While everyone's attention is focused on Monica Goodling's invocation of the Fifth, emails and Executive subornation of an objective process in how the DOJ selects its targets for prosecution, the larger point - Executive appointments, job qualifications and how failing to meet those qualifications led to mistakes.
For starters, we all know that she went to the hithertofore unheard of Messiah College, which, judging from its website, is on the social conservative frige.
Messiah College
At Messiah College our mission is to educate men and women toward maturity of intellect, character and Christian faith in preparation for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation in church and society.
I guess Monica kinda missed the lofty goals of that statement, but that is pretty much what conservatives do - talk big in order to achieve personal gain.
So anyway, we learn from the Regent U. website that Monica is a 1999 graduate of that law school.
http://www.regent.edu/...
We also know that Regent is operated by nutty social conservative Pat Robertson, and is definitely not imbued with a mainstream curriculum.
Now for the fun part - she goes on to be the DOJ spokeswoman - as a 1999 law graduate. Here's an example of her work, her public face on the Hamdi case:
Scolds Supreme Court
Finally, at the time all hell broke loose, this seven year lawyer (?) was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison.
I'm trying to square these appointments with the notion of competent governance. The fevered pronunciations of doom by this administration would dictate that an important slot like this be filled by someone with experience and gravitas, someone of proven competence whose advice could be relied on by the AG - not some inexperienced, weirdly trained neophyte whose law credentials are weak and who was selected in order to toss a banquet of bones to the noisy fringe of the party.
UPDATE - Props to Janis for the find - 150 graduates serving in the Bush Administration
Also, the Regent/Pat Robertson to Bush Pipeline Runs Through the DOJ, it appears:
Bio on Assistant Dean
Jim Davids joined Regent University in 2003 after practicing law in Chicago for 25 years, and then serving in the Bush administration as Deputy Director and Counsel of the Department of Justice’s Task Force for the Faith-Based & Community Initiative As Deputy Director, Jim provided guidance on constitutional issues to the White House and the other departmental Offices of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives. Jim is presently the President-Elect of the Christian Legal Society (his term as President begins in November, 2006). He previously served as Legislative Counsel for the Christian Legal Society, where he advocated on Capitol Hill for religious liberty and pro-life legislation.
UPDATE 2.1 - For anybody who wants to look into the fever swamp of what passes for Jim David's brain, I invite you to read his psychotic rambles.
Just, wow.
Articles on the virtues of 12 year old brides and not serving your country because it isn't socially conservative enough.
This was my favorite sample:
We do not grieve, however, for the flooded and destroyed sex clubs that filled men with lust and degraded women. We do not miss the casinos that preyed upon individuals whose lack of self-control deprived families of needed food and shelter. We do not lament the destruction of voodoo stores prevalent in New Orleans before the flood.
My present and future students are driven by a sense of community and a love of freedom; a freedom to worship, a freedom to start and raise a family. They did not enlist to make the world safe for depravity.
As America slides into more sex clubs, casinos, and voodoo stores, who will lament for the demise of America? Who will defend an ever increasingly debauched America? Will the promoters of licentiousness defend America and its culture? Will the promoters of individual rights, rather than the defenders of community values, sacrifice their lives for America? Will those who press their rights, rather than their duties, die for the community? I have my doubts.
And just think - we all paid him to spread this idiocy for years.
UPDATE Number 2, Props to Janis again -
Kay Coles James, a staunch anti-abortionist was formerly a dean at Pat Robertson's Regent University and senior vice president of the Family Research Council, was director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management from 2001 to 2005. She was also in the cabinet of Sen. George Macaca Allen when he was governor.
The Family Research Council is run by Dobson's hand picked boy Tony Perkins, who laundered 80K in regular GOP donations to KKK Dragon David Duke in Louisiana, all for Duke's mailing list.