Free Republic

It was with great interest that I read Christopher Donovan’s TOO article on politically incorrect comments at a blog for the lawyerly elite. The field of law prides itself on being a meritocracy. Being made up of educated Westerners, it is also very liberal on racial issues. It’s hard to be both. The two main academic factors considered in law school admissions are GPA and more importantly, the prospect’s score on the LSAT. Grades aren’t a very good indicator of skill since students choose their own majors, which of course vary in difficulty. That leaves the LSAT as the main...

New Haven, Conn. (AP) -- A group of black Connecticut firefighters hopes to block promotions for white firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The black New Haven firefighters argue in papers filed Monday that they still have a right to challenge the validity of the promotional exam.

Barack Obama was supposed to be America's answer to the suave, European head of state. A debonair gentleman of the world, he would charm even the most sophisticated foreign leaders and prove, finally, that the United States is developed culturally, not just economically.

A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations, cops said yesterday. Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges. McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said. The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also...

A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations, cops said yesterday. Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges. McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said. The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also...

South Carolina's Legislative Black Caucus wants to make sure that minorities have a fair and equal shot at the new jobs Boeing Co. is bringing to the Lowcountry, according to letter obtained by The Post and Courier Monday. Sen. Robert Ford, a Charleston Democrat and chairman of the caucus' Civil Rights and Affirmative Action Committee, wrote Boeing's president Jim McNerney Oct. 30 to ask for information about the company's hiring practices. Ford, who is running for governor, represents Senate District 42, where Boeing's newly announced Dreamliner production line will be located. He included in the letter the racial makeup of...

You have worked long and hard to reach a high profile position, as those who came before you had. You did everything that was asked of you, and more. You believed in a system that told you all you had to do was work hard, pay attention to detail, excel in your efforts, show exceptional dedication, and demonstrate professionalism better than those around you. You also knew that the system was a meritocracy based on fair, established rules that everyone agreed upon. Why wouldn't you believe that? Those in positions of authority, those whose word was gold, those who asked...

Dan Riehl checks the President's schedule and learns that Obama's not going to Fort Hood, but rather to Camp David for the weekend. In an update, Dan notes that his predecessor is more sensitive to the situation. Fox Reports GWB and Laura spent a few hours at Fort Hood, no photo ops. Now that's a CIC. Are you kidding me? Camp frickin' David? What, does he have a tee time close by? For heaven's sakes, he's the CIC. And he's taking the weekend off? This guy simply doesn't care. Unbelievable via Fox. 11:25AM THE PRESIDENT addresses the House Democratic Caucus -...

Federal law enforcement officials say the suspected Fort Hood, Texas, shooter had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was killed during the shooting incident that left least 11 others dead and 31 wounded. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the...

... Across the country, selective public colleges and universities are taking a page from their private counterparts and implementing what is commonly called a holistic or comprehensive admissions process. ... At Santa Barbara, the comprehensive review process was implemented in the late 1990’s, and across the entire system in 2002. Susan A. Wilbur, the system’s director of undergraduate admissions, says it enables the selection committee to view applicants in light of their socio-­economic and educational backgrounds. “We call this ‘achievement in context,’ ” she says. “We don’t want to compare a student who’s attending a well-resourced school with a student...

A recent study of the applicants to seven elite colleges in 1997 found that Asian students were much more likely to be rejected than seemingly similar students of other races. Also, athletes and students from top high schools had admissions edges, as did low-income African-Americans and Hispanics. Translating the advantages into SAT scores, study author Thomas Espenshade, a Princeton sociologist, calculated that African-Americans who achieved 1150 scores on the two original SAT tests had the same chances of getting accepted to top private colleges in 1997 as whites who scored 1460s and Asians who scored perfect 1600s...

With overall unemployment now at 9.8 percent and the African American unemployment rate tipping the scales at a whopping 15.4 percent, it would be a tempting but fatal mistake for corporate America to take its eye off the ball when it comes to increasing diversity within its leadership ranks. In fact, I suggest that business take a lesson from the way the NFL has used the "Rooney Rule" in recent years to improve its historically abysmal record of hiring African American head coaches. The Rooney rule, in place since 2003 and named for Pittsburgh Steelers owner and NFL diversity workforce...

As much as I hate to take issue with my colleagues here, it is hyperbolic to call Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a “conservative.� It is true King was no New Left radical. He had little use for Malcolm X and in his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail� he famously denounced “the hatred and despair of the black nationalist.� But King’s views before his antiwar speech were left-of-center, for his day or ours. King believed in a guaranteed annual income, opposed Vietnam well before 1967, and, “content of their character� notwithstanding, voiced support for some form of racial preferences....

In one of the most surreal and unusual days since the creation of the earth our President has been awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar. These awards will join his Nobel Prize on the mantel along with his numerous other awards including; Olympic gold medals for both the summer decathlon and the Winter Olympic medals in figure skating. -MTV music award presented by Kanye West-Grammy Award for thinking about writing a riff for a rap song-Masters Green Jacket because everyone at Augusta National figured he would probably set a course record if he felt like it.-Super Bowl MVP...

Stockton, CA - A St. Joseph’s Medical Center emergency room doctor is under fire by the family of a retired Manteca Police Lieutenant who died from a heart attack last June. The family alleges the doctor did not resuscitate their father so he could steal his Rolex. The adult children of the retired police official filed a wrongful death lawsuit last week, as reported by KTXL.

Newcomers to political activism may be surprised to learn that this summer was not the first time the Left had used lies and distortions to smear its opponents as racist. As David Horowitz pointed out Monday, this is the Left's defining modus operandi and has been for a generation: as he writes, "the left’s chief political contribution to American politics is witch-hunts." Another chief contribution would be the myths that undergird those witch-hunts. On the health-care front, we've seen MSNBC talker Ed Schultz lie to transform protest signs into death threats (even though the correct wording was on the...

During the Anita Hill hearings after a series of implausible witnesses all of whom were black Yale law school graduates, Juan Williams wrote in the Washington Post that he could now understand the wisdom of the saying that Yale law school had ruined more good black minds than crack. I have found that to be an accurate observation and have always been grateful to Juan for having brought that to my attention. Obama's communist "green czar" lays out why this is so: "I had a professor who encouraged me to apply to Harvard and Yale [for law school], which was...

August 12, 2009 Presidential Dissonance Lance Fairchok cognitive dissonance: noun : psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously Yesterday at a softball town hall meeting stuffed with pre-screened supporters, President Obama said the following: "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine; it's the post office that's always having problems." Oh the irony! That the President would, in so simple and clueless a fashion, utter the most crystalline sentence I could imagine to debunk his own absurd policies. Private postal industries, performing in ways a government run enterprise cannot, are doing fine, while the Post Office, the eternal...

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says some little-noticed provisions in the House health care bill are racially discriminatory, and it intends to ask President Obama and Congress to rewrite sections that factor in race when awarding billions in contracts, scholarships and grants.

Legislation: Still believe in post-racial politics? Read the health care bill. It's affirmative action on steroids, deciding everything from who becomes a doctor to who gets treatment on the basis of skin color. President Obama is on the record as being officially opposed to reparations for slavery. But as with other issues, you have to sift through his eloquent rhetoric and go beyond the teleprompter to get at what he really means.

The "professor gone wild" episode involving Harvard professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. has generated enormous media attention, but few, if any, commentators have tried to explain why this distinguished African American professor "lost it." Having personally encountered numerous black affirmative action professors first hand, let me offer an explanation that transcends this particular incident. First, Gates is the classic black "empty suit:" the articulate, well-attired, well-credentialed, superficially scholarly African American who is really an imposter, an actor playing a role. Gullible white outsiders (but not professors in "real" academic departments), are just easily conned by fancy vocabulary, name dropping and...

"In awarding grants or contracts under this section, the (HHS) secretary shall give preference to entities that have a demonstrated record of the following: . . . training individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds." (House Obamacare Bill Page 909) This is an example of using capitalism against itself. If an "entity" is going to get preference for training underrepresented minority groups, it is going to train them whether they are qualified or not. In other words an African-American who is Gay Transsexual will get into Medical with a B average before the straight white guy with...

"I got mad when I, as a national security adviser to the president of the United States, I went down to meet somebody at Reagan National Airport and nobody recognized -- nobody thought I could possibly be the national security adviser to the president. I was just a black guy at Reagan National Airport. And it was only when I went up to the counter and said, 'Is my guest here who's waiting for me?' did somebody say, 'Oh, you're General Powell.' It was inconceivable to him that a black guy could be the national security adviser."

Still believe in post-racial politics? Read the health care bill. It's affirmative action on steroids, deciding everything from who becomes a doctor to who gets treatment on the basis of skin color. President Obama is on the record as being officially opposed to reparations for slavery. But as with other issues, you have to sift through his eloquent rhetoric and go beyond the teleprompter to get at what he really means. His opposition to reparations is based on the fact they don't go far enough. [snip] Under the Democrats' plans, if a medical school wants to receive contracts and grants...

Legislation: Still believe in post-racial politics? Read the health care bill. It's affirmative action on steroids, deciding everything from who becomes a doctor to who gets treatment on the basis of skin color.President Obama is on the record as being officially opposed to reparations for slavery. But as with other issues, you have to sift through his eloquent rhetoric and go beyond the teleprompter to get at what he really means. His opposition to reparations is based on the fact they don't go far enough. In a 2004 questionnaire, he told the NAACP, "I fear that reparations would be an...

After the Ricci ruling, President Obama said that any hiring or school admissions practices based solely on race are unconstitutional, and he condemned the use of quotas. the nation's first black president stressed that the Supreme Court did not completely "close the door" on affirmative action, if properly structured and in certain circumstances, but he conceded that the court had moved "the ball" away from such efforts. Obama also asserted that affirmative action "hasn't been as potent a force for racial progress as advocates would claim," ... Essentially, Obama delivered a eulogy for affirmative action. Of course, efforts to breathe...

President Obama used his considerable powers of persuasion to try to sell his health care package in a nationally televised press conference this week. But Americans are growing skeptical -- and for good reason. The gargantuan new bureaucracy Obamacare envisions would not only be inefficient and expensive but could give birth to a new racial spoils system. Among the provisions in the thousand-page House version are special set-asides aimed at training "underrepresented" minorities in health care professions. The idea is that some minority groups -- but not all -- will be better served if their doctors share their racial and...

Here is video of Pat Buchanan blasting affirmative action and the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Buchanan went back and forth on the issue with liberal host Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Buchanan blasted affirmative action as basically, "reverse discrimination against white males." . . . . (Watch Video)

At the beginning of the film, The Paper Chase, the somber professor tells his classroom of first year law students that they would have to learn to think like lawyers. He meant the need to cultivate the skill of analytical thinking that is required to understand legal issues. Understanding basic contract or tort law isn’t the great struggle in law school. Figuring out how to spot an issue, understand the rule of law and apply it to a given set of facts is the mission. Next is grappling with the Weltschmerz of not being the smartest one in the room...

"AP polling last year showed that there are still deep levels of racism in America, and many people may not even be aware that they have prejudices. But that doesn't mean most Americans think it's OK for racial, ethnic or gender inequality to continue. Some argue that preferences are needed to correct existing inequalities, but framed that way most people are opposed to them. Idealistically, Americans think when it comes to hiring, the best person should get the job regardless of race, gender or disability. Though many certainly agree that in practice it often doesn't turn out that way."

On her most recent program, leftist MSNBC host Rachel Maddow summed up all conservative and Republican opposition to Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination for Supreme Court Justice as nothing more than a “campaign” that “is substantially about race.” “Thus far,” Maddow sneered, “Republicans have attacked [Sotomayor's] ‘Wise Latina’ comment, they have called her an affirmative action nominee, [and] they have singled out her ruling in an affirmative-action discrimination case.” And for good measure, added Maddow, “[t]hey have chosen to inveigh against [Sotomayor's] work for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.”

Remember when Obama slyly gave Hillary the single digit salute in a campaign speech, and his fans in the audience laughed their heads off? I've been thinking about that inspiring moment in American politics. I can't imagine any other president doing it, ever. Lincoln wouldn't have done it to Douglas; Jefferson wouldn't have dreamt of doing it to Madison. Even Bill Clinton wouldn't have done it, at least in public. Dick Morris wrote a book describing Bill Clinton clowning it up in the Oval after lying to the public about taxes. But even Clinton got his malignant yucks in private....

Remember when Obama slyly gave Hillary the single digit salute in one of their debates, and his fans in the audience laughed their heads off? I've been thinking about that inspiring moment in American politics. I can't imagine any other president doing it, ever. Lincoln wouldn't have done it to Douglas; Jefferson wouldn't have dreamt of doing it to Madison. Even Bill Clinton wouldn't have done it, at least in public. Dick Morris wrote a book describing Bill Clinton clowning it up in the Oval after lying to the public about taxes. But even Clinton got his malignant yucks in...

The Educational Testing Service wanted to help graduate school applicants prove they are more than a set of test scores. So it developed a tool to rate students across a broad sweep of traits -- creativity, teamwork, integrity -- that admission tests don't measure. The Personal Potential Index, unveiled this week, looks suspiciously like another set of scores. An applicant's personality is distilled into six traits, and the applicant is rated on each of them by various professors and former supervisors on a scale of 1 to 5. Officials with the nonprofit organization, based in Princeton, N.J., say the index...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - In a slip of the tongue, U.S. President Barack Obama described Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday as president, echoing the widely held view that he remains Russia's most powerful man.

Why Catholics Should Oppose Sotomayor The confirmation of nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice is almost a certainty. She's a woman, a Hispanic, and the pick of a popular president who leads the party that controls the Senate. Democratic leadership in the Senate is determined to complete hearings before the Judiciary Committee and get a confirmation vote before Congress adjourns in August. Thus far, Republicans have not voiced much opposition to the nomination, perhaps thinking it better to save their ammunition for an easier battle. It's a mistake, however, to allow such a nominee to take a seat...

Sen. John McCain touched on a variety of topics with The Daily Courier while visiting Prescott July 4, from single-payer health care to a revived push for a national scenic area designation in the Sedona area. . . . . . Other topics with McCain included: . . . . . * Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. McCain said he hasn't decided how he will vote on Sotomayor, especially since he still needs to talk to fellow Sen. Jon Kyl about her. Kyl serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In its editorial marking the 233rd year since the founding of our nation, The Washington Post notes; “The men who produced the Constitution were preoccupied with the abuse of power. They talked in terms of restraint, division of powers, limits on government. They were ever mindful of the ways in which a majority could impose its will on a minority.” But as Ricci v. DeStefano demonstrates, sometimes the abuse of power occurs when the government seeks to impose its will on a majority.

Bruce Fleming has been an English professor at the United States Naval Academy for twenty-two years and has served as a member of USNA’s Admissions Board. He has expressed concerns over the Academy’s admissions process which he strongly believes places too much emphasis on racial diversity at the cost of quality students. He explains these concerns as follows: Here’s a question: would you rather be defended by the officer with high all-around predictors (including leadership and athletics in addition to grades and test scores), or low ones? I bet you think I’m joking when I say that at the Unites...

AP: President Barack Obama says he's never believed that affirmative action is as much of an issue as it's been made out to be. He says it hasn't been as "potent a force for racial progress" as its supporters have said, and that it hasn't been as bad for white students or job applicants as its critics say. In an Associated Press interview Thursday, Obama said affirmative action can be made an "afterthought" when problems such as malnutrition, poverty and substandard schools are dealt with, and "everybody has a level playing field." President Barack Obama said Thursday the Supreme Court...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Thursday the Supreme Court was "moving the ball" on affirmative action in this week's decision favoring white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., but he added that the court had not ruled out the use of racial preferences in the future.

I was not academically qualified for Princeton or Yale and was accepted, despite low test scores, because of affirmative action.

Arizonans will decide next year if they want to outlaw affirmative action programs and any special programs or preferences for women and minorities. the Senate gave final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit preferential treatment or discrimination by government on the basis of race, sex or ethnic origin. The measure, which already has been approved by the House, now goes on the 2010 ballot. It will be the first time Arizonans get to vote on the issue. A similar initiative drive in 2008 failed when backers did not get enough signatures. But Californian Ward Connerly, who helped craft...

Give Robert Gibbs points for chutzpah, if not logic or consistency. When the White House press corp peppered him with questions about the status of Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination after getting reversed on Ricci, Gibbs explained that the ruling proved that Sotomayor was — get ready — a judicial originalist. Not only that, but it turns out that the administration had already rejected part of Sotomayor’s previous judgment on Ricci before the court reversed it: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The White House came to the defense of President Obama’s pick to be the newest Supreme Court justice after Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s ruling in a...

Martin Luther King can rest easy. His dream is being protected by the Supreme Court - against and over the opinion of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The high court's landmark decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, the New Haven, Conn., firefighters case, is a dramatic stride toward the cherished goal of achieving a colorblind society. In Ricci, the court told us that people of ability can succeed regardless of skin color, and government bureaucrats seeking racially biased outcomes can be thwarted in their racist designs.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday, in a case with enormous implications for workplaces across the country, that white firefighters in New Haven suffered unfair discrimination because of their race when the city scrapped the results of a promotional exam. “The city’s action in discarding the tests violated Title VII,” the court held in a 5-to-4 decision, referring to a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The majority said the city’s fundamental arguments were “blatantly contradicted by the record.” Monday’s decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, No. 07-1428, came on the last day of the court’s term...

The prosecution in the corruption trial of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and others gave jurors a tantalizing glimpse of what authorities called a web of intrigue in which black leaders solicited bribes from white developers because, they said, it was time for those developers to pay. “The game has done changed,” defendant Darren Reagan is heard saying on an audio tape played during opening statements by the prosecution. Defense opening statements were taking place this afternoon. In a surprising development, Hill's attorney, Ray Jackson, said his client would take the stand during the trial. Prosecutors say Reagan...

I oppose affirmative action in all its forms but why is it given to non-african american minority groups? I understand the general idea for why the Left supports it is allegedly diversity (although they hate ideological diversity) but how can they claim that, for instance, with hispanic groups who comprise such a large population in the US now? Arguably you could support it (although I disagree with this) for African Americans as a form of reparations of sorts but how does that apply to any other group? I don't remember Hispanics being enslaved and it was the Irish, not Hispanics...

COURT OVERTURNS SOTOMAYOR; SIDES WITH WHITE FIREFIGHTERS

A few months ago, David Frum wrote a cover article for the leftist magazine Newsweek smearing the most prominent conservative in America, Rush Limbaugh, as some kind of sinister McCarthyite hater who should "shut up." The message was that conservatives should shut up and surrender to liberalism. Now Ramesh Ponnuru, a senior editor of National Review, has followed in Frum's footsteps, writing an op-ed for the leftist New York Times in which he attacks conservatives as hypocrites for supporting the plaintiffs in the Ricci anti-white discrimination case. Here's his reasoning: Mr. Ricci probably deserved his promotion and had a right...