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Opposing race-based preferences could help power a McCain comeback.

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is installing software which monitors diversity in all law firms it uses, regularly and just-in-time. Those firms falling short of Wal-Mart's diversity target numbers will be terminated. That move by Wal-Mart, which sets policy for how global supply chains are managed, will in itself radically change the composition of law firms - and eventually law schools.

I last visited my alma mater, Princeton University, two years ago to speak on an alumni panel about the future of Iraq. Inside stately McCosh Hall, where I'd taken Constitutional Law more than a decade earlier, I spoke to a mostly white crowd about my experiences as a special Iraq correspondent in 2003, sharing the stage with an impressive bunch of alums, including a soldier who had served several tours in the Middle East and a former CIA station chief. At the end, one of my fellow panelists turned to me and complimented me on my remarks. "What school did...

Probably gonna take some arrows for this one. But the following is a perfect example of an Affirmative Action trainwreck. And if people cannot debate the pervasive damage the program does to its "beneficiaries" then those "beneficiaries" will continue to exist in their uncomfortable purgatory. I ran across this opinion piece in the Washington Post entitled, "Michelle, Meritocracy and Me." Since Michelle Obama hasn't been a proud American until this year, and is therefore unfit to be anywhere near the levers of power, I have an interest in learning anything I can about her to see what we might be...

Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself. It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history — "generations from now we will be able...

For decades, critics of affirmative action have contended elite colleges, in their zeal to form racially diverse student bodies, have discriminated against top white applicants. In a twist on that long-running feud, federal authorities are investigating an allegation that Princeton University discriminates against Asian-American applicants by accepting black and Hispanic students with lower entrance scores. At the heart of both arguments lies the question of whether and how colleges should consider race when choosing a class. The Supreme Court has ruled race can be a factor in the process, though racial quotas have long been declared unconstitutional. Critics say admission...

Dinesh D'Souza breaks out the red pen on Michelle Obama's thesis. "To wreak so much havoc on the English language in one sentence, without conveying anything of substance, is perhaps deserving of a prize. Is this what her professors were thinking when they granted her honors?"

WASHINGTON: Barack Obama's political success might claim an unintended victim: affirmative action, a much-debated policy that he supports. Already weakened by several court rulings and state referendums, affirmative action now confronts a challenge to its very reason for existing. If Americans make a black person the leading contender for president, as nationwide polls suggest, how can racial prejudice be so prevalent and potent that it justifies special efforts to place minorities in coveted jobs and schools? "The primary rationale for affirmative action is that America is institutionally racist and institutionally sexist," said Ward Connerly, the leader of state-by-state efforts to...

The Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce will ink an agreement next week with state agencies and universities that could lead to as much as $100 billion in procurement opportunities for Texas Hispanic-owned businesses in the years ahead. The parties will sign the memorandum at an event at the Texas Capitol on June 24. The agreement calls for a number of state agencies and universities to earmark procurement work for Hispanic-owned businesses statewide. According to those involved, the total value of the procurements over the next several years could reach $100 billion. [Snip] State agencies participating in the...

Students earn way by sweat of brow in new program . Bruce Randolph's bold decision last fall to end social promotion, to inform parents that students who fail core academic classes will not be passed on to the next grade. "We're changing the culture," said Principal Kristin Waters. "You can't not pass anymore; you have to do the work." It's an unprecedented stance by a neighborhood school in Denver. DPS, unlike other metro districts, allows parents to decide whether their children are held back a grade until they reach high school. Few choose to hold them back. Not until grade...

Senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday criticized a compromise plan for the proposed merger of the XM and Sirius satellite radio companies, saying the deal does not provide enough opportunities for minority-owned programming. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said over the weekend that he would support the merger after XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio voluntarily agreed, among a series of other concessions, to lease 4 percent of their radio spectrums, or 12 channels, for programming run by minorities and women. Members of the black caucus on Capitol Hill have been arguing for the...

The city of New Haven, Connecticut, went to great lengths to devise a firefighter test that would not have "disparate impact" on minority applicants, but when the results of the 2003 test-taking came in, applying the city's "Rule of Three" which required selection from among the highest scorers, "no blacks and at most two Hispanics would have been eligible for promotion to captain and no blacks or Hispanics would have been eligible to make lieutenant". So the city civil service board vacated the results, frankly acknowledging that it was in search of better minority hiring numbers. White applicants sued and...

WARREN, Mich. -- Stan Sheyn, a white student who attends community college in this working-class Detroit suburb, supports Barack Obama for president. But he has no time for what he calls "double standards and propagation of victim mentality." "The fact that a black man can run for the position of the President of the United States of America only corroborates that there is enough opportunity and equality for great things like that to happen," he says. "And that there is no need to create special advantages for any demographic group."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has launched a Web site to dispel rumors about his faith and patriotism and his wife's views on race that have dogged his candidacy for more than a year.

A California group is running a radio ad that uses Barack Obama’s former minister and Nebraska’s only black state senator to take aim at affirmative action in the state. The ad, which includes a clip of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright saying “God damn America,’’ says Wright and Nebraska Sen. Ernie Chambers believe in race preferences, but most Nebraskans don’t... The American Civil Rights Initiative, which is sponsoring the ad, is pushing measures in several states, including Nebraska, that oppose affirmative action, which the group says gives preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. The...

Ward Connerly's critics often blame the success of the millionaire businessman's anti-affirmative-action campaign on some dubious political sleight of hand. Now they'd like to make the former UC regent's controversial initiative disappear before it reaches the ballot in five states. Connerly's measure won handily in his home state of California and in Washington and Michigan, affecting race- or gender-based programs in public employment, education and contracting. Connerly spearheaded California's Proposition 209 in 1996, which amended the state constitution to outlaw race and gender-based preferences in state hiring and state university admissions. His twelve-year tenure on the Board of Regents ended...

Come November, voters will decide on more than half a million federal, state and local officeholders and ballot initiatives. Ninety-nine percent of these decisions will matter less than will the five civil rights initiatives that might be on the ballots in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. If the initiatives qualify for those states' ballots, all probably will pass. But the initiatives must surmount ferocious opposition from defenders of racial preferences, such as the politicians who administer and benefit from Missouri's racial spoils system. The crux of the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative (MoCRI) would amend that state's constitution to say:...

What Obama's campaign released via first link above states he served in the Infantry. I assume it's possible the records are wrong, or he changed branches. But I'm unaware of that as a standard practice. Perhaps it happened during WWII for manpower reasons? Otherwise, Obama's Great Uncle would seem to have done most of his marching and liberating while at sea.

Years ago, when Jack Greenberg left the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to become a professor at Columbia University, he announced that he was going to make it a point to hire a black secretary at Columbia. This would of course make whomever he hired be seen as a token black, rather than as someone selected on the basis of competence. This reminded me of the first time I went to Milton Friedman's office when I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago back in 1960, and I noticed that he had a black secretary. This was four years...

The May 9 edition of the New York Post carries a short article by an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis student named Keith John Sampson. He tells a story of being charged with "racial harassment" simply because he was "caught" reading an anti-Ku Klux Klan book. I'm not kidding. Sampson tells his story: The book was Todd Tucker's 'Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan'; I was reading it on break from my campus job as a janitor. The same book is in the university library... But that didn't stop the Affirmative Action Office...

Two cheers to the Seattle School District for eliminating its Office of Equity, Race and Learning Support. I'll award the third cheer if a district spokesman's contention that this move is purely a budgetary fix turns out to be a glossing over of the truth. I hope the real story is that someone in charge came to their senses and realized the Office of Equity, Race and Learning Support would have been better titled the Office of Race Propaganda, White Guilt and Bogus Sociology. The director of the office, Caprice Hollins, gained notoriety for a variety of offensive acts. Most...

Several days ago, on one of the Fox News nonprimes (possibly the Kelly/Hemmer 5:00 election show), a brand new Obama-declared super-delegate (sorry, I didn't get her name or state!) announced in answer to a question about BO's elitism that he could hardly be considered elite because he went through Columbia & Harvard on the G. I. Bill. This wasn't challenged. I've found no reference to BO's military service anywhere, nor can I imagine how the G. I. Bill could have helped him otherwise.

But Mrs. Obama, the star attraction, is taking no chances. Walking onstage to chants of “Yes, we can!” and “Fired up — ready to go!” she quickly gets to the heart of her message: There are forces out there who are trying to take away everything Barack has worked for. They — she doesn’t mention anyone in particular but does refer to one “brand name politician” — are trying to win this election for themselves and thereby deny Obama the opportunity to move America to the mountaintop of hope. And they must be stopped. “We’ve learned that we’re still living...

The Dirty Dozen By Robert A. Levy and William Mellor (Sentinel, 302 pages, $25.95) Town fathers of Norway, take note. You have a new adversary in Ellen Anderson. Ms. Anderson is the Minnesota state senator who is pushing legislation to freeze foreclosures on homes with subprime mortgages in the name of "protecting the American dream." The economic chill from such a move – and from other attempts to protect "the American dream" from mortgage meltdown – would likely be felt around the world by pension plans, banks and municipalities that have invested in mortgage-backed securities. As it happens, a number...

Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama 48% to 44% among men (45% of likely Democratic primary voters). Among women, Clinton leads 64% to 31%. Clinton leads 64% to 29% among white voters (82% of likely Democratic primary voters). Obama leads 79% to 18% among African American voters (14% of likely Democratic primary voters). Clinton leads 52% to 43% among voters age 18 to 49 (50% of likely Democratic primary voters) and Clinton leads 62% to 31% among voters age 50 and older. 10% of all likely Democratic primary voters say they would never vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary and...

This June marks the thirtieth anniversary of one of the most profound Supreme Court rulings in history, a civil-rights landmark that nudged America closer to the color-blind goal envisioned by Martin Luther King in 1963. The decision was not flawless, but it opened the door for later decisions and political actions that ultimately made America a stronger nation. In June 1978, the Court ruled in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that racial quotas were unconstitutional and a blatant violation of civil and human rights. The ruling brought justice to Allan Bakke, a brilliant, courageous aspiring doctor who...

I have to say, I am really loving this Democratic race these past few months. I wonder if either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton understand what they're doing to themselves the longer they drag this out, the more they talk, the more skeletons that inevitably come out. But hey, by all means, keep it up! They're both doing a great job. Here's some more, uh, patriotism from that America-loving couple, Barack and Michelle Obama. Michelle once again takes on the task of being the official idiotic mouthpiece for her husband, with glorious results: Money quote: " Because sometimes it's easier...

Democrat Barack Obama seemed to suggest in an interview aired Friday that his former pastor has acknowledged that his controversial remarks were inappropriate and hurtful, although there are no public accounts of the minister having done so. "Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church," ... Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the senator's remarks did not imply that Wright has...

Mayor Michael Nutter Tells ABC News He Would Have Quit Church if His Pastor Made Such Remarks. Sen. Hillary Clinton's most prominent African-American supporter in Pennsylvania says that had he been a member of Sen. Barack Obama's church, he would have left because of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's fiery and controversial sermons. "I think there's no room for hate, and I could not sit and tolerate that kind of language, and especially over a very long period of time," said Philadelphia's newly elected mayor... "If I were in my own church and heard my pastor saying some of those kinds...

Watching the parade of apologists for Rev. Wright’s hatred—“garlic noses”; “KKK of A;” “God Damn America;” “Condamnesia;” the U.S. deserved 9/11; America is no different from al-Qaeda; we caused the AIDs virus; Israel is a “dirty word” and sought an Arab and black ethnic bomb, etc—is, well, depressing. Instead of offering distance from Wright, far too many African-American professors and pastors interviewed on the cable stations the last few nights instead praised his brilliance and inspiration. At best, there was a feeble ‘you just don’t get it’ about the venting and wink-and-nod culture of the black church. But the net...

On the Sunday in 2003 when Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. shouted "God damn America" from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ, he defined damnation as God's way of holding humanity accountable for its actions. Obama has denounced Wright's most provocative remarks, but in a speech on race last week he defended Wright as a person and refused to disown him as his pastor. Sunday after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Wright preached...the "brutally honest" last verses of Psalm 137, which he said "spotlight the insanity of the cycle of violence." The sound bite taken from the...

The reaction to Sen. Barack Obama's March 18 speech in Philadelphia on his firebrand pastor and race in America shows a generation gap within the black community... Despite criticism that he didn't fully address the angry comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Mr. Obama's youth and powerful skills as an orator continue to offer hope to many that he can bridge what he defined in his speech as a national "stalemate" ... Charles Ellison... describes a tension among blacks and a "growing generation gap between new school versus old school." "The new hip-hop generation, there is a focus on economic,...

Obama, who has struggled to overcome Clinton's significant advantage among Latino voters in state after state, sought to one-up his rival for the Democratic presidential nod by joining the call for creating a national holiday to commemorate the father of the United Farm Workers. "That's why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union." Eight states commemorate Chavez' birthday in some fashion. In California, all state offices are closed, but local government facilities and public schools are open....

Barack Obama - To Hell and Back -

In an interview with me this morning, senior Hillary adviser Harold Ickes confirmed that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a key topic in discussions with uncommitted super-delegates over whether Obama is electable in a general election. The comments from Ickes, who is Hillary's chief delegate hunter, are to my knowledge the first on-the-record confirmation from a Hillary adviser that the Wright controversy is a subject in conversations between the Hillary campaign and the super-delegates her advisers are trying to win over to Hillary's side. In the wide-ranging interview, Ickes also: * Said that it was possible that Hillary forces on the...

Look at the latest compilation of Barack Obama's crazy friends, advisers and his own racist comments. It gives a good glimpse into the candidate's personality. Enjoy - and votre McCain 2008

A congressman backing Hillary Rodham Clinton says white voters are supporting Barack Obama based on the view that he is articulate and his election would allow the nation ‘‘to get this boogeyman called race behind us.’’ Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who is black, told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Obama ‘‘is articulate. In the black tradition, he would probably be mediocre.’’ ‘‘For white Americans, it’s like, this guy can speak,’’ Cleaver said in the radio interview. ‘‘If you put him on a level with a lot of other African-American public speakers, he may not even measure up.’’ But Cleaver also conceded...

Barack Obama just told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on a special "Hardball" college tour edition on Wednesday that "I fell off the wagon a couple of times" when it comes to smoking. that after lapsing he "was able to get back on" the wagon right away. Obama quit smoking when he starting running for president last year, a condition laid down by wife Michelle.

Black Democrats are voting largely along racial lines. With few policy differences between the candidates, Obama won 92 percent of the black vote in Mississippi, 91 percent in Wisconsin, 87 percent in Ohio, 84 percent in Maryland, and 84 percent in Texas. White Democrats are voting significantly less along racial lines, but there are still divisions. There seems to be no chance Clinton can win more black votes against Obama, so her only hope is to encourage more whites to vote along racial lines. No one in the campaign would ever say such a thing — they certainly haven't to...

So, we're going to get honest about race this time? Let's get started then. If only it were that simple. We've had time to digest Sen. Barack Obama's call for a new, and more frank, examination of the "complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked our way through." Plenty of people, including some from opposite sides of the ideological fence, heard something in that speech that spoke to their hearts. But a period of reflection makes clear that, when the power of rhetoric fades, we're conflicted not just about race, but even how to talk about...

He sympathizes -- but says capitalists are the real culprits The current president, George W. Bush, is not a gifted orator. Oratory seems to be one of those things no one thinks matters much in a president -- until it goes missing. Those who dislike the current president may cite any of a dozen policy issues. But they rarely fail to mention how they cringe when that marble-mouth begins to speak. Freshman Sen. Barack Obama is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president on a platform of "change." One big change under an Obama presidency, make no mistake, would be...

Question: (excerpted) When does affirmative action end and reverse discrimination begin? Twenty-plus years ago, the fire department I work for was mostly made up of white males. (Now,) our recruitment office is predominantly minorities or women. The training academy also has a high percentage of minorities. I believe this helps get minorities interested in the job and helps them through the academy. This is a good approach. However, are they hiring the best people for the job? The hiring process consists of a series of written and physical tests. Applicants used to be graded on how well they did in...

The racial dimension of Barack Obama's electability problem is now apparent, but no prominent Democrat dares discuss it openly. Similarly expect no discussion of the subject in the major media. The white working class vote I am not referring to the ongoing and intense discussion of The Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Wright is a separate problem for Obama. Whether Obama has been, or will be, permanently weakened by his long and close association with Wright, or has soared above it with his Philadelphia speech, is not the subject of these thoughts. Something much simpler than the answer to that question has...

Lansing, Mich. (AP) -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a Michigan law that bans racial and gender preferences in government hiring and university admissions. The ruling on Tuesday upholds the constitutionality of a measure approved by Michigan voters in 2006. It had been challenged by groups including the NAACP

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, in Philadelphia, Tuesday delivered a speech on race relations in the United States. Here is the transcript: We the people, in order to form a more perfect union. Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787....

I have been troubled by Former President Bill and Senator Hillary Clinton's "presumptuous" offer to Senator Barack Obama to serve as vice-president during her presidency. Her assumption is that she would be more electable by the public at large and become the nation's first female president. While we would be ecstatic to have Barack as vice president, all of this is totally ignoring the fact that he is clearly the Democratic frontrunner in the race. After listening to the Clintons, I had a chance to talk to my dear friend Rev. Art Forbes when he came by the office to...

Barack Obama has promised that he will rise above race. After all, his mother was white and his father was from Kenya. Senator Obama is a persuasive orator, and I am inclined to believe he is sincere.  But will the race and gender industry go out of business? There's not a chance in the world. Race and gender splitting is a goldmine that never runs out. Suppose you had four kids, two boys and two girls. One of the girls is blonde, the other a brunette. One of the boys is an athlete, the other a nerd. You're a compassionate...

Reverse Discrimination By George Neumayr Published 3/12/2008 Left-wing paternalists regard themselves as architects of racial progress, guarding and guiding blacks along the path of success -- a role in which they assume to stand forever at the head of the march. But what happens when blacks overtake their enlightened white helpers? All hell breaks loose and the mask of progress drops to reveal the stricken faces of the white avant-garde . Geraldine Ferraro's remarks confirm that beneath left-wing paternalism lurks considerable racism. "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said to the Daily...

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The long-running debate over affirmative action in college admissions just got more complicated, thanks to a new study that challenges the common assumption that whites are hurt most when colleges take applicants' race and ethnicity into account. The study, published by the University of California-Los Angeles Feb. 8 in the scholarly journal InterActions, suggests that it is mainly Asian-Americans not whites who are held to a higher standard when top colleges use affirmative action.