Just one more example of how the Bush administration totally sucks eggs

the thought that these criminals are embedding their political cronies in permanent positions of power and responsibility while the criminals themselves are preparing to happily waltz away from their crimes scot-free makes me want to puke...

Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department's top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies -- including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions -- into senior civil service posts.

The transfer of political appointees into permanent federal positions, called "burrowing" by career officials, creates security for those employees, and at least initially will deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.

Similar efforts are taking place at other agencies. Two political hires at the Labor Department have already secured career posts there, and one at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is trying to make the switch.

Between March 1 and Nov. 3, according to the federal Office of Personnel Management, the Bush administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career civil servants. Six political appointees to the Senior Executive Service, the government's most prestigious and highly paid employees, have received approval to take career jobs at the same level. Fourteen other political, or "Schedule C," appointees have also been approved to take career jobs. One candidate was turned down by OPM and two were withdrawn by the submitting agency.

have i mentioned lately just how much i despise the bush administration...?

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"From time to time, things have to change in order to stay the same"

i had seen david vest's article in counterpunch referenced in a couple of other blogs, but i hadn't clicked over there to read it myself... in a way, i'm sorry i did... democrats... republicans... what the hell difference does it make...?

For the corporate powers behind the candidates, the rule is as it ever was: from time to time, things have to change in order to stay the same.

[...]

Once upon a time, Bill Clinton filled the Interior Department with "environmentalists." Bush filled it with oil company hacks. Who was more honest?

Lo and behold, when they cut down the old growth forest, it didn't make much difference to the trees and the rivers and the critters, whether oil company insiders or professional environmentalists were sitting at the desks in Washington. Eight years of Clinton-Gore, two terms of Bush-Cheney: the toxic dumps remain, and only the rhetoric has changed, to protect the naïve.

Demonstrably now, it makes no difference to the war whether Republicans or Democrats control Congress. Do you suppose the shooting will end, on the day when a refined, well-spoken Democrat, who reads poetry perhaps and scorns the religious right, and who doesn't embarrass us when receiving foreign dignitaries, succeeds the bumbling oaf Bush?

Think so? Or do you suspect people will soon be wailing, "I don't understand these people! They control Congress, the White house, and the military! Why don't they stop the war?"

i think this may be one of the reasons why i'm finding it so hard to get any energy going today... i bounced out of bed on a beautiful morning and, not long afterward, felt the malaise slowly creeping in, accompanied by thoughts of "why bother" and "what the hell difference does it make..." i think most of us who spend time seriously keeping up with what's going on and putting ourselves out there through blogs and political action, would like to believe we can actually make a difference... while i don't deny that it's possible, sometimes the enormous power of our entrenched and incredibly powerful system seems just too overwhelming to tackle and our efforts too puny and too futile to continue to pursue... when does commitment and dedication turn to masochism...? today, it feels like masochism...

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