Tim Horton at Balkinization puts the eyes on the logical continuation of the "Reagan Devolution", citing The Boston Globe's compendium on the Bush Administration's staffing of Justice:
"At the same time, the kinds of cases the Civil Rights Division is bringing have undergone a shift. The division is bringing fewer voting rights and employment cases involving systematic discrimination against African-Americans, and more alleging reverse discrimination against whites and religious discrimination against "
Greg Palast is on the trail of the dear Harriet Miers, who has a Texas heart for "W":
The Chairwoman, Harriet Miers, did the deed: fired the Lottery director; Miers then ignored the winning bid — and gave Bush’s favored company the contract, no bidding, in perpetuity.
Last, but not least, Salon profiles the early Rove, noting how he cut his teeth politicizing the FBI in ... Texas (of course?):
From the earliest Republican campaigns that Rove ran in Texas, beginning in 1986, the FBI was involved in investigating every one of his candidates' Democratic opponents. Rove happened to have a close and mysterious relationship with the chief of the FBI office in Austin. Investigations were announced as elections grew close, but there were rarely indictments, just tainted Democrats and victorious Republicans. On one occasion, Rove himself proclaimed that the FBI had a prominent Democrat under investigation -- an investigation that led to Rove's client's win. In 1990, the Texas Democratic Party chairman issued a statement: "The recurring leaks of purported FBI investigations of Democratic candidates during election campaigns is highly questionable and repugnant."
A year later, Rove received a reward. Gov. Bill Clements, a Rove client, appointed him to the East Texas State University board of regents. Appearing before the state Senate's Nominations Committee, a Democratic senator asked Rove about how long hehad known the local FBI chief. "Ah, Senator," replied Rove, "it depends. Would you define 'know' for me?"
Down here, I had just posted a link to this new book on the Texas judicial system. It's ... the wild, wild, West!
