The Gist

ChristBots

The scandal over the firing of the federal prosecutors has brought out many interesting realities of the Bush administration and the far right, which has been mainstreamed into the U.S government. One increasingly visible reality that is both fascinating and frightening is the similarity between the Radical Right and Al Qaeda when it comes to telegraphing and instilling ideologies into their front line warriors, who in both cases are being created every day in institutions devoted to religious extremism. This is something I discussed on my radio program today but wanted to get down on the blog.

Sure, Christian evangelical leaders like Pat Robertson are not training people to blow themselves up or fly airplanes into buildings -- though Robertson has called for the assassination of foreign leaders and has promised God's retribution in the form of plagues and devastating natural disasters if people didn't heed his warnings -- but they certainly seem to be creating their own little sleeper cells that infiltrate and then activate without any further communication from headquarters, wreaking havoc and perhaps even breaking the law, all seemingly in the name of their religious crusade.

Let's take Monica Goodling, the Justice Department official and aide to Alberto
Gonzales who resigned a few weeks ago, invoking the Fifth Amendment. She is a graduate of Robertson's Regent University School of Law, whose mission is to train "men and women who are dedicated to becoming Christian leaders who will change the world for Christ." Goodling graduated from Regent -- which ranks at the very bottom among law schools -- in 1999, then took a job in opposition research for the Republican National Committee. Then, at the age of 31, this inexperienced lawyer finds herself at the Justice Department, given enormous influence in and hiring and firing, reshaping how justice is carried out in this nation.

This story from Saturday's NY Times shows the sheer scope of her influence and the immense damage she may have caused: denying a promotion to a prosecutor with 20 years of service because of her hunch that the person was a Democrat; asking a job applicant if he ever cheated on his wife; quizzing job applicants on their favorite Supreme Court Justice, and on and on.

What's most notable is how she was placed in the job, given enormous power to hire and fire people at will -- Gonzales signed a secret order that gave her such power, something that recently came to light -- and sort of left to her own devices. Emails have shown she was having discussions with people in the White House and Justice about firing and replacing the U.S. attorneys but mostly, particularly with regard to other personnel changes in the Justice Department, it looks like her day-to-day destructive work was designed not to create a paper trail back to Gonzales, who literally could say he didn't know anything about anything.

It's as if Goodling were programmed long ago to do what they'd want her to do, to the point where they didn't even have to give her orders or check in with her. And as a loyal crusader for the cause and as a Regent graduate who was determined to "change the world for Christ," she'd do whatever needed to be done, however much it broke any earthly rules or even laws. (She's now been given immunity by a federal judge so that Congressional investigators can question her).

According to recent reports there are 140 other Regent graduates within the Bush administration, and no doubt pre-programmed and activating every day.