# Can the President pick em or what? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859 "2006-11-17T18:08:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/21 "2006-11-17T19:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] That’s not the worst part. That would be his hypothesis about [oxytocin and relationship failure](http://feministing.com/archives/006076.html). (Link is to a blog because the original is a .doc.) I have a hard time composing a sentence about this that doesn’t have the word “bullshit” in it. [/QUOTE] I hate to double-post, but holy shit the first time I read that I could have sworn it was saying “Oxycontin” and I was trying to figure out if Doc was encouraging people to Limbaugh-Out. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/22 "2006-11-17T19:42:49Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Does he have to get thru Congress? I don’t see how that could happen. [/QUOTE] Nope. > [@](#): > > Keroack’s appointment as deputy assistant secretary for population affairs does not require Senate confirmation. He is expected to start work in the next several weeks, Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Christina Pearson said. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/23 "2006-11-17T19:59:32Z")
Really, who does he report to? When could he reasonably be fired? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/24 "2006-11-17T20:08:54Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] That’s not the worst part. That would be his hypothesis about [oxytocin and relationship failure](http://feministing.com/archives/006076.html). (Link is to a blog because the original is a .doc.) I have a hard time composing a sentence about this that doesn’t have the word “bullshit” in it. [/QUOTE] What happens when the world’s supply of oxytocin is used up, Armageddon? I’m laughing, but this is some messed up shit. These people are scarey. The depths of ignorance (can we call it that? Isn’t willful ignorance=stupidity and yes, malice?) is startling and dismaying. did this guy take health in HS? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/25 "2006-11-17T20:14:11Z")
> [@](#): > > did this guy take health in HS? WTF? He’s a frickin’ OB/GYN! Oh, how I pity his clients. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/26 "2006-11-17T20:18:39Z")
Ah, well, after W appointed John Bolton to be ambassador to the UN, this sort of thing really should not surprise us. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/27 "2006-11-17T20:20:30Z")
OTOH – I had some hope the midterm election results would teach W to be just a wee bit more moderate. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/28 "2006-11-17T20:49:49Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] That’s not the worst part. That would be his hypothesis about [oxytocin and relationship failure](http://feministing.com/archives/006076.html). (Link is to a blog because the original is a .doc.) I have a hard time composing a sentence about this that doesn’t have the word “bullshit” in it. [/QUOTE] IIRC, oxytocin is also released during breastfeeding. I guess moms better avoid that lest their marriages be broken up as a result! (Or is breastfeeding immoral to whackjobs like this? I keep forgetting.) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/29 "2006-11-17T20:56:03Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] He’s a frickin’ OB/GYN! Oh, how I pity his clients. [/QUOTE] OMG. :eek: :eek: :eek: Now, that is truly frightening. Good point re the oxytocin and the breastfeeding. Wonder how he explains that away… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/30 "2006-11-17T21:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] That’s not the worst part. That would be his hypothesis about [oxytocin and relationship failure](http://feministing.com/archives/006076.html). (Link is to a blog because the original is a .doc.) I have a hard time composing a sentence about this that doesn’t have the word “bullshit” in it. [/QUOTE] Nothing in that link is quite as disturbing as the apparent existence of something called the “Annual Abstinence Leadership Conference.” ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/31 "2006-11-17T21:22:14Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Nothing in that link is quite as disturbing as the apparent existence of something called the “Annual Abstinence Leadership Conference.” [/QUOTE] Sounds like a hell of a conference. Guy1: You gettin’ any? Guy2: Nope. You? Guy1: Nope. Repeat several thousand times. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Hogwash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@Hogwash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogwash)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/32 "2006-11-17T21:30:21Z")
This year’s Annual Abstinence Leadership Conference has been cancelled due to large amount of abstainers. Similarly, the Apathetics Anonymous meeting has been postponed due to lack of interest. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/33 "2006-11-17T21:39:18Z")
[QUOTE=Hogwash] Similarly, the Apathetics Anonymous meeting has been postponed due to lack of interest. [/QUOTE] I don’t know if it was postponed so much as ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/34 "2006-11-17T21:39:32Z")
It is not so bad, folks. What have we learned after 6 years of the worst appointments in the history of civilization? That the appointees are too lazy to promote their asinine beliefs. They are rendered completely innocuous by benign lethargy. This is Democracy in action. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/35 "2006-11-17T21:40:42Z")
As I’ve said many times before, conservative people I could handle. There are TONS of brilliant and qualified conservative civil servants out there for all sorts of executive appointed positions. But these people have by and large been as passed over by Bush as Democratic civil servants. Instead we get these celebrity activist nutcases. I mean, this guy is really over the top. His claims about contraception are bizarre and unempirical. He makes sweeping claims about sex and hormones, as DocJ pointed out, that are not only unsupported, but fly in the face of the evidence on these things. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s basically the poster child for those “pregnancy clinics” that basically masquerade as normal, neutral family planning clinics, but are really just high pressure “don’t have an abortion you baby killer” centers. In other words, a political agenda disguised as medicine and counselling. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/36 "2006-11-17T21:48:04Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] And I’ll add to that: Fuck this guy. Seriously. Fuck him with some creative adjectives that I can’t think of. [/QUOTE] He does sound as if he needs to get laid, doesn’t he? If anyone considers volunteering to jump on the grenade, I urge the use of contraception. That’ll _truly_ piss him off. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/37 "2006-11-17T21:55:14Z")
Let’s not forget Incurious George’s nomination several years ago of future shoplifter Claude Allen to the 4th Circuit Court. Democrats wisely blocked Allen’s nomination because of intemperate remarks about “the queers.” But Allen was Bush’s chief domestic advisor when charged with theft from a number of Washington area Target stores. Allen resigned in disgrace, and was later convicted of one count, and slapped on the wrist. > **[Comment, opinion and discussion from the Guardian US | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us/commentisfree)** > > Latest opinion, analysis and discussion from the Guardian. CP Scott: "Comment is free, but facts are sacred" [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14189452/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14189452/) . . . and I can’t beleive you guys left “You’re doing a heckuva job, Brownie” on the table. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/38 "2006-11-17T22:04:44Z")
> [@](#): > > So… does a person who is put into a job by Presidential appointment report to someone other than the President? Which is another way of asking… how long do we reasonably have to wait before we can start hoping the guy gets fired? [quote] Really, who does he report to? When could he reasonably be fired? [quote] Hello? Is this thing on? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/39 "2006-11-17T22:10:06Z")
While we’re noting Bush’s record of appointing anti-contraception nutjobs to preside over women’s lives, lets not forget this guy, who was instrumental in blocking Plan B: [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050530/mcgarvey](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050530/mcgarvey) > [@](#): > > According to Davis, Hager’s public moralizing on sexual matters clashed with his deplorable treatment of her during their marriage. Davis alleges that between 1995 and their divorce in 2002, Hager repeatedly sodomized her without her consent. Several sources on and off the record confirmed that she had told them it was the sexual and emotional abuse within their marriage that eventually forced her out. “I probably wouldn’t have objected so much, or felt it was so abusive if he had just wanted normal [vaginal] sex all the time,” she explained to me. “But it was the painful, invasive, totally nonconsensual nature of the [anal] sex that was so horrible.” See, no contraception needed as long as the dumb bitch shuts up and takes it the way he likes it. > [@](#): > > Sometimes Hager would blithely shift from vaginal to anal sex. Davis protested. “He would say, ‘ **Oh, I didn’t mean to have anal sex with you; I can’t feel the difference,** ’” Davis recalls incredulously. “And I would say, ‘Well then, you’re in the wrong business.’” > > By the 1980s, according to Davis, Hager was pressuring her to let him videotape and photograph them having sex. She consented, and eventually she even let Hager pay her for sex that she wouldn’t have otherwise engaged in–for example, $2,000 for oral sex, “though that didn’t happen very often because I hated doing it so much. So though it was more painful, I would let him sodomize me, and he would leave a check on the dresser,” She then develops narcolepsy, and which she describes Hager as seeing as “an opportunity”! You can probably guess for what… Yay for religious anti-contraception conservatives! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859/40 "2006-11-17T22:17:54Z")
I suspect this is just Bush—a lame duck with essentially nothing to lose—giving a little present to the evangelicals and fundamentalists who helped elect him, and who have recently been crowing publicly about their disappointment. It was supposed to be a new golden age of American theocracy, see, and it just hasn’t shaken out quite that way. Abortion is still (mostly) legal, we haven’t amended the Constitution to permanently smash the hopes of marriage-minded hommaseckshules, there are still TV programs that joke openly about S-E-X… my word, for such a religious nation we’re still heartbreakingly godless! I also perceive a smidgen of “fuck you, Democrats!” in there. And a streak of pure craziness. It’s going to be a long two years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-president-pick-em-or-what/380859.md?page=3)