Civil Rights Practically Ignored Under Bush

[G_j]

http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/civil-rights-practically-ignored-under-bush/

Civil Rights Practically Ignored Under Bush
posted by: Jessica Pieklo

Kanye West was right. George Bush really didn't care about black people.

We watched in horror as our government abandoned poor blacks in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Then we began to witness the results of fraudulent and predatory lending practices as the foreclosure crisis exploded. Now comes the data to back up what many had suggested for years: the Bush administration made deliberate, conscious efforts against enforcing anti-discrimination laws and instead used the Department of Justice to advance the agenda of the religious right.

According to the New York Times, a new report by the Government Accountability Office shows the civl rights enforcement division of the Department of Justice overwhelmingly favored protecting religious rights at the expense of anti-discrimination efforts. The report presents a comprehensive review of litigation activities during the Bush years, and I'm sure it will come as no surprise that enforcement actions under voting rights legislation, fair housing, and predatory lending practices dropped sharply.

The report shows a significant shift in resources away from preventing racial discrimination to protecting religious rights. Oftentimes Bush appointees would disregard the recommendations of career attorneys in DOJ and decline to prosecute cases involving claims of voter intimidation, systemic housing discrimination, and discriminatory lending practices. Instead, resources shifted to issues of prayer in school, creationism in public schools, and religious exercise cases.

Clearly the Obama administration saw the results of this report coming, and thankfully this administration understands the need to vigorously enforce anti-discrimination laws. In September Attorney General Holder announced plans to expand the civil rights division and to place a renewed focus on actively enforcing anti-discrimination laws. And there's plenty of reason to believe this administration will take enforcement seriously.

..more..

************************

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/us/politics/03rights.html?_r=2&emc=eta1


Report Examines Civil Rights During Bush Years

By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: December 2, 2009

WASHINGTON — When the Bush administration ran the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, career lawyers wanted to look into accusations that officials in one state had illegally intimidated blacks during a voter-fraud investigation.

But division supervisors refused to “approve further contact with state authorities on this matter,” according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office auditing the activities of the division from 2001 to 2007.

Congress is set to release that report, which did not identify the state in question, on Thursday as the House of Representatives takes up its first oversight hearing of the Civil Rights Division under the Obama administration.

The 180-page report, obtained by The New York Times, is densely packed with statistics about civil rights enforcement by the division’s sections. The accountability office also examined a sampling of matters that were closed without further action, finding several cases — including the curtailed voter intimidation inquiry — in which supervisors rejected the recommendations of career lawyers to go forward.

The report represents a comprehensive review of the division’s litigation activity in the Bush administration. When compared with the Clinton administration, its findings show a significant drop in the enforcement of several major antidiscrimination and voting rights laws. For example, lawsuits brought by the division to enforce laws prohibiting race or sex discrimination in employment fell from about 11 per year under President Bill Clinton to about 6 per year under President George W. Bush.


..more..

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Imagine no term limits.... imagine gw is still pretzeldent.... imagine

the horror of it all.

[G_j]

2. ==