The Weekly Rewind

EDITOR'S NOTE: Blogger bites it. I went through all the trouble of adding hyperlinks and all,and when I go to publish, they're gone. So enjoy this Non-Linked version of The Weekly Rewind:

It’s Saturday, we all know what that means; time for The Weekly Rewind…

Applaud: to having the balls to tell the truth while a member of an administration that doesn’t. Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen has expressed concerns that the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan have undermined the military’s ability to prevent other conflicts. Said Mullen; “Because we have had such an intense focus on the Middle East and Iraq and Afghanistan, there is risk associated with those other parts of the world.” (Ya think?)

Heckle: to what could be the worst-kept secret in Washington that DOESN’T involve Larry Craig. Considering that the administration has increasingly been throwing out threatening rhetoric on Iran, combined with Bush’s recent budget request of additonal money for wars and his request to equip B-2 “stealth” bombers with a new 30,000-pound bunker buster, many in DC and around the world are thinking that the administration has “plans for an attack on Iran”… (Look, I understand that Iran can not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, but so far there is no evidence that they do, and we are in NO position to get involved in another war right now… so I think Bush should keep his war-libido in check for a while, lest he get our beloved country into another senseless war…)

Applaud: to snarky comments from “President” Bush. During a tour of the California disaster area yesterday, he took a shot at Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, saying; “It makes a significant difference when you have somebody in the statehouse willing to take the lead.” (Yes, the Bush White House and FEMA fucked up royally, but Gov. Blanco deserves an equal share of the blame, and getting smacked down by Bush HAS to hurt…)

Heckle: to not knowing when to leave the limelight. Former FEMA director Michael “Sucks to be me” Brown, remember him, he’s the one who mismanaged the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, issued a press release earlier this week that said he is “available for interviews” on the wildfires. As if that wasn’t enough, he then went on to draw parallels between the current situation and Katrina. (Seriously, why is he still talking? He needs to STFU and slink away and not mention FEMA, Katrina, disasters EVER AGAIN… get a hint ‘Brownie’, no one cares…)

Applaud: to the Bush(whacked) Administration’s new “worst nightmare”, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). He’s become the administration’s nightmare because he’s a Democrat in the majority that not only has subpoena power, but also the inclination to overturn rocks.” (Keep at it Mr. Waxman, you seem to be the only one with balls…)

Heckle: to hypocrisy; presidential style. “President” Bush has been spouting off lately about being a believer of small government and budget-slashing and moderate spending. Well, according to an analysis by McClatchy, that’s a pile of bullshit as Bush is the biggest spending president since 1964, with annual growth of discretionary spending, having been adjusted for inflation, has increased 5.3% under Bush’s watch which far exceeds the spending of his recent predecessors… (I am shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this establishment. Yes; that was sarcasm…)

Shallow Applaud: to a new “record” set by the House earlier this week as they recorded the 1,000th vote of the year. Last year’s gop-led Congress held just 543 votes. While that’s all fine and good, some of the votes they haven’t had have been ones that were important to a majority of Americans… so as I said, it’s a shallow applaud…

Heckle: to the silly-looking new logo from the CIA. Who created this, someone’s 2-year old?

Applaud: to Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington and their plans to join California’s lawsuit that is suing the EPA for stalling on a decision about whether to allow states to force car makers to produce cleaner vehicles. (It probably won’t do much good, but you never know…)

Heckle: to a new poll that tells us what many of us already knew; that the American public not only doubts whether the Bush(whacked) Administration’s foreign policy is working, but is “increasingly skeptical about whether anything can turn the situation around,” with 79% believing that the world “has become more dangerous” for the United States, and 64 percent “think the rest of the world sees the U.S. negatively.”

Applaud: to Valerie Plame. She gave her first interview since Bush(whacked) administration officials outed her covert CIA agent status and she revealed that she was covert and that her primary function was preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. (Oops. If Bush and his merry band of cronies were capable of humiliation, this might do it… but they don’t care what others think, so it won’t have any effect on them…)

Heckle: to $2.4 trillion, which is, according to a CBO estimate, the potentially the cost of the wars in Afghanistan Iran Afghanistan (?) and Iraq through the next decade. That breaks down to almost $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country. (And I’m sure it will only go up if we do eventually attack Iran…)

Applaud: to Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Mel Watt (D-NC) and Brad Miller (D-NC). Because of the hundreds of thousands of families facing foreclosure in recent months, the trio has introduced legislation that aims to protect consumers against predatory mortgages. (Good for them. Some of these mortgage companies operate barely within the law, and should be held accountable… though I have a feeling the trio’s conservative brethren might have something to say about this…)

Heckle: to White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. The CBO released a report earlier this week that total spending for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities related to the war on terrorism “would amount to between $1.2 trillion and $1.7 trillion for fiscal years 2001 through 2017.” When you add the $705 billion in interest, the cost of the wars could easily amount to $2.4 trillion. Perino attacked, saying that the report containes “a ton of speculation” and downplayed it as a creation “based on questions that Democrats in Congress that don’t want us to be in the war asked.” Never mind that it was prepared by the CBO. Perino then got really moronic and added that the White House is not concerned about the exact cost of the war. Yes, according to her, the White House doesn’t care how much money it costs to fail in Iraq… is it ever wonder why Bush’s ratings keep dropping. And before a conservative troll leaves a comment about why I don’t mention Congress’ low ratings, I’ll mention that Congress does indeed have low approval ratings… feel better now lemmings?

Applaud: to the Frost family for not backing down. Despite being attacked by various right wing pundits, they are not and will not back down from the fight for children’s health insurance. Earlier this past week matriarch Bonnie Frost stood up at a Baltimore church and made an appeal for broader health coverage… (Way to go Ms. Frost. I would wager that most of the “people” that attacked you wouldn’t have that kind of courage… keep it up)

Heckle: to placing blame just in order to score points with their like-minded sheep viewers. Earlier this week Fox “News” morning hosts blamed the wildfires in California on a new culprit: al Qaeda. Pointing to a 2003 FBI memo that raised the possibility that al Qaeda may try to set wildfires around the western United States they noted that men in a “hovering helicopter” saw “a guy starting one of these fires.” (Well then; it’s official. It was al Qaeda…)

Applaud: to 25%, AKA; “Bush’s latest approval rating”. And because of his “weakened approval ratings”, he’s being forced to take a “much more personal role in opposing Congress.” (Riiiight…)

Heckle: to more gop hypocrisy. Last spring, Rep. Patrick McHenry (r-NC) berated a plethora of Democrats because they were blocking his proposal that would require Members to disclose the existence and value of their personal residences. Interestingly enough, or maybe not if you know how republicans act, McHenry himself has not disclosed at least three pieces of property that he owns that are worth more than $300,000 combined… (gop fever; catch it!)

Applaud: to another Bush cabinet member biting the dust. This time it’s Richard Griffin, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security. He announced his resignation earlier this week… (If they keep falling off like flies in this manner, how long until one of the Bush twins is in Daddy’s cabinet?)

And now it’s time for the gop Tool of the Week. This was another close week, but this time we have to give it to Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. Appearing on Fox “News” last Sunday, he declared that the U.S. was close to victory in Iraq and argued that the “only” concern left for the U.S is dealing with alleged Iranian involvement in Iraq. Said Kristol; “We’re winning in Iraq. That is the absolute crucial precondition to having success in the broader fight against Islamic jihadism. […] And I think we are going to have to be serious about dealing with both their intervention in Iraq — which is now the only real threat, I think, incidentally, to relative success in Iraq — and their nuclear program.” Um, okay… there’s no doubt that Iran is most likely causing some violence in Iraq, but there are more worse threats. Consider that a NIE released earlier this year concluded that Iranian involvement was “not likely” to be a major driver of violence. No, it’s not… let’s have some intelligence people…