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Destroying the Government, Creatively |
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How do you make government programs effectively meaningless without refusing to fund them? Easy. Just appoint people to run them whose philosophies are in direct contradiction to the purposes of the programs.
1. Health and Human Services: Susan Orr
The Department of Health and Human Services appointed Susan Orr  who has spoken out against contraception  to a post responsible for U.S. contraception programs.
She is replacing Eric Keroack, who believes that contraception is “demeaning to women”. (h/t Crooks and Liars)
Several Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter today to Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services:
We are deeply disappointed that the Bush Administration, for the second time, has chosen a politically polarizing and unqualified candidate for this appointment… In order to ensure that the mission of Title X remains intact, we strongly urge you to reconsider the appointment of Dr. Orr as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs. Americans deserve better.
(h/t Think Progress)
2. The Rule of Law: Alberto Gonzales
There is a range of issues involving acts that could be in violation of law including testimony, cover-up of Abu Ghraib, eavesdropping without judicial approval and inappropriate firings that comprise a partial list.
Of course, Gonzales has a whole slew of other transgressions, which I’m sure you’re aware of.
3. The World Bank: Robert Zoellick
According to Paul Zeitz of the Global Aids Alliance:
The bilateral trade agreements he has negotiated effectively block access to generic medication for millions of people.He has no significant experience in economic development in poor countries and from a public health standpoint, Zoellick is a terrible choice for World Bank President.
According to Greenpeace International:
Once again Bush has put loyalty ahead of merit.
Appointments made by the federal government should not be made for political purposes. Appoint people who will do the jobs, not subvert them.
A nice montage. We can throw Bolton into the mix too: a UN rep who is openly hostile to the UN.
Ah-ha. I knew I was forgetting another big one. Good call.
Yeah, Bolton would be a big one! What about all of Bush’s acting administrators? Check out http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/washington/15interim.html
Bush has a huge slate of interim officials that he’s appointed while basically refusing to appoint real officials and get them confirmed by Congress.
I am baffled by Orr’s stance on birth controlâ€â€especially since it seems to fly in the face of (almost) every women’s rights advocate. Birth control is “demeaning” to women? I don’t understand how that works. And this quote (from the WSJ) is just baffling:
I didn’t know it was even a question of whether fertility is a disease or not. Last I heard, erectile dysfunction was not a disease either, and yet aging men can easily get pills to fix that problem. If aging men can take pills to make their penises erect, then whey can’t fertile women take pills to make them less susceptible to pregnancy? Men can have sex for pleasure but women can only have sex for reproductive purposes? Seriously? Are we still fighting this battle?
Sorry. That’s my rant.
You never know what this government is going to do next–but you can be sure who ever is doing it will be inept. - Eric Monse
Why has Bush and/or Cheney gotten away with these atrocities? Our country is effectively being anally raped by baboons. Will they ever be held responsible? Will we ever be held in the same regard as a nation? Did I leave the oven on this morning?
This puts us all to shame. - Eric Monse