The Weekly Rewind

Friday… Weekly Rewind time… enjoy:

Applaud: to finally getting together a united front and coming up with a plan for Iraq… Naturally, “President” Bush is swearing a veto... putz…

Heckle: to there not being a back-up plan in Iraq. According to a group of governors who met last week with Joint Chiefs chairman Peter Pace. Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-TN) recalled Pace telling the group; “Plan B was to make Plan A work,” (Come on now, there’s always a “Plan B”, even in bad movies there’s a Plan B… you wanna tell me that this idiotic administration doesn’t have a Plan B??? Somehow though, I am not surprised…)

Applaud: to the Senate Judiciary Committee for voting to authorize subpoenas for Justice officials that are involved in the ever-growing case of purging U.S. Attorneys. During the last few days, this story has gone round the bend. First, in a USA Today op-ed, Attorney General Gonzales called the scandal “an overblown personnel matter,” but the excuses given by the Justice Dept. for the firings were incredibly strained so people started looking deeper into the firings, then, one after another of the purged prosecutors came forward with information that they were forced out, with one example being Thomas DiBiagio, who said earlier this week that he was “forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates” of Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R-MD). Oh… and now, under some intense scrutiny from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzalez has changed his mind about the process of how federal attorney’s can be replaced…

Heckle: to the shabby way our disabled veterans are being treated. According to an article in the Honolulu Advertiser, more than a quarter of military veterans with a disability case before the Department of Veterans Affairs are waiting six months or longer for a decision – thus putting a huge financial burden on them and their families. The story continues to report that as of March 3, the Department had close to 401,000 pending cases – and approximately 115,000 have been “languishing for six months or more.” (This is uncalled for in every damn sense of the word. They’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, and they can’t even get what they deserve… something needs to be done, and if you want to help – go to vawatchdog.org and see how you can help…)

Applaud: to going against the grain of your party and stepping up for what is right. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) is saying that he will support the plan proposed by Democrats earlier this week that will lay-out a specific timeline to withdraw U.S. troops, praising the benchmarks in the plan and the inclusion of an actual date to begin withdrawing US troops, saying; “Conceptually I like what’s been proposed…I think this is on the right track.” (Excellent, I always like seeing a republican use their own mind and make a decision that is the right thing to do.. and keep an eye on some other republican reps as a new poll indicated that a good portion of Americans in conservative-leaning – and competitive in 2008 – House districts also approve of setting a date to withdraw troops from Iraq… it’s things like this that give me hope…)

Heckle: to Newt Gingrich. Usually, I could just say heckle to Newt Gingrich and be done with it… but this week we actually have something to heckle him about. Turns out that while he was leading the impeachment of President Clinton for getting his cigar smoked, he was having an affair… (Uh… “Hello kettle, this is the pot – you’re black.”). Then, in the interview where he acknowledged this, he had the audacity to say that he shouldn’t be considered a hypocrite… (No problem there Newt, I don’t think anyone considers you a hypocrite, I think they consider you something far, far worse… Mo. Ron.)

Applaud: to even more going against the grain of your party and stepping up for what is right. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) gave some “scathing criticism” of Attorney General Alberto “Torture is my Life” Gonzales, saying; “One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later…” (I’m gonna say ‘ouch’ for Al there… and a hearty ‘job well done’ for Sen. Specter, thanks Senator…)

Heckle: to speaking out of one’s ass… On the same day that Iraq saw suicide bombers and gunmen kill at least 130 people in one of the deadliest days of the four-year war, Bush had the balls to say; “It’s too early to judge the success of this operation, yet even at this early hour, there are some encouraging signs.” (Is it possible that his handlers aren’t telling him what is actually happening in Iraq? How else can you explain a President being this out of touch? It boggles the mind…)

Applaud: to 30%… which is “President” Bush’s job approval in the latest Zogby poll. Once again, he’s hit the “all-time low-water mark” of his presidency… and it doesn’t look to get any better any time soon… (How exactly does one write a stifled laugh???)

Heckle: to government-sponsored censorship. Internal memos from the Bush(whacked) Administration’s Federal Fish and Wildlife Service suggest that government biologists and other employees traveling in countries around the Arctic not discuss climate change, polar bears or sea ice “if they are not designated to do so.” (Uh guys… I think the cat is out of the bag on this whole global warming thing… give it up…)

Applaud: to a cold front in Latin America. “President” Bush better pack a warm coat as he will be getting a very chilly reception this weekend in South America. He’s starting a weeklong tour of Latin America and yesterday police clashed with protesters in Brazil and across the region. What’s even better is that a group of Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to “eliminate bad spirits” after his visit… (Ya know, sometimes the snark just writes itself…)

Heckle: to Ann Coulter… do I really need to give a reason?

Applaud: to a jury finding I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby guilty. Do I really need to expound any more on this subject? I didn’t think so…

Heckle: to polling that would seem to back-up what I’ve been saying about how much Bush and his cronies have eroded America’s reputation and clout. 51% of people in the world believe the U.S. has a “mainly negative” influence in the world… we ranked third behind Israel and Iran, and followed, in fifth place, by North Korea… I don’t think anything more needs to be said…

Applaud? Heckle? You decide: Jacob Weisberg and The Four Unspeakable Truths about Iraq…

Heckle: to this disturbing and startling fact and trend. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a nonpartisan organization, middle-class Americans are increasingly unable to afford health insurance with more than 1/3 of the uninsured, 17 million of nearly 47 million, have family incomes of $40,000 or more while more than two-thirds of the uninsured are in households with at least one full-time worker. (But the economy is strong…)

Applaud: to former Presidents who knew how to do the job… one more so than the other… The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is going to present its highest honor, the Frederick D. Patterson Award, to former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton for their philanthropic efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Way to go guys… too bad our current President didn’t take lessons from you two… and you have no idea how much it pains me to say that about Bush, Sr… I think I just lost some Liberal-points on that…

Heckle: to Fox News chief Roger Ailes for this comment: “… and it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?’” (Fox “News” More of a tool than “President” Bush… and that’s saying a LOT)

Applaud: Hmmmmmmmm, Cheney stepping down next week ?

And finally… a rundown of what happened this past week to some of the 2008 Presidential race imposters candidates… Kucinich must repay the government $135,518 in public matching funds from his ’04 race … Edwards kept a pretty low profile… Richardson did the same... Clinton put a call out for a G.I. Bill of Rights… Obama paid some really old parking tickets… and all the Dem hopefuls opened their wallets to South Carolina’s state Democratic party in order to raise money for their, now earlier, primary in January 2008. And on the right side of the country; Hagel could join the race this Monday…or not… McCain praised potential rival Hagel and current-rival Giuliani… Giuliani’s heroic image could be outed by The International Association of Fire Fighters union, but he still leads his opponents in many polls… Huckabee could be the dark horse of the group… and is Gingrich a hypocrite?

Take ‘em as you will…