a quick game of entirely-NON-trivial pursuit. . .

or, how the "long-tail" of the u.s.
attorney purge, and the bush-cheney-rove-gonzales
malfeasance, is just now beginning to emerge. . .

so -- let's cut right to the chase, eh?

question:

how many african american attorneys
have been hired by the division on civil rights,
in the united states department of justice, since
2003 -- that's four years, folks -- how many?

answer:

none. zip. nada. doughnut, babe.

related question:

how many africans american laywers, in total,
work in the civil rights division of the united
states department of justice, today?

answer:

two.

bonus question:

when was the last time so few african-american
lawyers worked in the division of civil rights?

bonus answer:

1978 -- when the division was
only about one-half its current size. [not sur-
prising that, since 2003, black lawyers have
been leaving the gutted department, in droves. . .]

now, upon hearing about this fact-pattern
[from your own humble blogger, this morning],
one former DoJ civil rights division attorney,
speaking on condition of anonymity, in chicago, remarked:

". . .were this pattern observed -- in a private-
sector business, when i worked in the division
of civil rights [during janet reno's tenure] -- we
would have promptly filed suit. . ."

now -- i am told [back-channel]
that some out there do not fully
understand why the above graphic
links to a *.pdf on faith-based pro-
tections, from the bush white house.

well -- the image appears there,
in the text, but also because. . .

mr. gonzales' chief concern, it
seems, with enforcement of the
civil rights act of 1964, is to
protect faith-based-groups from
"interference" in their hiring and
firing practices. . . the sublime
irony of all this is that the most-
likely place in the united states,
it seems, at the moment, to
suffer from religious discrim-
ination, in the workplace is. . .

yes. that's right!

alberto gonzales' very own justice
department -- with loyalty and "christ-
ianity" tests applied to pre-hires, it
would seem. . . see monica goodling's
upcoming testimony before the house
judiciary committee. . .

[h/t to the tpmmuckraker for the
original lead, and the idea to
interview former a DoJ lawyer. . .]