaos and danger, and the gop is acting like… well… like the gop.

Not many posts this week as Scott was uber-busy with work and I had a family emergency/tragedy occur in my family and was out of town… but no matter, we’ve made a return for this week’s Weekly Rewind.

Applaud: to a new record set by the Dow Jones Industrial average, which closed at 11,727.34 earlier this week, besting a record that had been held since January 2000, though. We’ll ignore the fact that if inflation is taken into account, the Dow would still have to go up another 2,150 points before it beats the “all-time high.” (Nevermind that ‘all time high’ jazz… in this day and age, considering who’s in charge in DC, good news is good news. Drinks are on me…)

Heckle: to Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL)… do I really need to tell you why???

Applaud: to approval ratings that, after enjoying a slight (and do I mean slight) uptick, are tumbling downward again. According to a new Time magazine poll, “President” Bush’s ratings have fallen from 38% in August to 36%. (I’ve always been a firm believer in not kicking a man while he’s down, so I’ll refrain from saying anything now… )

Heckle: to ignoring the warning signs. Months before the 9/11 attacks, both Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft received a CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaeda strike on America. (I’m not going to say anything except: Take that news as you will…)

Applaud: to more approval rating numbers according to a new NBC/WSJ poll and reflect a drop of three points since September… to 39%. (Couldn’t resist breaking this news out into 2 separate applauds…)

Heckle: to obviously not learning a lesson from mistakes in the past. Tucked away in last week’s homeland security bill was a law, passed by Congress, that established new job qualifications for the FEMA director. The new law requires a candidate who has “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management” as well as stating they must have “not less than five years of executive leadership.” Commander Cuckoo Bananas signed it… hours later Dumbya issued a signed statement that said he could ignore the new restrictions. (Some people never learn… though it must be nice to be above every law in the land…)

Applaud: to repubican Senator John Warner (R-VA) for boldy stating, after a week in Iraq, that if “this level of violence is not under control and this government able to function” in two or three months, then the US government (and the Bush Administration) needs to ask if a “change of course” is due.

Tilted Applaud: to Bob “Waffle” Woodward and his new book that isn’t very kind to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The book describes him as “an arrogant, indecisive bumbler who won’t take responsibility for his mistakes — or even admit any.” (And this is different from every other Bush cabinet member… how???)

Heckle: to once again not learning a lesson from mistakes in the past. A new Justice Department report from the Inspector General says the federal Bureau of Prisons “does not read all the mail for terrorist and other high-risk inmates on its mail monitoring lists.” (Lovely…)

Applaud: to Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, who wrote a letter to CIA Director Michael Hayden requesting that a document that describes a “grim” picture of the situation in Iraq (and that she says is being suppressed by the Bush administration) be declassified. (The odds of the document seeing the light of day are slim, but isn’t it nice to see someone doing something?)

<b>Heckle: to Senate Majority Leader Bill “You can call me Dr.” Frist (R-TN) who wants to put the Taliban back in power as he urged support for efforts to bring “people who call themselves Taliban” and their allies into the government. (Brilliant thought there Bill… ya dumbass…)

Forced Applaud: Good news everyone, an Appeals Court in Cincinnati ruled that the government can continue to use its warrantless domestic wiretap program pending the Justice Department’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling outlawing the program. (See that Mr. Pentagon guys… we at TBWA think it’s a good idea…)

Heckle: North Korea said earlier this past week that they will conduct a nuclear test to bolster its self-defense capability while world leaders “acted with alarm.” (I have really got to finish that bomb shelter…)

Applaud? Heckle? You decide… The Supreme Court began its term this past Monday… let’s just hope they do more than Congress did…

Heckle: to Wal-Mart for their attempts to make a cheaper, more flexible work force by capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more workers on nights and weekends.” (I offer a new slogan for Wal Mart: “Buy American… and screw the American worker”)

Heckle: to once again not learning a lesson from mistakes in the past. British commandos in southeastern Iraq have “found nothing to support” the Bush Administration’s belief that Iran is providing weapons and training in Iraq. (Do ya think Georgie Boy cares?? It’s like Iraq all over again…)

Heckle: and sure to be on the discount rack before you know it, former Attorney General John Ashcroft is writing his memoirs. (I’ll just leave you to ponder that one on your own…

And for those of you not catching it, I was being sarcastic and snarky when I gave an applaud to the domestic wiretap program…

Quite a few more heckles than applauds this week… as my mood indicates…

It’s been a long and tough week for me, so I’ll bid you all adieu and, as always…

Take ‘em as you will...