Bush World bears an increasingly uncanny resemblance to the fictional 1984.  Why does the IRS cut back on the profitable work with estates and not the far less iffy work on the Earned Income Tax Credit?  Ideology. Why does it turn Civil Rights and environmental law upside down?  Ideology.

Isn't it odd that the group with our "MBA President" that vowed to bring business efficiency to Washington is instead governing from pure ideology?  

How far are we from MiniTruth and "War is Peace"?

This is just one more symptom of Republican Immorality.  They might be the party of values, but they are also the party of Immorality.  In every aspect, their choices can be seen as, and called, immoral.

Too bad Democrats are scared to make this a race about morality.  

Entirely predictable.  Some years ago I was astonished to learn that Bush had hired a new head of the civil rights division of the DOJ.   He has no experience in civil rights as the term has come to be understood.  His specialty?  Gun ownership rights.  That's it.

It's going to take a generation to undo all the evil this administration has wrought.

IIRC, DOJ attorneys are not Merit System protected, i.e. a Democrat will be able to clean house with a ruthless hand in 2009 if all goes well.  If I am wrong, please correct me.

That said, it is a shame and a scandal.  

Is reverse-discrimination against Christians even possible in this country?

This used to be the crown jewel for freshly minted lawyers, only slightly less than clerking for a Supreme.

I forget what the chances of being hired were for my brother in the early 90's, but it wasn't much different than if he had been an ordinary college varsity basketball player looking to hook up with an NBA team.

Now it's turned to shit....

...is how long it took the regime to start shipping their people into the CRD!

I'm not sure how committed the regime is to putting affirmative action into reverse: their briefs on the Michigan University cases were pretty feeble (perhaps having something to do with the shedload of Fortune 500 briefs supporting the Michigan entry schemes).

It's hardly an issue that they've sought to stir up their base with - as with the Schiavo circus, marriage and flag amendments, abortion periphery bills (Laci and Conner's, partial birth abortion, etc) and the like.

No doubt, their big corporate donors have asked the regime to do what they can on civil rights suits against corporations, but not so that opprobrium blows back on them. Something like that.

The below list is taken from the OSC website. These practices are prohibited by federal statute.
---------------------------------------- ----
What are "prohibited personnel practices?"

Twelve prohibited personnel practices, including reprisal for whistleblowing, are defined by law at § 2302(b) of title 5 of the United States Code (U.S.C.). A personnel action (such as an appointment, promotion, reassignment, or suspension) may need to be involved for a prohibited personnel practice to occur. Generally stated, § 2302(b) provides that a federal employee authorized to take, direct others to take, recommend or approve any personnel action may not:

(1) discriminate against an employee or applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicapping condition, marital status, or political affiliation;

(2) solicit or consider employment recommendations based on factors other than personal knowledge or records of job-related abilities or characteristics;

(3) coerce the political activity of any person;

(4) deceive or willfully obstruct anyone from competing for employment;

(5) influence anyone to withdraw from competition for any position so as to improve or injure the employment prospects of any other person;

(6) give an unauthorized preference or advantage to anyone so as to improve or injure the employment prospects of any particular employee or applicant;

(7) engage in nepotism (i.e., hire, promote, or advocate the hiring or promotion of relatives);

(8) engage in reprisal for whistleblowing - i.e., take, fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take a personnel action with respect to any employee or applicant because of any disclosure of information by the employee or applicant that he or she reasonably believes evidences a violation of a law, rule or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; an abuse of authority; or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety (if such disclosure is not barred by law and such information is not specifically required by Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs - if so restricted by law or Executive Order, the disclosure is only protected if made to the Special Counsel, the Inspector General, or comparable agency official);

(9) take, fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take a personnel action against an employee or applicant for exercising an appeal, complaint, or grievance right; testifying for or assisting another in exercising such a right; cooperating with or disclosing information to the Special Counsel or to an Inspector General; or refusing to obey an order that would require the individual to violate a law;

(10) discriminate based on personal conduct which is not adverse to the on-the-job performance of an employee, applicant, or others; or

(11) take or fail to take, recommend, or approve a personnel action if taking or failing to take such an action would violate a veterans' preference requirement; and

(12) take or fail to take a personnel action, if taking or failing to take action would violate any law, rule or regulation implementing or directly concerning merit system principles at 5 U.S.C. § 2301.

Ironic isn't it? They're using the language of affirmative action to suggest that the hiring practices of old favored liberals and gave them more points while discriminating against conservatives and those who graduated from law schools in the more conservative South and Midwest. Yet, they're stacking the division with a policy that is nothing more than affirmative action for right-wing political hacks. In fact, I'm sure this kind of spoils system has been unprecedented since the 1880s when Garfield was assassinated...

Here's the link to the BG article:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washin gton/articles/2006/07/23/civil_rights_hi ring_shifted_in_bush_era/?page=full

Also, I understand that Waxman is looking into
hiring practices at DoJ and this may be included.