Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer
Tonight on HBO’s Real Time, Bill Maher smacks down the Bush administration for the hiring and promotion of unqualified personnel including #3 Justice Department official Monica Goodling and the other 150 graduates from Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School that work for the administration. For more on Regent’s Law School be sure to check out my post, “When Jesus Calls” (at HotPotatoMash), from earlier in the week.
Whatta Treat ! Thanks, I needed that.
Checkout the poll question on this page @ Bill’s site :
WEEKLY POLL NEW!
Dirty Tricks: Which voter conspiracy threatens our electoral process more?
Voter Fraud or
Voter Suppression
When is Bush going to propose a new cabinet position Secretary of The Office of Inquisition?
A requirement might be that the nominee be a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Faith Law School.
This gives new meaning to “holy war” and explains the notion of jihad the war mongers have.
IIRC, Monica Goodling graduated from Regent University Law School (Pat Robertson’s University). Liberty University Law School was founded by Jerry Fallwell. I think it is a separate televangelical law school, Lord help us.
I think I would have fallen off my chair laughing, had the underlying truth not made me so angry. This administration is such a pathetic group of unqualified and criminal cronies, from the top down. Washington is a joke and We The People have been kidnapped. If we do survive, and they are all tar and feathered, we will be generations undoing their bullshit. I’m living for the day we see pictures of Bush and Cheney in handcuffs.
Trying to get Bush and Cheney in cuffs will be difficult with the justice department stuffed with all those “true believers” who are not tuned to US law, only to their warped version of “God’s law.”
Shannon, I agree the cards are stacked and in place, the whole world has watched as they were one by one put into place. Recess appointments and midnight Congressional threats and arm twisting, suitcases of cash delivered to the bastards late at night, it’s all been accomplished as we helplessly point it out and cry for help.
Saw a car the other day in front of me with a huge “IMPEACH BUSH NOW!” written in red letters filling their entire back window. I honked while stopped at a light and gave double thumbs up with a big smile of approval on my face. They waved back. Everyone knows they are criminals and everyone knows we, the common citizens, are virtually helpless to do anything about it. Will good triumph over evil in time somehow? Will we be slaves to the rich and corrupt forever more? It’s such a hopeless feeling…
Bayareagirl,
Thank you! I corrected the post from Liberty to Regent. Not sure where I got Liberty having spent a good deal of time on Regent’s website this week. Alas, your comment (” I think it is a separate televangelical law school, Lord help us.”) raises some important questions worth investigating. Is the Bush administration also hiring Liberty grads at an abnormally high rate (read any)? If so, how many alumni have been hired? Finally, not all government positions require legal backgrounds so it would seem equally important to see the total infiltration of the Bush administration by graduates of all schools, graduate and undergraduate, of the same ilk.
On your mark, get set, go!
Alan
Heck of a job Idiotboy, surrounding yourself with idiot boys and girls!
Bill Maher gets away with some sophist trickery by conflating different meanings of the word elite. He also confuses the point by allowing a bogus rightwing talking point to frame his argument.
For Rush Limbaugh to chide elites is typical rightwing up is down-ism. As though Limbaugh is not serving his elite masters by advocating policies that benefit only them.
There are many kinds of elites: liberal elites, academic elites, ruling elites…
It is the latter we should be concerned with. The state of the world today is largely a result of ruling elites being allowed to circumvent the checks of democracy, operate in secret, and implement policies that serve the interest of a few at the expense of the many.
You don’t have to be Born Rich to recognise that there are a tiny minority of people so powerful, so wealthy that they are practically untouchable. And you don’t have to be Elliot Ness to know that this has been disastrous for our democracy, the environment, foreign policy, and every sector of our society they can get their little paws on.
Bill Maher’s attempt to try to re-cast elitism in a defensible light reflects his record of getting things completely wrong about half the time. Or perhaps he’s been invited a few too many times to Bohemian Grove to wallow in the glow of elitist opulence.
Regardless, elitism had its chance. It will take generations to recover from the cloaked stewardship of elitism. It’s time to give the people a chance again. You know, like the Founders had in mind. And if us shit-kickers offend Mr. Maher’s ruffled sensibilities, fuck ’em. He can gnash his teeth with the rest of them as we restore our democracy, seize our piece of the pie, and, hopefully, throw the lot of them in jail for their crimes against humanity.
And let’s not leave out how elitism is an integral part of Neocon philosophy: it’s the job of the elites to tell noble lies to the mass population or else that population will become ungovernable.
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh11022005.html
What a total load of horsesh*t. The fact that they believe it illustrates their demented world view. Now legally and peacefully, it’s time they pay for their sins.
– Tom
Alan-
I, also, would like to know how many Liberty University graduates there are in the Bush administration. I have read that there is also an exceedingly high number of BYU graduates. This makes me question if job applicants were screened for their religious beliefs. Even if this was done indirectly by hiring graduates of certain religion-backed universities, it seems like illegal discrimination to me.
Limbaugh is a hypocrite, because just like he is a “self-proclaimed” conservative, and isn’t one…he bashes “elites”, and he IS one, and is FOR elites. The GOP was, is, and always will be, for elites. The FACTS bear this out: They have redistributed money from the poor and disappearing middle class, into the pockets of the “elites” who don’t even NEED more money!
But Limbaugh hoodwinks his stupid listeners, who must be shit-kickers to believe him, by falsely “selling” that he’s a “conservative” and “against elites”. Both false. OBVIOUSLY FALSE! What he DOES doesn’t jive with what he SAYS…unless you’re a “shit-kicker”.
Shhhhhhhhhhh!!! Rove’s missing emails they are recovering are from the 9/11 time period…
Limbaugh smokes a big, fat cigar, and has on his website, a chart that says the rich pay too much taxes. CASE CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!
If aliens came here from another planet, and looked at the GOP controlled everything from 2000-2006, they would come to the conclusion that the biggest problem in America, was that the rich needed more money!
BUSH CUT THEIR TAXES DURING WARTIME!!! So, what exactly WAS the richest elites “sacrifice” for the Iraq War? A tax cut????????????? Bush is always going around, as well as the GOP, saying, “We must tighten our belts and sacrifice, there’s a war going on.” So, what was the richest elites’ sacrifice besides getting their taxes cut? WHO was Bush and the GOP TALKING TO…when they continually said, “We must tighten our belts…”?????????????
The fallacy in Limbaugh always defending the rich, and saying they pay too much taxes, is that he never mentions THAT’S BECAUSE THEY ALSO HAVE ALL THE MONEY!!! They have more money in proportion to the taxes they are paying.
It’s like the “Death Tax”. Which is really the “Estate Tax”. The so-called “Death Tax” affects the 2% richest people in America. So, it doesn’t affect 98% of us. But the Limbaughs, Hannity’s, and the GOP got the CMSM to broadcast their message to get rid of it, as if there was a groundswell of Americans that it affected. No one ever lost a farm to the “Death Tax”!
And Bush did his “infomercial” during his campaign, where he had a crowd of people waving little American flags, while chanting, “Get rid of the Death Tax.”
Who were those people, by the way???
Did the CMSM inform us that the “Estate Tax” does not affect us? And there are more important issues such as Health Care? No, once again the CMSM didn’t do their job.
When push comes to shove, the GOP will not answer the question, “Who is affected by the Estate Tax? How many people?” They carefully say, “No one who dies should have to pay a tax” or “People are losing their farms over the Death Tax”. It’s another sham.
From Mother Jones in 2006:
“””Well, the estate tax may be appropriately called a “death tax” for the super rich, but for the vast majority of Americans, there is no tax due at death. The total U.S. population stands at nearly 300 million, and in recent years there have been around 2.4 million total deaths per year. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that this year, with the estate-tax exemption level up to $2 million (or $4 million per married couple), there will be only 12,600 taxable estates. In other words, a mere one-half of 1 percent of deaths (or 1 in 200) will be assessed any estate tax. Calling this a “death tax” “” as if it applies to all, or even many, Americans who die “” is truly false advertising.”””
THE DEATH TAX DOESN’T AFFECT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm… Jesus Pimps University JPU . . .
Regents University has apparently scrubbed from its web site any mention of its 150 law school graduates that work for the Bush administration. Why? Not proud of them anymore?
Google cache has a screen capture from April 6 2007 of Regent University’s “facts” web page where they claim
“150 graduates serving in the Bush Administration”
Their current page has that info removed: http://www.regent.edu/general/about_us/facts.cfm
JStraight:
That’s not so bad. The Catholic Church tried to hide Jupiter’s moons.
Always good to get economist and troublemaker, Paul Krugman’s take on things! I like the title – “For God’s Sake”
The goal is to put as many like minded people regardless of their qualifications, into power. They do not care about justice, or serving the American people, only to promote their insane….and I do mean insane policies. America has been through dark times before. I truly belive we will get past this dark time in our history.
Note…fingers crossed.
Hey there Larry: I always enjoy reading your comments. Krugman’s was right on the mark. Thanks!
Eric, you’re right. And our goal has to be to identify those “like minded people” who are in power, ascertain their qualifications, and boot them out if they’re simply “serving at the pleasure of the pResident” without having adequate qualifications. Who are those 150 Regent University graduates serving in the Bush Administration?
JStraight:
Since we’re giving out compliments, CONGRATULATIONS on the School Vouchers petition.
Utah’s citizens, upset with our legislature passing a school vouchers bill without public support took it to the streets and got 30% more signatures then needed to bring it to a public vote.
As everybody knows, I like to dispel the perception that all Utahn’s are on the radical right’s side. Over five thousand people showed up for a “Step it up” campaign today put on by Rocky Anderson to bring awareness to global warming and even more amazing – The church invited Cheney to speak at the church’s school, BYU, and there was a protest on the campus. 250 students protested Cheney and only about 60 students meekly approved of the decision to have him speak.
I don’t blame Bill Maher for making fun of us all the time, but look Bill, we’re changing!
rnc = republican nazi cancer . . .
I saw the Maher piece and initially was disgusted at the fact that so many members of Bush’s administration called that hack college their alma mater.
Then I thought about the fact that the number one man himself attended Yale and realized that it doesn’t matter what college they went to – they’re all idiots!
Larry: Thanks for the congrats–Power to the People!!
Regent University corrects an inaccuracy?
As late as 6 April, 2007, Regent University’s “facts” web page proudly boasted that they had:
“150 graduates serving in the Bush Administration.”
Between April 6 and April 13, the University removed that statement from their web site and, for at least several days, (April 13-16) there was no statement listed at all about any Regent U. graduates working for the Bush administration.
Sometime on April 16, a new statement appeared on their “facts” page:
“150 students have served in the Bush administration.”
http://www.regent.edu/general/about_us/facts.cfm
Apparently, not all of the 150 are still “serving” Bush, but does this statement also mean that some of the 150 “students” never actually graduated from the U?