The Weekly Rewind

If you’re like me and trying to conserve gas, stay inside and read this week’s edition of The Weekly Rewind… now with more ‘Heckle’

Applaud: to the Bush Legacy Bus Tour (yes Virginia, it’s meant to be sarcastic). Americans United for Change is launching the tour, which they describe as a “museum on wheels dedicated to chronicling the disastrous legacy of President Bush and the conservative policies he and his allies have pursued.” The bus is slated to hit the road on June 24th and is scheduled to make approximately 150 stops between now and Election Day… so keep your eyes open for it in YOUR town. I know I will…

Heckle: to all style and no substance. Yes, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Karl Rove’s attorney Robert Luskin asking to have him appear before them, but they hinted that they may be willing to accept that “Rove appear ‘without a transcript or oath,’ but without any limit on the committee’s right to seek sworn testimony later.” (Um… if given the chance to lie without any possible repercussion, don’t ya think that Karl Rove will lie? What kind of stupid crap is this? If you don’t have the balls to subpoena him and MAKE IT STICK, drop it and cower in the corner like you always do… schmucks)

Applaud: to something that should NOT be a surprise. Due to the media’s pathetic and galling political reporting, a new Pew poll finds that Americans are dissatisfied with political sound bites supplied by the main stream media and are thusly looking to the Internet for a more complete picture. Per the study, almost 30% of adults have used the Internet to read or watch unfiltered campaign material” while 6% have “contributed to a campaign using the Internet, up from a paltry 2% in 2004… (and with the media’s continues piss-poor job of political reporting, we can expect that number to shoot up even higher in the months, and years, ahead…)

Heckle: to conservative columnist George Will for being as inane as the party he follows. Speaking on the heels of a USA Today/Gallup poll that showed 55% of Americans think their families are worse off financially than they were a year ago, Will said they’re just misinformed and in reality are “better off today than they were in 2000-2001.” (The blinders and rose-colored glasses these guys have are amazing. How anyone with their own brain could think people are better off now is not only insulting to the intelligence of the average American, but mind-boggling naïve as well…)

Applaud: to news that not only makes me smile but that should have precluded him from speaking to the National Press Club but didn’t. Larry Sinclair spoke at the National Press Club earlier this week and continued to spout off his lies about Sen. Obama even though the Politico’s Ben Smith reported that Sinclair has a rather sordid history including a 27-year criminal record that specializes in “crimes involving deceit” such as forgery. In fact, the Pueblo County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office has Sinclair listed as “Wanted”… nice company to keep NPC. Who’s next? Scooter Libby… oh wait

Applaud Part II: to getting one’s comeuppance. Larry Sinclair was arrested after an appearance at the National Press club earlier this week and charged as a fugitive from justice after 2 US Marshals presented him with a warrant from the state of Delaware… it was discovered earlier this week that Sinclair not only has a 27-year criminal record but is a wanted man in Colorado (and apparently Delaware as well. (Good riddance to bad rubbish… and the NPC should be held accountable in some way as well for allowing a wanted felon from speaking at an event)

Heckle: to the results of a new World Public Opinion poll. The poll of 20 nations found that a sad and pathetic (or delusional) 2% say they have “a lot” or “some” confidence that President Bush will do “the right thing regarding world affairs” and ranks below, below!, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and barely beats Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf… (that’s some mighty fine company you have there George, good job)

Applaud: to House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) for his consideration of holding EPA administrator Stephen Johnson and OMB official Susan Dudley in contempt of Congress due to their “repeated refusal to provide subpoenaed documents to the Committee” regarding the White House’s role in the EPA’s rejection of California’s motor vehicle emission standards. (way to go Mr. Waxman… keep on them)

Heckle: to former House speaker, and eternal schmuck, Newt Gingrich. Appearing on Face the Nation last Sunday morning, Gingrich echoed the (sad and pathetic) conservative rhetoric and decried SCOTUS’ decision to restore the right of habeas corpus petitions to Guantanamo detainees and said; “This court decision is a disaster, which could cost us a city…” (Fearmonger much? Oh wait, you’re a republican so yes you do ya putz)

Applaud: to the passing and subsequent signing of a new law dubbed the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act. The bill will provides tax relief for military families and at the same time closes a loophole that had allowed defense contractors to avoid paying millions of dollars in payroll taxes and that now requires them to pay the taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare programs… (pwned!)

Heckle: to saying one thing and doing another. Less than a month after the Bush(Whacked) Administration declared polar bears as a threatened species, they are now giving oil companies permission to potentially harm them by giving seven oil companies legal protection if “small numbers” of polar bears are harmed while they search for oil and gas in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. (Wow… I’m not an animal hugger per se, but this stinks of favoritism and I would hope someone decides to investigate how exactly this decision came to be…)

Applaud: to silence that speaks volumes and gives more fodder for the ‘republican party is more un-united than the Dems’ talk… former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declined to answer whether he will support Sen. McCain for president… perhaps it has to do with McCain saying back in 2007 that Rumsfeld will “go down as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.” (I love political in-fighting, especially on the gop side)

Heckle: to doing a lot of travelling and having nothing to show for it… Per ThinkProgress, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made 22 trips to Israel during Bush’s reign, the most recent coming last weekend… problem is, as Time’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief Tim McGirk notes, “[S]he has little to show for it” as there was “no fanfare, no motorcades snarling up the city’s traffic,” and she couldn’t even book a room at her usual hotel and had to settle for a “less grand” one. The best part of this story though (and the one that almost made this an applaud), is that Israeli TV announcers have “coined her name as a verb, meaning to go endlessly around in circles, accomplishing nothing.” (I think we’ve gotten a new mantra for the administration…)

Applaud: to honoring a political pundit with a HUGE football hunger. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) are going to introduce legislation to rename a portion of Route 20 near the Buffalo Bills’ stadium after Tim Russert who was a stringent Bills fan…

Heckle: to hyperbole from someone who is himself a hyperbole. Former DOJ official John Yoo wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed and condemned last week’s SCOTUS ruling as “judicial imperialism of the highest order,” claiming it gives rights to those “captured fighting against the U.S.” Glenn Greenwald responds, “[A] huge bulk of our ‘War on Terror’ prisoners, including those at Guantanamo, were not ‘captured fighting against the U.S.’ at all.” (Wow… talk about fear-mongering hyperbole… and someone with Yoo’s reputation really shouldn’t be talking about anything, let alone the law)

Applaud: to words that should calm fears, ease hearts and tranquilize minds. Asked whether she was interested in being Vice President, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Fox & Friends earlier this week; “It’s time for me to do something else. […] You have to know when your time is up, and it’s time for new blood.” (THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD THANK GOD… and since it can’t be said enough, THANK GOD!)

Heckle: to a booth at the recent Texas republican convention that sold buttons asking, “If Obama Is President…Will We Still Call It The White House?” (Unacceptable on ALL levels. I understand this is the kind of idiotic racist crap we’re going to have to deal with in the months ahead, but for it to be condoned by a major political party is simply wrong and the company that makes the button – which I refuse to link to here – deserves to be boycotted en masse)

Heckle: to news that, considering whose in charge, isn’t surprising. The GAO issued a report that warns the “government does not have adequate privacy protections for the personal information it collects, shares and stores as part of the effort to fight terrorism” and suggests updating the Privacy Act to protect against the government’s “massive, massive data collections.” (Wow… who could have ever seen that a White House that can’t even keep track of their own emails wouldn’t be able to protect private information. Something needs to be done, but we know nothing will…)

Heckle: to a quote by CIA lawyer Jonathan Fredman that will (God-willing) eventually come back to bite the administration on the ass; “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong.”

Heckle: to even more examples of this administration’s incompetence. A new audit by the GAO reports that after six years, and roughly $16.5 billion, the U.S. still lacks a solid plan to create a self-sustaining security force in Afghanistan, even though that’s the TRUE war of terror base... (way to go Bush(whacked) Administration! Keep up the good work)

Heckle: to the results of a new AP-Ipsos poll. The poll finds that a majority of Americans (8 in 10) Americans believe the country is “moving in the wrong direction” while only 17% (whom I imagine are Bush family members) say the country is going in the right direction. The survey also says that the overall level of cynicism is the “worst in almost 30 years.”

Heckle: to former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. Sure, I could say ‘on general principles alone’, but he’s spouting off again, appearing on a radio show this week eh sad that “the best outcome” of an Obama presidency would be “a replay of the Clinton administration,” meaning “more embassy bombings” and “more World Trade Center attacks”: (Ummmm… the WTC attack under Clinton was a preview of the bigger one that occurred on BUSH’S WATCH you porn-mustachioed putz! Also, Bolton was one of the administration’s largest busts, why the HELL is he continually given a podium to speak his mind??)

All I have, take 'em as you will...