The Weekly Rewind

Hey folks we here at TBWA hope that your Thanksgiving was happy and filled with friends and family. And since you are full of turkey and consequently the dreaded tryptophane, we will keep this weeks rewind brief so that you can alternately nap and decorate. So let’s get to it….

Applaud: to putting pen to paper. As a gift to our troops the Army is rewriting a key field manual, the authoritative guidebook on how to conduct ground operations. The gift is that it is being rewritten in a way that rejects the Rumsfeld doctrine [emphasizing speed over massive troop numbers] and counsels against using it again. Thank god someone is taking a serious look and hopefully this rewrite results in decisive actions for our troops and an honorable and effective end to our overwhelming presence in Iraq.

Heckle: to backpedaling to late. Tony Blair’s apparent agreement with a suggestion that the Iraqi war has been disastrous was a ‘straightforward slip of the tongue,’ said the British Prime Minister’s official spokesperson on Saturday. Come on Tony, it’s alright to say it, everyone else is.

Applaud: to someone in the GAO using a little commone sense. A new report by the Government Accountability Office has “criticized the Bush administration for failing to check if federally funded abstinence-only programs actually work to curb teen sex.” You know you’d think that someone might have done a little research into this issue before going forward full steam with a funded program, but hey, why should this administration change it’s track record of failed initiatives now.

Applaud: to silence speaking a novela. Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance bill: Not gonna happen. Last week, Bush sent Capitol Hill a plea for a legislative stamp of approval on the controversial spy effort, calling it an “important priority in the war on terror.” Senate Republicans responded with “deafening silence.” You think that after the mid-term’s the right side of the aisle is finally getting an undstanding of what the american public will and will not tolerate?

Heckle: Ok, so they really don’t have an understanding. The Do-Nothing Congress passes the buck. Republicans vacating the Capitol are dumping a big spring cleaning job on Democrats moving in. Congressional leaders have opted to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills, which promises to consume time and energy from the 110th Congress. Talk about passing the buck. Or is it more akin to behaving like spoiled brats? I’ll stick with the latter.

Applaud: to still getting the opportunity to do well. Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who ran and lost a high-profile congressional race in Illinois this year, has been appointed director of the state’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) announced yesterday. We here at TBWA feel that this was a smart move by the Governor and wish Tamm well in her new job.

Heckle: to starting the spin before ball is thrown. The Iraq Study Group is nearing completion of a first draft of its report. The co-chairmen, James Baker and Lee Hamilton, hope to complete it this weekend and give it to the eight other group members in time for a meeting next week. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is readying counterproposals for Bush in case the Iraq Study Group comes up with ideas he does not like. Ok, we already know that George is not going to like what the group recommends…..

Heckle: to color me not surprised. Leaked drug company memo: Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) loss “creates a big hole we will need to fill” and “we now have fewer allies in the Senate.” Raise your hands those of you who are actaully surpised at this attitude among the pharmacuetical industry. Good, I sense that there are very few if any hands in the air. I’m proud of all of you.

Heckle: to again and again having it thrown in your face. A previously undisclosed video shot in the months before the U.S. invasion in 2003, shows Saddam Hussein and his top officers demonstrating not biological or nuclear weapons, but primitive slingshots, Molotov cocktails, and crossbows. Ok, so we have lost over 2,500 men and women because of Weapons of Medieval Destruction? Not the kind of WMD’s that we were led to believe were present in Iraq.

OK, folks that is it for this week. Please return to your decorating…

Be good, stay informed…..later.