[Alberto] Gonzales, who was Gov. George W. Bush’s lawyer, Texas secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice before joining Bush in Washington, will be working as an visiting professor in the political science department, teaching a “special topics” course on contemporary issues in the executive branch, according to Dora Rodriguez, a senior business assistant in the department.
(…)
Lawrence Schovanec, interim dean of Texas Tech’s College of Arts and Sciences, was quoted saying: “Judge Gonzales brings a unique experience to our classroom. His career in law, government and public service will provide our political science students a rich perspective of the executive branch and issues and challenges facing our nation. ”
So does this mean he’ll teach his students useful techniques for subverting democracy and the rule of law, or will he just spend 3-4 hours a week telling them that he doesn’t remember anything? Will his exams include a True/False/I Don’t Recall section? Will students be graded on how much course material they can forget?
Look, I appreciate that Tech wanted someone with local roots who could "tell underrepresented Texas students that college is possible," but was Gonzo really the best they could do? Guys, next time try looking above the rocks, okay?
Related posts:
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
They could’ve just put up a poster with AGAG’s face and the message:
If he can graduate from college, so can you.
Could’ve saved them the money and embarrassment of hiring someone who won’t be able to recall if he remembered ever having stood in front of the classroom.
“brings unique experience” – yessir, indeedy. He will bore the students to tears in about 15 minutes.
Hi, Eli. Nice post.
Dang, I was sure they’d put him on the staff for the medical school. After all, he proved he had such a good bedside manner with Ashcroft…
Hi Twain, thanks!
Hi Eli, Hopefully it means he will be teaching over the internet from his cell in the Hague.
Wonder how many strings had to be yanked, and how hard, to get this job for AgAg.
I’m just relieved that he’s not teaching law.
Actually, if I lived nearby, I’d sign up for the course just so I could ask him all the Qs that the MSM didn’t.
Hmm, I wonder if a bunch of students end up doing just that.
From a TPM Reader:
It seems like an obvious thing to do.
Those who can’t, teach?
Stupid is as stupid does
Texas Tech now has the distinction of hiring an admitted war criminal to their faculty — special topics in executive branch power, indeed.
Gonzales is only qualified to teach at one institution within the United States — here.
I’m sorry but I didn’t understand your question.
Gonzo should teach what he knows best.. the fall of the American empire… and how you can help!
Maybe this is some kind of academic pissing contest with Berkeley. “You have Yoo on the faculty? Big whoop, we have his *boss*.”
I do find the responses on the Statesman’s web site somewhat heartening. At least as far as I read, there wasn’t a single pro-AG comment.
Still, you left out the part of his also teaching/running this minority-inspiring program at Angelo State University, down the road in San Angelo.
Actually, I don’t see a direct route between Lubbock and San Angelo ; maybe the commute will be part of Alberto’s punishment. According to the googled directions, it’s nearly a four-hour drive.
“there’s no such thing as bad publicity” seems to be catching on in academia.
Are you referring to my #12?
Perhaps one of his friends will fly him back & forth.
No doubt. Gonzales’ judiciary testimony was macabre version of Abbott & Costello.
Who authorized illegal detention, torture & murder?
Yoo did.
No I didn’t.
I said Yoo did.
I flatly deny remembering anything about that.
Anybody have any more info on this interesting comment from the Statesman’s blog, saying that he’s getting this job bc TT’s Law School wouldn’t take him?
“First, the Poly Sci department had little ability to resist the Hancellor. He was bound and determined to help his bud Ali. G. First, Hance tried to foist the man off on the Law School. Three times he tried and three time the Law School—-both through its Dean and its Faculty (and perhaps with some help from its alums) rebuffed him. But the Law School has a bit more autonomy than does the Poly Sci Department.”
Second, the ONLY good thing that can come from this bizzare appointment is that it gives the Board of Regents serious pause about continuing Hance as Chancellor.
I knew I knew that name, Kent Hance:
http://blogs.chron.com/txpotom…..hance.html
Yoo who?
You know, that’s probably a good guess. West Texas has to be a lot like Western Oklahoma, where those who can afford it do indeed keep private planes for such things as going to dinner in a city…
That would be the answer to my 6. Thanks.
“Those who can’t do teach. Those who can’t teach, teach gym.”
— Woody Allen
Just in case no one else understands.
Am I being obtuse?
Smart move. TT’s law school dean didn’t want to roll the dice on having to fire him later after Gonzo’s disbarred.
Don’t know much about TX, but I thought that’d be the case.
Come on …. Yoo know who
Don’t think so. Would guess most here know the aphorism.
However, think there may be a few teachers here. My father, for example, was a gym teacher. (No, I didn’t take offense, just jerking your chain.)
War criminals teaching in our universities.
NOT A GOOD SIGN!
and only in America.
the beginning of the fall of Empire, indeed!
Which base does Yoo play?
Hard to believe, but there actually are
partners in the Global War on Terrorplaceseven worse than Texas:
:)
I don’t recall.
Well, of course, it’s just a comment, although by someone callling himself “Law Prof,”, but it does have the ring of truth, doesn’t it?
OT: Anybody watching Rachel? In her waders, similar to Palin’s. And she has Amy Klobuchar, who points out that even tho’ she’s been the sole senator for 6 months without making a resignation speech by a lake, or disappearing to Argentina…..
Stand up bass. Electric bass. Or, the base base.
Don’t be disheartened, Eli.
When the Texas teabaggers vote to secede from the Union, they’ll take both Gonzales at TT and the GWB War Criminal Memorial Lieberry with them
In the tradition of Nixon’s plumbers, Yoo plays far right field and bats clean up.
I’m watching. I think both gals are adorable.
Yes, I understand it’s just an internet comment and thus may have the half-life truth of a nanosecond, but it’s a start.
Heh. Undiscovered talent. Like Clinton & the s
aex.Almost as cute as Eli. *g*
Loved the waders & Klobuchar’s comments.
Loving the McNamara segment even more.
He plays to the base. No one who plays bass has that little soul.
Evening, all!
Have you watched Fog Of War? Revealing, if not redemptive. Too bad military leaders after him didn’t learn from his mistakes.
I was hoping you’d see that. Hi Hi.
ditto.
Loved the jab at Palin and Sanford.
FunnyWheelieDiva
Hi, Eli
OT: Rove was deposed today.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/20…..-attorney/
More of the same, no doubt.
Nope. Having lived through the time period, I couldn’t bear to.
I’m glad it exists as a historical document, though, and I’ve, of course, heard excerpts. That’s enouogh.
Just finished reading the updated version and iirc, there was ONE; didn’t read the entire comments section this time.
Hi, Diva!
I showed a high school class excerpts of Fog of War last spring during an American History class I was teaching, and they loved it. After the class, my clinical instructor said, “Where did you find that? What was that?” She had never heard of it.
Amy Klobuchar is a wit of the first magnitude.
Now that Franken’s been sworn in, they’ll be alot of right wing swearing in the senate. Between Amy & Al, the brute squad won’t know what hit them.
(((demi)))
Not into indie film, was she?/s
Saw the film, read his book. He’s the weakest excuse of a man until W.
Actually, he was one of the first to figure out that the VN war was unwinnable. Had to do with the lack of “progress” after all the bombing. He was, after all, an analyst. He left the Pentagon in a state close to nervous collapse, according to House of War by James Carroll.
Did you also know he was responsible for designing the bombing plan for Japan in WWII. In a late-in-life interview with Carroll (around 2003?; Carroll’s father was first head of DIA and helped McNamara with the VN bomb damage analysis, so McN had a soft spot for him, and thus granted the interview to his son for the book) McNamara thought that what he did in both WWII and VN were war crimes.
He sounds like a very different kind of villain than Dubya.
McNamara understood that what he did was hugely immoral and awful and did it anyway. Dubya either never even thought about it, or thought it was awesome.
There is one of the reasons I couldn’t bear to watch “Fog of War.”
Heard Errol Morris on a couple of NPR shows yesterday – says McNamara told him numerous times that the Iraq war was a terrible idea – but would never say so in public. WTF?
I understand not speaking against your president’s policy while you’re in office, but once you’re out….how did he justify that to himself?
Have you read Carroll’s Prince of Peace? I enjoyed it very much. It’s on my re-read list, which is very short.
Curtis LeMay as much as admitted that also, as well as offering a subtext comment on “victor’s justice”:
“I we had lost the war, I would have been tried for war crimes.”
Yeah, different indeed. McNamara, of course, was one of the “Best and Brightest.”
I still tend to think brains are better for most any job, but I remind myself of that title often.
You’re on your way to being a high school history teacher? That is so awesome. I always had a thing for history teachers.
Character and a strong sense of right & wrong help…
Eli, Awesome is as awesome does — in Dubya’s Sociopaths-R-Us world.
One of the worst things he did, IMO, in terms of implications for the whole world, is little known. After coming into office determined to change US nuclear strategy from a war-fighting capability to one of minimum deterrence, he was convinced to abandon minimum deterrence for counter-force strategy and limited nuclear war fighting theory. We are still living in the shadow of this decision.
Yes, thank you. I am interning this fall.
Yes, different from W, but still a sorry excuse for a man. Think someone put it yesterday that he never really confronted his problems, never completed them. It took him 20 years before he wrote his mea culpa and it was a whiney, worthless book, as was his performance in Fog of War. Shit, there were plenty of contemperaneous folks who saw what was going on, even before McN worked it out. I was a complete naif at the time, but even I knew it was fruitless and criminal.
Congratulations. Your family must be very proud of you. I know I am.
No. What’s it about? I started another Carroll book about Xtian’s prejudice against Jews & how they blame the Jews for everything. I hated the book. Wandering, inserting himself haphazardly into the story for no purpose whatsover. I persisted for over 300/700 pages, thinking it might get better, but finally quit in disgust. Picked up House of War audio at the library and would never have listened to it if I’d known it was the same author. Glad I didn’t realize it, as I really like House of War.
There’s more here than meets the eye. Gonzo didn’t just apply for the job and get it; things don’t happen that way in Texas. There’s money or arm twisting there somewhere. Since he doesn’t get along so well with the faculty, someone will probably talk. Maybe Gonzo is being used as a tool to get even with Hance for beating W in the 1978 run for TX legislature.
(/s/old Texan)
Breaking news: the hidden scandal behind Palin’s resignation announcement last Friday — RIP Mr. Know-it-all
Curtis LeMay was a real piece of work.
Fuck this, man. First I get a reply to an e-mail asking my Congresslady to take the pledge. you know, vote against any bill that doesn’t contain a public option. This is what she sez:
Dear Mr. Liberal:
…
blah, blah, blah
I strongly believe that improved access to affordable, quality healthcare should be available to any citizen. Having families and businesses that are not adequately protected will be devastating to our country. I will continue to seek solutions with bipartisan support in order to create a healthier standard of living for our communities.
Bipartisan??????!!!! Honest to Christ, I almost fell outta my fuckin’ chair.
Then this about Gonzalez, the fucking miscreant. Texas Tech wasn’t on my kid’s list of potential colleges but if it was it wouldn’t be now.
House of War goes into that in detail.
Really? I majored in history. Thought about teaching. Should have. What about this “thing” of yours? It’s the herringbone blazers, right? History teachers always wear herringbone blazers.
Inside book jacket:
For every generation there is a novel, which, in its passion its commitment, its understand, has the power to recall a time that still troubles or inspires us, that touches us so deeply we cannot let it go…
With leather elbow patches? Do they still smoke pipes?
LOL. I loved Bullwinkle. Maybe Mr. Peabody and Sherman can go back in time and save him.
Yes and I don’t think so. Not sure though. That shoulda been me.
Prolly the interest of said prof to look at human behavior, decisions, actions and discern what we can learn from same. The whole big picture perspective.
Not the jackets. Maybe the ties.
Carroll’s inserting himself into the story works perfectly in House of War. His father worked at the Pentagon & as a little boy, he would sometimes go in on Saturday with his father & slide down the ramps, drink from every one of the 600 (iirc) water fountains. Then his father eventually became the first (and still longest serving) head of DIA. So Carroll’s life was intertwined with the story he’s telling. In the other book I tried to read, nothing about his life was relevant.
Somehow your screen name & the history prof image don’t seem compatible. *g*
Sounds like I need to read it…may I recommend War, by Gwynne Dyer, if you’ve not read it?
demi,
Just checked out the negative reviews of P of P on amazon (negative ones are usually more informative than the positive ones). Doesn’t sound like a story I’d be interested in. I was raised R.C., but grew out of it. Some of how the R.C. antiwar movement worked (Carroll is a huge fan of Berrigan brothers) is recounted in House of War, and that satisfied my interest in the subject.
that’s what i said at HuffPo today earlier.
BRING ON THE SECESSION!
sheeeeesh
Top gun making media statements.
Hance owes somebody big time. Poppy?
Does the same in POP. There’s a free preview you can google.
Sounds like my cup of tea. Not being an alpha male, I have no personal resonance with war, so have gone out of my way to read about it, as it is so important in human history & present. So far, the best I’ve read is Hedges’ book.
Cripes, people – some of us libruls are still scattered about Texas – I can’t afford to move, for pity’s sake.
Although, in the summertime, I would often like to.
http://weather.mysanantonio.co…..tonio.html
If I could go to the Vineyard, or even Toronto…..but neither is gonna happen.
Well, we all like different stuff.
OT
I see that Froomkin’s landed at HuffPo.
Makes the world go around. *g*
PoliSciFi… I’ve thought for awhile that it should be its own genre.
Anyway, there’s something wrong with calling him AGAG. My own reaction is that I’m actually AGOG.
C’mon. Really?
The Dyer book is the single best thing I’ve ever read on the subject. Comprehensive and highly readable.
Oh. I thought it was love that does that. *g*
Hey Petro, we’ve missed each other all day.
HUGS!
I actually took a class on that in my last term of college…
That too.
My man, Hedo Turkoglu is headin’ fer Toronto. Remember how I believed in Magic? Yeah, well, they officially suck again.
Sometimes reviews can be like the story of the blind men and the elephant.
Dude, I’m from New York…
I’d say be careful where you invest your faith my dear. Stick with known quantities, like chocolate.
Dude, me too! Just last spring. Prof told us that part of his job was to create new Republicans, and he freely tailored his material to that goal. It was just unbelievable. University PoliSci departments are nests of commies, right? Not in my experience…the only profs I have had who felt free with their biases were conservatives, every one of them.
Does chocolate have a decent jump shot?
Good one!
Wow. What books did you read? I actually took two sci-fi classes that term and I’m a little hazy on which books were which, but I’m pretty sure Bug Jack Barron and Neuromancer were in there.
The existence of Texas Tech University has always been a matter of considerable mirth. The Dean of the School of Law is a Bush apologist who probably had a hand in getting Gonzales on board. The school hs now sunk to the third tier, just a cut above the community college level.
Jesus B. Ochoa,
El Paso, Texas
No it was technically a Poli Sci class, with copious amounts of fiction added in. Fictional stats, fictional scandals, and a full-on propaganda effort.
What I gleaned from the reviews I read is something about the plot. The negative part was that the reviewer thought the character development was shallow. I don’t care about that, since my ability to understand deep character development is limited anyhow. So it was the nature of the plot that sounded like something I wouldn’t be interested in, not the negative that the reviewer mentioned.
Oh. That doesn’t sound like much fun. Awfully convenient format for a conservative, tho.
Since the Magic now officially suck (even though I’m kinda stuck with them since we have no other pro sports teams and I don’t like NASCAR) I guess I’m back to being a Knicks fan.
That can’t be much of an improvement. They’ve turned into one of those eternally damned franchises.
In Hedo We Trust.
I know. What a shame. I remember when……………….. sniff. honestly, it makes me sad to even think about it. It’s cool with the Magic, i guess. Hedo jerseys should be on sale for cheap next week so I’ll get one. I already checked the Nets website and Vince Carter jerseys are like 40% off. The Magics will probably do the sanme for Hedo. Or Heo as we called him in Orlando. Heo. ’cause Hedo got no D.
Well, let’s go back to what I sort of said at the top of this thread…
those who can’t write, review. ha ha
Anything to keep him off the law school faculty ;-)
enough basketball, right? what are we talkling about? Gonzo? Palin? My ashole rep who is looking for a bi-partisan solution to healthcare? Her first term. I had high hopes when she signed on as a co-sponsor of EFCA. One of the first things she did. Oh well.
Sounds like people in the Department are referring all callers to Dora. “She’s in the fundraising end, make HER explain why we had to hire him”.
and those he can’t teach . . . history.
Texas Tech is officially Texas’ AG school…so its AGAG at AG…”The Ramblin’ Wreck of Texas Tech”.
I hated history in high school. It was all battles, dates, rulers, dates, wash, rinse, repeat. Memorize, pass, forget.
Now I find history a most fascinating subject. They sure knew how to kill it in my day in elementary & high school.
Good one.
“…and if you don’t get off academic probation within X weeks, you will have to take two classes taught by Alberto Gonzales.”
Late to the party — it’s been a crazy, crazy day for me . . .
Thanks for that line, Eli. After the day I’ve had, I really needed that laugh.
. and I meant to say “those WHO (not he) can’t teach….” Anyway…I had a couple good h..s. history teachers and it was good in college.
late night upstairs
Or how to avoid indictment because you really don’t know your ass from any other orifice anywhere. Lubbock is a perfect purgatory for this tiny intellect.
now that would be a great letter – to let texas tech know that they’re now out of the running for your kiddo.
Can’t wait for him to experience one of those sandstorms where you can’t see beyond the car hood.
Even a blind dog can find a bone.
so let’s get a list of abu gonzo’s students
AND MAKE SURE THEY NEVER HOLD POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES
that should send a message to any other colleges that want to employ war criminals and liars as professors
if taking the man’s class destroys your future, would you take the class ???
let’s end this fucking farce NOW
BOYCOTT ABU GONZO
BOYCOTT ABU GONZOS STUDENTS
AND BOYCOTT TEXAS TECH
nuff said …
regardless, great youtube, Eli.
I’m really sad I don’t attend that school, because I would be fully willing to dent my GPA and throw money away on the course just for the chance to write “I don’t recall” as the answer to every single question on the final test.
The last time that I attended an event at the student union at Texas Tech, the toilets were filthy, so he has a back up position.