Ricci v. Destefano

Finally someone has tried to put a stop to liberal's illogical quest for equality at any cost. This time that someone got to be the Supreme Court……

In a 5-4 decisions the Supreme Court ruled that the 20 New Haven, Connecticut firefighters whose tests scores EARNED a promotion were unfairly thrown out. Why were these tests scores thrown out you may ask? -Because 19 out of the 20 firefighters who EARNED the promotion were white! (I guess they forgot to mention that 1 firefighter who EARNED the promotion was Hispanic)

Apparently the Civil Service Board decided to strip these firefighters of their promotion because they……

1. Wanted to increase diversity

2. Assumed that since no African Americans scored high, then the test it must be racist

3. Are complete and utter morons

And while I hope the third is not true, evidently by their reasoning, it is as certain as Newton's Laws.

It is a sad America when we concentrate so much on diversity that we will go as far as to strip promotions from those that earn it. It should not matter what race, ethnicity, or religion of people did better on this test….if 20 African Americans EARNED a promotion, then 20 African Americans should get the promotion they worked so hard to EARN.

If you find yourself thinking, "Well, if these liberals are complaining that this test is racist, then they must have some point?" …..don't bother with the thought, I had the same thought and after much research, there is no point…..

Maybe liberals would have a point if

……a private company had not been hired out to review the test to determine that no racial biases were apparent.

……the questions weren't straight from the study material (which is what Michael Blatchley, one of the firefighters commented)

……the majority of the people giving the oral part of the exam were not minorities

It feels like liberals are trying to pull out all of the stops to win more constituents, seriously I hope that is the reason, if they seriously believe in the BS that they are claiming then we are getting ready for a load of hurt.

All I know is that if I am in a house that is on fire, I want the person who is MOST QUALIFIED to be putting out the fire and saving me. The race of the firefighter is such a childish issue at that point.

If something like this were legal, then there is precedent for quotas for lets say……the number of white and black athletes in sports dominated by one race………..hockey…….basketball? This is heading down a slippery road my friends and it opens up a dangerous Pandora's Box.

Thank God for the Supreme Court taking some sense into this case! I felt like I was reading a bad Al Franken joke!

PS: Sotomayor rejected this claim by these firefighters in an appeals court (good thing she is replacing Souter who ruled in the minority on this case)

Affirmative WHAT?

Affirmative action is an outdated, unconstitutional, unfair, progressively corrosive policy that needs to be eliminated by our politicians in Washington. First, I’d like to point out that the 14^th Amendment gives all US citizens equal protection under the law. How then can we look at two different people and give one preference over the other on physical appearance only? How then can we look at two people, regardless of color or creed and tell them that one of them has a specific genetic trait that is more preferable for admission or employment. How then was this policy put into practice in the first place? One of the building blocks of our nation, the Declaration of Independence states that, “All men are created equal”.

I’d like the time to even contrast this policy to that of basic economics. I think it is hard to find someone to disagree with the fact that for our country to compete on the global stage, then we need the best and brightest representing us both in foreign countries and domestically. Well, affirmative action takes this policy and throws it upside down. It takes the most qualified applicants and sets them aside for those that are less qualified but belong to some minority group. I am not saying that minorities will not sometimes be the most qualified; I am saying that when they are not the most qualified, they should not be hired. I would even go as far as to say that on applications for anything, having the race of the applicant on the application should be illegal. It is nobody’s business what race or ethnic background you are from, employer or admissions counselors should not even see this information.

I understand that many liberals point out that lower class black people are born with fewer opportunities than upper and middle class white people. What I do not understand is why one needs to look at race to attack an economic issue. What better to help poor people than by focusing on….well….being poor….rather than race. Isn’t actually being poor a more accurate portrayal of being poor than the race of that person? Why does Kobe Bryant’s child have an edge over your or my child? If such a program promoting equality of opportunity is enacted, then why are we looking at race over economic status?

In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in a case about college admissions at the University of Michigan that race can be used in college admissions, but it cannot be the overriding factor. This ruling that the Supreme Court decided, lets every college deal with something that is very subjective. The student who challenged this program was upset that in admissions at the University of Michigan, a point system was used. A student had to receive a certain number of points to be accepted to the University of Michigan. For a perfect SAT score, the student would receive 12 points, but for belonging to a racial minority the student would receive 20 points. The lawyers for the plaintiff said that 20 points was equivalent to a whole grade point increase. Clarence Thomas (who is by the way, African American), in his dissenting opinion, said, " The law school, of its own choosing, and for its own purposes, maintains an exclusionary admissions system that it knows produces racially disproportionate results. Racial discrimination is not a permissible solution to the self-inflicted wounds of this elitist admissions policy." I will be thankful though that in previous decisions, race was allowed to be used in admission, but racial quotas were banned. Maybe one day our Supreme Court justices will wise up and make a better decision.

I was not alive when JFK introduced this program. I do not know what it was like to live with extreme racism and prejudice. I do not understand the so called race wars of the 60’s. What I do know is that in today’s day and age, affirmative action not only does little to prevent racism, but it fosters anger and resentment from lower class white citizens because they are born with the same lack of opportunities that their lower class black neighbors are born with. It is not 1961, and as hard as it might be for liberals to end a program that (the only man who may be more Jesus like than Obama) JFK started, it needs to be done.