[ham] [Rhodes22-list] FW: A good idea

[brad haslett]

Stan,

To everyone's relief (especially my family) I'm
leaving today for Florida to go sailing for a few
days.  It will be up to you to solve the worlds
problems.  With that in mind, let me leave you with a
few thoughts.

As was previously said on this list (Rummy I think)
you would have been successful with or with out
whatever help you recieved with your education.  You
would have succeeded without an education.  Talent and
ability combined with ambition is nearly always
rewarded.  It may have taken longer but you would
still have achieved your goals.

As a victim of blatant reverse discrimination I have
some pretty strong feelings about affirmative action. 
Frankly, I think its served whatever good purpose, if
any, it can and is overdue to eliminated.

The following are all quoted from a Wall Street
Journal letter titled "Wonder Land" by Daniel
Henninger last January (sorry, I clipped the article
but cut off the date, it was a Friday).
"Three years ago in New York, the percentage of black
students who did NOT graduate from high school was
54%.  In California, 41%. In Tennessee, 54% didn't
graduate.  And in Wisconsin, which is thought of as a
fairly normal place, the percentage of black kids who
didn't make it out of high school in the class of 2000
was a mind-boggling 59%....This data appears in
Education Week's annual report, "Quality
Counts"....What we know and have known for a very long
time is that nearly half of America's black teenagers
haven't a hope of attending even the least-known
two-year community college anywhere.  What is the Rev.
Jesse L. Jackson doing about this scandal?  He is
calling Geooge W. Bush "the most anti-civil rights
president in 50 years."  Given those shameful
graduation rates, one wonders what the "pro-civil
rights presidents were doing the past 50
years.......It is remarkable how often the combatants
in the debate over college affirmative-action default
to the notion that nothing proves one's commitment to
"diversity" more than one's willingness to adjust the
entry requirements to a Harvard, Yale or Michigan. 
For instance, New Jersey Rep. Robert Menendez ripped
into Mr. Bush last week over his legacy admission
"into the Ivy League."  Yale?  The average black child
attending high school in Newark, Camden, Paterson or
Jersey City can barely hope of getting into, say,
Rutgers......

The author's point, and mine, is that we have bigger
problems to deal with in education than worry about a
handful of super-achieving minorities who will make it
just fine with or without affirmative action.  Just
like you Stan.  Discrimination is wrong.  Changing it
from one color to a different color doesn't make it
any less wrong.

Brad Haslett
--- General Boats <wwrhodes@rhodes22.com> wrote:
> Glad to see we are back to political bashing - I
> agree with Brad, it
> perks up the list.   I also agree with Brad that
> Billy boy is smart.  IQ
> is over 200.  Georgy boy's is under 100 .  I have
> mixed feelings about
> the affirmative action program since I would have
> probably missed out if
> this were in place in my day - but don't know why
> George would be
> against it since he got into Yale because of
> Affirmative Action.
> 
> stan/gbi
> 
> brad haslett wrote:
> 
> > Steve,
> >
> > The whole Lewensky thing was good for
> entertainment
> > value if nothing else.  If the press had done
> their
> > job in the late 80's and early 90's voters would
> have
> > known what a sleazeball Billy Boy was with his
> pants
> > up, much less down.  At least the congressional
> > elections of 1994 kept his big spending social
> > programs in check.  Billy Boy IS a smart guy.  I
> would
> 
> _________________________________________________
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