The Weekly Rewind

It’s Friday, you all know what that means… it’s time for our ever-popular, ever-knowing feature; The Weekly Rewind… long-winded edition.

Applaud: to low polling numbers for the President and the Vice President. According to a new Harris Interactive Poll, “President” Bush’s approval is hovering at 32%, while Dick “Dick” Cheney’s numbers have him at an all-time Vice-Presidential low at 29% approval. (Hee hee hee hee… I love when hubris come back to bite people in the ass. What is it I used to say a lot here? Oh yeah… ‘Karma, baby!’)

Heckle: to the Department of Homeland Security for failing to tell Congress how the department is spending billions of dollars on major programs that run the gamut from aviation security to Gulf Coast rebuilding. (Checks and balances? What checks and balances???)

Applaud: to the republicans who are supporting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s right to travel back and forth from DC on a military plane, like her republican predeccesor, Dennis Hastert (R-IL) did. According to the New York Times (new motto: all our reporters are now out of prison), a lot of republicans were put off by the flight fight. Said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) “This is a bunch of baloney.” Rep Jeff Flake (R-AZ) followed that up by declaring; “Next week, we are going to steal their mascot and short-sheet their beds.” Now the White House is backing Ms. Pelosi with Spokesman Tony “Job” Snow saying in a briefing earlier this week: “This is a silly story, and I think it's been unfair to the speaker.” (I never thought I would say this, but nicely said Mr. Snow. This is a non-story that is being brought up by a slew of junior gop representatives who apparently have absolutely nothing better to do but criticize something that their former leader did and something aimed at protecting the SECOND person in the Presidential line of succession. To everyone who is making this molehill into a mountain; STFU)

Heckle: to the Bush(whacked) administration. According to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the administration, in its elan to secure the nation’s borders and slow the flow of illegal immigrants, might be leaving asylum seekers vulnerable to deportation and harsh treatment. (I’m sorry, what were the principles this country was founded on?)

Applaud: that all 435 House members will be allowed to view the classified version of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq which should provide some much-needed “fuel for a House debate” on Iraq and escalation next week where every single Rep. “will be given five minutes to speak” on Bush’s escalation plan. (Bush has to be feeling scared now… things are seemingly starting to slowly unravel regarding his build-up for not only the escalation plan, but for the whole Iraq war… makes one smile ear to ear…)

Heckle: to news that should not be a surprise to anyone with a brain. The Pentagon’s Inspector General has found that Donald Rumsfeld’s aide Douglas Feith’s rogue pre-war inteligence group was an “inappropriate” use of intelligence by Pentagon civilians, and was also “predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda.” (I am shocked… shocked to find gambling going on in this establishment…). Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the Senate intel chairman, vows that his panel will probe whether the Pentagon broke the law by “failing to notify Congress about the group’s work.” (This is definitely a step in the right direction, though one has to wonder if anything will actually be done… I guess only time will tell… and remember, you read it here first second third again…)

Applaud: to “widespread” dissatisfaction. A lot of voting conservatives say they pick “none of the above” when faced with the options of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MT) and Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) as the 2008 republican presidential nominee. Such dissatisfaction with the leading Republican presidential candidates is widespread among the party's conservative stalwarts and should make this presidential election the most contested in decades.

Heckle: to Budget waste. “President” Bush’s proposed budget includes a slew of high-cost weapons that will not even be in operation for years to come, thus using a funding request aimed at supporting the troops to actually get money for some of the Pentagon’s pet projects… (and the White House and Pentagon have the audacity to say people against escalation and the budget don’t care about our servicemen/women… give me a break. I’m all for making new weapons to help our military, but right now, in the middle of fighting two wars and possibly a third with Iran, instead of funding tools that cant be used now, how about giving them the best of what we have now. Or would that make too much sense?)

Applaud: to the Fark.com political headline of the week: “Rice grilled over lack of smoking gun in allegations against Iran. Critics demand evidence, saffron”

Heckle: to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for announcing that he will be skipping a forum for Democratic presidential candidates in Nevada later this month, despite assertions that seven other announced or expected Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton (D-NY) & John Edwards (D-SC), will participate in the forum. Obama’s campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said that they couldn’t fit the forum into his itinerary. (This is disappointing… this is the first chance for a lot of people in this country to see Obama with the other cast of characters and thus giving them the chance to start thinking about whom they want as the Democratic nominee… Personally, I think his campaign team should do some re-shuffling in order to make sure Senator Obama can be at this forum…)

Applaud: to becoming spectators instead of players. With neither a president seeking reelection nor a vice president being a presumptive nominee, the Bush(whacked) Administration has been turned into mere spectators for the 2008 presidential election. Ya think the gop wishes they could have had their 2000 VP nomination back instead of giving it to someone who they had to have known would not run for the big office in ’08. Personally, I think the fact they even chose Cheney in the first place shows just how much the gop was not confidant in Bush’s ability to run the country…

Heckle: to lying liars… Last week in the Rewind I applauded a White House proposal to increase Pell Grants. While it was announced and meeted with great fanfare last week, Dubya’s FY08 budget contains no new money to pay for it… (Bat rastards…)

Applaud: to Democratic presidential candidate and former governor Tom Vilsack (D-IA). No particular reason other than the fact he needs a little reassurance, doesn’t he? He’s gonna be this race’s Dennis Kucinich…

Heckle: to republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R-MT). No particular reason other than the fact he needs a little smackdown, doesn’t he?

Applaud: to resting cases. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wrapped up his portion of the Scooter Libby trial this week… a week that saw jurors hearing Libby’s grand jury audiotapes in which Libby claimed he learned about Valerie Plame’s CIA identity from Vice President Cheney, and that he then “forgot it, then learned it again” from Tim Russert (who said is was “impossible” for him to have told Libby about Plame). It was also revealed this past week that Cheney was “upset” at Ambassador Wilson for his criticism about the lead-up to the Iraq war. (All of this stuff coming out… and it’s getting more and more interesting…)

That’s all I got, take ‘em as you will and have a good weekend. Later.

An Important Bill is Passed

House Democrats wanted to cut student loan interest rates… the administration “declared its opposition” to a cut. The (Democratically-controlled) House, by and large, ignored the White House and overwhelmingly approved the bill yesterday by a vote of 356 to 71… a vote which saw more than a few republicans swinging sides… a swing nearly 130 votes strong. Having said that, don't let the final tally deceive you… most republicans opposed the bill… vehemently opposed the bill… and voted for it simply because they didn’t want to be painted as opposing student aid or opposing anything related to education.

The bill, which lost by a scant 2 votes a year ago, aims to cut interest rates on college loans and thus create a plan that could potentially save students $2,300 over the life of a loan. While that in and of itself is good news, it’s unfortunate that the reduction in rates will be phased-in and won’t take full effect until 2011. Regardless, even a phased-in reduction will help some students considerably.

I’m not posting this to harangue about how important education is… most everyone knows that education is a fundamental building block of society and is relatively important in the creation of an informed citizenry. Keep in mind that I am not saying that those without an education are not important and do not contribute to society, they do… a lot… it’s just my personal belief is that education is important.

The reason I’m posting this is because it is an important bill that could have a significant impact on a very large segment of the population. Furthermore, it could also have an impact on a segment of the population that is constrained from furthering their education by the idea of having to pay off their oversized loans. But with a significant cut in interest rates, the dream of getting an education just got easier for a lot of people… and that is something that I believe in.

I was lucky; when I was working on my undergrad, I was on a Forensics scholarship and didn’t have to take out any student loans. Ditto for my Masters degree, my employers paid for it, so I’ve never had to rely on student loans. My wife on the other hand has… her undergrad, her post-graduate certificate and now her Masters, she’s had to use student loans, so I know the anxiety, stress and worry that they bring… and cutting the interest rates is an enormous step in the right direction.

Let’s hope republicans and/or this administration don’t do anything to screw it up…