Bush League Justice
By Nicole Belle Monday Dec 10, 2007 11:46am
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Dan Abrams began a new series Monday chronicling the politicization of the Civil Rights Department of the DOJ under George W. Bush. Politicization would be a polite euphemism for turning the very basis for the creation of a Civil Rights Department inside out. And like everything else about the Bush Administration, it appears its sole focus is to operate on a strictly partisan basis and without regard to competency.
This is a subject that has been tirelessly investigated by blogs like BradBlog (See here, here, here, here, and here) , TPMMuckraker (See here, here, here, here and here) and Greg Palast, so it's about time this got some MSM attention.
My HUGE thanks to Heather for the videos and links.
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email and voice your pleasure with this new segment....i did
viewerservices@msnbc.com; generalcomments@feedback.msnbc.com; phil.griffin@nbcuni.com
Let's see Bush places people who are anti-labor to head the labor department...
People who are anti-green to head the EPA...
etc...
Is it any surprise he would place someone who is anti-minorities to head up the DOJ Civil rights dept?
For chrissake... that ba$tard Bu$h is such a fucktard! Everything he touches turns to crap. Quite the Midas touch...
I really hope Dan Abrams doesn't replace himself with some Scarborough wanna-be twit.
This is awesome. Abrams is definitely moving more and more to the left. I hope he keeps his show going. He and Keith's show make for a great one-two punch on the White House lies. About time someone called them out. Hope all of you that are able to will watch those two shows. The only thing keeping them afloat is ratings.
Bush is appointing attorneys with no experience so they can be molded into Bush/GOP sycophants.
Way to go Dan Abrams! Kudos to Keith Oberman! Finally, at least we have two anchors who aren't afraid to question this administration. After years of O'Liely and Beck I have to hope that this is a starting trend.
That was an excellent bit of journalism.
wow, if abrams can see these facts, then it must be overtly obvious. he would definately not be one that i would think would be reporting this. it's not like he's al sharpton, he's not even keith obermann.
anyway, bush said even in his 2000 campaigns how he felt about civil rights, affirmative action, ect. it's not in his or republicans interests to protect the rights of people of color. so of course he will work to maintain white power/supremacy, not reverse it.
How great is it that Bush's parents get to witness all of this! Where ya' gonna go to buy your family's reputation back?
Better than Tucker!
I only know, that an enormous crisis comes:
IMMINENT AMERICAN CREDIT CRUNCH
Friedrich A. Hayek, member of the Austrian School of Economics and one of the biggest critics of planned economy obtained the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974. Hayek demonstrated that the creation of new and artificial money by the banking system lent at a low interest rate, the so-called credit expansion distorted investment patterns. It thus assigns disproportionate losses when credit contracts. It is very instructive to bear this economist's task in mind if we wish to perceive the implications of the end of an era characterized by readily cheap money in the United States. It is very interesting to discover a series of similarities with the old continent. This is because like in Europe, the injection of capital by the Federal Reserve only serves to speed up a process that hopelessly leads to a credit crunch.
The decrease in interest rates increases the credit supply to the private sector in an exaggerated manner. Cheap money accentuates consumption, domestic investment and sudden housing acquisitions. Like in Spain, Ireland and Holland, the extension of American mortgage loans includes debtors with low solvency in an environment with higher rates. Economic growth, proper functioning of the system, the creation of jobs and an increase in productive and consumer immigration is produced by that financial trend. The price index has skyrocketed, and it is necessary to apply corrective measures by setting increases at the reference rate. As rates increase and financial entities' rejection of nonpayment risks grows, the demand for credit is reduced and consequently real estate prices stagnate at the low end. This new scenario enabled us in August to discover that the volume of mortgages with uncertain collection was enormous. The real estate developers' mortgage debt is untenable due to the lack of demand. A spread to the rest of the economy is imminent. There was panic a few months ago throughout half the world's financial circles. Soon American banks that were unrelated to subprime will stop lending happily, and they will establish stricter criteria. To overcome this hurdle, financial entities will increase periods and resources to collect payments in arrears. However, they will not offer refinancing or credit or policies. Right at that instant is when the credit crunch emerges. A perverse scenario where the demand for credit increases and its supply decreases. The stock market will stop playing games and will start reflecting the true situation. The depressive impact on markets and bonds will increase companies' difficulty in obtaining financing. This will hinder those companies from refinancing with their own assets to guarantee their debts. They will not be able to execute advanced phases of projects in progress. As the demand for housing was fuelled by the credit expansion scenario, and this produced a fund that erroneously was again invested in the real estate sector, a large part of real estate capital will vanish. Consequently, it will support massive losses. People view the reduction of American consumption with concern. Mediterranean countries depend on the American spending capacity. In Europe, especially in Spain, the precautionary measures in anticipation of the subprime crisis and a credit crunch scenario have been nil. The abyss is very close.
In America, the Republicans have not handled the problem properly because the problem is not to be tackled with subsidies. Billions of dollars wasted in the Iraqi desert while the average American socioeconomy is hopelessly headed toward an economic shock of biblical proportions.
And one wonders why black people hate Bush and his administration so much? We were never fooled by George and all his bullshit. Racist like him make me uncomfortable in a way that only a minority can relate to. This country has been turned backwards.
cronyism
and political hackery
courtesy of bushco
heh...
Is there sufficient blood in the water that more stories that have been true and there for the reporting but have been ignored will start to surface? Are the professional stenographer's at the MSM finally going to realize who these people have been for the last 6 years? It is a start but by no means is enough.
Biggus Diggus @ 11:
My morning BM could do a better job than Tucker.
Dan Abrams has been getting better and better lately. Finally he's not afraid to expose the progressive within :-D
This is good, and Keith Olbermann's feature "Bushed" is better. But, can we do something about "Morning Joe" Scarborough?
He is still trying to spin this Waterboarding thing, and the only reason for tuning in is to watch Mika Brezenski and David Shuster hand him his ass on the regular, which they both did. Mika and David are the only reasons to watch Imus' replacement.
And Dr. Matt, your dog's BM could do a better job than Tucker. Just sayin'.
The Bush Administration should be IMPEACHED... if not they should be indicted for CONSPIRING to Steal the elections in 2000 and 2004...to destroy the Constitution of the United States...Lying to the People of the United States and our allies and manipulating intelligence to attack country of Iraq...SELLING the office of the Presidency for Political Donation and to WAR PROFITEERS...Feel free to add to the list for "THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES VS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CONSPIRACY"
Excellent piece by Abrams. i'm looking forward to future installments. i wonder why Abrams didn't have someone on the panel to defend the BushCo DOJ. Couldn't he find someone sane enough to defend the indefensible? i also wonder if the right-wingers will howl about this apparent "bias," and if such crying leads to future segments including at least one Bushie. Let's hope not. There's not always "two (reasonable) sides to every story." Abrams laid out the stats and the facts very well this time. i have lately been finding myself staying with MSNBC after Olbermann to watch his show, that is, until he starts talking about the MWWW (Missing White Woman of the Week).
Bush locked up the Worst President Ever title years ago. Now he's just padding his lead.
Republicans are racists. While that's certainly not news, it's good to see Abrams covering this story.
A couple of shows on MSNBC (KO & Abrams) doesn't quite qualify as "hitting the MSM".
Ever since he got his new (and improved) toupee, Dan has been doing a bang-up job.
A Fascist theocracy !!
Well G.W.B.'s granddad was a good friend and supporter of Hitler, he obviously passed on all the tips and tricks.
Dear Dan Abrams,
Do this all the time. Every show. Every segment. People want something different than the crap on CNN, CNBC and Fox
fucking religionists
It's hard to even imagine what the next caretakers of our government will face. These thugs have perverted our government to work for them, not the people. They have decimated all the protections for the American people in favor of the corporate masters profit from war and pollution and general lawlessness. What really disturbs me is that this rampant raping and pillaging has been going on since the first damn day this gang took over the reigns and they have gotten away with every damn thing they have done. If the Democrats, even as a minority, couldn't intervene even to the point of daily outrage on our behalf then how do I trust them now? It may be time to throw this entire government off and install a new government for the people, by the people. Unfortunately, we no longer have leaders in the mold of the founders. Well maybe one, Al Gore, but he seems to want to sit this one out.
nffcnnr @ 20:
Would have been a waste of precious time to get a spinner to twist distort and obfuscate. I too am tired of the false "fairness" of getting the response of a flat earther to any discussion of astronomy - and I have no problem with hearing legitimate opposing viewpoints at all.
What is a legitimate viewpoint and who decides? None of the spinners I have seen on Fox have a legitimate viewpoint - I decided.
When you have been talking pure crap for years, you have completely discredited yourself IMO. Nobody should be angrier about that than actual conservatives who sometimes have actual valid points to make - that are never heard these days over the wingnut babble.
bush's Civil Rights Department is like Ray Bradbury's Fire Department (Farenheit 451).
Dan Abrams’ piece “Bush League Justice” about the dismantling of the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ is a good piece of journalism.
It is about damned time the so-called “Main Stream Media” started to report on the Bush administration instead of just regurgitating Administration talking points. I am a regular “Countdown” viewer. Now, Dan Abrams is giving me another reason to tune in to MSNBC. I hope he keeps it up.
Joementum @ 21:
Padding his lead? He's running up the score.
Awesome segment. There is enough in the Bush administration to have 24-hour streaming of how much he has f*cked up in the government.
I was wondering if the right-wingers hear this like us progressives hear Glen Beck or Tucker Carlson. If there is something about the perspective that makes everything they say dissonant. To me, Abrams, Becker, and Malek are speaking about objective evidence and logic; but I'm sure a right-winger will find some reason their reasoning is totally invalid.
Finally, I wouldn't be human were I not to mention that Alia Malek is beautiful. I don't think she's quite practiced in the whole television pundit thing. She tended to mumble a little.
Does anyone understand why some black folks, gay folks and other minorities vote Republican? Even in such small percentages it boggles my mind.
Old Billy @ 32:
Old Billy,
It's amazing how well Bush has been able to steer this country back around 180 degrees toward becoming the same screwed up country our fore fathers fled from.
And about how right wingers view such reports - you're right. All of 'em I know still think of the main stream mediaa as liberal and write off segments like this as extremist. The difference is that we actually listen to Tucker and Hannity and all those guys and blogs like this dissect their lies while it seems the right dissects these guys reports with mere spin and more lies.
I short related story: My mother was always against illegal immigrants until just this year when she started working with young families who had children with learning disabilities and actually met a real immigrant family, got to know them and their struggles and now is very much in support of social services and "amnesty" for them. All it takes is an open mind and a willingness to see beyond peoples limited worlds to change someone from conservative to liberal on most policies.
I am very glad they gave Joe the morning spot and Abrams Joe's old spot. I'm not entirely convinced Abrams actually cares as much as he tries to appear to about these things, but it seems like the new success Keith Olberman is experiencing is providing a few lessons to the other hosts on the network. Abrams is atleast smart enough to keep his show much in the same spirit as Countdown. Perhaps I am blinded by hope, but it seems to me that Olberman has shook up the structure of MSNBC a bit. Even shows that are blatantly skewed right like Tucker have been taking an increasingly vocal tone of disapproval of this administration. Morning Joe, for that matter, has even become the tiniest bit more hostile to the current administration, even though Joe has those frequent moments where his brain shorts out and he starts shouting Republican talking points in a very angry, red faced Bill O'Reilly fashion. So, the real question now is, when will Mathews get a clue? I honestly believe he skews slightly to the left, but he's got major issues with that weird sort of wonky hero worship psychosis he seems to have. Anyone who attains any sort of public office seems to immediately become his personal hero, lord, and savior. It's kind of disturbing how a politician of any sorts could turn him into a giddy little school girl just by virtue of them being a politician, but I don't think that necessarily makes him a lost cause. I suspect that, if Abrams's show starts going up in the ratings as much as Olberman's show has, the network is going to start seeing dollar signs and put the screws to some of their less vocal hosts to amp things up a bit. Or, atleast, one could hope this will be the scenario. MSNBC seems to be a network in flux, and, one can reasonably hope, they'll be moving in the right direction.
Maybe one of you clever chaps out there with photoshop can put together a picture of the Justice League with booshco's faces.
If Dan wants an even better story... he could tell mine. I got three unfair hearings at SSA. I was declared disabled by court award in 1987 but that evidence was thrown out!
Bush and all Republicans are human scum. They discriminate ad lib against anyone who is not one of them. Fortunately there are more of " us" than " them".
But the ENTIRE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION has been closed for South Carolina ..... they don't even answer the phone nor acknowledge the letters sent to them. The Civil Rights division is simply a big black hole draining America of money paying salaries to a bunch of mean goofballs.
This makes me sick, it's never ending repulsive inhuman crap from these bushies.
Excellent coverage, Dan Abrams. Thank you for covering something few others in the media dare touch.
Having spent time in the south and seen the number of deaths amongst the black community, I cannot be so sanguine about the fellows comments that minorities die before they age.
Good, I'm not paying taxes to AA can have there own lawyers everytime their feelings get hurt. Take race out of everything and base it on merit, stop trying to blame me because for everything..
John @ 41:
Let me guess: you're angry because an African-American replaced you at your proofreading job.
John @ 41:
what?
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